2015 Russian Art ca. 1700–1900

The article by Jeremia Isayevich Ioffe (1891–1947) entiled “The Russian Renaissance” was published in 1944 in the Philological Series of the “Scientific Essays” (Uchenie zapiski) of the Leningrad State University. Unlike his other works, however, this one has remained practically unnoticed by experts in the field. Meanwhile, Ioffe was the first to raise in it a number of important issues related to the formative process of Russian art culture of a new type — the Modern period (18th — beginning of the 20th century) culture. Interpreting the Renaissance as “a humanistic stage in the history of mind”, he “traces the development of a Renaissance worldview in monuments of Russian art”. The article contains three vast parts, arranged in chronological order. The first two, “The Preparation for the Renaissance” and “The Early Renaissance”, cover the 16th and 17th centuries respectively, whilst the third and most voluminous one, “The High Renaissance”, is dedicated to the 18th century.
First of all, Ioffe stresses the point that Russian art history should be treated as an integral part of the world’s history of art, developing under the same general laws. It is in the 18th century that Russia, later than other European countries, makes a swift transition towards the Modern period culture. The foundations for this move, however, have been already laid in the late Middle Ages. Peter the Great’s role in the process is particularly stressed here. The article looks into such fundamental features of the Modern period art as the appeal to the real world and the real human, the secular and open character of culture welcoming close international art contacts. Antiquity is understood as the common Past. Considerable attention is paid to national specifics of Russian art. Many of the problems touched upon by Ioffe in this article will be further developed by the researchers of generations to come.

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In the development of Russian architecture of the post-Petrine era the reign of Empress Anna Ivanovna, covering the 1730s, is usually regarded as a transitional stage from Petrine time to the reign of Elizabeth. In historical and architectural studies this decade is described as the beginning of formation of unified Russian Baroque, which reached its heyday in the 1740–1750s. In this respect, the 1730s are usually counterposed to diverse, stylistically mixed first quarter of the 18th century. However, the emergence in the early 1730s of the first baroque buildings and the early works of Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli in particular was only a part of a more complex process of the formation of the style at the time.
The aim of the report is to identify key mechanisms of formation of style in the 1730s and sources of specific architectural forms. We consider creative activity of Peter’s pensioners who studied in the Netherlands, in particular Ivan Korobov, whose works show one of adoption mechanisms of architectural forms of Dutch Classicism and Flemish Baroque in Russian practice. Careful attention to the work of Rastrelli overshadowed the role of other artists whose works played an equally important role in the formation of the Baroque. The paper offers an attempt to analyze the projects and buildings by Iohann Schumacher, which are considered in the context of European school and their apparent connection with the German-Austrian version of Baroque style.
Unexplored stylistic features of many monuments, the difficulty in characterizing even such well-known works of the 1730s as St. Petersburg Admiralty, demonstrates the need for a comprehensive study of Russian architecture of the era of Anna Ivanovna.

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The research of Andre Ernest Modest Gretry’s and other French composers’ operas on Moscow stage in the 18th century shows original features of the transformation of works of French art in Russia. First of all, the performances on various stages of Sheremeteff’s theatre are discussed: André Grétry’s operas with dialogues “l’amitié à l’épreuve”, “Les marriages samnites”, “Lucile” and “Le tableau parlant”, Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s “Le Sorcier de village” , “Les trois fermiers” of Nicolas-Alexandre Dezède, “Alina, la Reine de Golkonde” and “Rose et Colas” of Pierre-Alexandre Monsigni and Nicolas-Marie d’Alayrac “Azémia ou les sauvages”. The object of the study were also André Grétry’s operas with dialogues on the stage of Meaddox’s theatre: “Les deux avares” and “Zémire et Azor” and on stages of Moscow nobility home theatres: “Sylvain”. The performances of the French repertoire in Moscow acquired original features. They were translated into Russian and underwent some changes. Not only a new music edition was created, but also works of Russification were carried out. It concerned the names, circumstances, place of action, as well as scenography. The opera performance was conceived as a jewel in the program of festivities or “festivals”, which included a walk through a garden with entertainment, refreshments, dramatic and musical performances, dinner, dancing and fireworks alternating and affecting vision, hearing and imagination of a viewer. The perception of the performance by Moscow audience was sometimes very different from the perception of the original work in France. One of the best examples is staging of André Grétry’s “Les marriages samnites” (opera did not have success in Paris) at Sheremeteff’s receptions in honor of the royalty — first, of Catherine II in Kuskovo, when a new theater building was opened, and later of Paul I and Stanislas August Poniatowski in Ostan­kino, where a special palace-theatre was constructed, like in Paris, specially for opera-performances.

