History of Russia: Interactive exhibition project "European View on Peter the Great" presented in St. Petersburg

The Arts and Music Centre (St. Petersburg) of the Peterhof State Museum-Reserve and the Vladimir Mayakovsky Central City Public Library present an interactive exhibition project "European View on Peter the Great". It displays the engraved portraits of Emperor Peter I from books about Russia published in Europe in the XVIII-XIX centuries.

The exposition features both the first graphic portraits of Peter the Great in European books and the development of his image under the influence of the events of the early XVIII - second half of the XIX centuries. At this time, foreign artists created the portrait of a tsar-reformer and a monarch of the Western kind. It was the picture of "reformed Russia" represented in the personality of Peter the Great.

The memoirs of foreigners about Russia are focused on the personality of the tsar-reformer. Already in the first quarter of the XVIII century, they formed stereotypical features of the Russian emperor. The artists tried not only to capture his appearance but also to show the greatness of the ruler of Russia using the established canon. The engraved portraits of Peter I before the text highlighted his significance and merits. Details of the composition demonstrated his wisdom and virtues.

The exhibition showcases the reproductions from fourteen Western European editions of the XVII-XIX centuries from the "Rossica" collection (foreign literature about Russia) of the Peterhof State Museum-Reserve. New acquisitions to the book rarities collection are one of the priorities of the Museum-Reserve. The exhibition presents publications grouped by the time of their printing: from lifetime works of the early XVIII century to books issued in the second half of the XIX century.

Besides the Peterhof publications, the exposition features materials from the collections of the Vladimir Mayakovsky Central City Public Library. They represent historical pictures of the cities visited by Peter during the Great Embassy and modern sculptural portraits of the Russian Tsar on European streets, allowing us to understand the contemporary European view on Peter the Great.