Representing Imperial Power in Eighteenth-Century Russian Art: The Portrait Gallery of the Chesme Palace

Abstract

The problem of representation of monarch’s power was of considerable importance for the Russian art of the 18th century. On the one hand, Russia was proclaimed an empire, and fine arts were to define a role of a Russian monarch in European context. On the other hand, it was a century of coup d’états and alongside with other ways of validating their rights for the Russian throne rulers addressed to fine arts. This paper examines both aspects of a concept of power on the example of the Chesme palace. It analyzes traits of its gallery of portraits of European monarchs, location of them in the rooms and ideas behind this, relationship between painted portraits and bas-relief portraits of Russian rulers in the palace, relationship of portraits and a literary piece by Catherine II dedicated to them. Finally, it offers a comparison of the Chesme palace with Tituliarnik which, though in different techniques, proclaimed similar ideas. And if Tituliarnik was at source of the idea of representation of monarchial power in the European context, the Chesme Palace marks the climaz of their evolution.