Russian painting

In the fifteenth century changes that began to take place in Russian icon painting brought about the birth of a national art. This evolution is visible in the gradual elimination of the Mediterranean scene represented in the background of icons. Greek basilicas with their porticoes and atria were substituted by Russian churches with their cupolas and kokoshniki. Russian saints and scenes from their lives became subjects for the Russian artists. Muscovite types and native costumes began to appear in icon painting. The colors were extraordinarily brilliant.
 

Many outstanding icon and fresco painters in the 16th century worked first at Novgorod and later at Moscow, thus linking these two schools of painting and introducing Byzantine artistic terms and features to Moscow. The literary movement of the 16th century had a great impact on contemporary painting. Artists were looking for new subjects. Some depicted church preoccupations and prayers or expressed the rites of the church in symbolic images; others pictured parables and legends.
 

At the end of the late 16th century the Stroganov school of painting appeared in Moscow. It represented the last vital stage of medieval painting before the westernization of Russian art at the end of the 17th century. This type was characterized by its small size, its miniature technique, its Eastern choice of colors, and its exquisite refinement of details. Monumentality was replaced by precious virtuosity and deep emotion by decorative elegance. The masters of the Stroganov school made icons specifically for private use. Some of them Prokopy Chirin, Nikifor, and Istoma Savin — later joined the ranks of the icon-painting studios in the Kremlin armoury in Moscow.
 

Moscow icons of the 17th century constitute the last authentically Russian painting. The Stroganov school remained influential until end of the 17th century, but after about 1650 it gradually and lost its refinement. The foundation of the new capital of St.Petersburg in 1703 by Tsar Peter I the Great became a point in Russian art. Although icon painting continued to the Russo-Byzantine tradition throughout the 19th century, major artistic activity shifted to secular art and Europe's Baroque style.

Baroque in Russia was brought from western Europe. It made little impact outside court circles. The traditional icon
for the Orthodox church continued throughout the Baroque period by artists of the Novgorod and Moscow schools. During Peter's reign foreign painters began to arrive in Russia. At the same time groups of young Russians were sent to Italy, France, Holland, and England to study painting. Western influence determined the character of Russian painting for more than two centuries.
 

The art of Peter's age shows almost no trace of Byzantine influence. Only in iconography the old style lasted for some time. Early in the 18th century, religious painting began to give way to secular painting. Dmitry Levitsky stands out as the only important Russian painter of the 18th century to work in the Western style.

Further westernising occurred under the empress Elizabeth (reigned 1741-62), who had French tastes. A great number of vast and luxurious Rococo-style palaces were built, and painting was primarily concerned with their interior decoration — ceilings and walls.The work was carried on chiefly by Italians and Frenchmen.

In 1757 the Academy of Fine Arts was founded in St. Petersburg. Foreign artists - mostly French - were invited to supervise the new school. They trained some remarkable native portraitists, such as Ivan Argunov, Anton Losenko, and Fyodor Rokotov. Their works reflected the ceremonial character of Elizabeth's tastes and showed  little evidence of native Russian sensibility.

Literature: Book "Russian art" A.P. Minyar-Belorucheva