Донской военный портрет: атрибуция, содержание, интерпретация

Abstract

The Don military portrait is studied as one of the directions of Russian portrait painting of the first half of the 19th century, closely connected with the Cossack class and cultural traditions, the formation of the officer corps and generals, the Don nobility. The dependence of images on public opinion and military-political events in the country, the skill and knowledge of professional and amateur artists, their belonging to local or academic creative schools is shown. As the part of the military portrait, the work stands out with the coat of arms of the Ataman of the Don Army, cavalry general Maxim Grigoryevich Vlasov, emphasizing his personal status and new social position. The attribution, content and interpretation of portraits is carried out using both traditional approaches and with the broad involvement of the historical and subject method, based on auxiliary historical disciplines - uniformology, genealogy, heraldry, phaleristics and prosopography. It is stated that when painting portraits, the artists sought to comply with the rules and requirements for uniforms, awards and heraldry. But there were also serious inaccuracies that mislead researchers. For the first time, the mechanism and methodology of the scientific study of a military portrait, which are important for the Don and Russian portraiture of the 19-20th centuries, are revealed in detail. The composition and symbolism of the portraits are characterized. The debatable issues of studying the Don portrait are characterized, various versions of their attribution and content are proposed on the basis of royal awards, imperial legislation, military events in Russia and abroad. The dates of the portraits are being clarified.