Abstract
The article is the first to consider in detail the semantics of depicting the family tree of Tsar Peter I on the title page of the book “Alphabet”, published in 1705 by Chernigov Archbishop John Maksimovich. Under the first sovereigns of Romanov dynasty, the visual genealogy of the tsar family was of a spiritual nature and was focused on representing the chosenness by God of the new dynasty. The image of the royal tree under study was the first in which political meaning predominated. It demonstrated the procedure for transferring the throne from great-grandfathers to ancestors on the basis, of legal law, later enshrined in Russian legislation, and not just religious ideas about the origin of the supreme power. The study of material from Western European visual genealogy of the early modern time made it possible to identify images that could serve as models for the compiler of iconography and the artist who engraved the title page of “Alphabet”. First of all, those are the works of French engraver Philippe Thomassin (1562–1622), who was the author of Bourbon family tree. His scheme was repeatedly reproduced in other European countries. Foreign influence is also revealed, both in the very principle of selection and arrangement of persons on the family tree of Peter I, and in the symbolic elements of the composition. Analysis of the image shows that the tree visualizes new political ideas and values that are actively being formed in Petrine absolutist state based on European models.
Published Version
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