Russia In Depth: Russian Art
Art & Architecture
1. Art historians generally agree that the most influential event or current in Russian art was the advent of Christianity among the Russian people in 988AD. Prior to that, art consisted of various types of jewelry, decorated leather goods, and other things that relied heavily on the representation of animal and natural forces.
2. The Russians adopted Christianity from the Byzantines, who held that the church’s physical beauty was an earthly reflection of the glory of God. In time, Byzantine styles in religious art and architecture made its way to the capital of the early Russian state, Kiev, around the year 1100 AD and Northern cities, such as Novgorod, developed distinctive styles in architecture. The Byzantine tradition of painting religious icons and images on wooden panels began to spread in tandem with the construction of churches.
3. Mongol invaders occupied Muscovy for 240 years, beginning in 1240 and ending in 1480. This state of affairs served to insolate the Russians from the Byzantine Empire, and however unfortunate these turn of events were, it did help them introduce into the world a new and original form of art that was a derivative of, but different from, the Byzantine model. During the Mongol period, several innovations came to fruition, including the carved choir screen, used for the hanging of religious icons (such a screen is known as an iconostasis). Important icon painters from the latter part of this period include Andrey Rublev.
4. The fifteenth century was one of transformation. The Russian princes expelled the Mongol occupiers and Moscow became the seat of Russian power and the center of Russian civilization. New buildings were erected, many featuring new and innovative architectural touches. Moscow’s Kremlin, once just a twelfth century wooden fortress, also received a makeover.
5. Throughout the 1500s and 1600s, the tsars patronized icon painting, metalworking and manuscript illumination. Contact with the West steadily increased and Russian art began to increasingly reflect this contact.
6. Russia’s exposure to Western influence increased substantially during the reign of Peter the Great. The Tsar’s new capital, St. Petersburg, saw the construction of many buildings designed by the Italian architects Domenico Trezzini and Bartolomeo Rastrelli. These construction projects were normally under the direction of Peter or his daughter, Elizabeth.