Russian Engraving of the 17th Century in the Studies of Dmitry Rovinsky

Abstract

The article is devoted to the works of Dmitry Aleksandrovich Rovinsky (1824—1895), a famous Russian scientist and collector, the founder of Russian engraving studies. There are special articles devoted to him in modern literature, but mostly of a biographical nature. This article explores his methods for studying early Russian engraving of the 17th century. The author shows the directions and approaches to the topic identified and developed by D.A. Rovinsky. Exploring the scientist’s work in the context of the development of art criticism of the 19th century, the article reveals methodological errors in the attribution and identification of iconographic sources of Russian engraving of the 17th century. The article shows the features of D.A. Rovinsky’s approach to specific works, which determined his conclusions and observations in the assessment of Russian engraving of the 17th century, some of them remain relevant today. There are demonstrated the material research characteristics associated with socio-political reasons that determined the direction of censorship in relation to the study of plots and iconographic issues of early Russian engraving. The article shows for the first time the features of studying early Russian engraving of the 17th century as an independent phenomenon, reveals the origins of the formation of modern trends in art criticism (engraving) research, and demonstrates the processes of formation of our ideas about the initial stage of the development of the art of engraving in Russia as a special kind of art and a phenomenon of artistic culture.