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The 18th century in Russian art may be called the epoch of portrait-painting. This very genre marked by strong interest in personality was developing very quickly and in various forms in the period of forming of secular culture. Humanistic emphasis is one of the key aspects that let art historians compare the role of the 18th century in the evolution of the national art school with that of the Renaissance in Western Europe.
The portrait of Sarah Eleonora Fairmore (1749, Russian Museum) is one of the most well-known and heartfelt paintings by Ivan Vishnyakov, a prominent artist of the middle of the 18th century. Art historians of different generations have turned to the study of this canvas. The most thorough analysis of the picture was presented by Tatiana Ilina in her book “Ivan Vishnyakov. Life and work” (1979). It is noted that the portrait is painted in accordance with all the canons of European formal portraits of the 17th–18th centuries. However, Vishnyakov had never been abroad. Thus he had no opportunity to see works of art by western masters, except those bought in Europe or created by the foreigners living in Russia. The composition of Sarah Fairmore’s portrait is usually compared with the one of Infanta Margarita by Diego Velazquez. Certainly, some similarity of these pictures can be found but it seems indirect and rather distant. There is no doubt that it was not Infanta Margarita’s image that Vishnyakov used as a prototype.
Artists of the 18th century used to follow renowned patterns in their creative work. The ways of exchange of information and professional experience are of particular interest in the context of western influence and Russia’s integration into European art world. The example taken by Ivan Vishnyakov is quite obvious. It is a portrait of Isabella Maria Bourbon, Princess of Parma (Versailles), a granddaughter of Louis XV. The picture was painted by the famous French artist Jean Marc Nattier in the middle of the 18th century. The compositions of both portraits are so much alike, as well as other formal devices, that one can not be mistaken regarding the source of borrowing. Working on his canvas Vishnyakov probably used an engraving after the painted original by Nattier.
The practice of using prints as patterns was widely spread in art. Considering the popularity of Nattier’s work in Russia, which local artists frequently copied or followed, Vishnyakov’s choice appears to be evident and natural.

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In the 18th century Russian culture got connected with the contemporary all-European artistic process. As a result the creative heritage, including the Renaissance art, which was common to all European countries in the modern era, became actual for Russian art. This tendency had a serious impact on the development of family portraiture in Russia. This theme has not yet become a subject of a specialized research. So, the purpose of my work is to trace how the family portrait tradition developed in Western Europe was perceived in Russia in typological, figurative, compositional and symbolic contexts.
Among art schools that gave the world the greatest diversity of family paintings the dominant were the Netherlands, and subsequently Flanders and Holland, Germany, Italy, France and Great Britain. In these countries the family representation developed to become one of the main motives of portraiture since Renaissance.
The paper offers analysis of the selection and interpretation of iconographic types of family paintings by the Russian artists of the 18th century. The types included the following: twin and double portraits of spouses and close relatives; self-portraits of artists with their families; portraits of mother and a child or children, representing motherhood as the main female virtue, and group family portraits, supporting the idea of clan glorification developed in Western Europe. Turning to another typological level, we came to a conclusion that in Russian art, as well as in Europe, a family portrait was represented in types of a ceremonial portrait, a chamber portrait, a portrait in landscape and a portrait in interior. Even such a specific portrait type as “a conversation piece”, borrowed from British tradition, found its reflection in Russian art (“Portrait of a Nobleman of St. Petersburg Province with His Family” by an unknown artist, Russia, 1790s, The Moscow State Integrated Art and Historical Architectural and Natural Landscape Museum-Reserve; “Portrait of Countess Bezborodko and Her Daughters Lyubov and Cleopatra” by V. L. Borovikovsky, 1803, The State Russian Museum).
My analysis demonstrates that typlogy of family portrait, as well as many artistic means, compositional devices, attributes, which were widely used in Western painting, was deeply spiritualized by the unique Russian identity when being adopted by Russian art.

