Until the beginning of the 18th century, predominantly iconographic traditions developed in Russian painting

According to the memoirs of contemporaries, in Russia at that time any images were mistaken for icons: often, when they came to a stranger’s house, Russians, according to custom, bowed to the first picture that caught their eye. However, in the 18th century. painting gradually began to acquire European features: artists mastered linear perspective, which allowed them to convey the depth of space, sought to correctly depict the volume of objects using chiaroscuro, and studied anatomy in order to accurately reproduce the human body. The technique of oil painting spread, and new genres emerged.

A special place in Russian painting of the 18th century. took the portrait. The earliest works of this genre are close to the parsuna of the 17th century. The characters are solemn and static.

Ivan Nikitich Nikitin (1680 - c. 1742) was one of the first Russian portrait painters. Already in his early portraits - the elder sister of Peter I Natalya Alekseevna (1715-1716) and his daughter Anna Petrovna (before 1716) - the volume and natural pose of the model were conveyed with skill that was rare for that time. However, some simplification is obvious in these works: the figures are snatched from the darkness of an indefinite space by a beam of bright light and exist without connection with the environment; the artist still ineptly depicts the structure of the figure and the texture of materials - velvet, fur, jewelry.

Returning to St. Petersburg after a four-year trip to Italy, Nikitin created his best works, which showed the artist’s increased skill. This is a portrait of Chancellor G.I. Golovkin and a portrait known as “The Floor Hetman” (both from the 20s).

During the Peter the Great era, many foreign masters settled in Russia, working in different styles and genres. Johann Gottfried Tannauer (1680-1737), who came from Germany, painted portraits of members of the imperial family and

close associates of Peter I, as well as battle paintings. His famous painting “Peter I in the Battle of Poltava” (10s) is a type of portrait of a commander against the backdrop of a battle, common in Europe.

Louis Caravaque (1684-1754), a French master invited to Russia, soon achieved great fame and the position of court painter. He worked in Russia for many years and painted portraits of all Russian monarchs from Peter to Elizabeth. His brush is the famous ceremonial portrait of Anna Ioannovna in a coronation dress (1730), which served as a model for other works of this genre. The portrait conveys not only the appearance of the empress - a woman of powerful physique, depicted in a solemn and majestic pose, but also her nature, superstitious and suspicious. Many Russian painters of the mid-18th century came from Caravacca’s workshop.

By the end of the 20s - 30s. XVIII century refers to the short but brilliant work of the painter Andrei Matveevich Matveev (1701 - 1739). Having spent more than ten years in Holland and Flanders, he became the first Russian master who knew how to “write stories and persons,” that is, not only portraits, but also paintings on mythological and historical subjects.

However, Matveev is most famous as a portrait painter. His most famous work is considered to be “Portrait of a Spouse” (circa 1729). Arguments among art critics about who is depicted on it have not subsided to this day. Most likely, this is a self-portrait of the artist with his wife, i.e. the first self-portrait in the history of Russian painting.

From 1727 until his death, Matveev headed the “painting team” of the Chancellery from buildings. Before the opening of the Academy of Arts, almost all artists studied and served there.

By the 40-50s. XVIII century refers to the work of Ivan Yakovlevich Vishnyakov (1699-1761). Vishnyakov’s most exquisite portrait depicts Sarah Eleanor Fermor, daughter of the head of the Chancellery of Buildings (1749). A young girl in a luxurious silver-gray satin dress embroidered with flowers is preparing to curtsy. She gracefully holds a fan in her hand. The hands on Vishnyakov’s canvases are almost always painted with special grace: the fingers only lightly touch the objects, as if sliding along their surface. In “Portrait of Sarah Fermor”, attention is drawn to both the delicate painting of lace and the decorative landscape background, the motifs of which echo the embroidery on the dress.

