Moscow: Splendours of the Romanovs – Exhibition at the Grimaldi Forum Monaco

Grimaldi Forum Monaco

Moscow: Splendours of the Romanovs
July 11 through September 13, 2009

In the summer of 2004, the Grimaldi Forum Monaco and its exhibition “Imperial St. Petersburg, from Peter the Great to Catherine II” approached art under the reign of one of the representatives of the imperial Romanov family: Peter the Great.
Brigitte de Montclos, who was commissioner of that exhibition, specialist in Russian culture, is the author here of the synopsis of this new summer opus, “Moscow: Splendours of the Romanovs”, presented July 11 through September 13, 2009.

Moscou : Splendeurs des Romanov

Œuf de Fabergé,
Carl Fabergé, pendulette bleue au serpent,1887
Collection du Palais Princier de Monaco
Photographie ©Gaëtan Luci

“….The Romanov dynasty reigned for three hundred years over Russia. All the sovereigns without exception were crowned in the Cathedral of the Dormition in the Kremlin. The coronation and anointment ceremonies restored the ancient capital to its former glory after it had been dispossessed of it by St. Petersburg. Through this exhibition, the visitor will rediscover a Moscow which foreign visitors often neglect in favour of the Northern capital…”

“Moscow: Splendours of the Romanovs” reveals in 500 masterpieces how the Moscow of the 19th century was a genuine artistic capital under the reign of the last Czars, Alexander III and his son Nicholas II.

The author of the original exhibition design is François Payet, already author of the striking exhibition design for “Imperial St. Petersburg” and “Queens of Egypt” and who here wishes to reveal the beauty and the soul of the assembled objects so as to recreate an authentic Russian atmosphere evoking the Orthodox liturgical ceremonial, the urbanism, the architecture, and the churches of the capital with their golden domes: Moscow, the pomp and circumstance of Court life and the magnificence of the palace interiors where the imperial family lived.

Moscou : Splendeurs des Romanov

Mitre velours rouge, perles et pierres
Russie début XIXème
Musée Historique d’Etat, Moscou
Photographie © The State Historical Museum

Moscou : Splendeurs des Romanov

Evangile,
Moscou, Musée et Réserve d’Etat de Tsarskoïe Selo,
Photographie © The State Museum preserve « Tsarskoïe Selo », St Petersburg,2009

The emblematic loans from the Moscow Historical Museum and the Kremlin Museum include priestly vestments, liturgical objects in precious metals, a collection of icons and a 17th century iconostasis in painted wood which illustrates the wealth of the church. A large choice of views of Moscow through oil paintings, maps, and engravings will show the extent of the capital.

The period known as “the century of gold” covering the years 1820-1860 saw a flourishing of Russian literature (Chekhov, Tolstoy), of music (Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky), of painting, and then, as in the rest of Europe, the return to one’s roots not only in architecture but also in the arts professions, which led to an exceptional production as shown in the famous Pan-Russian exhibition of 1882 in Moscow. It was the rediscovery of Russian past, that which is known as the Russian style, and which can be seen in a number of art objects: the glass dipper (kovch), the samovar and a table service called “Russkii style” coming from the Kouskovo Museum, one of the museums participating in this exhibition.

Moscow triumphs like a “true” full-fledged artistic capital provided with artistic production centers in the fields of gold and silver work and porcelain.

Moscou : Splendeurs des Romanov

Kovch cristal « Boyards », 1908-1917
Russie, Moscou, Musée historique d’Etat, Moscou
Photographie © The State Historical Museum

Moscou : Splendeurs des Romanov

Paire de jumelles d’opéra
La Fondation Link of Times
Photographie: © The Link of Times Foundation

Moscou : Splendeurs des Romanov

Assiette creuse
Service du grand-duc Constantin Nicolaievitch 1848 – 1852,
Saint Petersburg – Manufacture Impériale de porcelaine
Musée historique d’Etat, Moscou
Photographie © The State Historical Museum

It was also the time when the imperial family as well as the great families in the Czar’s entourage—Prince Demidoff, Prince Orloff—placed orders with the famous firms such as Baccarat, Cartier and Fabergé. The exhibition presents magnificent jewellery and gold and silver work pieces, as well as the famous jewelled Fabergé Easter eggs created until 1917 for the Czars Alexander III and Nicholas II.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Russian market represented a large part of the exportations of Baccarat crystal-ware. In 1896, the Czar Nicholas II and the Czarina Alexandra Feodorovna took their honeymoon in Europe with a stop-over in Paris. At that time, they discovered the Baccarat production and a glassware service was created for them “the Czar’s service” pieces of which are presented in this exhibition. And the jeweller Jacques Cartier is not neglected here either, whose sources of inspiration were strongly influenced by Russian art and who in 1904 was named appointed jeweller to the courts of Russia, Belgium, Spain…

Moscou : Splendeurs des Romanov

Nicolas II, son épouse Alexandra Feodorovna et leurs deux filles,
Photographie © Issu du fond des Archives publiques cinématographiques de la Fédération de Russie de Krasnogorsk

As regarding historical records, the exhibition plunges us into the personal life of the last of the Romanovs: the Czar Nicholas II. Through the Lausanne Elysée Museum’s incredible photographic collection, and films coming from the Krasnogorsk Federation of Russia’s cinematographic archives, the public will discover the moving story of the life of Nicholas II and his family.

Courtesy Grimaldi Forum Monaco
Images © Their respective owners

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~ by Stampfli & Turci on July 29, 2009.