The article is devoted to the analysis of the representation of the crucifixion in ancient art. Although ancient historians, philosophers, and writers tell a lot about this execution, only a few images correspond to our rich literary tradition. These are 1) a fresco from the Arieti Tomb, or, as it is sometimes called, the Tomb of Magistrates, in Rome (3rd–1st centuries BC); 2) a graffito from Puteoli (early 2nd century AD); 3) and the Alexamenos graffito (the end of the 2nd — the beginning of the 3rd century AD), found during excavations on the Palatine Hill in Rome. The author also examines some artifacts, the authenticity of which in our time is considered questionable. These are a seal-cylinder with Orpheus hanging on a cross and a bone amulet with the image of a crucified ass-headed figure. The rarity of these representations is possibly due to the fact that the Romans from the very beginning considered this ritual barbaric and applicable only to slaves and non-citizens. This topic could not be used to promote imperial ideology or maintain Roman identity. This explains the nature of the majority of the surviving monuments: either graffiti with offensive overtones, or magic gems. The reported study was funded by RFBR, project number 21-011-44180 “The Political Dimension of Early Christian Hagiographic Literature”.

The article provides an overview of the collection of architectural drawings from the National Museum (Stockholm) associated with the pilgrimage of the Empress Elizabeth Petrovna to Ukraine, accompanied by the court and the Grand Ducal couple (July – September 1744). The sheets depict the buildings in which the Empress and her entourage lived and visited. The body of drawings with explanatory inscriptions, which were a kind of travel notes, together with the “Journal of the Empress’s procession from Moscow to Kiev” is of great value as a historical source that gives information about the appearance of the lost buildings, and once again confirms their attribution to Friedrich Wilhelm von Bergholtz, the chief chamberlain of Grand Duke Peter Fedorovich, who accompanied him on the trip. The research was funded by Government Program of the Russian Federation “Development of science and technology” (2013–2020) within Program of Fundamental Researches of Ministry of Construction, Housing and Utilities of the Russian Federation and Russian Academy of Architecture and Construction Sciences, the theme 1.2.21.

Gina Pane is one of the first representatives of the so-called “body art” in France. The mainsubjects of her performances are pain and different body injuries. The concept of pain has been reflected inart throughout the centuries: from images of suffering on the medieval frescoes to a radical performance of the 20th century, expanding the boundaries of the human body. The phenomenon of pain is complex andusually analyzed within the context of medical practices. According to German philosopher Dietmar Kamper, pain and suffering are becoming the new experience allowing to restore the functions of the imagination and expand the experience of perception and reflection of the reality. For Gina Pane, pain is the means of social and political statement, an indispensable element of self-sacrifice in the name of the Other. Her artistic practice is intentional, and the subject of this is the generalized figure of the Other. It builds a special figurative system in which the motive of the Saint, who experiences a special state of purification through the prism of bodily suffering in the name of the Other, becomes fundamental. Performance is the only possible medium that can transfer the pain into the visible and the sensory forms. The artist’s body becomes the referent of the experienceof pain. Performance integrates pain into reality, facilitating the acceptance of trauma and suffering. Much of Gina Pane’s works are based on biblical stories, saints’ and martyrs’ vitae. The motif of the cross and the suffering body of the martyr form a series of references and signs characterizing her artistic language. In her artistic practices, Gina Pan balances between the possibilities of performance and the embodiment of the phenomenological body of the artist and the possibilities of visual representation of the key aspects ofthe performance act itself, where the material embodiment — photographic images with a clearly aligned vision — becomes an independent element of influence and manipulation.

The last years of Queen Victoria’s reign saw a marked change in the country’seconomic and public life. If the preceding decades, known as the High Victorian age, saw the peak of the growth of the empire, the 1880s was the time of crisis and economic decline. That could not but impale the idea of a great national past which inspired certain architectural prototypes borrowed from what was seen as the golden age of the empire. The new social tendencies were reflected vividly in architecture including the work of Ph. Webb. The article primarily concerns the country houses built by the architect. The British country house architecture saw some important changes in the Late Victorian age. Mainly, they concern the attitude toward national heritage. The High Victorian architects usually chose a distinct style or epoch in national architecture that they tried to imitate. In the Late Victorian era, architects often mix various styles and epochs in one project creating an image of an “Old English” house and Ph. Webb was the first one of them.

“The tableau aesthetics” in relation to the theatre means the resemblance of a mise-en-scène to areal or imaginary painting and the resemblance of the acting techniques and facial expressions to a sculpture or painting. It also involves the general principle of the “pictorial vision” of the stage. “The tableau aesthetics” characterizes the invention of ballets and the actors’ dancing skills — many choreographers, starting from the Jean-Georges Noverre, advised the dancers to imitate good pictures or statues. The other side of the interaction between the theatre and visual arts was defined by P. Francastel as a “material sign”. He wrote about the transfer of the theatrical property of the sacred representations from performance to the picture.Clouds made from cotton, fabric, or wood, which masked the theatrical machinery were among such props. It allowed the ‘saints’ to ascend above the earth or descend from heaven. The motif of Gods in the cloudsis the most obvious and recognizable for the understanding of interactions between visual arts and theater in 18th-century Russia. The paper presents the 18th-century Russian allegorical paintings, on which clouds have a great similarity with theatrical props. The direct interaction between performing and visual arts has been analyzed on the painting “Allegory of Victory over the Turks” by Heinrich Buchholz (1777, The State Hermitage Museum), which most probably shows us the fragment of the scenography of the ballet “The New Argonauts” (1770, choreographer Gasparo Angiolini).

