During the century. XV the role of Moscow became, even artistically, predominant. In fact, the achievements in the Baltic centers are limited: in Novgorod the bishop’s palace of Euthymius (1433), of Gothic influence, and the fortifications of the Kremlin (1484-90); in Pskov the church of SS. Cosma e Damiano (1462), with an eight-pitched roof. Even painting did not give great achievements. In Moscow in 1405 Theophanes the Greek (author of the frescoes of the Savior of Novgorod) together with Prochor of Gorodec and Rublëv created a series of icons for the iconostasis of the Cathedral of the Annunciation, the first with full-length characters and monumental setting; it constitutes the example which inspired the subsequent Russian iconostases. His collaborator A. Rublëv differed from the artist’s dramatic taste (ca. 1360-1430), which in the frescoes of the Dormition Cathedral in Vladimir (1408) and in the numerous icons shows an elegant and refined style, followed by the Moscow school of painting. Rublëv, a monk in the Sergiev Posad monastery and then of Andronikovo (Moscow), he was the outspoken interpreter of the spirit that dwelt in the Muscovite religious communities, where, unlike the Greek monasteries, not only the contemplative life was alive, but an extraordinary industriousness supported by a high religious spirit.

According to Thesciencetutor, Rublëv’s painting became the central point which inspired all the religiosity of the Russian soul and the century. XV rose to the golden moment of Russian painting. Frescoes and icons reached a splendor that remained unique and next to them the embroidery was inserted with splendid chromatic values. If the icons were performed mainly for aristocratic houses, embroidery also inspired a popular art that established itself alongside painting, proliferating from the schools of Novgorod, Pskov, Moscow, in those of Tver, Ryazan, Vologda and Suzdal. Architecture, for his part, in the first part of the century (1422-23) he produced the splendid Trinity Cathedral in Sergiev Posad and in the second half of the century it was revitalized in a series of creations made possible by the new political circumstances and the influx of foreign talents, especially Italians, to Moscow. With the establishment of a unitary state by Ivan III, the Mongol influence was relaxed and disappeared. Moscow strengthened itself as a political and cultural center. Art became, as in the rest of Europe, the frame of power. What a monarch wanted more than anything else, once his authority was asserted, was to give pomp to his capital. Ivan III, attracted by the splendor of Italian art, invited the ambassador to find him an architect worthy of embellishing Moscow. The choice fell on the Bolognese Aristotle Fioravanti, who had the great merit of not transferring the Italian style to Russia, but who went to study the Vladimir Cathedral before building the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Kremlin transformed into an imposing complex of buildings in which the use of brick replaced that of stone. M. Ruffo and PA Solari built towers and fortifications of clear Italian derivation, while the cathedral of the Archangel Michael (1505-09, by Aloisio Nuovo) appears closer to the Russian tradition. In the meantime, the Muscovite painter Dionysius (ca. 1440-1506), who continued Rublëv’s work on a less religious level, or rather less inspired, had come to light in painting. His paintings are solemn, there is an air of pagan pomposity, but not without a sincere sense of emotion. His frescoes are found in the Cathedral of the Dormition, but his monumental and most significant work is that of the Cathedral of Ferapontov.

Architectural activity was also intense in smaller towns, while civil construction was increased in Moscow in which the use of wood continued to predominate. The influence of wooden architecture is also evident in stone and brick buildings, such as the Intercession Cathedral in Moscow (St. Basil on Red Square, Barma and Postnik, a typical example of the re-emergence of a typically national tradition both for its complex structure and for the polychrome decoration of interiors and exteriors (facades, bulbous domes, towers). In the sec. XVI was also implemented the arrangement of fortifications and kremlin in the main Russian cities. During the sec. In the seventeenth century there was the diffusion, in the main cities, of civil stone buildings, even if structured on traditional typologies and with decorated facades. Among the most notable palaces, some of which decorated with polychrome majolica, Teremskoj Palace in the Kremlin, by B. Ogurcov (1635-36) and Lefortovskij Palace, by D. Aksamitov (1697-98). In religious buildings, the maintenance of traditional forms (bulbous domes, decorations with blind arches) was accompanied by adoption of wider and more open plans of western derivation (churches of the Trinity and of the Nativity of the Virgin, first half of the 17th century). However, in the province, the construction of churches inspired by traditional forms (churches of the Prophet Elias, of St. John Chrysostom, of St. John the Baptist in Yaroslavl) or wooden architecture, octagonal with central tower (suburbs of Moscow) continued.. Other religious buildings were still built of wood, especially in the northernmost regions. While sculpture maintained mainly decorative functions (Moscow, Teremskoy Palace, 1635-36), painting freed itself from tradition. The frescoes in the Cathedral of the Archangel in Moscow (1652-66) are now realistic, while retaining some traditional features. The greatest painter of the time can be considered the SF Ušakov (1626-1686), active in the Palace of Arms, in Moscow, where he oversaw all the works for the crown, heavily influenced by Western models.