The most expensive trophy of Peter I in the Northern War was, perhaps, Polonyanka from Marienburg Marta Skavronskaya (nicknamed by the Russians Katerina Trubacheva), whom the tsar first saw in St. Petersburg under construction on Trinity Island in the chambers of Alexander Menshikov at the end of 1703. Peter noticed the charming woman and did not stay for she's indifferent...

Conclusion on succession to the throne, 1717
Grigory MUSIKIYSKY

Before meeting Martha, Peter’s personal life was going very badly: things didn’t work out with his wife, as we know; not only was she old-fashioned, but also stubborn, unable to adapt to her husband’s tastes. You can remember the beginning of their life together. Let me just remind you that Queen Evdokia was forcibly taken to the Suzdal Intercession Monastery, in July 1699 she was tonsured under the name of nun Elena and lived there for a long time quite freely with the money of churchmen who were dissatisfied with the policy of the sovereign.

The tsar's long-term romance with the blond beauty Anna Mons, whose vanity was certainly flattered by the tsar's courtship and luxurious gifts, also ended dramatically. But she didn’t love him, she was simply afraid, risking, however, having an affair on the side with the Saxon envoy, for which Peter put his deceiving lover under house arrest for a long time.

Portraits of Peter I
Unknown artists

We will trace in more detail the twists and turns of Martha Skavronskaya’s fate during her reign, but here we will dwell only on her relationship with the tsar. So, the tsar drew attention to the pretty, neat and tidy Katerina, and Alexander Danilovich, without much resistance, gave her over to Peter I.

Peter I and Catherine
Dementy SHMARINOV

Peter I takes Catherine from Menshikov
Unknown artist, from the collection of the Yegoryevsk Museum

At first, Katerina was on the staff of numerous mistresses of the loving Russian Tsar, whom he took with him everywhere. But soon, with her kindness, gentleness, and selfless submission, she tamed the distrustful king. She quickly became friends with his beloved sister Natalya Alekseevna and entered her circle, liking all of Peter’s relatives.

Portrait of Princess Natalya Alekseevna
Ivan NIKITIN

Portrait of Catherine I
Ivan NIKITIN

In 1704, Katerina already became Peter’s common-law wife, gave birth to a son, Pavel, and a year later, Peter. The simple woman sensed the tsar’s moods, adapted to his difficult character, endured his oddities and whims, guessed his desires, and quickly responded to everything that interested him, becoming the closest person to Peter. In addition, she was able to create for the sovereign the comfort and warmth of a home, which he never had before. The new family became a support and a quiet, welcome haven for the king...

Peter I and Catherine
Boris CHORIKOV

Portrait of Peter the Great
Adrian van der WERFF

Peter I and Catherine riding in a shnyava along the Neva
18th century engraving of NH

Among other things, Catherine had iron health; she rode horses, spent the night in inns, accompanying the king on his travels for months and quite calmly endured the hardships and hardships of the campaign, which were very difficult by our standards. And when it was necessary, she behaved absolutely naturally in the circle of European nobles, turning into a queen... There was no military review, ship launching, ceremony or holiday at which she would not be present.

Portrait of Peter I and Catherine I
Unknown artist

Reception with Countess Skavronskaya
Dementy SHMARINOV

After returning from the Prut campaign, Peter married Catherine in 1712. By that time they already had two daughters, Anna and Elizabeth, the rest of the children died before they were even five years old. They got married in St. Petersburg, the whole ceremony was arranged not as a traditional wedding celebration of a Russian autocrat, but as a modest wedding of Schoutbenacht Peter Mikhailov and his fighting girlfriend (unlike, for example, the magnificent wedding of Peter's niece Anna Ioannovna and Duke of Courland Friedrich Wilhelm in 1710. )

And Catherine, uneducated and without any experience of life at the top, really turned out to be the woman the tsar could not do without. She knew how to get along with Peter, extinguish outbursts of anger, she could calm him down when the king began to have severe migraines or convulsions. Everyone then ran after their “heart friend” Ekaterina. Peter put his head on her lap, she quietly said something to him (her voice seemed to bewitch Peter) and the king fell silent, then fell asleep and a few hours later woke up cheerful, calm and healthy.

Rest of Peter I
Mikhail SHANKOV
Peter, of course, loved Catherine very much, adored his beautiful daughters, Elizabeth and Anna.

