Andrey Nikolskiy
State Institute of Art Studies, Moscow, Russia
The report focuses on the antique and Renaissance themes in the national monumental painting of the 1900–1910s, the subject that presently has not been studied enough. The research examines the pictorial compositions and ensembles relative to neoclassical trend in the Russian art of the early 20th century, which were created in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Besides, the research gives a brief overview of the buildings where these paintings were embodied and lists the artists who referred their monumental paintings to antique and Italian Renaissance styles.
Special attention is paid to the selection of painting themes with a deep analysis of the most common of them.
Furthermore, the report reveals previously unpublished sketches for the paintings by the famous artists and architects (Ignatiy Nivinskiy, Evgeniy Lanceray, Ivan Fomin, Vladimir Shuko). The author found these paintings in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art and in the archives of the Shchusev Architecture Museum.
Based on the analysis of the mentioned sketches and numerous full-scale copies of the famous monumental art of the Italian Renaissance, the compositions which were the models for rethinking in the works of the Russian masters of the neoclassical movement are revealed. These sketches allow us to trace the geography of their travelling in Italy.
The understanding of antiquity and the Renaissance was controversial in Russia in the early 20th century: some works were based on the national version of classicism of the late 18th — early 19th centuries; others were based on the Italian Renaissance, especially on its late phase.
In the early 20th century monumental painting in Russia, in general, and monumental neoclassical art movement, in particular, turned out to be one of the most understudied themes of the Russian art studies. The report is aimed at drawing attention to this phenomenon.