RORTRAITURE OF A RUSSIAN PROVINCE IN THE 18TH CENTURY. ART CENTERS AND CUSTOMERS
When analyzing the literature, the author focuses on identifying the specifics of the provincial portrait in Russia and determining its boundaries. Until now, these issues, as well as problems associated with the peculiarities of local schools, remain relevant. To clarify them, it makes sense to characterize local art centers, the social composition of customers and their aesthetic priorities. In this regard, the problems of local portrait galleries and their typology come to the fore. Among them, the public portrait gallery for the House of Charity of the Neighbor in Yaroslavl, which has come almost completely, stands out, the construction principle of which dates back to the capital’s samples. When considering manor galleries, the question always arises of the authors of portraits, which are far from always known by their names, which creates additional difficulties in determining the ownership of works in provincial culture. The general state policy in the field of provincial development did not exclude pronounced regional features in art centers that had medieval roots of the tradition of painting, such as Tver, and in territories that previously belonged to another cultural tradition, like Little Russia. As a separate phenomenon, which continued into the next century, merchant portrait galleries stand out with their particularities of choosing the type of image and figurative characteristics. It is especially important to take into account the special requirements of the order when analyzing portraits of church hierarchs who once formed ensembles in the bishops’ houses of each of the dioceses of the Russian Empire. In all cases, one has to rely not only on preserved paintings, but also on written materials that allow partially reconstructing the now lost or fragmented ensembles.