Portrait of princesses Anna Petrovna and Elizaveta Petrovna
Louis CARAVACQUE

Alexey Petrovich

And what about Tsarevich Alexei, Peter’s son from his first marriage? The blow to the unloved wife ricocheted into the child. He was separated from his mother and given to be raised by his father's aunts, whom he saw rarely and was afraid of from childhood, feeling unloved. Gradually, a circle of opponents of Peter’s reforms formed around the boy, who instilled in Alexei pre-reform tastes: the desire for external piety, inaction and pleasure. The Tsarevich lived cheerfully in “his company” under the leadership of Yakov Ignatiev, he got used to feasting in Russian, which could not but harm his health, which was not very strong by nature. At first, the prince was taught to read and write by an educated and skilled rhetorician, Nikifor Vyazemsky, and from 1703, Alexei’s teacher was a German, Doctor of Law Heinrich Huyssen, who compiled an extensive curriculum designed for two years. According to the plan, in addition to studying French, geography, cartography, arithmetic, geometry, the prince practiced fencing, dancing, and horse riding.

Johann Paul LUDDEN

It must be said that Tsarevich Alexei was not at all the shaggy, wretched, frail and cowardly hysteric that he was sometimes portrayed as and has been portrayed to this day. He was the son of his father, inherited his will, stubbornness and responded to the king with dull rejection and resistance, which was hidden behind demonstrative obedience and formal veneration. An enemy grew up behind Peter's back, not accepting anything of what his father did or fought for... Attempts to attract him to state affairs were not particularly successful. Alexey Petrovich was in the army, took part in campaigns and battles (in 1704 the prince was in Narva), carried out various state orders of the tsar, but did so formally and reluctantly. Dissatisfied with his son, Peter sent the 19-year-old prince abroad, where he three years He studied somehow, unlike his sparkling parent, preferring peace to everything else. In 1711, almost against his will, he married Wolfenbüttel Crown Princess Charlotte Christina Sophia, sister-in-law of the Austrian Emperor Charles VI, and then returned to Russia.

Charlotte Christina Sophia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich and Charlotte Christina Sophia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel
Johann-Gottfried TANNAUER Grigory MOLCHANOV

Alexey Petrovich did not love the wife forced on him, but he coveted the serfdom of his teacher Nikifor Vyazemsky, Efrosinya, and dreamed of marrying her. Charlotte Sophia gave birth to his daughter Natalya in 1714, and a year later - a son, named Peter in honor of his grandfather. Nevertheless, until 1715 the relationship between father and son was more or less tolerable. In the same year, upon baptism into the Orthodox faith, the queen was named Ekaterina Alekseevna.

Portrait of the family of Peter I.
Peter I, Ekaterina Alekseevna, eldest son Alexey Petrovich, daughters Elizabeth and Anna, youngest two-year-old son Peter.
Grigory MUSIKIYSKY, Enamel on copper plate

The prince believed in his plan, being convinced that he was the only legitimate heir to the throne and, gritting his teeth, waited in the wings.

Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich
V. GREITBAKH Unknown artist

But soon after giving birth, Charlotte Sophia died, she was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral on October 27, 1915, and on the same day Peter handed Alexei Petrovich a letter Announcement to my son(written, by the way, on October 11), in which he accused the prince of laziness, evil and stubborn disposition and threatened to deprive him of the throne: I will deprive you of your inheritance, I will cut off you like a member of the body affected by gangrene, and do not think that you are my only son and that I am writing this only for warning: truly I will fulfill it, for for my Fatherland and people I did not and do not regret my life, then how Can I feel sorry for you, indecent one?

Portrait of Tsarevich Peter Petrovich in the form of Cupid
Louis CARAVACQUE

On October 28, the Tsar gave birth to his long-awaited son, Pyotr Petrovich, “Shishechka”, “Little Little Gut”, as his parents later lovingly called him in letters. And the claims against the eldest son became more serious, and the accusations became more severe. Many historians believe that such changes were not without influence on Tsar Catherine and Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, who perfectly understood the unenviability of their fate if Alexei Petrovich came to the kingdom. After consulting with close people, Alexey renounced the throne in his letter: “And now, thank God, I have a brother, to whom, God grant him health.”