Alexei Petrovich Antropov (1716-1795) never managed to overcome some of the iconographic flatness of the image: in his portraits the viewer does not feel the space surrounding the models. Thus, in the “Portrait of the State Lady A. M. Izmailova” (1759), an elderly and rough woman, the bright colors of the foreground are contrasted with an absolutely dark, “deaf” background. In the portrait of Peter III (17b2), depicted by the artist as a commander with a marshal's baton in his hand, one is struck by the contrast between the doll-like graceful figure of the monarch and the pompous setting with the attributes of imperial power - a mantle, an orb and a crown - against the background of the battle.

In the second half of the 18th century, new genres appeared in the painting of Russian masters - landscape, everyday life and history, which the Academy of Arts considered the main ones. However, the most significant works were still created in the portrait genre.

"PETER'S BAROQUE"

Peter's time - Peter's reforms - was a turning point for all Russian life, marking the transition from the Middle Ages to the New Age. At the same time, orientation towards Western Europe became decisive and even forced. Under the influence of the West, as well as at the behest of time, art gradually took on a more secular character, freeing itself from the bonds of religion.

The foundations of the new art were laid in Moscow. The Church in Dubrovitsy, the Church of the Archangel Gabriel (Menshikov Tower), the Sukharev Tower, the Lefortovo Palace were original forerunners of the new, Petersburg, style. This unique artistic style, which developed in special historical, geographical and climatic conditions, was a reflection of Peter’s personal tastes.

The city, founded in the delta of the Neva River by the emperor himself and named Petersburg in honor of his heavenly patron, the Holy Apostle Peter, was supposed to realize the dream of a new ideal city. Peter conceived it as a version of his beloved Holland, as a port city-fortress. But, according to the Russian artist and art historian A.N. Ben, the only intention was to make something Dutch from St. Petersburg, but it turned out to be its own, special... St. Petersburg style is a special feeling of space and historical time. The appearance of St. Petersburg is, first of all, a combination of the low northern sky, the lead-gray expanse of the Neva and the soaring verticals of gilded spiers. The Neva, “its sovereign current”, is the main “avenue” of the city, its main “square”. This “pathos of breadth” - the predominance of the horizontal line over the vertical - was determined by the originality of the landscape - the water spaces of the Bolshaya Neva, Malaya Neva, Bolshaya Nevka, Malaya Nevka, Fontanka, Moika, Catherine Canal, Kryukov Canal, etc. The connection of water and land gives perfect horizontal lines. Above the horizontal lines of the water and embankments rises a strip of houses placed next to each other, almost at the same level, due to the established requirement to build no higher than the Winter.

This jagged, seemingly trembling line of houses against the sky creates an impression of ghostliness, ephemerality of urban development, which is enhanced by the play of light and the colorful range of lemon-white buildings, marble and granite. The continuous development of streets is typical for St. Petersburg, while the streets, due to the absence of ascents and descents, become, as it were, the interior of the city. Gardens and squares were “built” into the dense lines of houses, which serves as another expression of the horizontality of the city.

The characteristic elements of the city landscape - the spiers of the Peter and Paul Fortress, the Admiralty and the Mikhailovsky Castle - are perpendicular to the horizontal lines and thereby emphasize them. The spiers are echoed by the tall bell towers of the cathedrals.

The uniqueness of the St. Petersburg style was determined by the fact that the city rose by the will of one person, immediately and from scratch. Moscow, picturesquely spread out “on seven hills,” grew spontaneously around its historical center in

for many centuries. Petersburg was built in just a quarter of a century and almost immediately in stone.

The construction of the new capital was associated with the events of the Northern War (1700-1721), which was waged between Russia and Sweden for the liberation of primordially Russian lands on the banks of the Neva and the Gulf of Finland in order to establish itself on the Baltic Sea.

In May 1703, the ceremonial foundation of the fortress took place on Hare Island. In the same year, a wooden church in the name of the apostles Peter and Paul, topped with a spire, was founded in the center of the earthen fortress. The first seven years of the city’s existence constituted the “wooden period” of its history, from which only the house of Peter I on Berezovsky Island has survived.

