Russia's artistic past is inseparable from the suffering of its people, whether it reflects their deep religious beliefs and a hope of a better life after this one, or whether it looks at the lowest depths to which humankind can stoop. The paintings, poems, plays and novels of this vast land provide an insight into a painful past, where suffering held sway over pleasure for most of the population.
Bruce Lincoln - distinguished research professor of Russian history at Northern Illinois University, and author of, among other works, Red Victory and The Romanovs - handles 1,000 years of this artistic legacy with intelligent restraint. Had he not done so, 450 pages could easily have ballooned into an unreadable tome. His succinct history gives a clear overview, particularly useful to those readers who have never ventured beyond the works of Anton Chekhov, Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoyevsky.
A common theme throughout Russia's history is repression and its emasculating effect on the brightest and best. While the word of the Orthodox Church hierarchy remained law until the late 17th century, crippling restrictions were placed on artists, including strict rules governing the painting of devotional icons.
Writers at this time were of no consequence, since few people could read and no uniform language existed. It was not until Peter the Great ascended the throne in 1689 that this changed. Peter believed that for Russia to become a major force, it must look to the West. With that in mind he relocated the capital from Moscow to an area of inhospitable swamp which was transformed into St Petersburg.
'Under his relentless prodding, Russia acquired a modern army, factories, a modern system of taxation, and a taste for the life and culture of Europe,' Lincoln says.
Peter brought in some of Europe's most celebrated architects and transformed the written language into one that could be understood throughout his burgeoning empire. Empress Elizabeth and Catherine the Great continued this Western tradition, but the people were never completely European and this split personality permeated all walks of life.
In the 19th century, after the defeat of Napoleon in 1812, there was a backlash against all things French and an attempt to return to the roots of Mother Russia. However, artists, novelists, playwrights and composers could not ignore the influences of the Renaissance, of Mozart, Bach and Beethoven, and they struggled with this dichotomy through the artistic phases of romanticism and realism, as did sovereigns and revolutionaries, writes Lincoln.