Portrait of Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich
Johann Paul LUDDEN

Further - more. In January 1716, Peter wrote a second accusatory letter, “One last reminder,” in which he demanded that the prince be tonsured a monk: And if you don’t do this, then I will treat you like a villain. And the son gave formal consent to this. But Peter understood perfectly well that in the event of his death, a struggle for power would begin, the act of renunciation would become a simple piece of paper, and one could leave the monastery, i.e. In any case, Alexey will remain dangerous for Peter’s children from Catherine. This was a completely real situation; the king could find many examples from the history of other states.

In September 1716, Alexey received a third letter from his father from Copenhagen with an order to immediately come to him. Here the prince’s nerves gave way and in despair he decided to escape... Having passed Danzig, Alexei and Euphrosyne disappeared, arriving in Vienna under the name of the Polish nobleman Kokhanovsky. He turned to his brother-in-law, the Austrian Emperor, with a request for protection: I came here to ask the emperor... to save my life: they want to destroy me, they want to deprive me and my poor children of the throne, ...and if the Tsar hands me over to my father, it’s the same as executing me himself; Yes, even if my father spared me, then my stepmother and Menshikov would not rest until they tortured me to death or poisoned me. It seems to me that with statements like these, the prince signed his own death warrant.

Alexey Petrovich, Tsarevich
Engraving 1718

Austrian relatives hid the unfortunate fugitives out of harm's way in the Tyrolean castle of Ehrenberg, and in May 1717 they transported him and Euphrosyne, disguised as a page, to Naples to the castle of San Elmo. With great difficulty, alternating various threats, promises and persuasion, captain Rumyantsev and diplomat Pyotr Tolstoy sent to search, managed to return the prince to his homeland, where in February 1718 he officially abdicated the throne in the presence of senators and reconciled with his father. However, Peter soon opened an investigation, for which the notorious Secret Chancellery was created. As a result of the investigation, several dozen people were captured, severely tortured and executed.

Peter I interrogates Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich in Peterhof
Nikolay GE

Peter I and Tsarevich Alexei
Kuznetsov porcelain

In June, the prince himself ended up in the Peter and Paul Fortress. According to the legal norms of that time, Alexey was certainly perceived as a criminal. Firstly, having gone on the run, the prince could have been accused of treason. In Rus', no one ever had the right to freely travel abroad until 1762, before the appearance of the manifesto on the freedom of the nobility. Moreover, go to a foreign sovereign. This was absolutely out of the question. Secondly, at that time, not only the one who committed something criminal, but also the one who intended this criminal intent was considered a criminal. That is, they were judged not only for deeds, but also for intentions, including intentions, even unspoken ones. It was enough to admit this during the investigation. And any person, a prince or not a prince, who was guilty of something like that was subject to the death penalty.

Interrogation of Tsarevich Alexei
Book illustration

And Alexey Petrovich admitted during interrogations that in different years in different times He had all sorts of conversations with different people, in which he criticized his father’s activities in one way or another. There was no obvious intent associated, for example, with a coup d'etat in these speeches. This was precisely criticism. With the exception of one moment, when the Tsarevich was asked - if the Viennese Tsar went with troops to Russia or gave him, Alexei, troops to achieve the throne and overthrow his father, would he take advantage of this or not? The prince answered positively. The confessional testimony of Tsarevich Euphrosyne’s beloved also added fuel to the fire.

Peter I went to court, emphasizing that this was a fair court, that this was a court of the highest ranks of the state who were solving a state problem. And the king, being a father, does not have the right to make such a decision. He wrote two messages addressed to spiritual hierarchs and secular ranks, in which he seemed to ask for advice: ...I fear God so as not to sin, for it is natural that people see less in their affairs than others see in theirs. It’s the same with doctors: even if he was the most skilled of all, he would not dare to treat his own illness himself, but calls on others.

The clergy answered evasively: the king must choose: according to the Old Testament, Alexei is worthy of death, according to the New - forgiveness, for Christ forgave the repentant prodigal son... The senators voted for the death penalty; On June 24, 1718, a specially formed Supreme Court pronounced the death sentence. And on June 26, 1718, after further torture under unclear circumstances, Tsarevich Alexei was apparently killed.

Tsarevich Alexey Petrovich
George STEWART

If someone thought that I was trying to justify such a wild and cruel attitude of Peter towards his eldest son, then this is not so. I just want to understand what guided him, taking into account the laws and customs of that era, and not his emotions.

When Alexei Petrovich passed away in 1718, it seemed that the situation with the succession to the throne had been resolved very successfully, the little Tsarevich Pyotr Petrovich, whom the Tsar loved very much, was growing up. But in 1719 the child died. Peter did not have a single direct heir in the male line. Once again this question remained open.