1st half of the 18th century – the era of Petrine reforms. At this time, all types of fine arts reach their peak. Peter's reforms were aimed at Europeanizing all areas of Russian life. Understanding the urgent needs of the country, he overcame backwardness with decisive measures. Encouraged the use of European experience in all areas. He believed that Russian society needed to master the language of poetry and art accepted in Europe with allegories and mythological images commonly used there. Those. in fact, Peter created a new aesthetics. Peter orders a large number of professionals from Europe, but in addition to visitors, Peter is working to create his own national personnel in all areas. Uses the practice of sending the most talented youth abroad, introduces the concept retirement(a person who went abroad to study at state expense). In the era of Peter, serving the fatherland, using one’s talent, is important, and generosity takes a back seat. Interest in people is growing in society. Based on this, portraiture becomes the leading genre.

Russian portraits of the early 18th century (painting) traced the traditions of the artistic experience of ancient Rus' (parsuna, icon), folk art (DPI), and used European cultural traditions. Unlike the medieval era, when all artists worked on orders from the church, in the 18th century secular art and literature developed intensively (book publications were widely illustrated). Before his death, Peter 1 issued a decree establishing the Academy of Arts and Sciences. Painting The leading genre is portrait. At this time, the genre of easel painting with historical and everyday content emerged. In the earliest portraits there is a strong influence of the old parsuna Portrait of Yakov Turgenev, 90s of the 17th century Member of the entertainment gathering of Peter the Great’s time, “An increasingly drunken, extravagant gathering.” Parsunality lies in the static nature of the pose, the flat interpretation of the figure, the folds of clothing are written very closely with spaces (like clothing on an icon). On the other hand, there is a caustic mockery, a grin, the vitality of the face. A mockery of past church rituals and asceticism. The image of the "European jester". Ivan Nikitich Nikitin (circa 1685 - not earlier than 1742) After studying in Italy, he returns to Russia as the first artist. “Portrait in a circle or Portrait of Peter the Great” The individuality of the master. Unlike Western European masters who painted a ceremonial portrait of the emperor, Nikitin does not emphasize royalty, but emphasizes the person. The background is dark, from which the light of the beam that snatches Peter's face is captured. Very contrasting transitions of light and shadow. Fatigue, thoughtfulness, and intelligence are emphasized. Looking into the distance. Depth of internal content, sincerity, truthful transmission of internal state. "Peter 1 on his deathbed" The portrait is not finished. Painted for several hours after death. Expressive portrait. He conveyed his own attitude towards Peter, the folds on the pillow, the calm, noble face. An attempt to snatch precious features from eternity. "Portrait of Praskovya Ioannovna" There is a lot of Old Russian painting present. There is no anatomical correctness. Black and white modeling is carried out from dark to light, but he does it from dark to light. Static pose. Lack of color reflexes, i.e. the light is even and diffused. The folds on the clothes are written in a style similar to the spaces on the icons. A certain character and self-esteem can be read in the face. Very expressive eyes are the center of the composition. Not the slightest coquetry, absolute silence of beauty, nothing ostentatious. "Portrait of Chancellor Count Golovkin" Count, representative of high society. Clothes, wig, no exposure. The Chancellor is a politician, a diplomat, so there is a certain detachment from us. Straight posture, smart look. He appears as he wants to be to others. "Portrait of the Napolny Hetman"

