Exhibitions: “Portraits of the Unknown” displayed in Moscow

23 August A. S. Pushkin Museum (Moscow) opened a new exhibition "Portraits of the Unknown".

The exhibition presents 190 portraits (paintings, drawings, miniatures, sculpture) of representatives of the nobility and merchant class of Russia of 18^th – 19^th centuries, which had been acquired by the museum in different times and under different circumstances with a note "portrait of an unknown person," or accompanied with a mythologized or erroneous annotation. Many of the heroes of these paintings could stay "unrecognized" forever if they had not become a subject of a thorough study by the museum professionals and historians.

Return the name to the portrait - is akin to scientific discovery and is a significant event not only for the museum's collection, but also for the culture of the country as a whole. Unique feature of the new exposition is that most of the displayed portraits have been returned their real names. The exhibition demonstrates the impressive results of research and attribution activities of the museum.

The exhibition "Portraits of the Unknown" is a logical continuation of the exhibition of the same name, held at the Museum at the time of formation of the Moscow A. S. Pushkin Museum in 1968-69. Then, for the first time in museum practice, a wide range of audience was introduced to not just portraits, but, in fact, the results of a decade of research work of museum professionals. The exhibition aroused not only a great public interest but also a wave of discoveries – while the exhibition had been opened, the visitors "recognized" 10 of 80 displayed portraits which then were officially attributed.

One of the sensations of this exhibition is introduction to the public of a magnificent painting of one of the most interesting women of the Pushkin epoch - Maria Nikolaevna Rayevskaya (Volkonskaya).

The exhibition is open to visitors from 24 August until February 2012.