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Assembly under Peter I

Artist: Stanisław Chlebowski (Polish, 1835–1884)

Date: 1858

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: The State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Description

In 1718, Peter the Great issued a decree establishing assemblies, entertainment evenings that became an essential part of St. Petersburg's social life. They served as the prototype for the lavish high-society balls for which the Russian imperial court was renowned. Assemblies were held in rotation in the homes of the nobility and were distinguished by a certain democratic spirit. Anyone could attend, excluding peasants and members of the urban poor. Dancing, various games, and interesting conversations were common pastimes. By introducing assemblies, Peter sought to introduce certain Western European traditions to Russian soil. He considered them useful and, in particular, served to emancipate women, whose lives had previously been focused exclusively on domestic duties.

View of a Room in Lady Randolph's House, Westbourne Street, Sussex Square

Artist: Patrick William Adam, RSA (Scottish, 1854-1929)

Date: 1919

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: National Trust Collections, London, United Kingdom

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Queen Charlotte (1744-1818) with her Two Eldest Sons

Artist: Johan Joseph Zoffany (German, 1733-1810)

Date: 1764

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Royal Collection Trust, London, United Kingdom

Queen Charlotte

Queen Charlotte (1744-1818), born Charlotte Sophia in Germany, became Queen of England upon her marriage to King George III in 1761. She grew up in a religious household in the duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and had an early interest in art. Despite her initial status as a shy and somewhat reserved queen, Charlotte bore fifteen children, nine of whom survived to adulthood, fulfilling her primary role in the royal family.

For much of her early life, she had limited involvement in state affairs, largely due to George III's reluctance to engage her in politics and her own fears surrounding his mother’s powerful influence. However, following the king's descent into mental illness due to porphyria, Charlotte took on more responsibilities, demonstrating her intelligence and capability in handling complex issues.

Throughout her life, she faced personal challenges, including suspicions of her husband's fidelity and the humiliation of his illness. Queen Charlotte has been commemorated through various geographic locations and institutions, reflecting her lasting legacy. Her unique appearance made her a favored subject of artists, with numerous portraits and decorative wares inspired by her.

Painting Description

In September 1764 Lady Charlotte Finch (1725-1813), the Princes’ governess, ordered ‘a Telemachus Dress for the Prince of Wales and a Turk’s for Prince Frederick’; it is assumed that this is what they wear in this painting. This attire may be associated with a famous educational text of the period, the Telemachus of 1699 by Francois Fénelon, which describes the son of Ulysses travelling round the Mediterranean (like his father) with his advisor, Mentor, and seeing examples of good and bad government. It may be that the contrast of Turkish and classical costume is just fancy dress: the eighteenth-century equivalent of cowboys and indians. Certainly there is humor in the way that Prince George holds the dog like a warrior with his charger. The empty chair at the left side of the painting, with drum and standard, is surely intended to suggest the person and manly inspiration of the absent King.

Oath of Don Fernando as Prince of Asturias

Artist: Luis Paret y Alcázar (Spanish, 1746-1799)

Date: 1791

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, Spain

The Oath of Allegiance to Don Fernando (later King Ferdinand VII of Spain) as Prince of Asturias took place on September 23, 1789, in the church of the Real Monasterio de San Jerónimo in Madrid. This monumental occasion solidified his position as heir to the Spanish throne.

Alonso Sánchez Coello, Portrait of Infante Ferdinand of Spain, Oil on canvas, Walters Art Museum

Born on 4 December 1571 at the Royal Alcázar of Madrid, Ferdinand was the eldest child of Philip II and Anne of Austria. His mother was Philip II's niece and fourth wife. His elder half-brother, Don Carlos, had died in 1568, which meant that he was the new heir-apparent at birth and therefore Prince of Asturias.

Most of his time was spent with his mother, his nurses and his two elder half sisters Catherine and Isabella.

Ferdinand died of dysentery. His father was eventually succeeded by his youngest brother, Philip III of Spain.

Coronation of Emperor Alexander III in the Assumption Cathedral

Artist: Mikhail Mikeshin (Russian, 1835-1896)

Date: 1883

Medium: Watercolor and gouache on paper

Collection: The State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Description

Mikhail Mikeshin captured the coronation ceremony that took place on May 15, 1883, under the vaults of the majestic ancient Assumption Cathedral, when the Emperor received the Church's blessing to exercise not only state but also ecclesiastical authority.

The moment is depicted when, after Alexander III had read the Creed and had the porphyry (mantle) and diamond chain of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called placed upon him, the Emperor was presented with the “Great Crown,” and he solemnly placed it on his head.