An old warrior, seasoned in battle. A courageous man, all open, no wig. Natural, in his openness, ready to meet face to face with the enemy. Using chiaroscuro, it attracts attention to the eye. The look is stern, but there is strength and nobility. Andrey Matveevich Matveev (1701/1704 – 1739) He is known as the author of a number of portraits, paintings, and decorative paintings, which he completed for the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the Winter Palace, etc. In the last years of his life he led the “painting team of the Office of Buildings.” This organization was engaged in interior paintings of various architectural structures. After death, Vishnyakov (“Portrait of Sarah Fermor”) will become the team leader. He made portraits of emperors. "Portrait of Peter 1" Portrait in an oval. State of activity. Vital. "Portrait of Golitsyna" By order of the Golitsyns, a paired portrait was commissioned. State lady - close to the empress. There was also the “Prince-Abbess of the All-Shutei Cathedral.” She was publicly flogged in connection with the case of Tsarevich Alexei. An expressive image, conveying to the face a mixture of grumpiness, arrogance, resentment, and bewilderment. Straight back, head held high. An unusual characteristic of the model. The author sympathizes, but does not condemn. "Self-portrait with his wife" For the first time, an expression of feelings, an expression of love is shown. He holds your hand with one hand and hugs your shoulders with the other. Very gentle and sensitive relationship. Maximum unity. The motive of a “life partner” is born. He admires him, he stands a little behind, so his wife’s figure is more illuminated. Showing the lyrics of feelings. Alexey Petrovich Antropov (1716-1795) Son of a soldier. At the age of 16 he began to study with Matveev, and then with Vishnyakov. Together with Vishnyakov, he creates a number of decorative paintings in different cities of Russia. In 1752, Antropov was invited to Kyiv to paint the interior of St. Andrew's Church. Upon returning from Kyiv, he occupies the position of chief artist of the Synod. He supervises the activities of all icon painters and himself paints portraits of priests. In his portraits he manages to capture and convey the most essential and therefore his portraits have amazing vitality. Characteristic in portraits is a half-length image, the figure and face are as close as possible to the viewer. The coloristic solution is based on the contrasts of local color spots. Contrast cut-off modeling of volumes. Elderly faces were particularly successful. He noted that they contained signs of a life lived. He created images of great authenticity. "Portrait of Izmailova" Accessories of distinction that speak of social status. "Portrait of Buturlina" Traces of a life lived. A sad look, sadness, memories of what was, what was lost. It is impossible to talk about a subtle psychological portrait, but at the same time it is impossible to say that the author of the portrait strives for an exclusive transfer of portrait features. It was possible to capture what was essential in the character. "Portrait of Rumyantseva" Lots of light and warmth. Cheerfulness. The essential principle is caught by another. Enlightenment. "Portrait of Peter 3" The pomp and pomp only emphasizes Peter’s inadequacy. Ivan Petrovich Argunov (1729-1802) A representative of a dynasty of artists who were Sheremetyevo’s serfs from time immemorial. Known primarily as a portrait painter. I had to paint portraits of the St. Petersburg nobility. I made sketches and then wrote from memory. The most fruitful decade was 1750-1760. At this time, Argunov studied with the artist Groot. At this time, he mastered the style of ceremonial portraiture. “Portraits of Khripunov with his wife” Like Antropov, he gives close-ups of models. A simple face, but a smart look. "Portrait of Labanov-Rostovsky" Proud pose. Admiring yourself. Contrast of blue and red. It manages to convey the materiality of the thing. He outlines the fur trim and airy cuff of the shirt. “Portrait of an unknown peasant woman in Russian costume” Beautiful well-groomed skin, like marble. Purity, wisdom, the height of natural, natural beauty. Living beauty. Warm color. He depicts a simple Russian woman in the genre of a commissioned portrait, because... he portrayed her as a state lady. Showed the greatness and beauty of a simple woman. Sculpture.Bartolomeo Carlo Rastrelli (1675 – 1744)

