Robert Forrer and his Legacy’s Significance for Studying the History of Russian Printed Fabrics Industry

Abstract

In the context of studying the history of Russian printed fabrics industry, the article analyzes the legacy of Robert Forrer, a Swiss art historian. There are very few publications about this outstanding researcher in Western European historiography. The only sources in Russian telling about R. Forrer are publications by T.A. Dolgodrova. The article deals with issues not covered by T.A. Dolgodrova. In particular, the article analyzes in more detail two R. Forrer’s monumental monographs that laid the foundation for studying printed fabrics. The historian did not study Russian printed fabrics specifically - the analysis of Russian prints production is based on just one item, and even this of only supposedly Russian work. However, the data he studied are very valuable for the subject of our interest. R. Forrer provides sources unknown in Russia that describe the trade in cotton prints at the Nizhny Novgorod fair; valuable information about the first Russian manufactories foundation in Ivanovo and Moscow; information about the technical equipment of the Shlisselburg Manufactory in the 1810s. Special attention should be paid to the process of producing a unique handkerchief ordered by Emperor Alexander I at a Swiss factory owned by Eduard Reiner where R. Forrer’s great-grandfather worked. The information about Russian printed fabrics production collected and presented by R. Forrer is of great practical importance. The printed fabrics of other countries in the works of R. Forrer are also of interest for studying the ways by which the European samples entered Russia.