Well, the mother of Peter’s eldest son, Tsarina-nun Evdokia Lopukhina, meanwhile, was still in the Intercession Monastery, where she managed to create a real microcosm of the Moscow queen of the late 17th century, with an organized supply of food, things, preservation of the court rituals of the Moscow empress and ceremonial trips to pilgrimage.

And everything would have been fine, maybe it would have continued like this for a long time, Peter, despite the great battles and accomplishments, had nothing to do with her, but in 1710 our queen managed to fall in love. Not just like that, but, it seems, for real. In Major Stepan Bogdanov Glebov. She achieved a meeting with Glebov, a romance began, which on his part was very superficial, for the major understood that an affair with the queen, even a former one, could have consequences... He gave Evdokia sables, arctic foxes, jewelry, and she wrote letters full of passion : You forgot me so quickly. It’s not enough that your face, and your hands, and all your members, and the joints of your hands and feet are watered with my tears... Oh, my light, how can I live in the world without you? Glebov was frightened by such a waterfall of feelings and soon began to miss dates, and then left Suzdal completely. And Dunya continued to write sad and passionate letters, without fear of any punishment...

Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina, first wife of Peter I
Unknown artist

All these passions emerged from the so-called Kikinsky search in the case of Tsarevich Alexei. Monks and nuns of Suzdal monasteries, Krutitsy Metropolitan Ignatius and many others were convicted of sympathy for Evdokia Fedorovna. Among those arrested purely by chance was Stepan Glebov, from whom the queen’s love letters were found. Enraged Peter gave the order to the investigators to take a close look at the nun Elena. Glebov very quickly admitted that lived prodigal with the former empress, but denied participation in the conspiracy against the tsar, although he was tortured in a way that no one was tortured even at that cruel time: they were pulled on a rack, burned with fire, then locked in a tiny cell, the floor of which was studded with nails.

In a letter to Peter, Evdokia Fedorovna apologized for everything and asked for forgiveness: Falling at your feet, I ask for mercy, for forgiveness of my crime, so that I do not die a useless death. And I promise to continue to be a monk and remain in monasticism until my death and I will pray to God for you, Sovereign.

Evdokia Fedorovna Lopukhina (nun Elena)
Unknown artist

Peter brutally executed everyone involved in the case. On March 15, 1718, on Red Square, the barely alive Glebov was impaled and left to die. And so that he would not freeze prematurely in the cold, a sheepskin coat was “carefully” thrown over his shoulders. A priest was on duty nearby, waiting for a confession, but Glebov said nothing. And one more touch to the portrait of Peter. He took revenge on his unlucky lover ex-wife also ordering that the name of Stepan Glebov be included in the list of anathemas, as the queen's lover. On this list, Glebov was in company with the most terrible criminals of Russia: Grishka Otrepiev, Stenka Razin, Vanka Mazepa..., and later Levka Tolstoy also ended up there...

Peter transferred Evdokia that same year to another, the Ladoga Assumption Monastery, where she spent 7 years until his death. There she was kept on bread and water in a cold, windowless cell. All the servants were removed, and only the faithful dwarf Agafya remained with her. The prisoner was so humble that the jailers here treated her with sympathy. In 1725, after the death of Peter I, the queen was transferred to Shlisselburg, where under Catherine I she was kept in strict secret custody. Again there was scanty food and a cramped cell, albeit with a window. But despite all the hardships, Evdokia Lopukhina survived both her crowned husband and his second wife Ekaterina, so we will meet her again...

No less dramatic was the story of Maria Hamilton, who came from an ancient Scottish family and was on Ekaterina Alekseevna’s staff as a maid of honor. Maria, distinguished by her excellent beauty, quickly came to the attention of the monarch, who recognized her as talents that it was impossible not to look at with lust and for some time became his mistress. Possessing an adventurous character and an indomitable desire for luxury, the young Scot was already mentally trying on the royal crown, in the hope of replacing the aging Catherine, but Peter quickly lost interest in the beautiful girl, since there was no one better for him than a wife in the world...