There are many works in the portrait genre and in decorative monumental sculpture. Bust of Peter 1 Typical Baroque sculpture. Call for decorativeness. Baroque is a dynamic composition with emphasized spatiality and an emphasis on many textures. It has black and white contrasts of plastic masses and their painting. This is more of a portrait of an entire era, rather than a specific individual. This generalization gives the bust the features of monumentality. The dynamism and impetuosity of the Baroque is visible in the folds. The proudly raised head of Peter is the image of Russia, ready to compete with Europe. Interest in details. Equestrian statue of Peter 1 Stands near the Mikhailovsky Castle. During Rastrelli's lifetime, only the model was cast, and after his death it was cast by his son. The spirit of equestrian statues of antiquity and the Middle Ages. Internal aspiration is transmitted. There is a laurel wreath on his head - he is the winner of all his endeavors and reforms. Clarity and harmony of composition. Complex movement, pomp - baroque. The gigantic image personifies victorious Russia. Anna Ioannovna with Little Little Arab Rastrelli shows the fashion of that time (at that time it was possible to have a black man in his service). Contrast: on the one hand, the motif of ostentation is inherent in the figure of Anna Ioannovna. Inner core, proud spruce, arrogant. She's in full dress. Rastrelli makes it according to the latest fashion of the time. The attire shows her belonging to Europe. Hard appearance in facial features, despotism. Asian despotism, but dressed in European fashion. On the other hand, the genre characteristic of the little arap is an everyday nuance. The contrast of the mass is the small figure of the little black and the large figure of Anna Ioannovna.

The eighteenth century in Western Europe is the last stage of a long transition from feudalism to capitalism. In the middle of the century, the process of primitive accumulation of capital was completed, struggle was waged in all spheres of social consciousness, and a revolutionary situation was maturing. Later it led to the dominance of classical forms of developed capitalism. Over the course of a century, a gigantic breakdown of all social and state foundations, concepts and criteria for assessing the old society took place. A civilized public arose, periodicals appeared, political parties were formed, and there was a struggle for the emancipation of man from the shackles of a feudal-religious worldview.

In the fine arts, the importance of directly realistic reflection of life increased. The sphere of art expanded, it became an active exponent of liberation ideas, filled with topicality, fighting spirit, and exposed the vices and absurdities of not only feudal, but also the emerging bourgeois society. It also put forward a new positive ideal of the unfettered personality of a person, free from hierarchical ideas, developing individual abilities and at the same time endowed with a noble sense of citizenship. Art became national, appealing not only to a circle of refined connoisseurs, but to a broad democratic environment.

The main trends in the social and ideological development of Western Europe in the 18th century manifested themselves unevenly in different countries. If in England the industrial revolution, which took place in the mid-18th century, consolidated the compromise between the bourgeoisie and the nobility, then in France the anti-feudal movement was more widespread and prepared the bourgeois revolution. What was common to all countries was the crisis of feudalism, its ideology, the formation of a broad social movement - the Enlightenment, with its cult of the primary untouched Nature and Reason that protects it, with its criticism of modern corrupt civilization and the dream of the harmony of benign nature and a new democratic civilization gravitating towards the natural condition.

The eighteenth century is the century of Reason, all-destroying skepticism and irony, the century of philosophers, sociologists, economists; The exact natural sciences, geography, archeology, history, and materialist philosophy related to technology developed. Invading the mental everyday life of the era, scientific knowledge created the foundation for accurate observation and analysis of reality for art. The Enlightenment declared the purpose of art to be the imitation of nature, but an orderly, improved nature (Diderot, A. Pop), purified by reason from the harmful effects of man-made civilization created by an absolutist regime, social inequality, idleness and luxury. The rationalism of philosophical and aesthetic thought of the 18th century, however, did not suppress the freshness and sincerity of feeling, but gave rise to a striving for proportionality, grace, and harmonious completeness of artistic phenomena of art, from architectural ensembles to applied art. The Enlightenmentists attached great importance in life and art to feeling - the focus of the noblest aspirations of humanity, a feeling thirsting for purposeful action that contains the power that revolutionizes life, a feeling capable of reviving the primordial virtues of the “natural man” (Defoe, Rousseau, Mercier), following natural laws nature.

