The Russian Canvas: Painting in Imperial Russia, 1757-1881

This fascinating book charts the remarkable rise of Russian painting in the 18th and 19th centuries, and the nature of its relationship with other European schools. The story starts with the foundation of the Imperial Academy of the Arts in 1757 and culminates with the assassination of Tsar Alexander II in 1881, detailing the professionalisation and wide-ranging activities of painters against the backdrop of dramatic social and political change. The Imperial Academy formalised artistic training but later became a foil for dissent, as successive generations of painters negotiated their own positions between pan-European engagement and local and national identities. This groundbreaking work draws on original archival research, and recontextualizes the work of major artists, revives the reputations of others, and explores the complex developments that took Russian painters from provincial anonymity to international acclaim. This book was published to coincide with the National Portrait Gallery's exhibithion Russia and the Arts: The Age of Tolstoy and Tchaikovsky