Catherine the First

Maria was not bored for a long time and soon found solace in the arms of the royal orderly Ivan Orlov, a young and handsome guy. They both played with fire, because in order to sleep with the king’s mistress, even an ex-mistress, you really had to be an eagle! By an absurd accident, during the search for Tsarevich Alexei in the case, suspicion of the loss of a denunciation written by Orlov himself fell on him. Without understanding what he was accused of, the orderly fell on his face and confessed to the Tsar that he was cohabiting with Maria Gamonova (as she was called in Russian), saying that she had two children from him who were born dead. During interrogation under the whip, Maria admitted that she poisoned two conceived children with some kind of drug, and immediately drowned the last one that was born in a night boat, and told the maid to throw away the body.

Peter I
Grigory MUSICIYSKY Karel de MOOR

It must be said that before Peter I, the attitude in Rus' towards bastards and their mothers was monstrous. Therefore, in order not to incur anger and troubles on themselves, mothers mercilessly poisoned the fruits of sinful love, and if they were born, they often killed them. in different ways. Peter, first of all, caring for the state interests (a great matter... over time, there will be a small soldier), in the Decree of 1715 on hospitals, ordered that hospitals be established in the state to maintain shameful babies, whom wives and girls give birth to illegally and, for the sake of shame, are swept away to different places, which is why these babies die uselessly... And then he threateningly decided: And if such illegitimate births appear in the killing of those babies, and for such atrocities they themselves will be executed by death. In all provinces and cities, it was ordered to open houses in hospitals and near churches for the reception of illegitimate children, who at any day could be placed in the window, which was always open for this purpose.

Maria was sentenced to death by beheading. Actually, according to the Code of 1649, a child killer is alive buried in the ground up to their tits, with their hands together and trampled under their feet. It happened that a criminal lived in such a situation a whole month, unless, of course, the relatives did not interfere with feeding the unfortunate woman and did not allow stray dogs to chew her to death. But another death awaited Hamilton. After the verdict was pronounced, many people close to Peter tried to appease him, emphasizing that the girl acted unconsciously, out of fear, she was simply ashamed. Both queens stood up for Maria Hamilton - Ekaterina Alekseevna and the dowager queen Praskovya Fedorovna. But Peter was adamant: the law must be fulfilled, and he is not able to abolish it. Without a doubt, it was also important that the babies killed by Hamilton could have been the children of Peter himself, and it was this, like the betrayal, that the tsar could not forgive his former favorite.

Maria Hamilton before her execution
Pavel SVEDOMSKY

On March 14, 1719, in St. Petersburg, in front of a crowd of people, the Russian Lady Hamilton ascended the scaffold, where the scaffold already stood and the executioner was waiting. Until the last, Maria hoped for mercy, dressed up in a white dress and, when Peter appeared, knelt before him. The Emperor promised that the executioner’s hand would not touch her: it is known that during the execution the executioner roughly grabbed the executed person, stripped him naked and threw him on the block...

Execution in the presence of Peter the Great

Everyone froze in anticipation of Peter's final decision. He whispered something in the executioner’s ear, and he suddenly swung his wide sword and in the blink of an eye cut off the head of the kneeling woman. So Peter, without breaking his promise to Mary, at the same time tried out the executioner’s sword brought from the West - a new execution weapon for Russia, used for the first time instead of a crude ax. According to the recollections of contemporaries, after the execution, the sovereign raised Mary’s head by her luxurious hair and kissed her lips that were not yet cooled, and then read to all those gathered, frozen in horror, an intelligent lecture on anatomy (about the features of the blood vessels that feed the human brain), in which he a great lover and connoisseur...

After demonstration lesson Anatomy, Maria’s head was ordered to be preserved in alcohol in the Kunstkamera, where it lay in a jar along with other monsters from the collection of the first Russian museum for almost half a century. Everyone had long since forgotten what kind of head it was, and visitors, ears hanging, listened to the watchman’s tales that once Tsar Peter the Great ordered the head of the most beautiful of his court ladies to be cut off and preserved in alcohol, so that descendants would know what beautiful women were in those times. While conducting an audit in Peter's Kunstkamera, Princess Ekaterina Dashkova discovered heads preserved in alcohol next to the freaks in two jars. One of them belonged to Willim Mons (our next hero), the other to Peter’s mistress, maid of honor Hamilton. The Empress ordered them to be buried in peace.

Portrait of Peter I, 1717
Ivan NIKITIN

Last strong love Maria Cantemir, the daughter of the Gospodar of Moldavia Dmitry Cantemir and Cassandra Sherbanovna Cantakuzen, the daughter of the Wallachian Gospodar, became Tsar Peter. Peter knew her as a girl, but she quickly turned from a skinny little girl into one of the most beautiful ladies of the royal court. Maria was very smart, knew several languages, was interested in ancient and Western European literature and history, drawing, music, studied the basics of mathematics, astronomy, rhetoric, philosophy, so it is no wonder that the girl could easily join in and support any conversation.

