At the Court of the Russian Emperors. Works by Mihaly Zichy from the Collection of the State Hermitage

On 11 November an exhibition opened in the Concert Hall of the Winter Palace (Room N 190) which for the first time presents a large quantity of the very diverse material produced by the court painter Mihaly Zichy (1827 - 1906) during his career.

The artist arrived in Petersburg in January 1848 and took the position of painting instructor to the niece of Emperor Nicholas I, the daughter of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna. From this time on, the destiny of the master was very closely linked with Russia.

During 1852 - 1853, Zichy had a commission from Emperor Nicholas I to sketch events of court life in Gatchina. In 1856 Mihaly Zichy was among a group of artists who made drawings for the coronation album of Emperor Alexander II.

In 1858 he was given the title of academician of water color painting. In 1859 Emperor Alexander II conferred on academician Mihaly Zichy the title of court painter attached to the Imperial Hermitage. The artist remained in this post under Alexander II and Nicholas II.

Among Zichy’s duties was the obligation to capture events having state significance such as military reviews, parades, studies, the reception of foreign ambassadors, betrothals and marriage ceremonies, court shows, balls, and tsarist hunts.

The curators of the exhibition have selected more than 100 gouaches, drawings, and water colors which are characteristic of the various periods in Mihaly Zichy’s career and give the viewer an idea of how skillful he was as graphic artist, court painter-chronicler and book illustrator.

Among the exhibits, the water color Undina (1859) stands out. The composition includes nine episodes from V.A. Zhukovsky’s poem of the same name which was first printed in full in 1837 with a dedication to Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna. The water color Formal Dinner in the Palace of Facets (1883) illustrates the banquet on the occasion of the coronation of Emperor Alexander III in the Moscow Kremlin. As a court painter-chronicler, Mihaly Zichy was called upon to record this event and those who were present at the celebrations.

The theme of the court hunt occupies a large place in the master’s career. Both Alexander II and Alexander III were passionate hunters. There is an unusual series of 52 watercolors forming a set of playing cards bearing scenes from Alexander II’s hunts.

Zichy’s fascination with Russian poetry was reflected in a series of drawings on motifs from works by Lermontov and Pushkin. One can also see at the exhibition a series of genre drawings, designs for theater decorations, sketches of scenes and costumes.

An exhibition catalogue has been prepared by the State Hermitage Publishing House. The authors of the catalogue and curators of the exhibition are A.S. Kantor-Gukovskaya, senior researcher of the Department of Western European Art, and G.A. Printseva, senior researcher of the Department of History of Russian Culture, State Hermitage.

More

At the press-conference at the Hermitage Theater

Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage at the press conference

At the opening of the exhibition

At the exhibition

The exhibition catalogue