J. von Staehlin and the art department of the Imperial Academy of Sciences and Arts in the 1730s-1770s

The study aims to determine the influence of J. von Staehlin (1709-1785) on the development of the art department of the Imperial Academy of Sciences and Arts. The article examines Staehlin’s contribution to the organization of the learning process and the selection of masters, his activities as director of the Academy of Arts, and his efforts to preserve the art department of the Academy of Sciences in the 1760s-1770s. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that the author, for the first time in Russian historiography, considers the complex of art workshops of the Academy of Sciences in close connection with the activities of Professor of Rhetoric and Eloquence Staehlin. As a result of the analysis, it was established that Staehlin, who purposefully studied the development of Russian art and had influence at the Russian imperial court, was closely associated with the art chambers from the early 1740s, and from 1748 to 1780 he directly supervised the art department of the Academy, successfully achieving the main goals – training Russian students by the best masters and ensuring a high level of work performed in the workshops.