This is lively and innovative contribution to historical thinking about Early Modern Russia. Rooted in original scholarship, packed with engaging material, the book takes us on a series of journeys into the diverse and powerful ways in which images work in (and on) the world.

Simon Franklin, Emeritus Professor of Slavonic Studies, University of Cambridge, UK

Val Kivelson delivers another masterpiece on the history of early modern Russia and its empire, this time attributing agency to images to explore not only how the empire acquired and transformed the lands it had conquered, but also how those encounters reshaped the imperial core and its image of itself.

Serhii Plokhy, Professor of Ukrainian History, Harvard University, USA

Beautifully written and painstakingly researched, Images and the Making of the Russian Empire takes readers on a fascinating journey through the particularities of the Muscovite “pictosphere,” showing how images constituted, shaped, and celebrated the Russian empire. From Orthodox icons to Siberian signature marks, Valerie Kivelson unearths the often surprising force of the visual in Russian culture.

Maria Grazia Bartolini, Associate Professor of Medieval Slavic Culture, University of Milan, Italy