Aspirations to see a sound, to hear a color and to touch a word were impulses for the great inventionsin art of the 19th and 20th centuries. However, at that time, lots of experiments with new art forms and synthesis of arts took place away from of museums, constrained with rules and orders. In the course of the 20th century, the transformation of museums’ borders was particularly connected with the development of immersive art. Enriching immersive and sensory experience in the museum is one of key concepts that defined the transformation of the museum and its engagement with its audience in the 20th and 21st centuries. The changes in the image, role, and functions of the museum in the post-informational society are mainly connected with the development of immersive art and with the shift from the concept of “looking and thinking”to the concept of “feeling and participating”. The multiplicity of connotations of “immersion” presents difficulties for the definition of immersive artworks today. The present article deals with immersive and somatic experiences in contemporary museum in the historical context. The paper traces connections between the concepts of immersion, non-visual art perception and affect theory. The article describes museums projects where sound, smell, touch and proprioception build immersive experiences. The text also informs about the development of immersive art practices and the idea of an exhibition as “total artwork” in historical contextof Gesamtkunstwerk concept.

Italian scientists in the works related to the architecture of the 18th century, deny the presence of buildings made directly in the neoclassical style in Italy up to the turn of the 18th‑19th centuries. However, the existing terms are trying to separate the architecture of the 18th century from the previous 17th century leaving it, nevertheless, within the Baroque line. The prominent representatives of this crucial period were the architects Ferdinando Fuga and Nicola Salvi. Their projects for the most important Roman competitions of 1732 (the facade of the Basilica San Giovanni in Laterano and the Trevi Fountain) vividly show the irreconcilable differences between the fading Baroque and the emerging neoclassical style, which these masters managed to combine completely individually according to their own attitude not only to architecture, but also to the era. Similar processes are manifested in realized building projects of the masters, particularly in the sacral architecture. However, it was the architecture of Nicola Salvi that was absorbed and understood by the contemporaries ready to perceive the emotionality of the Baroque. At the same time, it is the art of Ferdinando Fuga that exemplifies the architecture of the transition from Baroque to neoclassical intentions.

In her ambitious plans to renovate Russia, on the example of other European courts, the Tsarina Catherine the Great (1762–1796) was aware of the important role played by antiquity as a model of reference, of which Rome was in the lead. Among the many monuments, Hadrian’s Villa (117–138 C.E.) representedan authoritative example for the richness and variety of its buildings. The site was also discussed in many 18th-century treatises as worthy to be studied and echoed in the coeval projects. The essay tries to answer how Hadrian’s Villa could have been a source of inspiration for Neoclassical Russia. This imperial site experienced a broad and in-depth reception all over the world, mostly in the 18th and 19th centuries. Here an attempt was made to retrace how the acquisition of knowledge about Hadrian’s Villa on Russian soil and the appropriation of architectural motifs did not take place directly through architects from this country but thanks to the mediation of foreign artists. Moreover, in Russia, there was also a strong echo of Renaissance architecture and Palladianism, or of the younger Neoclassicism combined with an eclectic behaviour towards other art movements and cultures like the neo-Gothic and Chinese, which were similarly the result of assimilations through foreign influences. These are all reasons and explanations why it is more difficult in Russia than elsewhere to find a direct quotation of ancient buildings. The reception of Hadrian’s Villa took place in a subtle way, often mediated by artists able to insert its distinctive features in diverse projects. The most famousis by Charles-Louis Clérisseau who submitted a design for an imperial palace — even if the original request was for a garden pavilion – where he condensed the more peculiar features of Roman architecture, of which Hadrian’s Villa seems to be the main source of reference.

The article is devoted to the activities of the English Society of Dilettanti, an aristocratic club that funded the study of monuments in Athens, Ionia, and Palmyra in the second half of the 18th century. The author analyzes in detail the history of the Society, paying considerable attention to the organizational role of Francis Dashwood and Richard Grenville. Turning to a deep phased overview of expeditionary activity, there searcher supplies his work with important biographical details from the life of individual representativesof the Society of Dilettanti. In particular, the article convexly depicts the figures of James Stuart and NicholasRevett, authors of the four-volume “The Antiquities of Athens”, which for many years determined the ideas of Europeans about the architecture and fine arts of Ancient Greece. Of no less interest to the researcher is the expedition of Robert Wood, whose route is reconstructed in most detail on the basis of a comprehensivetext analysis of “The ruins of Palmyra; otherwise Tedmor in the desart” and “The Ruins of Balbec”. The author also does not bypass the gathering activity of the Society of Dilettanti, the culmination of which is called the activity of Lord Elgin.