The State Russian Museum / St Michael’s Castle Moscow during the Reigns of Catherine II and Paul I in the Paintings of Gérard de la Barthe
Gérard de la Barthe, French painter and watercolorist, worked in Russia between 1787 and 1810. In the late 1780s, de la Barthe painted views of Tsarskoye Selo, and in the second half of the 1790s, he created a series of watercolors and paintings depicting views of Moscow and its suburbs that became widely popular due to etched reproductions of them. De la Barthe earned his reputation as a skillful artist, equally successful as a landscape painter, a view painter, and a “figurist”, masterfully rendering the bustling everyday life of a big city.
Catherine II used to admit that she had never liked Moscow. Moscow repelled her with its medieval gracelessness and dilapidation, luxury and idleness, its enormous size, vast squares, the abundance of paupers, thieves, and useless domestic servants. She commissioned a series of painting, wishing to see Moscow captured in its originality and contrast of its everyday life. That is why she chose de la Barthe, a talented painter of the vernacular city life. The artist was not bound by restrictions and directives; he didn’t have to paint new pieces of architecture. He was free enough to depict what he as a foreigner felt was worth being represented in such a big and curious city.
De la Barthe aims to capture a portrait of the entire city space, not just particular streets or neighborhoods. In his view, Moscow possesses plenty of vast open spaces that are scarce in European cities. These spaces are full of city types: de la Barthe regards the multitude of people from a perspective of their social diversity and at the same time of their interconnectedness and proximity.
Unlike Catherine, Paul I did like Moscow. He felt more welcome there than in St. Petersburg. Paul commissioned de la Barthe to paint 6 canvases: two panoramas of Moscow and four paintings connected with the emperor’s trips around Moscow suburbs. The two panoramas were executed in high, odic manner: the architecture is now in the foreground, the buildings of the Kremlin are elaborated in great detail. The figures in the forefront are no longer part of the city crowd, more likely, they represent public offices.
The exhibition at the St Michael’s Castle will include 15 paintings from the Moscow series by Gérard de la Barthe, accessioned into the Museum’s collection in 1931 from the Alexandrovsky Palace in Tsarskoye Selo and never yet exhibited in its entirety. The display will also include views of Moscow painted around the same time by I. V. Moshkov (1778–1845) and etchings depicting the 1812 Fire of Moscow, the landscape backgrounds of which are based on de la Barthe’s vedute.The exhibition is supported by Sistema Charitable Foundation.
From Peter the Great to Elizabeth Petrovna
1 June—23 September 2024
This exhibition, unique in its scale, covers the period from the death of Peter the Great to the accession to the throne of his daughter Elizabeth Petrovna (1725–1742). The main events of the internal Russian life in the time of struggle for Peter the Great’s legacy shown on the material from the collections of 21 museums, including State Hermitage Museum, the State Historical Museum, the Moscow Kremlin Museums, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Museum of the History of St Petersburg, the Peterhof State Museum and Reserve, the Pavlovsk State Museum, the Arkhangelskoye State Museum and Reserve and others.
Master of Painting. 325th Anniversary of Ivan Vishnyakov’s Birth
26 April—1 July 2024
Ivan Vishnyakov is one of the leading artist of the 18th century, portraitist, mural painter, restorer and teacher. However, not much of the artist’s vast legacy, the result of thirty years of untiring creative activity, has survived to the present day. All the more valuable are the eleven surviving portraits in the collections of the Russian Museum, the Tretyakov Gallery, the Museum of Vasily Tropinin and Moscow Artists of His Time, art museums in Tver and Rybinsk, and the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus.
- 15 March—13 May 2024 > Mikhailovsky Palace Mstislav Farmakovsky. 150th Anniversary of the Artist’s Birth
- 21 February—13 May 2024 > Benois Wing Anna Golubkina (1864–1927). 160th Anniversary of the Artist's Birth
The collection of masterpieces, chosen by the Russian Museum will allow you to make a first impression of the collection of the Russian Museum.
Russian Museum - one of the world's largest museums and is perhaps the only country where such a full treasure of national culture are presented.
Virtual tour of the museum complex. 2009 (Rus., Eng., Ger., Fin.)
In the online shop of the Russian Museum presented a huge range of souvenirs, illustrated editions and multimedia disks.
