Painting of Philippe Pillement in the context of "europeanization" of Russian culture

The article studies the painting of Philippe Pillement, a French artist in Saint-Petersburg under Peter the First, in connection with Russian Europeanization processes. On the example of ceiling painting in the Monplaisir Palace and in the Menshikov Palace of Vasilievsky island, the author examines the Pillement’s creative method and specificity of his symbolic and allegorical thinking, and determines enlightened potential of Rococo painting. The author concludes that Pillement’s decorative painting conveyed hedonistic moods and secular motives of early Enlightenment in a conservative form, which did not exacerbate the conflict of Orthodox traditions and Western European treasures. The special manner of the painter contributed a lot to this. The article also provides new biographical information about the artists.