300th Anniversary of the Academy of Sciences. Illustrated Academic Publications of the Mid-18th Century from the Collection of the Russian Museum

The exhibition is currently on display in Room 251 (1st floor, between the Grand Throne Room and Anna Protasova’s Chambers).

On 28 January 1724, Peter the Great signed a decree establishing the Academy of Sciences, a fundamentally new institution in Russian history that would ensure Russia’s integration into the European scientific process. Soon after its foundation, the Academy established a printing house which published books in humanities and natural sciences, as well as fulfilled the most important commissions for the Imperial Court. The illustrations for these publications were created in the Academy, in the so-called Engraving Chamber. The leading national engravers and foreign masters, who were in the Russian service, worked in the Engraving Chamber from the second quarter of the 18th century to the mid-19th century, including Ivan Sokolov, Grigory Kachalov, Ottmar Elliger, Christian Albert Wortmann, Philipp Georg Mattarnovi and others. The exhibition presents four illustrated academic publications from the collection of the Russian Museum.

The first illustrated coronation album in the history of Russian book printing, with engravings by Ottmar Elliger and masters of the Academy of Sciences, was published on the occasion of Anna Ioannovna’s coronation in 1730.

The Coronation Album of Elizabeth Petrovna, printed in 1744–1745, is rightly considered one of the highlights of book publishing in Russia and a magnificent example of national engraving. The illustrations were made in the Academy of Sciences under the supervision of artist Ivan Sokolov.

A unique engraved score of twelve pieces for string ensemble dedicated to Empress Anna Ioannovna in 1738, is preceded by a remarkable engraved frontispiece by Philipp Georg Mattarnovi.

Engraved illustrations for François Fénelon’s popular novel Les Aventures de Télémaque (The Adventures of Telemachus), were created in the late 1740s – early 1750s by the leading engraver of the Academy of Sciences Christian Albert Wortmann.