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Many antique decorative motifs of porcelain crockery of Russian classicism were adopted from Western Renaissance dishes (majolica, faience and products from precious metals). Borrowing occurred indirectly through imitation of European models.
Experts believe that decor of most of the Russian porcelain sets of the end of the 18th century was born from the French “Cameo Service” commissioned by Catherine II from the Sèvres Royal manufactory in 1777. All major Russian sets (“Arabesque”, 1784, “Kabinetsky”, 1793–1801, sets for dowry of daughter of Paul I, 1795–1802, “Yusupovsky”, 1798, Toiletries Set of Maria Feodorovna, 1801–1803) have certain traits of “Cameo Service”.
“Cameo Service” was an outstanding ensemble even for Sèvres manufactory. In order to endow the service with exceptional decorative qualities, the rich experience of German goldsmiths of the 15th century could have been used.
The main motif in the design of the French service is a chain of acanthus scrolls, among which alternating portrait- and story-cameo medallions are placed. Art historians trace acanthus decoration of the service back to various Roman monuments of the time of the early empire, “August classicism”. I argue that the composition of the boards of plates and bowls in which medallions with relief portraits are located between regular scrollwork floral ornament was invented during the Renaissance.
In the same way, for instance, a silver tub, forged in the years 1530–1540 in Nüremberg and now stored in the museum in Dresden GrÜnes GewÖlbe, is decorated. Between swirls of vegetation richly covering the board, high-relief bust portraits of men, resembling ancient Roman cameos are placed. Another example is a vase-pickle with an emblem of the city of LÜneburg from the Museum of Deco­rative Arts in Berlin, made in LÜneburg by master Lutke Olrikes in 1541.

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Russian architects of the second half of the 18th century considered the spread of the Italian Re­naissance architect Andrea Palladio’s ideas their aim and duty: “Let there be Palladian fancy in my homeland”  — Nikolai Lvov wrote. During the last decades the problem of the great Italian architect’s influence upon both Russian masters and foreign ones working in Russia was reviewed many times in art history studies. However, the problem of the “Palladian fancies” of the palaces and country houses owners has been somewhat overlooked; this theme was indirectly considered in the studies dedicated to the artistic patronage of some famous aristocratic families’ members.
The Razumovskys were famous for their building passion — they commissioned numerous palaces and country houses. Art historians have noted different features of Palladian architecture in the Razumovsky palaces while examining them as part of various prominent architects’ legacy. In this account we shall attempt to comprehend the part played by Palladian tradition in the formation of the Razumovsky family members’ artistic taste in the second half of the 18th century — beginning of the 19th century.
The palace of the former Ukrainian hetman Kirill Razumovsky in Baturin, most likely built after a design by Charles Cameron, became a textbook example of Palladian architecture. This building is the final result of Kirill Razumovsky’s building passion. However, the “Palladian fancy” is self-evident in his earlier architectural commissions — including Giacomo Quarenghi design for the Gostilitsi country house near St. Petersburg and the Baclan palace, an unknown architect’s creation. There is an opinion that the Baturin palace’s author might have been Adam Menelaws, who worked with Lvov and took part in the creation of yet another Kirill Razumovsky’s country house — Yagotin.
The undertaken research has revealed that the Razumovsky family members (Kirill Razumovsky among them) preferred the Italianate architectural tradition to all others — for instance, the “gothic style” which was rather popular during this period. Numerous buildings of this family in Moscow, Moscow Region, Ukraine and even the Viennese palace of Andrey Razumovsky are vivid examples of the “Palladian fancy” of their owners.

