Source study aspect of the research of the collecting activity of Demidov dynasty

The article gives a brief overview of the historical sources related to the study of the collecting activity of the Demidov dynasty. The analyzed sources are divided into five groups. The first group consists of Demidov's contracts, documented transactions and paid bills. The majority of first group sources is located in three archival depositories: GASO, RGIA, RGADA. The part of the sources is located in archival depositories of the Italian cities of Lucca and Florence; certain documents are preserved in archival depositories of other countries (for example, in the Swedish University of Uppsala). The study of first group sources allows accurately and completely compiling a list of works of art included at one time or another in the "Demodov collections". The second group of sources is private documents: memoirs, Demidov's letters, diaries, itineraries and travel notes. The second group is the most researched. Under the auspices of the INDF many letters were published and made available to the public. Those particular sources describe the history of the acquisition and sale of particular works of art, the transfer of collections to the holdings of museums and galleries. The third group of sources - periodicals: Russian and Italian newspapers, catalogues of auctions and exhibitions, the book of Anatoly Demidov "Journey through southern Russia and the Crimea". Russian and Italian scientists have been studyng the third group of sources for a long time, but there are unsolved important aspects now. The analysis of these sources allows reproducing the history of Demidov's artifacts and obtaining information of "Demodov collections". The fourth group is documents of management and record keeping: minute books and registers of the Academy of Arts, registries and inventories of Museum collections, the inventory of the Villa San Donato and Prato-lino, the inventory of the collections of P. A. Demidov of Vishnevetsky castle. Not only scientists studying the collecting activity of the Demidov dynasty use this group of sources. It is used by researches investigating the history of the Academy of Arts, the formation of major Russian museum collections, the history of Italian architecture, the history of individual works of art. It is possible to clarify the geography of "Demidov collections" and to restore the description of the collections existing at the time of writing inventories by using documents of management and record keeping. The fifth group of sources is scholarly works. Collecting activity of the Demidov dynasty is discussed in the works of E. V. Karpova, Yu. Ya. Zek, T. M. Troshina, Yu. P. Glushakova, E. P. Pirogova, L. N. Shiyan, G. I. Konkova , M. B. Piotrovskiy, O. Ya. Neverov, L. Tonini. The information obtained from these sources allows researchers to make a list of museums where are "Demidov collections" located. In the conclusion, the author of this article clarifies and expands the geography of "Demidov collections" and noted the opportunity to expand a list of museums with Demidov's artifacts.

Keywords

Authors

References