The Problem of European Painting Schools in the Context of the Russian Enlightenment: Alexander Stroganoff (1733–1811) and His Catalogue (1793, 1800, 1807)

Abstract

The Catalogue raisonné des tableaux compiled by Count Alexander Stroganoff at the turn of the nineteenth century is the sole example of a printed catalogue of a private Russian painting collection. The publication of this catalogue has become a crucial event in Russian culture. Stroganoff was not only a prominent representative of the Russian Enlightenment, but also the president of the Imperial Academy of Arts in Saint Petersburg. His particular interest in national European painting schools coincided with the formation of art history in Russia and a time when the country was trying to form its artistic identity and to establish the Russian painting school.