Rousseau’s aphorism “Man is great only by his feelings” expressed one of the remarkable aspects of social life of the 18th century, which gave rise to in-depth, sophisticated psychological analysis in realistic portrait and genre, the lyrical landscape is imbued with the poetry of feelings (Gainsborough, Watteau, Berne, Robert) “lyrical novel”, “ poems in prose" (Rousseau, Prevost, Marivaux, Fielding, Stern, Richardson), it reaches its highest expression in the rise of music (Handel, Bach, Gluck, Haydn, Mozart, opera composers of Italy). The heroes of artistic works of painting, graphics, literature and theater of the 18th century were, on the one hand, “little people” - people, like everyone else, placed in the usual conditions of the era, not spoiled by wealth and privileges, subject to ordinary natural movements of the soul, content with modest happiness. Artists and writers admired their sincerity, naive spontaneity of soul, close to nature. On the other hand, the focus is on the ideal of an emancipated civilized intellectual person, generated by the Enlightenment culture, the analysis of his individual psychology, contradictory mental states and feelings with their subtle shades, unexpected impulses and reflective moods.

Keen observation and a refined culture of thought and feeling are characteristic of all artistic genres of the 18th century. Artists sought to capture everyday life situations of varied shades, original individual images, gravitated towards entertaining narratives and enchanting spectacle, acute conflict actions, dramatic intrigues and comedic plots, sophisticated grotesque, buffoonery, graceful pastorals, gallant festivities.

New problems were also raised in architecture. The importance of church construction decreased, and the role of civil architecture increased, exquisitely simple, updated, freed from excessive imposingness. In some countries (France, Russia, partly Germany) the problems of planning cities of the future were being solved. Architectural utopias were born (graphic architectural landscapes - Giovanni Battista Piranesi and the so-called “paper architecture”). The type of private, usually intimate residential building and urban ensembles of public buildings became characteristic. At the same time, in the art of the 18th century, compared to previous eras, the synthetic perception and fullness of life coverage decreased. The former connection between monumental painting and sculpture and architecture was broken; the features of easel painting and decorativeness intensified in them. The art of everyday life and decorative forms became the subject of a special cult. At the same time, the interaction and mutual enrichment of various types of art increased; the achievements gained by one type of art were more freely used by others. Thus, the influence of theater on painting and music was very fruitful.

The art of the 18th century went through two stages. The first lasted until 1740–1760. It is characterized by the modification of late Baroque forms into the decorative Rococo style. The originality of the art of the first half of the 18th century lies in the combination of witty and mocking skepticism and sophistication. This art, on the one hand, is refined, analyzing the nuances of feelings and moods, striving for graceful intimacy, restrained lyricism, on the other hand, gravitating towards the “philosophy of pleasure”, towards fabulous images of the East - Arabs, Chinese, Persians. Simultaneously with Rococo, the realistic direction developed - among some masters it acquired an acutely accusatory character (Hogarth, Swift). The struggle between artistic trends within national schools was openly manifested. The second stage is associated with the deepening of ideological contradictions, the growth of self-awareness, and political activity of the bourgeoisie and the masses. At the turn of the 1760s–1770s. The Royal Academy in France opposed Rococo art and tried to revive the ceremonial, idealizing style of academic art of the late 17th century. The gallant and mythological genres gave way to the historical with plots borrowed from Roman history. They were designed to emphasize the greatness of the monarchy, which had lost its authority, in accordance with the reactionary interpretation of the ideas of “enlightened absolutism.”

Representatives of progressive thought turned to the heritage of antiquity. In France, Comte de Queylus opened a scientific era of research in this field (Collected Antiquities, 7 volumes, 1752–1767). In the mid-18th century, the German archaeologist and art historian Winckelmann (History of the Art of Antiquity, 1764) called on artists to return to “the noble simplicity and calm grandeur of ancient art, reflecting the freedom of the Greeks and Romans of the republican era.” The French philosopher Diderot found stories in ancient history that denounced tyrants and called for an uprising against them. Classicism arose, which contrasted the decorativeness of Rococo with natural simplicity, the subjective arbitrariness of passions - knowledge of the laws of the real world, a sense of proportion, nobility of thought and action. For the first time, artists studied ancient Greek art at newly discovered monuments. The proclamation of an ideal, harmonious society, the primacy of duty over feeling, the pathos of reason are common features of classicism of the 17th and 18th centuries. However, the classicism of the 17th century, which arose on the basis of national unification, developed in the context of the flourishing of noble society. Classicism of the 18th century was characterized by an anti-feudal revolutionary orientation. It was called upon to unite the progressive forces of the nation to fight absolutism. Outside France, classicism did not have the revolutionary character that characterized it in the early years of the French Revolution.

