Du tsar à l'empereur

Only works of art can measure the radical evolution of a country moving from servitude to international exchanges, from work on precious metals to the portrayal of naval victories, from women’s enclaves to the famous “assemblies” that Peter the Great instituted, thereby setting a new type of society against secular traditions, which were inconsiderate of women’s condition.

A prestigious retrospective of His Majesty Lord Novgorod the Great, the oldest town in Russia, will remind us how the ancient Moscovy took shape, until the accession of Ivan VI, known as Ivan the Terrible. Only religious items illustrate this epoch as religion governed the life of the population, as demonstrated by admirable icons and cultural objects. Profane objects made of precious metals, which can be traced to the ruling family from the engraved inscriptions, and all the works denoting the power of the sovereign testify to the advent of unity and Russian power.

After the controversial election of Boris Godunov to the throne, and the Time of Troubles, during which sovereigns and false sovereigns succeeded each other rapidly, calm returned to the country with the election of Mikhail Romanov in 1613 as tsar of all Russia. Moscow’s Golden Century witnessed the peaceful flourishing of refined art such as the art of niellage or the enamels of the Stoganov schools and showed that, for some, the opening to the West was already a reality.

Peter I, known as Peter the Great, founded the town of St. Petersburg in 1703. As it was both a military and commercial harbour, he made it his capital. As an autodidact, scientist, archaeologist, builder, admirer of the Dutch way of life, he was highly concerned with opening his country to Europe, which he knew to be a necessity. To illustrate his numerous and uncommon interests, such as anatomy, the exhibition will include a curiosity room.

His successors, his daughter Elisabeth, then Catherine II, gave St. Petersburg its definitive status of great European capital.
The richness of Russian museums, in Moscow as well as in the Northern capital or the regions, makes possible an exhibition of exceptional quality thanks to the works which will be displayed, some of which have never left the country before.