Western European Engraving of the 17th — 18th Centuries from the Art Room of St. Vladimir’s University in the Collection of the National Museum of History of Ukraine

Abstract

The National Museum of History of Ukraine keeps Western European engraving of the 17th — 18th centuries, from the collection of the Imperial University of Vilna, as evidenced by the seals affixed to some sheets. It is known that its art collection became one of the foundations for the creation of the Art Room of St. Vladimir’s University and was the basic study guide for teaching drawing and painting. Such masters as J. Leonardis, Pietro Bettelini, Pierre-Imbert Dreve, R. Strange, Jan Miel, Hieronymus Ferroni, F. Bartolozzi, Lebas Jacques-Philippe, Sebastiеn Leclerc, and others present the collection in French, English, Italian, German engravings. The history of these sheets has not been properly researched and introduced into scientific circulation. The Kyiv archives contain catalogs of paintings, sculptures and engravings, which were transferred from the Imperial University of Vilna to the University of St. Vladimir, compiled by the drawing teacher B. Klembovsky in 1833. However, it should be noted that they contain very little information about the engravings, only their title, author and quantity. Unfortunately, a detailed catalog of art collections of St. Vladimir’s University has not yet been found, although it is known that B. Klembovsky and a teacher of French, Professor Mokhovych, described each item in detail and entered the data in the material book. The author in his research identifies Western European engravings of the 17th — 18th centuries with the catalogs compiled by B. Klembovsky, clarifies provenance, proves the integrity of the collection, makes re-attribution and complements the primary attribution (clarification of names, authors, dating, etc.). The presented material will be useful for researchers, museum staff and art critics who came across similar engravings (with similar pencil marks and seals of Vilnius University) while studying the collections of graphic works.