The Image of Venice in the British Paintings and Literature: A Case Study of the Book Legends of Venice in the Stroganovs' Library

He article focuses on the study of a literary and artistic book edition titled Legends of Venice that is a part of the family library once owned by a Russian aristocrat and diplomat Grigoriy A. Stroganov (1770-1853). The library contains more than 24,000 volumes and is currently kept as a single whole in the Research Library of Tomsk State University. Legends of Venice describes the history of the Republic of Venice, gives an account of Venetian state ceremonies and doges' ducal practices, narrates about famous Venetian painters and composers, also presents some paintings and literary works produced by English authors in which Venice is chosen as a venue. The publisher and author of the text is an English writer and translator Thomas Roscoe (1791-1871). The list of engravers who contributed their works to the edition includes such names as Joulia Goodman, William Henry Mote, John Henry Robinson, Joseph Edwards, William Henry Egleton. The research deals primarily with the English myth about Venice as a historically changeable concept, with its perception as a special city-state and perception of the Venetian state as a work of art. The analysis of the image of Venice is closely tied with the development of soteriological myths in the British culture wherein Venice's history becomes part and parcel of the history of human salvation. Connection of the geographic features of the city with its residents' lifestyle is considered in the context of aesthetics and practices of community life development. The study also addresses the issue of formation of Venice's urban mythology that draws on Venetian chronicles, historical accounts, literary works and paintings. The primary literary sources which are devoted to Venice and thus render their materials to the present study are the drama by Lord Byron Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice, his poem "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage", poetry by Oliver Goldsmith. The study shows that the myth of Venice as a great power, similar to the Roman Empire, is being formed in the Venetian culture throughout the 14th-15th centuries, with Venetians regarding themselves as the chosen ethnic group. In the 16th century, Europeans started to form their own concept of Venice as a city of arts in which painting and music flourish. Simultaneously, Venice is depicted as a city of criminals and adventurers, as well as lovers. Russian perception of Venice is inferred based on an analysis of the library owner's cultural preferences, on regarding him as an individual of a special cultural type (a "Russian European") who was personally introduced to the British Queen Victoria. From the imagological standpoint, the appearance of this edition in the Stroganovs' library enables to distinguish principles of creating the image of Venice in the British culture of the first half of the 19th century, to identify the impact that this image had on the Russian perception of this city, on establishing the historical and cultural ties between Venice, London and St. Petersburg and on the issues of nation- and culture-building in Italy, Britain and Russia.

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