‘Russia Lifting Up Its Grateful Gaze’: On One Motive of the Feminine Representations of Russia in the Allegorical Images of the 18th Century

Abstract

The article examines the visual feminine personifications of Russia in the 18th century and their symbolic meaning, which is revealed in the analysis of the correlation of the figures of Russia and Russian empresses in the allegorical images of the post-Petrine era (in firework display scenes, medals, engravings, book and calendar frontispieces, illustrations, etc.). The characteristic features and attributes of the allegory of Russia, whose canons started in the 1730s, are important for interpreting the role of imperial power and the ruler’s personality in the post-Petrine culture. The personification of the state in the same visual sources manifested the ideas about the image of the Empire and Fatherland, significant for the Enlightenment. The author focuses her attention on the possible interpretations of the pair ‘Russia — Monarch’ and the motives for its implementation (the motive of Russia kneeling before the Empress, blessing her reign in front of the altar and glorifying her at the foot of the pyramid/obelisk). The distinctive features of the feminine allegory of Russia in the image of a ‘majestic wife’ with a complex of attributes are also shown. It is suggested that the symbolic relationship between the ruler / Empress and Russia embodied in visual texts should not be interpreted either as corresponding to the established metaphor of the Mother Empress (Catherine the Great), which became formulaic for the second half of the 18th century, or as the image of Mother Russia, characteristic of the 19th century.

Keywords

• feminine allegories of russia
• russian empire
• 18th century
• national representations
• visual images of russia
• catherine the great