Orientalism: Turkish style in Russia. 1760-1840s

This book is devoted to the phenomenon of orientalism in Russian history and culture, or rather, its Turkish version. The complex relations of the Russian Empire and the Ottoman ports, the Russo-Turkish wars, diplomatic missions, the famous Kuchuk-Cainargian world, the Union of Empires against Bonaparte and the campaign of the Russian Corps on the Bosphorus are represented both in documents and in the genre of historical painting. The victories of Russian weapons provoked in Russian capitals a wave of enthusiasm for the Turker style (Fr. Turquerie) - architectural buildings (mosques, baths, arbors), details of the toilet (Circassians, Turbans, Shali), masquerade and theatrical scenery and costumes, as well as picturesque, are widespread. Fabric and decor details in interiors. The Turkish, or Asian taste finds the embodiment both in literary works (“Bakhchisarai fountain” of Pushkin), and in the graphics and painting of Bryullov, Scotti, Gagarin and Aivazovsky, many of which were not just ethnographic sketches or artistic generalizations, but free fantasies on the topic East - exquisite and luxurious. Artifacts created in the Ottoman Empire, Crimea or the Caucasus, as well as stylized objects of Russian -made applied art from museum and archival assemblies recreate the phenomenon of orientalism in the history of Russian culture from Catherine II to Nicholas I, from the Enlightenment to romanticism