Gyvieji paveikslai ir XIX a. Lietuvos kultūros ypatybės

LTXIX amžiaus Lietuvos kultūros istorija net faktiniu lygiu dar nėra tinkamai ir išsamiai nušviesta - ką jau kalbėti apie konceptualų medžiagos apibendrinimą ar bandymus susieti mūsų šalies kultūros istoriją su kitų kraštų to paties laikotarpio kultūros raida ir problemomis. Lietuvos kultūros ir meno tyrinėjimuose netikslinga taikyti įprastus Vakarų Europai meno raidos modelius. Ir ne vien dėl ypatingos mūsų krašto geografinės padėties (Lietuva yra rytiniame Vakarų Europos pakraštyje, kartu ir savotiškame Rytų bei Vakarų kultūrų sandūros areale), bet ir dėl lemtingų istorijos momentų: tai vėlyvas krikštas, Liublino unija, Lenkijos-Lietuvos valstybės padalijimai, XIX a. sukilimai. Krikštas atvėrė kelią krikščioniškos kultūros importui, kuris ypač suintensyvėjo XVI a. pabaigoje prasidėjus kontrreformacijai. Su kontrreformacijos tikslais į Vilnių pakviestu Jėzuitų ordinu susijusi Vilniaus baroko plėtra ir klestėjimas; baroko tradicija Lietuvoje taip ir nebuvo opoziciškai paneigta, ji įsigalėjo, transformavosi bei varijavo ir ilgainiui geso pati savaime. Vilniaus barokas darė didelę įtaką Lietuvos kultūros formavimui - tėvai jėzuitai rūpinosi katalikiško tikėjimo propaganda, tam naudojo įvairiausias priemones, tarp jų - ir prašmatnius teatralizuotus renginius. Su jų veikla prasidėjo katalikybės triumfo žygis per Lietuvą, o šalies kultūra po šiai dienai liko katalikiškai teatralizuota ir dekoratyvi. [Iš straipsnio, p. 308]

ENOn the eve of the 19th century, the lost political sovereignty failed to have a perceptible effect on the development of the artistic culture in Lithuania. On the contrary, in the early 19th century and particularly in the late 1920s and 1930s, Lithuanian culture stabilized, gained clearer outlines of professional artistic creation and notably approached the problems of the Western culture of that time. The particularities of intellectual and cultural life related to particular personalities and their individual activities were of great importance already in the 18th century when establishing the image of Lithuania's culture and, with the legalization of Vilnius University and professors from Western Europe who were invited to lecture in it, experienced an obvious Western influence. A certain tribute to a cosmopolitan way of life should be considered the interest in life pictures - a certain kind of hybrid theatre and art. this form of amusement soon fell from family entertainments under the stage of a professional theatre and enjoyed popularity already in the 19th century, of course, with some transformations. The sources for life pictures need to be explored within a carnival tradition of the Old Rome which, though considerably modified and let through the prism of Italian Renaissance and Catholic counter-reformation ideology, was brought to Lithuania in the 16th century by Jesuits. In the 18-19th centuries, Lithuania saw a new modification of this phenomenon. It is related with the sentimental French neoclasicism. The first life picture was created by Carlo Bertinazzi in 1760. After the performance "Arlekino vedybos" (Marriage of Harlequin), according to J. B. Greuze's painting "Vedybos kaime" (Wedding in a Village) he composed a scene for the stage.Encyclopaedic sources of the last century maintain that a rise to such a type of life pictures was given by Madam Stephanie-Felicite du Brest de Saint-Aubin, countess Genlis, French writer and enlightener. She was assisted by celebrated painters of that time Jacques Louis Davidas and Jean Baptiste Isabey. Around in 1780, a number of scenes by Davidas were repeated on the stage by TABLEAU VIVANT equivalents. In 1780 in England Lady Hamilton also amused her guests by reproducing the plots of Pompeii frescos or popular antique sculptures. In Lithuania life pictures were composed in private and public feasts, after performances and in-between separate acts of performances. Commonly they were organised by amateur companies with some charitable intention. Jonas Rustemas, the professor of Vilnius University, and his students Marcelinas Janusevicius, later Albertas Zametas were among the most active artists creating life pictures. Since the majority of historical facts about life pictures are related to amateur and charitable activities, almost all the time they have been created and assessed under the principles of Biedermeier philistine culture. Baroque elements observed in the first decades of the 19th century later is transformed into domineering educational historism and literary plot. For the public and the creators of life pictures themselves more attractive became dramatic historical, literary subjects, mimics, gestures, and the diversity of participants' poses in the picture. In the middle of the 19th century, life pictures were treated as performing enlightenment and educational function, and on the eve of the uprising of 1863 national subjects were-admired. However, in the last Thirties of the 19th c. the arrangements of life scenes began to lose features of an independent work (in view of form and awareness). [From the publication p. 473-475]