From idyll to nostalgia: the evolution of the image of the Russian estate in 19th-century painting

The article is devoted to the study of the evolution of the image of the noble estate in Russian painting of the 19th and early 20th centuries. The work aims to identify patterns in the transformation of the estate motif in the context of social changes and changes in artistic styles. Based on the works of A. N. Voronikhin, V. A. Tropinin, G. V. Soroka, V. D. Polenov, V. M. Maksimov, S. Yu. Zhukovsky, and I. E. Grabar, it is traced how the estate gradually loses its status as a symbol of noble culture and turns into a nostalgic metaphor for a bygone era. The scientific novelty of the research lies in comparing interpretations of the estate image by artists of different social origins: it is shown that nobles (Zhukovsky, Grabar) more often idealized the estate, while those from other social classes (Maksimov, Soroka, Tropinin) showed – directly or indirectly – less respect for it. As a result, it was revealed that in the first half of the 19th century, the estate was most often depicted in the spirit of classicism as a harmonious ideal; in the second half of the century, motifs of nostalgia and decline intensify; by the beginning of the 20th century, the image of the estate becomes impressionistic-emotional, reflecting the crisis of the noble world and nostalgia for it. The results of the study broaden the understanding of the relationship between art and socio-cultural processes in Russia.