Russian Engravers

A Brief History of Russian Printmaking

Russian printmaking is the youngest among the great European schools . Its history begins in the 16th century, simultaneously with the advent of book printing, but it only truly flourished in the 18th century thanks to the reforms of Peter the Great .

The 16th Century: The First Steps

The origins of Russian engraving are linked to the emergence of book printing in Moscow in the mid-16th century, under Ivan the Terrible . The engravings of that time were used exclusively as book illustrations and were utilitarian in nature.

The earliest known master was Vasyuk Nikiforov (mid-16th century), a stone carver from Novgorod who presumably worked in the first Moscow "anonymous" printing house (existing from around 1553) . A royal charter from 1556 states that he "can carve all kinds of carving," and he was ordered to be sent to Moscow for engraving work .

The 17th Century: A Transitional Period

In the 17th century, engraving continued to develop primarily within the ecclesiastical sphere. Masters such as Leonty Bunin and the Zubov brothers (father and sons) were active, but their art was still closely tied to the Old Believer tradition and lubok (folk) prints .

The 18th Century: Peter the Great's Revolution

A true revolution in Russian engraving was brought about by Peter the Great. During his journey to Holland, he visited the workshop of the engraver Adriaan Schoonebeeck and even made an etching with his own hands . At the Tsar's initiative, an engraving workshop for printing secular prints was established in Moscow at the Armory Chamber in 1698 . Schoonebeeck and other foreign masters (Pieter Picardt) were invited to Russia to teach local artists new techniques .

The Petrine era was a time of flourishing for battle and topographical engraving. The outstanding master of this period was Alexey Fyodorovich Zubov (1682–1751) , author of the famous panoramas of St. Petersburg and battle scenes from the Great Northern War. His engravings, such as "Vasilyevsky Island" and "The Battle of Grenham," combine documentary precision with an epic scope .

After Peter's death in 1727, engraving work was concentrated in the Academy of Sciences, where a new school of Russian engravers was formed .

The Second Half of the 18th Century: The Rise of Portrait Engraving

Russian engraving of the second half of the 18th century is almost exclusively portrait engraving, and its quality is remarkably high . Engravers worked from paintings, creating so-called reproductive engravings, but they infused them with a creative element, translating the language of color into the language of line and chiaroscuro .

Yevgraf Petrovich Chemesov (1737–1765) — a virtuoso master of portrait engraving, whose works (self-portrait, portraits of Empress Elizabeth) are distinguished by their liveliness and artistry .

Gavrila Ivanovich Skorodumov (1755–1792) — the first Russian engraver to master the technique of color engraving (stipple) and to print color impressions .

Georg Friedrich Schmidt (1712–1775) — a German engraver who worked in St. Petersburg and had a tremendous influence on the Russian school; his portrait of Elizabeth after Louis Tocqué is considered a masterpiece .

The Turn of the 19th Century: The Landscape Class

In 1799, a special engraving and landscape class was organized at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts . Its students — Ivan Chesky, Sergey Galaktionov, Ivan Telegin — created exquisite views of the imperial suburban residences (Gatchina, Pavlovsk, Peterhof) after originals by Semyon Shchedrin .

The 19th Century: Lithography and Etching

At the beginning of the 19th century, lithography spread in Russia. One of the first lithographers was Alexander Orlovsky (1777–1832) , who worked in a Romantic style .

By mid-century, classical engraving began to be replaced by etching, a freer and more democratic technique. In 1871, a group of St. Petersburg artists (Nikolai Ge, Ivan Kramskoy, Ivan Shishkin) organized the "Society of Russian Aquafortists" .

Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (1832–1898) — not only a great painter but also a passionate etcher. Museum collections hold hundreds of his etchings depicting forests, conveying the texture of trees and grass with photographic precision and poetic feeling .

Vasily Vasilyevich Mate (1856–1917) — an outstanding engraver and teacher, professor at the Academy of Arts. He created a brilliant gallery of portraits of his contemporaries (Gogol, Shishkin, Vasnetsov, Tretyakov) using etching and burin techniques . His students included Anna Ostroumova-Lebedeva, Ivan Pavlov, and Vadim Falileyev .

The Turn of the 20th Century: Original Printmaking

At the turn of the century, with the development of photomechanical printing processes, reproductive engraving gave way to original printmaking . Artists now engraved their own compositions.

Anna Petrovna Ostroumova-Lebedeva (1871–1955) — a virtuoso of color woodcut. Her views of St. Petersburg, imbued with love for the city, have become classics .

Vadim Dmitrievich Falileyev (1879–1950) — a master of color linocut, working in a vibrant, decorative manner .

Ivan Nikolaevich Pavlov (1872–1951) — creator of linocuts depicting old Moscow .

Thus, Russian printmaking journeyed from apprenticeship under Western masters to the creation of its own masterpieces, securing a worthy place in the global history of art.