At the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century. in Russian culture there is a transition of exceptional importance for the further paths of its historical evolution from medieval religious forms of spiritual life to secular culture and science. The decisive leap in the cultural life of the country was not sudden and, moreover, was not the result of the activity, will and desire of even such a truly extraordinary historical figure as Peter I.

The turn was caused by the internal laws of development of the Russian noble-landlord society and the emerging economic unity of the country. To successfully solve the major international problems posed by history to the Russian state, it was necessary to raise the state structure and military affairs to a modern level, strengthen the emerging manufactories in the country, give impetus to the development of science and culture, freeing them from the shackles of religious tutelage.

The historical significance of the reforms of Peter I lay in the fact that, in the interests of the noble state, he accelerated the implementation of a historically overdue turn with that iron persistence and consistency, with that merciless cruelty, which, by the way, always manifested itself when the cause of historical progress was carried out by the exploiting classes through strengthening the absolute power of the monarch or his all-powerful minister.

The reforms of Peter I, as a result of which the Russian feudal-absolutist state finally took shape, strengthened serfdom, the dominance of the nobility and at the same time raised the importance of the merchants, who multiplied their capital thanks to the benefits received and the encouragement of trade and industry. At the same time, in the second half of the 17th and early 18th centuries. As a result of Russia's foreign policy successes, its international importance has grown. It has occupied one of the significant places in international life; Not only economic, but also cultural ties between Russia and many foreign countries expanded and strengthened.

The rapid and decisive transition in Russian artistic culture to secular art, based on the experience of the development of European post-Renaissance realism, was prepared by the entire previous stage of the history of Russian culture. Wonderful ancient Russian art, which made such a great contribution to world culture, by the 17th century. has exhausted its possibilities. The aesthetic tasks posed by the new stage of the historical development of Russia, the interests of the further development of the spiritual culture of the Russian nation could not be successfully resolved in the conventional, church forms of the old art that had become obsolete and came into conflict with the course of life.

An appeal to a comprehensive knowledge of the world, the introduction of exact sciences, rational research methods, propaganda of the strength and organization of the secular state, overcoming medieval inertia - these were the tasks set for culture by the objective course of development of Russian society of that time. Previous 17th century in the history of Russian art, this is a time of slow and hesitant growth of the features of a new type of realism, a time of gradual grinding and collapse of old methods and forms of medieval art. It was in the 17th century. interest in nature, in the motives of a real landscape and a realistic perspective is awakened. During these years, the genre of portraiture, the so-called parsuna, also emerged. However, the “secularization” of culture and art occurred within the framework outlined by the dominant religious form of culture. Naturally, the results achieved were half-hearted, a compromise.

The need for a decisive historical leap was brewing. It was carried out at the beginning of the 18th century. Thanks to this leap, Russian culture, after a certain break, joined the general course of cultural and artistic European progress. Russian art took the place befitting the art of a great people, a great nation, and again after the heyday of the 11th-16th centuries. made an important and original contribution to the artistic culture of mankind. When characterizing the art of Russia in the 18th century, one should keep in mind the multinational character of the Russian state, which emerged already in the 16th and 17th centuries. and further developed in the 18th century. In Ukraine, Belarus, annexed in the first quarter of the 18th century. Baltic art developed in close interaction with Russian culture, and at the same time the formation of national art schools continued.

Russian art of the 18th century. experienced several stages of development. The first of them is associated with the reforms of Peter I. During these years, the formation and strengthening of a strong centralized state took place, entering the international arena. Patriotic service to national interests was considered the first duty of the Russian person. The Russian Empire was an absolute monarchy that protected the interests of landowners and partly merchants, but its activities were still progressive in nature, carrying out the cause of historical progress in the only form possible at that time.

