The Petrine Revolution in Russian Imagery
- List Price: $80.00
- Binding: Hardcover
- Publisher: Univ of Chicago Pr
- Publish date: 11/01/1997
In this second volume of the series, Cracraft considers the impact of Peter's intensive program of Europeanization on the visual arts, and shows how modern forms of imagery came into being in Russia along with allied techniques of image-making. Drawing on a wealth of primary sources as well as numerous secondary works in Russian and other languages, Cracraft discusses the advent in Russia of painting in the Renaissance tradition, bronze and stone sculpture, and the modern graphic arts. He also discusses the decline of manuscript illumination, the rise of modern coinage, the production of new-style flags and altar cloths, and the arrival in Russia of the new cartography and the new heraldry. Cracraft draws special attention to the early history of the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts, and to the impact of Peter's program on popular imagery and on the cult art of the Russian Orthodox Church. He argues in sum that the imagery of the Russian Empire can tell us as much or more about its dominant ethos and ideology as can the written texts normally studied by historians.
Like its predecessor, "The Petrine Revolution in Russian Architecture", this second volume presents a highly original argument supported by numerous illustrations, many of them not previously published. It will appeal to art historians as wellas to those more generally interested in European or modern history.
"Cracraft has written what must be counted as among the most important books on Russian architecture produced in the last several decades". -- Paul Gapp, Chicago Tribune