Boris Uspenskij (PhD Moscow University) is a professor at the Russian State University for the Humanities and professor emeritus of the Oriental University of Naples (Istituto Universitario Orientale). His research in general linguistics defined his interest in semiotics with the special focus on the visual arts, especially the study of icon-painting. He has published numerous books and articles, including The Semiotics of Russian Culture (1984, with Yu. Lotman); The History of the Russian Literary Language (XI--XVII centuries) (1987, in Russian); Semiotik der Geschichte (1991); Storia della lingua letteraria russa (1993); Linguistica, semiotica, storia della cultura (1996); Semiotics of Art (1995, in Russian); Tsar and Patriarch (1998, in Russian); "In regem unxit " Unzione al trono e semantica dei titoli del sovrano (2001); Cross and Circle: From the History of the Christian Symbolism (2006, in Russian); Ego loquens: Language and Communicational Space (2007, in Russian); Prospettiva divina e prospettiva umana: La pala di van Eyck a Gand (2010).