Embodying History: Nostalgia, Nationalism, and Cultural Memory in Makovsky's Boyarynya

This article analyzes Vladimir Makovsky’s painting Boyarynya in the context of nineteenth-century Russian nationalism, nostalgia, and cultural memory. Drawing on theoretical frameworks from Benedict Anderson, Eric Hobsbawm, and Carol Duncan, it explores how art and museums functioned as instruments for imagining community, inventing tradition, and ritualizing cultural authority. The study examines themes of collective memory, Orientalism, and the symbolic use of the body, situating Boyarynya as both an aesthetic object and a participant in the construction of Russian identity. The paper concludes that Makovsky’s work embodies the tensions of nationalism and empire, offering insight into the ways art shapes and reflects cultural narratives. Keywords: Russian art, nationalism, nostalgia, museum studies, Orientalism, cultural memory, identity