Reviews
"[An] impressive new study. . . . This book enhances the literature on Russia's most controversial city with its timely and elegant research."-Rosalind P. Blakesley, Russian Review, "Mr. Schenker manages to encapsulate engagingly the history of St. Petersburg, of the Enlightenment in France, of equestrian sculpture from the Romans on, and of the engineering and casting of bronze figures, while telling the very human story of two sculptors."-Priscilla S. Taylor, Washington Times, �Mr. Schenker manages to encapsulate engagingly the history of St. Petersburg, of the Enlightenment in France, of equestrian sculpture from the Romans on, and of the engineering and casting of bronze figures, while telling the very human story of two sculptors.��Priscilla S. Taylor, Washington Times, "Mr. Schenker manages to encapsulate engagingly the history of St. Petersburg, of the Enlightenment in France, of equestrian sculpture from the Romans on, and of the engineering and casting of bronze figures, while telling the very human story of two sculptors."Priscilla S. Taylor,Washington Times, �[An] impressive new study. . . . This book enhances the literature on Russia�s most controversial city with its timely and elegant research.��Rosalind P. Blakesley, Russian Review, �As the most thorough and intelligent study of Russia�s most famous monument, a monument executed by a French Enlightenment sculptor, the book will have wide appeal among scholars of history, literature, and art.��William Mills Todd III, Harvard University, "[An] impressive new study. . . . This book enhances the literature on Russia's most controversial city with its timely and elegant research."Rosalind P. Blakesley,Russian Review, "As the most thorough and intelligent study of Russia's most famous monument, a monument executed by a French Enlightenment sculptor, the book will have wide appeal among scholars of history, literature, and art."-William Mills Todd III, Harvard University
Synopsis
This is a comprehensive treatment of the most consequential work of art ever to be executed in Russia - the equestrian monument to Peter the Great, or The Bronze Horseman, as it has come to be known since it appeared in Alexander Pushkin's poem bearing that title. monument and provides life stories of those who were involved in its creation: the sculptors Etienne-Maurice Falconet and Marie-Anne Collot, the engineer Marin Carburi, the diplomat Dmitry Golitsyn and Catherine's commissar for culture, Ivan Betskoi. He also touches upon the extraordinary resonance of the monument in Russian culture, which, since the unveiling in 1782, has become the icon of St. Petersburg and has alimented the so-called St. Petersburg theme in Russian letters, familiar from the works of such writers as Pushkin, Dostoevsky, Gogol and Bely., Through its unique exploration of the Russian example, this volume addresses the implications of the fragmented urban landscape on cultural practices and discourses, ethnicity, lifestyles and subcultures, and economic practices, and in doing so provides important insights applicable to a global context.
