Our Notes & References

First edition of these lively hand-coloured scenes – uncommon. The artist Geissler (1770 – 1844), who accompanied Peter Simon Pallas on his expedition to southern Russia from 1793-1794, created these forty lovely engravings after the sketches which he made during his long trip.

The first part of the work is dedicated to Russian festivities and games, which provided foreigners with probably the most detailed insight into this sphere of Russian people’s life at that time. Curiously, in most of his illustrations Geissler adopted a grotesque manner, depicting the characters with slightly distorted proportions of the body and apparent naivety. The predominance of scenes of leisure and games in the work contributes to the impression that Geissler intended to portray Russia as an exotic place left behind the progress and cultural development of the Western world – which was a reason behind Catherine the Great’s bad opinion of Geissler’s sketches.

Bibliography

Lipperheide 1344; Colas 1208; Rumann, 19. Jh. 505 (20 Taf.); Cat. Russica G 277; Hiler, H. Bibliography of costume, p. 358; E.A. Vishlenkova “Vizualnoe narodovedenie imperii, ili “Uvidet russkogo dano ne kazhdomu” (Novoe literatunoe obozrenie, 2011).