History and Culture: Exhibition “Merchant Portrait of the 18th – early 20th century” presented in Tula

The exhibition Merchant Portrait of the 18th – early 20th century is held in the branch of the State Historical Museum in Tula. The exposition includes 48 paintings and over 200 pieces of art – old coins, medals, costumes, jewellery.

Visitors will have an opportunity to see works by Vasily Petrov, Valentin Serov and Konstantin Makovsky, portraits of the representatives of famous merchant dynasties: Abrikosovs, Bakhrushins, Ryabushinskys.

The exhibition space is built according to the chronological principle. The first hall is given to merchant portraits of the late 18th – first half of the 20th century. These canvases were often created for family portrait galleries and largely preserved the features of the 17th-century parsuna, stylistically associated with icon painting.

The second hall of the exhibition is devoted to merchant portraits of the second half of the 19th – early 20th century. At that time, they almost did not differ from the nobility ones. In the same hall, there is a screen where one can see electronic copies of daguerreotypes and photographs.

At the exhibition, guests have a chance to compare objects depicted in the paintings – old tableware, clothes, decorations – to the original items of that era.