Career
His style of painting is sometimes termed "the Muscovite mannerism". Dionisy"s first important commission was a series of icons for the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Moscow Kremlin, executed in 1481. The figures on his icons are famously elongated, the hands and feet are diminutive, and the faces serene and peaceful.
Among his many rich and notable patrons, Joseph of Volokolamsk alone commissioned him to paint more than eighty icons, primarily for the Joseph-Volokolamsk and Pavel-Obnorsk cloisters.
The most comprehensive and the best preserved work of Dionisy is the monumental fresco painting of the Virgin Nativity Cathedral of the Ferapontov Monastery (1495-1496). The frescoes, depicting scenes from the life of the Virgin in singularly pure and gentle colours, are permeated with a solemn and festal mood.
As his father did not take part in this important commission, it is thought that he had died shortly before that date.