Letters from the sisters Egloffstein to V.A. Zhukovsky: From the history of European literature and painting

In the modern humanities, fiction is seen as a system of texts directly related to different social institutions, which organize the reproduction and functioning of culture. As is known, Russian literature became independently institutional in the second half of the 18th - the first half of the 19th centuries. It happened partly due to the activities of some outstanding writers who became organizers of literary life. One of them was Vasily Zhukovsky. First of all, Zhukovsky gave an imperial and social-ideological meaning to the model of circle (friendly) literature, which dominated in the beginning of the 19th century, by establishing contacts with institutions of power and imperial communication channels (the court circle, special departments, the censorship office). Zhukovsky became a mentor and friend of the royal dynasties in Russia and Europe. On the one hand, the letters of German countesses Julie von Egloff-stein and Caroline von Egloffstein, preserved in Zhukovsky's archive and published for the first time, show the importance of his activities in organizing collections of Zhukovsky's correspondents were Caroline (1789-1868) and Julia (1792-1869) von Egloffstein. They were daughters of Countess Henriette von Egloffstein (17731864) who went down in the history of German literature because of her memories about the Weimar followers of Goethe. Originally, these memories were not published because they were meant for her daughters. However, they were partly presented in the famous book of G. von Egloffstein Alt Weimar's Abend. Briefe und Aufzeichnung-en aus dem Nachlasse der Grqfinnen Egloffstein. After divorcing Count Egloffstein-Arklitten, her distant relative, the countess moved to Weimar and entered the circle of poets, writers and musicians organized by Grand Duchess Anna-Amalia. Like their mother, Caroline and Julia, as well as their sister Augusta, played a crucial role in the institutional history of German arts: they served at the court, maintained close friendship and business relations with the imperial families in Europe and Russia. However, their own heritage is still little known. There are few sources for a complex study of Augusta's literary activities, Julia's paintings, Caroline's musical works and circle activities. The published letters to Zhukovsky partially fill this gap. The study of Zhukovsky’s role in the institutional history of Russian literature became relevant in the 2000s-2010s for the following reasons: (1) the work on the publishing of his works was finished, and the work on the publishing of his letters began; (2) Zhukovsky’s activities were interpreted as culture triggering in the space of the Russian and German transfer. However, the necessity to study Zhukovsky's correspondence with the sisters Egloffstein is explained by some urgent tasks. For the 200th anniversary of the birth of Julia von Egloffstein, a catalogue of her works was first published. This edition showed the many gaps in the heritage of the countess that had to be filled. In addition, some of her works are about Russia and the State Hermitage Museum. To answer the questions of European colleagues about Julia's paintings, the author of the article analyzed the countesses' letters never studied before. The published letters show the fate of some paintings of Julia von Egloffstein, for example, “Hagar und Ismael in der Wuste” (“Hagar and Ishmael in a Desert”), “Die Aussetzung Moses” (“The Exile of Moses”), “Schlafendes Kind am Waldboden” (“A Girl Sleeping on the Grass”), and the scale of Zhukovsky's contacts with the Weimar writers, as well as add to our knowledge about Zhukovsky’s role in the institutional history of the Russian and European cultural ties. The seven letters of Caroline and Julia von Egloffstein in German and French are published in chronological order and in the spelling of the handwritten originals. The translations are made by the author of the article. Details of the facts, personalities, works of art mentioned in the letters are given in the commentaries.

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