Alexander III then crowned Maria Feodorovna with the "Lesser Crown" and ceremoniously presented her with the imperial regalia. The crowning ceremony was announced by the firing of one hundred and one cannons and the ringing of bells.

The act of coronation ended with the rite of anointing in front of the Royal Doors of the altar.

Portrait of Empress Maria Feodorovna

Artist: Marie-Louise-Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun (French, 1755-1842)

Date: 1799

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: The State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia

Empress Maria Feodorovna

Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia (1847-1928) was born at the Yellow Palace in Copenhagen and was originally titled Princess Dagmar of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. She was the second daughter of an impoverished branch of the Danish royal family but rose in stature when her father Christian was declared heir presumptive to the Danish throne in 1852. Princess Dagmar’s marriage prospects improved considerably when her eldest sister Alexandra was betrothed to the future King Edward VII in 1861 and her father acceded to the throne as King Christian IX of Denmark in 1863.

Princess Dagmar won an alliance that would eclipse even her sister in 1864 when she was betrothed to the Russian Tsarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich. The poor chap died of meningitis a year later and declared on his deathbed that his sincerest wish was for the Princess to marry his younger brother Alexander. This she did 1866 having converted to Russian orthodoxy when she wed the future Tsar Alexander III in the Imperial Chapel of the Winter Palace in St Petersburg. As Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna she held court in the Anichkov Palace for fifteen years dazzling the Russian people by assiduously learning the language and devoting her time to leading society and patronizing Imperial charities.

The Grand Duchess was careful to exclude herself from politics with one exception. Like her sister Alexandra, Maria Feodorovna was vehemently anti-German following the annexation of Danish territories by Kaiser Wilhelm I. In 1881 tragedy struck Russia when Tsar Alexander II was killed by an anarchist’s bomb. The Grand Duchess wrote in her diaries ‘his legs were crushed terribly and ripped open to the knee; a bleeding mass with half a boot on the right foot, and only the sole of the foot remaining on the left’. The Tsar died hours later and the Grand Duchess became Empress of all the Russias. She was to write ‘our happiest and serenest times are now over. My peace and calm are gone, for now I will only ever be able to worry about Sasha (her husband Tsar Alexander III)’.

The Empress Maria Feodorovna’s reign was blighted by assassination attempts on her husband and the Imperial family. They lived outside St Petersburg in the Gatchina Palace under constant guard. Countless plots to kill the Tsar were thwarted by the secret police including one that led to the hanging of Lenin’s older brother as a co-conspirator. Despite living under the shadow of the assassin’s bomb, knife or bullet, the Empress was a popular consort and a bright, beautiful presence as chatelaine of the Winter Palace, the Kremlin and the Crimean summer palace of Livadia. Tragedy struck again in 1894 when Tsar Alexander III died unexpectedly of nephritis. The throne was left clear for their son Tsar Nicholas II who declared ‘what is going to happen to Russia? I am not prepared’.

Indeed he was not. The new Tsar’s choice of consort was deeply unpopular with his mother. Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt showed signs of melancholy, hysteria and crippling shyness. She had already turned down Britain’s heir apparent Prince Albert Victor and showed a marked reluctance to convert to Russian Orthodoxy as was required of a Russian Grand Duchess. Following the death of Tsar Alexander III, the Dowager Empress relented and allowed her son to marry Princess Alix: the woman the Russian nation would blame for igniting the flame that would explode into the Russian Revolution of 1917. When the First World War was declared in 1914, Tsar Nicholas II opened hostilities with his cousin Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany. His disastrous decision to lead the Russian army left St Petersburg under the regency of Empress Alexandra who was under the influence of ‘mad monk’ Rasputin. The Empress believed Rasputin could preserve the life of her hemophiliac son Alexei and allowed him to appoint ministers and lead the war cabinet in absentia of the Tsar.

The Dowager Empress could do nothing to break the bond between Nicholas and Alexandra and watched from the sidelines as the dynasty crumbled and the Tsar abdicated. She only saw Nicholas once after the abdication before being compelled to flee to her estates in Livadia. Maria Feodorovna refused to leave Russia even when news came telling her that the entire Imperial Family had been shot dead in a basement in Yekaterinburg in 1918. She was only persuaded to flee Russia when King George V sent HMS Marlborough to rescue her and what was left of the Romanovs. The Dowager Empress never returned to Russia. She lived out her exile as a guest of sister the Dowager Queen Alexandra at Marlborough House in London and Sandringham House in Norfolk. The sisters bought a modest house outside Copenhagen called Hvidore where the Dowager Empress died in 1928.

Elegance in Soft Light by the Window

A woman in a delicate, elegant white dress stands by a large window, bathed in soft light. The lavish interior features ornate wallpaper and flowing curtains, creating a serene atmosphere.