18th century Russian landscape painting

Not only did Russian artistic tradition break from tradition in the post-petrine era (the time after Peter the Great) and import Western aesthetic models, but the dominant artistic mode at the time demanded imitation. It was called “neo-Classicism,” and it was based upon imitating genres and aesthetics from ancient Greece and ancient Rome. Both of these factors led to a fascinating moment in the history of Russian art, because Russian artists could not but depict their own space as though it were an extension of England or Switzerland.

We can recall Christopher Ely’s comments on the painter Martynov for some historical context:

Martynov’s work is full of enthusiasm about the scenery of the Urals and Siberia, but his enthusiasm is expressed in the only aesthetic language he knew. About Krasnoiarsk, for example, Martynov wrote, “both in the city and in its environs, at every step on encounters views meriting the brush of an artist remembering delightful Switzerland.” The resulting landscapes, probably painted after his return home, exhibit a gentle placelessness as reminiscent of England as it is of Siberia

Here is one of the painting Ely has in mind:

This second painting is another attempt to represent Russia, by the artist Semyon Shchedrin in 1796. Not only are the gardens landscaped to imitate Western taste, but the landscape itself is more evocative of Western Europe than the Baltic seaboard.

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