The efforts of Peter the Great to introduce Western civilisation into Russia gradually brought to an end an art which had flour ished for over six centuries and Western influence became para mount. Among the first artists of the new era are S. Ushakov, Th. Abrosimov, Ivan Bezmin and Saltanov.
The i8th and the first half of the 19th centuries form an epoch of foreigners in Russia. Just as in the beginnings of Russian religious art the Byzantine artists were predominant, so now Italian, French, Dutch and German artists were working for the Russian court and were laying the foundations of Russian secular painting. Among the great number of foreign painters were four English artists, Walker, Atkinson, Miles and Richard Brompton. While foreign artists were well treated, the conditions under which most of the native artists worked were lamentable. The land owners were closely imitating the Court and had their own architects and painters. These were conscripted from their serfs and remained serfs. It was not unusual for an artist to be flogged because his master was not satisfied with his work. The artist had also to perform other duties, such as valeting, kitchen work, farm work, etc. In spite of this, native artists quickly attained the standards of their European teachers, but strictly speaking, we must acknowledge that Russian art as such was dead and that since the beginning of the i8th century art in Russia was nothing more than a minor branch of European art.
Thus we have the various European schools, e.g., Classical, Romantic, Realistic. The most prominent artists of the Classical school are Akimov, Ugrumov, Egorov and Shebuev. Among the Romantics are Kiprensky, Tropinin, Brullov, Prince Gagarin, Alexander Ivanov, Vasnetzov and Vrubel, and among the Realistics are Venetzianov, Vereshchagin, and Repine. The best known landscape painters are Lebedev, Ayvazovsky, Levitan and Syerov. Naturally, as soon as modern art arose in Europe, Russia followed suit. The most important modern artists are V. Kan dinsky, Roerich, Larionov, Gontsharova, Chagal, Ostrumova, Punin, Iacovlev and Anrep.