In the eighteenth century, Russia emerged as a truly European power. Yet despite the presence of Russians in Europe and Europeans in Russia, the vast Russian Empire continued to be perceived as a quasi-oriental land. As a result, those artists and works of art that moved from West to East were – and sometimes still are — all too often seen as vanishing into a distant realm. This panel will highlight current research on the Russian art world and its engagement with Western Europe in the eighteenth century. Short presentations will examine the importance of the French tradition to St. Petersburg’s Imperial Academy of Arts, Russian artists’ travel to the Netherlands and Paris, Russian patronage of Venetian art, connections between Russian and British art as reflected in portraits by Rokotov and Gainsborough, and Russian collecting of classical antiquities.
We invite specialists in all areas to take part in the discussion that follows, which will also address the place of the Russian Empire in eighteenth-century scholarship and teaching.
Presenting established and emerging scholars in the USA, Britain and Russia, this work furthers HECAA’s mission of broadening the geographical scope of eighteenth-century studies by moving beyond work connecting Europe with its colonial others.
Thursday 23 September at 9:00 Los Angeles, 12:00 New York, 17:00 London, 18:00 Moscow
Registration required: https://bit.ly/russiaroundtable (NB: registration closes 24 hours before the event)
Изображение: Федор Рокотов. Портрет Струйской. Третьяковская галерея и Томас Гейнсборо. Портрет мисс Элизабет Линли. Philadelphia Museum of Art