History and Culture: Exhibition "Empress Maria Feodorovna - Artist and Collector" launched in Petrozavodsk

The Fine Arts Museum of the Republic of Karelia (Petrozavodsk) hosts an exhibition "Empress Maria Feodorovna - Artist and Collector". It spotlights the legacy and collecting activities of Maria Feodorovna Romanova (Danish princess Dagmar), the wife of Emperor Alexander III and mother of the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II.

Maria Feodorovna was excellent in arts: she played the piano, took drawing and painting lessons from the outstanding artist A. P. Bogolyubov and, according to him: "mastered the colour and taste for colours".

We can appreciate the Empress's talent looking at her works. They arrived at Petrozavodsk together with items from the Anichkov Palace collections in 1928, when the Leningrad Museum Fund distributed nationalized works of art among museums. Until 1960, the collection was in the Museum of Local History and then entered collections of the Fine Arts Museum.

Besides the artworks by Maria Feodorovna, the exhibition showcases paintings from the rich art collection of the Anichkov Palace. The works by Arseny Meshchersky and Konstantin Kryzhitsky were previously in the private chambers of Maria Fedorovna; the portrait of an Italian girl by Johann Köhler originates from the Emperor's office. A portrait of a woman (1871) by Mikhail Botkin and a unique collection of Western European ceramics are from the Anichkov Palace. Odd shaped jars (beer mugs, cups, jugs) allow feeling the atmosphere of that distant time and reveal its secrets. For example, the lid of one of the vessels holds a 1699 medallion with portraits of two Danish princesses. The exposition also features an exciting collection of Western European porcelain of the XVIII-XIX centuries - an excellent production of the Sevres and Meissen porcelain manufacturers. A porcelain rabbit by the model of master Erik Nielsen is a product of the Danish Royal Porcelain Manufactory.

For the first time, museum halls represent a painting by the Russian artist Torachkov, depicting the battle scene - Attack of the Life Guards of the Ataman Regiment. Documents of 1928 state that this painting on a marble slab was from the office of Alexander III.

The exhibition will run until November 29, 2021.