Representations of the image of Peter the Great as exemplified by “The Bronze Horseman” by É. Falconet and A. S. Pushkin in the context of social memory: From artistic image to mythological figure

The article aims to analyze the fundamental connections between the mythological images of Peter the Great – as presented in É. Falconet’s monument “The Bronze Horseman” and A. S. Pushkin’s poem of the same name – through the lens of interpretation and myth formation within the context of social memory. The core of the research involves analyzing interpretations of Peter the Great’s image in Falconet’s creation and Pushkin’s poem. The scientific novelty of the study lies in its interdisciplinary approach, examining the artistic images of “The Bronze Horseman” by both Falconet and Pushkin as representations of the mythological figure of Peter the Great. As a result, the authors conclude that with the changing of eras, the image of “The Bronze Horseman” not only shed certain features characteristic of past times but also acquired distinctive traits of new periods. Furthermore, the process of interpreting Peter the Great’s image, as created by Falconet, while establishing its correspondence to its initial historical image, itself became a foundation for further interpretations. Falconet’s “The Bronze Horseman”, being an artistic image of Peter the Great, acquires characteristics of a mythological figure during the process of mythologization. This, in turn, generates new reflections of Peter the Great, during the creation of which an effect of “refraction of perception rays” occurs. In other words, the mythological image of “The Bronze Horseman”, acting as a kind of “refraction point”, creates new reflections, preserving their connection to the initial image of Peter the Great, while incorporating certain elements of the “refraction point” and exhibiting a degree of independence from previous images.