Italian painting in S.P. Shevyrev's travelogues

The article examines the reception and comprehension of the Italian painting in S.P. Shevyrev's “Travel Journals”. In his travelogues, Italian painting acts out as a single aesthetical phenomenon included not only in the system of the Lubomudry's Italian text, but also in their idealistic aesthetical and philosophical concept. Pictorial art becomes a key representative of Italy as a romantic myth and a real space, an imagological phenomenon. During his first journey to Italy, Shevyrev sought to get an encyclopaedic comprehension of the country. He enthusiastically studied Italian nature, history, and daily life. However, his journals obviously focused in the aesthetical aspect of the country's image. Painting becomes the most representative of Italian arts to expresses the “picturesque” character of Italy as a romantic myth. In addition, painting as a combination of metaphysical senses and plastic visual beauty corresponds to the ideal of synthesis significant for the philosophy of the Lubomudry. In Italy, Shevyrev actively studies painting and tries to explain the sources of its beauty. His reception of Italian painting includes the following aspects: 1) systematic and historical comprehension of painting (schools, directions, and aesthetical epochs); 2) role of succession and tradition (for instance, the categories of the teacher and the learner in the history of Italian painting); 3) the role of imitations and borrowings (Italian painting in the context of European art); 4) focus on artistic techniques (the analysis of the palettes, composition, etc.) in the numerous ekphrases; the idea of synthesis of the form, sense, and reaction of the viewer as the base of an ideal painting; 5) the role of spiritual content of the painting and its connection with religion (with the aesthetics of Italian Catholicism); 6) the connection between Italian painting and nature, Italian national mentality; 7) the connection between Italian painting and history and social structure; 8) the interaction between Italian painting and other arts (sculpture, architecture, music, literature). The interaction between painting and literature is particularly important for Shevyrev: textual and material reality in Italy are close as texts and painting. Thus, Italian painting in S.P. Shevyrev's “Travel Journals” is given as a complicated aesthetical phenomenon against the real and cultural space of Italy. It undergoes systemic comprehension, with reference to schools and directions, drawing on many facts and special literature. The objective, factual component unites with the subjective narrative of the diary; therefore, the phenomenon of Italian painting in Shevyrev's creative consciousness becomes personalized and existential as his entire Italian text.

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