Nabokov Studies

Abstract:

Vladimir Nabokov (1899–1977) is widely recognized and highly regarded as a writer of world renown. It is less known that in his childhood and early youth he entertained the idea of becoming a landscape painter. It is still less known that he was also a great connoisseur of art, specifically of Italian Renaissance painting. In this article, I endeavor to showcase Nabokov's enviable familiarity with Italian Renaissance painting through a diverse array of examples taken from his works spanning more than fifty years. In addition, I seek to examine some of the reasons for his employment of these pictorial masterpieces in his literary oeuvre.