The lubki were hand-colored prints popular in Russia from the mid-17th to early 20th centuries. They combined elements of Russian icon paintings and Western woodcuts, focusing attention on important subjects. Lubki depicted various topics divided into categories like religion, satire, daily life, and literature. Satirical prints often reflected anti-Petrine sentiments, while everyday lubki addressed social interactions through rhyming texts. Prints of jesters and fools were influenced by foreign entertainers, and informational lubki introduced Russians to exotic topics when full explanations were not possible. Literature-based lubki first appealed to nobility but grew popular among commoners. The lubki signify growing Russian art, literature, and culture between the reign

1. The LubkiFolk Prints in 18th Century Russia Jennifer Sanders History 142 Dr. DenBeste

2. Introduction The lubkiare hand colored printed pictures that made their appearance in Russia during the mid-seventeenth century until the beginning of the twentieth century. The lubokis a combination of Russian icon and manuscript painting traditions with ideas of western European woodcuts. The lubokis like the traditional Russian icon in that they focus on the most important subject in the print by making them bigger, They are also similar to Novgorodian icons which were influenced by folklore and use of bright colors. They were popular ways of expressing feelings of daily life, beliefs, customs, and ideas and were divided by DmitriiRovinskii and can be condensed into the following categories: religion, satire, everyday life, clowns, jesters and fools, information and news, literature, and miscellaneous topics.

3. Satirical Lubok The satirical prints seem to reflect popular anti-Petrine feelings. With its text written by Alexander Sumarokov, The Proverb: Even Though the Snake Is Dying, Still to Grab the Grass It's Trying depicts a clerk attempting to bride Death from money when it came for him.

4. Everyday Lubok The Everyday Lubki usually contained rhymes in their texts and addressed all possible facets of social interaction. The Register of Colors and Beauty Marks, interprets the message of the placement of artificial beauty marks, which were popular in the mid-eighteenth century.

5. Lubok About Jesters and Fools The images of fools, jesters, clowns, and dwarfs were brought to Russia by visiting foreign singers and comedians during the reign of Anna Ioannovna and Elizaveta Petrovna. The figure of Farnos might have been based on the court jester of Anna Ioannovna. Farnos the Red Nose

6. Lubok Providing Information and News This category includes illustrations of amusing, bizarre, and fascinating things and events that took place in Russia or elsewhere. Because these lubik could not contain all the necessary explanatory texts, there are very few of these woodcuts About the Chameleon the Beast introduced Russians to the chameleon.

7. Lubok Based on Literature Literature provided an astonishing variety of fascinating plots and characters to illustrate. The earliest of these characters was Alexander of Macedon. These lubok were at first favored by the nobility, but then became popular with the middle class and literate peasants.

8. Lubok With Miscellaneous Themes One of the earliest miscellaneous prints is the large lubok composed from several separate sheets, entitled The Sun and the Zodiac Signs, made from many separate sheets, was one of the earliest miscellaneous prints. The four seasons are represented in the four corners.

9. Conclusion The brightly colored, hand painted prints of the lubki made their way into into Russia during the mid-seventeenth century and continued to be popular throughout the eighteenth century and into the twentieth. They are also significant in that they contain several influences of previous Russian cultures such as the traditional Russian icon and the Novgorodian icon. Another important aspect of the lubkiis that they are pieces of art that show the new aspects of eighteenth century society such as satire and the growth of literacy and education. The lubki are significant to eighteenth century Russian culture because they are a small faction that signify the growth of art, literature, and culture in Russia between the reigns of Peter I and Catherine II.