History of Russia: Exhibition “Glorious names of Russia” kicks off in Saratov

On March 1 2011 the A.N. Radishchev Saratov State Art Museum launched an exhibition “Glorious names of Russia”.

The exhibition opens with books directly related to representatives of the House of Romanov, starting from Filaret, father of the first Tsar Mikhail Feodorovich. Apart from the genealogy of the Romanovs, visitors of the exhibition can see portraits of Russian rulers in V. I. Korolev’s chromolithographs originating from an 1896 art album “Russian Royal House of Romanov”.

The reign of Catherine II was the time of establishment of natural-science knowledge, significant changes in the Russian science, culture, literature and public consciousness. This period is presented by portraits of A.P. Antropov, M.V. Lomonosov, G. D. Derzhavin, D.I. Fonvizin and literary works by writers of that time. Special attention is attracted by A.N. Radishchev’s manuscript “Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow” and a facsimile of the 1790 publication, prepared by a famous publisher A.V. Suvorin.

The Patriotic War of 1812 showcases portraits of its participants drawn from life by the French artist Louis Saint-Aubin for the “Thirty-nine portraits of 1808-1825” publication. The portrait of Alexander I occupies a central place among images of war heroes. A book by the Grand Prince Nikolai Mikhailovich “Emperor Alexander I”, issued in St. Petersburg in 1912, also turns the spotlight on this prominent figure. Apart from the book, this period is represented by multi-volume illustrated jubilee editions which have never been displayed before — “Patriotic War and Russian society” and “The war of Russian peoples against Napoleon”, published in 1911 to mark 100th war anniversary.

The exhibition also puts on show the gallery of Decembrists, prepared by artists G.M. Manizer and V.A. Taburin from originals of that time for an art album published by I.N. Bozheryanov in Petrograd in 1917. The exposition also reveals other materials which illustrate that period of the Russian history.

An epoch of Alexander II is related, first and foremost, to serfdom abolition. The exhibition unveils I. Sytin’s jubilee encyclopedic edition “Great reform. Russian society and peasant question in the past and present” issued in the 1910s to mark 50th anniversary of the peasant reform in Russia. The fifth volume of the encyclopedia includes an inset with an original text of the “Emancipation Manifesto of February 19 1861”.

The turn of 19th – beginning of 20th cc. is represented by portraits of Russian writers from the “Portrait gallery of Russian literary men, scholars and artists” publication, issued by the photographer K.A. Shapiro. Showcases display artistic works by prominent authors of that time, including L.N. Tolstoy’s “Hadji Murad”, published in Petrograd in 1916 with illustrations made by Ye. Ye. Lanceray.