RU 
EN Valentina Serebryanaya
Volgograd State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Russia
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.
Marina Shults
Saint Petersburg State University, Russia
The memorialization of the history of the struggle with French invasion of Russia carried out by the emperor Nicholas I and its role in the formation of state ideology is only fragmentarily studied by Russian scholars. The research focuses on two predominant subjects. The first one is a reconstruction of the creation of “A Description of French Invasion of Russia in 1812” (first edition: St. Petersburg, 1839) by the court historian A. I. Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky and exploration of his interactions with his royal customer. As a rule, this large-scale project is studied in isolation from other activities undertaken by Nicholas I in this direction. The other subject of interest is the creation of the “visual history” of the Patriotic War of 1812 represented in 12 large-format paintings of major battles commissioned by the emperor to a Bavarian artist Peter von Hess. The process of creating the series is brilliantly reconstructed by Russian scholars.
Based on archival sources and studies of our predecessors, we managed to establish the fact of a direct involvement of the court historian A. I. Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky in the working process of the artist P. Hess whose series of paintings was aimed for special “memorial room” of military history of Russia in the Winter Palace. By focusing on a micro-history of this artistic commission, we were able to compare the censorship edits that were made in the text personally by the emperor and visual interpretation of the history of war. This allowed us to highlight the priorities in Nicholas’ vision of the military history of Russia and to point out his “corrections” in the history of the war. In particular, a notable change in understanding the role of certain commanders and “common people” in the Patriotic war, which was initiated in the works of A. I. Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky, then was fully expressed in the article by F. Bulgarin and further developed in the visual series by P. von Hess.
This allows us to deeply analyze the process of rethinking and “rewriting” of Russian national history by Nicholas I.
Anna Kustova
State Literary museum, Russia
This article is devoted to the water color series “The Russian Alphabet. Gift to Russian children in memory of the French invasion of Russia in 1812”. This series includes 32 miniature plates which are based on famous Russian caricatures of Napoleon and the French army.
This unique alphabet is stored in the State Literary museum. It has never been researched by art historians or displayed for the public. But engraving sets of “The Russian Alphabet” are well-known to specialists. It is believed that the alphabet had been made by the Russian sculptor and engraver Ivan Terebenev. After careful research we contend that the series was painted by the Russian miniature-painter Mikhail Terebenev (brother of Ivan Terebenev).
The paper offers comparison of the water color and engraving series and traces the process of the Russian Alphabet creation from preliminary sketches to the final edition.
Olga Schedrova
Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, Russia
The second half of the 18th and early 19th century is the time when the issues of theory of restoration became a subject of a systematic study in Russia. This period is marked by the change of attitude to modifications carried out in course of restoration in the Renaissance and in the 17th century. As a result some of them were removed. Special works on the issues of reconstruction were published. The works of I. I. Vien, P. P. Chekalyevsky, A. N. Olenin are important sources for the examination of the approaces to the issues of restoration.
A conference secretary of the Academy of Fine Arts P. Chekalevsky in his “Discourse on the Free Arts” postulates independent aesthetic value of fragments. Recognition of the value of a ruined monument appears especially important from the point of view of an artistic school and an attitude to the problem of cultural heritage.
The first work offering an attempt of theoretic conceptualization of the issues of sculpture restoration to be published in Russia was “The Thesis on the Influence of Anatomy on Sculpture and Oil Painting” by I. I. Vien. It provides theoretic explanation of the necessity of using the knowledge of anatomy to solve restoration problems.
The first and so far the only work in Russia dedicated to the issues of sculpture reconstruction with the use of gypsum molds is “The Experiment of Restoration of an Ancient Statue of Cupid Stretching the Bow” by A. N. Olenin. In order to carry out a scientifically based reconstruction of the position of human arms stretching a bow, A. N. Olenin gathered a significant ethnographic material and presented the proofs to justify its use.
V. I. Demut-Malinovsky who was entrusted to perform gypsum plastic reconstruction managed to avoid anatomic errors. The illustrations used by A. N. Olenin in his work clearly demonstrate the credibility of his arguments.
The book of A. N. Olenin reflected a new concept of restoration formed as a result of both the study of ancient heritage and the works of European authors and general development of historical scientific ideas of the second half of the 18th century and laid the foundation for further development of theoretic restoration principles of the 19th century.
Tatyana Sidorova-Slusarenko
State TV and Radio Company “Kultura”, Russia
The subject discussed in the report could provide a new look at the works of Alexey Venetsianov, as well as at certain aspects of Biedermeier style.
It was long ago pointed out that the Enlightenment, despite its didactic character, was a sort of a continuation of the ideas of the Renaissance at a new level. The ideal was considered as a synthesis of the natural elements of the world around, the triumph of scientific and technical knowledge was proclaimed, a new type of an artist-the-scientist emerged, etc. Such a “Renaissance” aspect of the Enlightenment was reflected in a special human-oriented, non-official form of classicism, to which the Biedermeier style — namely its early, “high” period (from the 1810s to the early 1830s) is closely linked.
The Renaissance ideals were manifested in Biedermeier artists’ interest to a concrete, diverse reality, which they treated as a reasonably arranged system which could be perceived by both direct observations and theoretical knowledge. This explains a special, truly represented spatial-light environment of the early Biedermeier paintings where people, being self-absorbed, listen to “something more important” rather than talk to each other.
Notwithstanding the fact that Renaissance features were typical for the whole “high Biedermeier”, in Venetsianov’s works — due to national and individual characteristics of the artist — they are especially obvious. Although he was the father of “Russian Biedermeier”, Venetsianov however surpassed it: his works are at the intersection of Biedermeier and human-oriented classicism. The artist took interest in individuals rather than in environment or in interiors, as the representatives of the Western Biedermeier did. He treated his models as a part of the beautiful, reasonable universe. The specific “corporality” of Venetsianov’s paintings, which is related to the features of national mentality, is, however, merged with the “divine corporeality” of the Renaissance paintings. In the current report these and many other features of Renaissance art in the works of Venetsianov will be discussed in detail. Certain aspects of the work of the Russian artist will be compared with the works of some Renaissance masters.
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