A Possible Source for the Depiction of the Horses in the 17th-century Equestrian Portraits of the Tsars
https://doi.org/10.20913/script-2024-2-01
Abstract
One of the significant cultural changes taking place in Early Modern Russia was the development of portraiture influenced by the artistic tastes of Western Europe. Among the well-known examples of such portraits (generally termed parsuny) are equestrian portraits of Tsars Mikhail Fedorovich and Aleksei Mikhailovich. There is a consensus that these images were painted in the 1670s or early 1680s, most probably by artists working in the Moscow Armory (Oruzheinaia palata) who also were illustrating the Tituliarnik, first produced in 1672 and known in subsequent presentation copies. Scholarly analysis of the royal equine portraits has focused on the depictions of the tsars. However, little attention has been devoted to the horses on which they ride and the possible sources for the equine imagery. This article focuses on the horses and argues that the artists who depicted them may well have been inspired at least in part by the elegant engravings in Antoine de Pluvinel’s book on equitation. The Pluvinel books (two different editions) had been obtained in Moscow and were the source for Russian translations whose presentation manuscript copies were illustrated the original engravings and illuminated by the artists in the Kremlin’s royal workshop.
About the Author
D. C. Waugh
University of Washington
United States
United States
Daniel Clarke Waugh - PhD, Professor Emeritus, Department of History, University of Washington
318 Smith Hall, Box 353560 Seattle, WA 98195-3560
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1. Fig. 1. The equestrian images of Tsars Aleksei Mikhailovich and Mikhail Fedorovich in the Moscow collections / Конные портреты царей Алексея Михайловича и Михаила Федоровича, хранящиеся в Московских собраниях. After: [Русский исторический портрет, 2004, с. 124, 122, 121 (№№ 38, 37, 36)]. | |
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2. Fig. 2. The depictions of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich in the Tituliarnik of 1672 (RSAAA, f. 135, no. 401) and in the equestrian portrait SHM 32936 / Изображения царя Михаила Федоровича в Титулярнике 1672 г. (РГАДА, ф. 135, № 401) и в конном портрете ГИМ 32936. | |
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3. Fig. 3. The emblem on the Muscovite state seal: engraving on the title page of the Moscow Bible of 1663; the seal of Grand Prince Ivan III / Эмблема на печати Московского государства: гравюра на титульном листе Московской Библии 1663 г.; печать вел. кн. Ивана III. | |
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4. Fig. 4. The equestrian portrait of Aleksei Mikhailovich (SHM 32935) compared with engravings depicting his contemporary military and political leaders (clockwise from lower left: Count Nikolaus Zrinyi, Elector Johann Georg I of Saxony, Emperor Leopold I, Elector Maximilian I of Bavaria, King Jan III Sobieski) / Конный портрет царя Алексея Михайловича в сравнении с гравюрами, изображающими современных ему военачальников и политических фигур (по часовой стрелке, с левой стороны внизу: граф Николаус Зрини [Николай Зринский], саксонский курфюрст Йоханн Георг I, император Леопольд I, баварский курфюрст Максимилиан I, польский король Ян III Собеский). | |
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5. Fig. 5. Detail from the icon of the “Blessed Host of the Heavenly King” (“Church Militant”) / Деталь иконы «Благословенно вoинство Небeсного Царя» («Церковь воинствующая»). Wikimedia. | |
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6. Fig. 6. Illustrations in the Tituliarnik of 1672 with depictions of horses on heraldic ‘arms’. In the top row, center, the arms of the Muscovite state, flanked by seals for two of the chanceries. In the bottom row, seals for various regions, the image on the far right the arms of the Grand Principality of Lithuania, and next to it an image for the Grand Prince of Lithuania, bearing a shield with the double cross of the Jagiellonian Dynasty / Иллюстрации гербов, изображающих лошадей, в Титулярнике 1672 г. В верхнем ряду в центре герб Московского государства и по бокам печати двух приказов. Внизу, печати разных областей, включая (крайняя справа) гербы Великого княжества Литовского и великого князя Литовского (рядом), с крестом династии Ягеллонов на щите. | |
