The Image of the Pre-Petrine Era in Schwartz’s Art and the Historical and Everyday Life Concept in the Russian Historiography of the 1860s

Abstract

The primary goal of this article is to examine the development of the “archaeological” tendency in the Russian history painting of the 1860s and analyse the overlapping between historical works and Schwartz’s paintings. The article considers the emergence of interest in national antiquities and the formation of the image of pre-Petrine everyday life in Russian society in the 1860s. In the 1860s, the formation of the “genre historique” began in Russia. The new type of history painting emerged in France between the 1820s and 1830s. One of the main characteristics of the “genre historique” was its “archaeological accuracy”. The pioneer of the “genre historique” in Russia was painter and intellectual V. G. Schwartz. The appearance of the “genre historique” in Russia coincided with the formation of Zabelin’s historical and everyday life concept and Kostomarov’s ethnographic approach in Russian historiography. The primary focus is on Schwartz’s painting Palm Sunday in Moscow under Tsar Alexis Mikhailovich which is a vivid example of visual reconstruction of the ceremony of a procession on a donkey. The author demonstrates how Schwartz accurately reproduces this ceremony following the travelogues and historical works by comparing this painting with A. I. Charlemagne’s drawing on the same subject. The article refers to archive materials, 19 th -century Russian press, and Zabelin’s and Kostomarov’s works. Since the work is based on the analysis of relations between historical works and Schwartz’s paintings and drawings, the author applies interdisciplinary comparative approach and follows the perspectives of S. Bann’s and B. S. Wright’s works.