Russia and the Renaissance: History, Artistic Tradition, and Cultural Identity

Talk by Dr Anatole Tchikine, Centre for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Trinity College Dublin / The International Studies Institute, Florence

Date: Saturday, 25 February 2012,
Venue: National Gallery of Ireland, Lecture Theatre
Time: 1 p.m.

Russia did not have the Renaissance, but did it need to? Both the country’s fifteenth-century ruling elite and some later historians seemed to think that it did. This lecture explores the adaptation of Renaissance ideas and forms in Russian art and architecture of the 15th and 16th centuries, stressing their role as a means of dynastic and political propaganda. By contrast with this eclectic and superficial style, the works of Andrei Rublev and his contemporaries appear to be the products of a native artistic tradition, stifled by the growth of Western influences and the increasing secularisation of art. 

All welcome-free admission.