The silhouette in Russia in the 18th century. Druzhinin P.A.

The book of the historian, senior researcher at the Russian Language Institute named after V.V. Vinogradov of the Russian Academy of Sciences Peter Druzhinin is devoted to a portrait silhouette - a unique iconographic technique, which received unprecedented spread in Europe in the last third of the 18th century. Russia was not just a imitator of pan -European fashion, but became the center of attraction of the best artists of the genre, wandering masters from all over the world. It was Russia in the XVIII century who survived the true heyday of the silhouette portrait - expressive, similar, accessible, at the same time extremely vulnerable to time and now completely forgotten.

A set of previously unknown documents on the history of Russian silhouette art collected by the author is unique and repeatedly exceeds everything ever published on this topic. Illustrations that make it possible to trace the evolution of the silhouette not only in Russia, but also in Europe, are collected with exceptional fullness of more than fifty storage facilities in Russia and the world, from the Hermitage to the Metropolitan Museum, and many are published for the first time. The publication is addressed to all the history of Russian and world culture.