Classicism style in guns’ decorations (on the example of I. Lyalyin)

The article examines and analyses the works of the most famous gunsmith of the XVIII - early XIX centuries, Ivan Lyalyin, who was one of the founders of the new style tendencies in decorating small arms of Tula meeting the spirit of those times and the aesthetics of classicism style. All samples of decorated arms were created by imagination and professional skills of gunsmiths not by chance. They reflected the development of the technologies and the history of styles which followed each other. The arms of the late XVIII century show the great interest to the antiquity, what is reflected in the decor elements borrowed from the Roman Empire heritage, including accessories and fittings reminding the ancient Roman ones (lictor’s fasces, javelins, arrows in quivers), garlands made of leaves and roses, vases, wreaths, Amour’s heads, heraldic images of animals and so on. Ivan Lyalyin is also famous for his original colour decor solutions. He used combinations of white bone and golden-plated bronze, sometimes adding black patterns or gilded bone and expensive types of wood to make his works look festive and posh. Lyalyin used new materials and technologies, created original technical solutions in designing arms. His followers and like-minded gunsmiths kept on developing his creative principles and styles, what brought to the creation of «the School of Ivan Lyalyin».