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G. Derzhavin could not abandon the idea of publishing his poems with illustrations for several decades as he could not imagine proper perception of his poems by the reader without them. This resulted in a project which implied that the poems were accompanied by plastic images engraved after original pictures, headpieces and endpieces. This project has recently been described in more detail, in particular more information is available about the artists and painters who provided the illustrations (I. A. Ivanov, A. N. Olenin, A. Ye. Egorov); the sources of several figurative categories have also been traced. At the same time the conceptual aspect, “intersemiotic reciprocity” (Yu. M. Lotman) of poetry with fine arts, which makes Derzhavin’s project unique, remains so far insufficiently studied. The vegetal pictorial allegories are the most frequent among those to accompany the “Anacreontic Songs”.
The report provides classification of the entire complex of vegetal allegories. The origin of the allegories is traced from the classical antiquity to the baroque. Although having their roots mostly in the invariants of the “Symbols and emblems” and “Iconology”, the allegories of Derzhvin’s project are various and unique in their composition. Parallels between the pictures and “dreams and feelings” illustrated by them verify the fact that the graphical emblems offer consistent and emphatic comments to the key concepts of the book.
Basing on the ideas of the integral aesthetic nature of art, Derzhavin tended to implement the integration of poetry and fine arts in his project by suggesting the patterns of complex texts, which require isomorphic and syneathetic perception and interpretation.

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Architects of the Renaissance were fascinated by the search for the laws and rules of an ideal city organization, and thus they marked the beginning of a unique period in the history of European
urban planning, the outcome and the highest point of which was the Russian urbanism of the age of classicism.
Historiography of Russian urban planning of the age of classicism is represented by numerous articles and fundamental works. All historical questions of regular Russian city, problems of legislation and aesthetic views have been adequately studied. However, the history of architectural and planning establishment of certain Russian cities remains thus far completely unexplored. It is necessary to fill this historiographical gap because this can help to create a complete and detailed picture of Russian and global urban planning and come to the understanding that there were more complex constructions of regular Russian city than it was considered to be the case.
The purpose of this study is the reconstruction of the planning history of Nakhichevan-on-Don and the identification of architectural and planning features of the city. The author of the first plan of the city in 1781 still remains unknown. However, due to the results of the research and a comparative analysis of many Russian cities plans we can conclude that I. E. Starov is not the author of the first plan. In the meantime, it is clear that such thoughtful urban planning decisions could be made only by a highly talented architect. Rational organization of space, city skyline and placement of architectural landmarks, correct solution to drain rainwater flows, which were harmoniously combined with the ideological objectives of the city, proves the skill of the author.
Thus, the city had a unique plan that combined climatic conditions, topography and ideological objectives.

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In the first half of the 19th century classical forms and architecture methods were perceived and adopted in the construction of stone temples in Saratov province. This significant stratum in the architectural heritage of the region, which underwent enormous losses, is so far insufficiently studied and evaluated. The intention of this paper is to define the range of religious memorials where classicism revealed most of its potential in Saratov province in the first half of the 19th century.
The urgency of the research lies in the necessity to comprehend a regional peculiarity of Orthodox architecture and develop restoration and reconstruction projects. For the first time a detailed typological analysis of the temples in classicism style in the region has been carried out. Alongside with this, planning and composition properties of the memorials have been defined. The work is based on archives, such as RGIA, GASO, GAVO, as well as field investigations of the objects, measurements and photographic images made by the author. New evidence has been put into scientific use which will help create a more accurate account of temples in classicism style not only within the region but also in the history of the Russian architecture on the whole.
The interrelationship between the capital and provinces was an important point in the process of classicism formation in Saratov region. The manifestation of classicism in Saratov province was promoted by the fact that there already existed splendid metropolitan examples of the early classicism in the estates of the second half of the 18th century in this district.
In the 1820s–1830s big five-cupola churches are constructed. Typical samples of classicism are churches with three-part composition. Domed temples without pole, churches of nave type “ship” with an octagon at the top were constructed. Some tendencies of organic combination with elements of classicism are evident in them. Temples with three-part structure where octagon starts to be ousted by a rotunda and churches with two bell towers are rare.
The analysis of the religious architecture memorials in classicism style in Saratov province of the first half of the 19th century showed that various types of classicism temples developed there which met local requirements.

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