Maria Cantemir
Ivan NIKITIN

The father did not interfere, but, on the contrary, with the support of Peter Tolstoy, helped bring his daughter closer to the tsar. Catherine, who at first turned a blind eye to her husband’s next hobby, became wary when she learned about Mary’s pregnancy. Those around the Tsar seriously said that if she gave birth to a son, then Catherine could repeat the fate of Evdokia Lopukhina... The Tsarina made every effort to ensure that the child was not born (the Greek family doctor Palikula, Mary’s doctor who prepared the potion, was bribed to Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy promised the title of count).

Portrait of Count Pyotr Andreevich Tolstoy
Georg GZELL Johann Gonfried TANNAUER

During the Prut campaign of 1722, on which the entire court, Catherine and the Kantemirov family went, Maria lost her child. The king visited the woman, blackened from grief and suffering, said a few kind words of consolation and was like that...

Maria Cantemir

The last years of his life were not easy for Peter I personally, his youth passed, he was overcome by illness, he entered the age when a person needs close people who would understand him. Having become emperor, Peter I apparently decided to leave the throne to his wife. And that is why in the spring of 1724 he solemnly married Catherine. For the first time in Russian history, the empress was crowned with the imperial crown. Moreover, it is known that Peter personally placed the imperial crown on his wife’s head during the ceremony.

Proclamation of Catherine I as Empress of All Russia
Boris CHORIKOV

Peter I crowns Catherine
NH, from the collection of the Yegoryevsk Museum

Everything seemed to be in order. Ah, no. In the autumn of 1724, this idyll was destroyed by the news that the empress was unfaithful to her husband. She had an affair with Chamberlain Willim Mons. And again, a grimace of history: this brother the same Anna Mons, with whom Peter himself was in love in his youth. Forgetting caution and completely succumbing to her feelings, Catherine brought her favorite as close to her as possible; he accompanied her on all her trips and stayed for a long time in Catherine’s chambers.

Tsar Peter I Alekseevich the Great and Ekaterina Alekseevna

Upon learning of Catherine's infidelity, Peter was furious. For him, the betrayal of his beloved wife was a serious blow. He destroyed the will signed in her name, became gloomy and merciless, practically stopped communicating with Catherine, and from then on access to him became prohibited for her. Mons was arrested, put on trial “for fraud and illegal acts” and interrogated personally by Peter I. Five days after his arrest, he was sentenced to death on charges of bribery. William Mons was executed by beheading on November 16 in St. Petersburg. The body of the chamberlain lay on the scaffold for several days, and his head was preserved in alcohol and kept in the Kunstkamera for a long time.

Portraits of Peter the Great
Trellis. Silk, wool, metal thread, canvas, weaving.
Petersburg Trellis Manufactory
Author of the picturesque original J-M. NATIE

And Peter again began to visit Maria Cantemir. But time passed... Maria, apparently, fell in love with Peter as a child and this passion became fatal and the only one, she accepted Peter as he was, but they missed each other a little in time, the emperor’s life was nearing sunset. She did not forgive the repentant doctor and Count Peter Tolstoy, who were guilty of the death of her son. Maria Cantemir devoted the rest of her life to her brothers, participated in the political life of the court and social intrigues, did charity work, and until the end of her life remained faithful to her first and only love - Peter the Great. At the end of her life, the princess, in the presence of the memoirist Jacob von Stehlin, burned everything that connected her with Peter I: his letters, papers, two portraits framed with precious stones (Peter in armor and his own)...

Maria Cantemir
Book illustration

The consolation of Emperor Peter remained the crown princesses, their beautiful daughters Anna, Elizabeth and Natalya. In November 1924, the emperor agreed to Anna's marriage with Karl Friedrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Gottorp, who signed a contract for marriage with Anna Petrovna. Daughter Natalya lived longer than Peter’s other children who died in childhood, and only these three girls were alive at the time of the proclamation. Russian Empire in 1721 and accordingly received the title of princess. Natalya Petrovna died in St. Petersburg from measles a little over a month after the death of her father on March 4 (15), 1725.