Art of the first quarter of the 18th century. reflected the creative pathos that was characteristic of that time. New ideas about the value of the human person, the conquest of Russian weapons, the grandiose construction of these years unusually expanded the mental horizons of the Russian person.

After a short period of the so-called boyar reaction in the mid-18th century. a new rise of Russian art is coming. From the second half of the 18th century. Russian artistic culture occupies one of the leading places in European art. Her contribution to the development of architecture is especially significant. The scope of urban planning and the perfection of artistic solutions turn Russian architecture into one of the significant phenomena of world culture. The flourishing of Russian architecture, both during the period of its connections with the Baroque (until the end of the 1760s), and especially during the formation of classicism, has historical reasons. The fact is that in the 18th century, Russian noble absolutism, unlike the old regimes of Western Europe that were heading toward decline, had far from exhausted its historical viability.

The shocks of the peasant war led by Emelyan Pugachev, which clearly showed that the problem of preserving or abolishing serfdom became the main social problem of the era, the emerging conflict between the feudal autocracy and the emerging freedom-loving direction in the development of Russian social thought (Fonvizin, Novikov, Radishchev), although they revealed all the limitations The social and cultural positions of absolutism were still not strong enough to crush the building of the noble monarchy. In Russia there were no social forces capable of sweeping away the serfdom and the corresponding state and replacing it with more advanced social relations; there was no well-organized, economically strong, politically mature bourgeois class.

The Russian Enlightenment, which originated in the 1760s, in most cases was only an opposition movement that did not encroach on the class hegemony of the nobility. Its best representatives rebelled against the sovereign despotism of Catherine II, against the landowners’ abuse of their power over the peasants, but for the most part they did not question the very foundations of the noble monarchy, that is, they did not rise to the ideas of a revolutionary transformation of society. They believed that the path to the destruction of all the vices of the serfdom system was enlightenment, that is, the education of the Russian nobility in the humanistic principles of justice, the expansion of their mental horizons. Only a very few of the people in this circle rose above their class in solving the pressing social problems of our time; such a person was the largest representative of the Russian enlightenment of the 18th century. A. N. Radishchev, who came to the idea of ​​a revolutionary overthrow of the existing social order. Therefore, the Russian noble state, although it revealed, especially in the last third of the 18th century, its exploitative and protective function, retained the ability, albeit inconsistently and contradictorily, to solve a number of national problems facing the country, such as governing the state, fighting in the international arena for the state interests of Russia, the well-known development of productive forces, the rise of culture, etc.

Naturally, this created especially favorable conditions for the success of architecture, the flourishing of which was possible only with the powerful support of the state or large civil groups. At the same time, the formation of a layer of progressive and democratically minded minds, their influence on leading artists determined the possibility of saturating the architectural images of the erected structures with a broader humanistic ideological content than the official program of perpetuating the noble state. This trait was reflected with particular force in the work of such a brilliant architect as Bazhenov.

In the field of sculpture and painting, the achievements of Russian culture of the 18th century. are also very significant, although in the field of fine arts the ugly sides of the autocratic regime and its apologetics had a more noticeable restrictive influence on the ideological and artistic level of works than was the case in the field of architecture. At the same time, the actual humanistic and civically progressive tendencies appeared more clearly in the fine arts. In particular, in Russian painting and sculpture of this time, the ideas of the high moral dignity of man asserted themselves with particular artistic persuasiveness. In the art of Rokotov, Levitsky, in the sculpture of Shubin there is a European realistic portrait of the 18th century. found one of his most wonderful incarnations. Monumental and decorative sculpture, inextricably linked with the great architectural ensembles of the era, also achieved great success. “The Bronze Horseman” by Falconet, the work of Kozlovsky, together with the work of Houdon, form the peak in the heyday of European sculpture of this time.

In general, Russian art of the 18th century is an important milestone not only in the history of Russian artistic culture, it played a major role in establishing the progressive aesthetic ideals of European culture of the 18th century. generally.