"The Romanov Dynasty. Portrait engraving from the collection of the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts" Automatic translate

On August 24, the exhibition “The Romanov Dynasty. Portrait engraving from the collection of the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts.

Exhibition “The Romanov Dynasty. Portrait engraving ”was organized within the framework of the national tourist project“ The Imperial Route ”, developed by the“ Elisabeth-Sergius Educational Society ”Foundation with the aim of preserving the historical and cultural heritage of the Russian regions. All graphic works come from the former private collection of Alexander Sergeevich Gershelman (1893 - 1977). Hero of the First World War, awarded the Order of St. Anna of the 4th degree with the inscription “for bravery”, Gershelman lived in Berlin, Munich, Vienna in the 1920s. In 1948 he moved to Argentina, and in 1961 he became one of the organizers of the Exhibition of Old Russian Art in Buenos Aires. In 2015, the art collection was donated to the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts by the collector’s daughter Marina Alexandrovna Gershelman-Aksakova.

The exhibition acquaints the viewer with a collection of engraved portraits of members of the Royal family, executed in the technique of dotted lines. Portrait engraving is a striking phenomenon of Russian artistic culture. Developing along with all the visual arts, engraving nevertheless has a number of features associated with the techniques used and with the evolution of artistic styles. Portrait engraving demanded from the master the ability to create a clear drawing, think over the light and shadow modeling, and carefully select the details. Engraved portraits created from painterly originals often surpassed prototypes in their artistic qualities.

The portrait engravings were made by the French masters Joseph Mecoux (1771 - 1832), Charles Joanno (1795 - 1825), Antoine Coupe (1784 - 1852), Friedrich Theodore John (1769 - 1843) after enamel miniatures by Jean Henri Benner (1770 - 1836). J. A. Benner is a French artist, a student of the renowned miniaturist Jean Baptiste Isabe. In 1815 - 1816 he worked in Warsaw, from where he was invited by Prince A.B. Lobanov-Rostovsky to St. Petersburg to create the "Romanov Suite". The artist executed the miniatures from the original paintings that were in the gallery of the Imperial Hermitage. Dynastic portraits, created shortly after the victory of Alexander I over Napoleon, span three centuries of Russian history. The portraits follow the originals exactly and make up a uniform ensemble in style. The works of J.A. Benner became a significant phenomenon for the art of miniature in Russia,largely shaped the aesthetic tastes of the aristocracy of that time.

An album of prints was published in Paris in 1817 under the title "Collection of twenty-four portraits of the imperial family, painted by the painter Benner, who received permission from His Imperial Majesty to engrave these Portraits." The luxurious limited edition was distributed mainly by subscription between members of the royal family, European royal houses and representatives of the aristocracy.

The collection of A.S. Gershelman contains twenty of the twenty-four portraits included in the album: portraits of Mikhail Fedorovich (1596-1645), Alexei Mikhailovich (1629-1676), Fedor III Alekseevich (1661-1682), John V Alekseevich (1666-1696)), Sophia Alekseevna (1657 - 1704), Peter I (1672 - 1725), Catherine I (1684 - 1727), Peter II (1715 - 1730), Anna Ioannovna (1693 - 1740), Elizabeth I Petrovna (1709 - 1762), Peter III (1728 - 1762), Paul I (1754 - 1801), Alexander I (1777 - 1825), Maria Feodorovna (1759 - 1828), Elizaveta Alekseevna (1779 - 1826), Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna (1798 - 1860), Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich (1779 - 1831), Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (1786 - 1859), Grand Duchess Ekaterina Pavlovna (1788 - 1810) and Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich (1796 - 1855),ascended the throne eight years after the release of the album.

The exhibition will run until August 29.