Portraits of princesses Anna Petrovna and Elizaveta Petrovna
Ivan NIKITIN

Tsesarevna Natalya Petrovna
Louis CARAVACQUE

Portrait of Peter the Great
Sergey KIRILLOV Unknown artist

Peter I never forgave Catherine: after the execution of Mons, he agreed to dine with her only once, at the request of his daughter Elizabeth. Only the death of the emperor in January 1725 reconciled the spouses.

Let us ask ourselves: what kind of tribe were the first all-Russian autocrats: Tatars, Mongols, Germans, Slavs, Jews, Vepsians, Meryas, Khazars...? What was the genetic background of the Moscow kings?

Take a closer look at the lifetime portraits of Peter I and his wife Catherine I.

A version of the same portrait, which entered the Hermitage in 1880 from the Velika Remeta monastery in Croatia, probably created by an unknown person German artist. The king's face is very similar to that painted by Caravaque, but the costume and pose are different. The origin of this portrait is unknown.

Catherine I (Marta Samuilovna Skavronskaya (Kruse) - Russian empress from 1721 as the wife of the reigning emperor, from 1725 as the reigning empress, second wife of Peter I the Great, mother of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. In her honor, Peter I established the Order of St. Catherine (in 1713 ) and the city of Yekaterinburg in the Urals was named (in 1723).

Portraits of Peter I

Peter I the Great (1672-1725), founder of the Russian Empire, occupies a unique place in the history of the country. His deeds, both great and terrible, are well known and there is no point in listing them. I wanted to write about the lifetime images of the first emperor, and which of them can be considered reliable.

First of famous portraits Peter I is placed in the so-called. "Tsar's Titular Book" or "The Root of Russian Sovereigns", a richly illustrated manuscript created by the embassy order as a reference book on history, diplomacy and heraldry and containing many watercolor portraits. Peter is depicted as a child, even before ascending the throne, apparently at the end. 1670s - early 1680s. The history of this portrait and its authenticity are unknown.

Portraits of Peter I by Western European masters:

1685- engraving from an unknown original; created in Paris by Larmessen and depicts Tsars Ivan and Peter Alekseevich. The original was brought from Moscow by ambassadors - Prince. Ya.F. Dolgoruky and Prince. Myshetsky. The only known reliable image of Peter I before the coup of 1689.

1697- Portrait of work Sir Godfrey Kneller (1648-1723), the court painter of the English king, was undoubtedly painted from life. The portrait is in the English royal collection of paintings, at Hampton Court Palace. The catalog notes that the background of the painting was painted by Wilhelm van de Velde, a marine painter. According to contemporaries, the portrait was very similar; several copies were made from it; the most famous, the work of A. Belli, is in the Hermitage. This portrait served as the basis for creating huge amount a variety of images of the king (sometimes faintly similar to the original).

OK. 1697- Portrait of work Pieter van der Werff (1665-1718), the history of its writing is unknown, but most likely it happened during Peter’s first stay in Holland. Purchased by Baron Budberg in Berlin and presented as a gift to Emperor Alexander II. Was in the Tsarskoye Selo Palace, now in State Hermitage.

OK. 1700-1704 engraving by Adrian Schonebeck from a portrait by an unknown artist. Original unknown.

1711- Portrait by Johann Kupetsky (1667-1740), painted from life in Carlsbad. According to D. Rovinsky, the original was in the Braunschweig Museum. Vasilchikov writes that the location of the original is unknown. I reproduce the famous engraving from this portrait - the work of Bernard Vogel, 1737.

A reworked version of this type of portrait depicted the king in full height and was in the hall of the General Assembly of the Governing Senate. Now located in the Mikhailovsky Castle in St. Petersburg.

1716- portrait of work Benedicta Cofra, court painter of the Danish king. It was most likely written in the summer or autumn of 1716, when the Tsar was on a long visit to Copenhagen. Peter is depicted wearing St. Andrew's ribbon and the Danish Order of the Elephant around his neck. Until 1917 it was in Peter's Palace in the Summer Garden, now in the Peterhof Palace.

1717- portrait of work Carla Moora, who wrote to the king during his stay in The Hague, where he arrived for treatment. From the correspondence of Peter and his wife Catherine, it is known that the Tsar really liked the portrait of Moor and was bought by the prince. B. Kurakin and sent from France to St. Petersburg. I will reproduce the most famous engraving - the work of Jacob Houbraken. According to some reports, Moore's original is now in a private collection in France.

