Зографски наръчник на Захари Зограф (НАИм №11) – съдържание и приложение
MANUAL of Zachary Zograph (NAIM N11) – Content and Application

Summary/Abstract: The National Museum of History in Sofia preserves a number of manuscripts, property of the Na- tional Archaeological Institute and Museum (NAIM) at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences which are part of the archive of the Dospevski family. Here we present a manuscript (NAIM N11) which I attributed beyond any doubt as Zachary Zograph’s manual a decade ago on the basis of the signature of Zachary Zograph, the notes and drafts of ktetor’s inscriptions which as dates and texts corresponded to the icons and murals about which we had information that they were the work of Zachary Zograph. In order to clarify its content and also as parallels I have presented data from manuscripts NAIM N6, NAIM N7 and also NAIM N8 and NAIM N13, which have been used not only by Zachary Zograph but by other representatives of the Dospevski family. These manuscripts shed light on many different aspects of the creation of a particular icon or mural – the contracts for payment, the problems with paying off, the wishes of the donors about the different gift inscriptions and their versions, the correspondence between the donors and the painter, different versions of the signature inscriptions and the signature of the painter, the use of specific iconographic’s manuals, etc. Besides, these manuscripts shed light also on different aspects of the personal life of the painter during that same period. Following the examination of the content of manual NAIM N11 and the other manuscripts one could reach the following conclusions: Manual (NAIM N11) undoubtedly belonged to Zachary Zograph and he carried it during all his travels during the 1830s till 1852. Confirms the authorship of Zachary Zograph on the unsigned by him icons, painted for the churches in Koprivshtitza and Plovdiv during the period 1837-1838. Manual (NAIM N11) contains data about some still unknown icons and murals by Zachary Zograph.

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