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7. Fig. 7. The seals of Moscow Grand Prince Vasilii II and his father-in-law, Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytautas / Печати великого князя московского Василия II и его свекра великого князя литовского Витовта. | |
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8. Fig. 8. The Lithuanian coat of arms from a manuscript dated ca. 1555 / Литовский герб (из рукописи ок. 1555 года). Wikimedia. | |
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9. Fig. 9. Scenes of the royal hunt painted on the west wall of the Qaysariyyah Gate at one end of the central square (the maidan), Isfahan, early seventeenth century / Изображение королевской охоты на западной стене Кайсарийских ворот на окраине центральной площади (майдан), Исфахан, начало XVII в. Photo: D. Waugh. | |
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10. Fig. 10. Engravings showing galloping horses in the Pluvinel book, ills. 38, 43 / Скачующие лошади в гравюрах книги Плювинеля, илл. 38 и 43. | |
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11. Fig. 11. The heraldic images for ‘all the Northern lands’ of the Muscovite state – in the Tituliarnik of 1672 (RSAAA, f. 135,no. 401) and RNL, Hermitage coll., no. 440; the possible “source” for the depiction, Pluvinel, ill. 10 / Гербы «всех северных стран» Московского государства, в «Титулярнике» 1672 g. (РГАДА, ф. 135, № 401) и РНБ, Эрмитажное собр., № 440; возможный источник в книге Плювинеля, илл. 10. | |
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12. Fig. 12. Images of St. George from the Tituliarnik and from the icon painted by Nikita Pavlovets / Изображения св. Георгия в «Титулярнике» и из иконы, написанной Н. Павловцем. | |
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13. Fig. 13. Nikita Pavlovets’ icon of SS. Demetrius of Thessaloniki and St. George, ca. 1670 / икона свв.ятых Георгия и Димитрия Солунского, написанная Н. Павловцем ок. 1670 г. After: [Брюсова, 1984, илл. 28]. | |
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14. Fig. 14. Comparison of Nikita Pavlovets’ icon image of St. Demetrius of Thessaloniki and two of the analogous horse engravings in Pluvinel, ills. 15, 13 (reversed horizontally) / Сравнение изображения св. Дмитрия Солунского на иконе Н. Павловца с гравюрами лошадей в книги Плювинеля (Илл. 15, 13 [размещена горизонтально]). | |
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15. Fig. 15. Comparison of the equestrian images of Tsar Aleksei Mikhailovich with analogous engravings from the Pluvinel book (Ills. 26 [reversed horizontally], 15, 27a) / Сравнение конных портретов царей Алексея Михайловича с аналогическими гравюрами из книги Плювинеля (илл. 26 [размещена горизонтально], 15, 27а). | |
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16. Fig. 16. Details of the horse protomes in the Russian portraits and in the Pluvinel engravings (ills.15, 26) / Детали протом лошадей в русских портретах и в гравюрах Плювинеля (илл. 15, 26). | |
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17. Fig. 17. Details of the horse protomes: in Pluvinel (Ill. 15), in the St. George images in the Tituliarnik of 1672, and in the icon painted by Pavlovets / Детали протом лошадей: у Плювинеля (илл. 15), изображений св. Георгия из Титулярника 1672 г. и иконы, написанной Н. Павловцем. | |
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18. Fig. 18. Comparison of the horses in the equestrian portrait of Tsar Mikhail Fedorovich (SHM 32936) and two of the Pluvinel engravings (ills. 24, 39 [reversed horizontally]) / Сравнение изображений лошадей на конном портрете царя Михаила Федоровича (ГИМ 32936) и гравюрах книги Плювинеля (илл. 24, 39 [размещены горизонтально]). | |
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19. Fig. 19. Rustam, the hero of the Persian Shahnameh – detail from miniature painting, Isfahan, 1640–1650 / Рустам, герой «Шахнамэ» – детали миниатюры, Исфахан, 1640–1650. The David Collection (Copenhagen), Inv. No. 147/2006. Photo by Pernille Klemp. After: [Shahnamа, 2016, p. 122, pl. 25]. | |
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20. Fig. 20. Equestrian portrait of King Philip IV of Spain, seventeenth century / Конный портрет испанского короля Филиппа IV, XVII в. After: [Spanish school]. | |
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For citations:
Waugh D.C. A Possible Source for the Depiction of the Horses in the 17th-century Equestrian Portraits of the Tsars. Scriptorium slavicum. 2024;(2):9-35. https://doi.org/10.20913/script-2024-2-01
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