1717- portrait of work Arnold de Gelder (1685-1727), Dutch artist, student of Rembrandt. Written during Peter's stay in Holland, but there is no information that it was painted from life. The original is in the Amsterdam Museum.

1717 - Portrait of the work Jean-Marc Nattier (1686-1766), famous French artist, written during Peter’s visit to Paris, undoubtedly from life. It was purchased and sent to St. Petersburg, and later hung in the Tsarskoye Selo Palace. Now it is in the Hermitage, however, there is no complete certainty that this is an original painting and not a copy.

At the same time (in 1717 in Paris), the famous portrait painter Hyacinthe Rigaud painted Peter, but this portrait disappeared without a trace.

Portraits of Peter, painted by his court artists:

Johann Gottfried Tannauer (1680-c1737), Saxon, studied painting in Venice, court artist from 1711. According to entries in the "Jurnal" it is known that Peter posed for him in 1714 and 1722.

1714(?) - The original has not survived, only the engraving made by Wortmann exists.

A very similar portrait was recently discovered in the German city of Bad Pyrmont.

L. Markina writes: “The author of these lines introduced into scientific circulation an image of Peter from the collection of the palace in Bad Pyrmont (Germany), which recalls the visit of this resort town by the Russian emperor. The ceremonial portrait, which bore the features of a natural image, was considered the work of an unknown artist XVIII century. At the same time, the expression of the image, the interpretation of details, and baroque pathos betrayed the hand of a skilled craftsman.

Peter I spent June 1716 undergoing hydrotherapy in Bad Pyrmont, which had a beneficial effect on his health. As a token of gratitude, the Russian Tsar presented Prince Anton Ulrich Waldeck-Pyrmont with his portrait, which had been in private possession for a long time. Therefore, the work was not known to Russian specialists. Documentary evidence detailing all the important meetings during the treatment of Peter I in Bad Pyrmont did not mention the fact of his posing for any local or visiting painter. The Russian Tsar's retinue numbered 23 people and was quite representative. However, in the list of persons accompanying Peter, where the confessor and cook were indicated, the Hofmaler was not listed. It is logical to assume that Peter brought with him a finished image that he liked and reflected his idea of the ideal monarch. Comparison of engravings by H.A. Wortman, which was based on the original brush by I.G. Tannauer 1714, allowed us to attribute the portrait from Bad Pyrmont to this German artist. Our attribution was accepted by our German colleagues, and the portrait of Peter the Great as the work of I. G. Tannauer was included in the exhibition catalogue."

1716- The history of creation is unknown. By order of Nicholas I, it was sent from St. Petersburg to Moscow in 1835, and was kept rolled up for a long time. A fragment of Tannauer's signature has survived. Located in the Moscow Kremlin Museum.

1710s Profile portrait, previously mistakenly considered to be the work of Kupetsky. The portrait was damaged by an unsuccessful attempt to renew the eyes. Located in the State Hermitage.

1724(?), Equestrian portrait, called "Peter I in the Battle of Poltava", purchased in the 1860s by Prince. A.B. Lobanov-Rostovsky from the family of the deceased chamber-fourier in a neglected state. After cleaning, Tannauer's signature was discovered. Now located in the State Russian Museum.

Louis Caravaque (1684-1754), a Frenchman, studied painting in Marseille, became a court painter in 1716. According to contemporaries, his portraits were very similar. According to the entries in the "Journal", Peter painted from life in 1716 and in 1723. Unfortunately, the indisputable original portraits of Peter painted by Caravaque have not survived; only copies and engravings from his works have reached us.

1716- According to some information, it was written during Peter’s stay in Prussia. The original has not survived, but there is an engraving by Afanasyev, from a drawing by F. Kinel.

A not very successful copy from this portrait (added by ships of the allied fleet), created by an unknown person. artist, is now in the collection of the Central Naval Museum of St. Petersburg. (D. Rovinsky considered this painting to be original).

1723- the original has not survived, only an engraving by Soubeyran exists. According to "Jurnal", written during the stay of Peter I in Astrakhan. The last lifetime portrait of the Tsar.

This portrait of Caravacca served as the basis for a painting by Jacopo Amiconi (1675-1758), written around 1733 for the prince. Antioch Cantemir, which is located in the Peter's throne room of the Winter Palace.

Ivan Nikitich Nikitin (1680-1742), the first Russian portrait painter, studied in Florence, became the tsar's court artist around 1715. There is still no complete certainty about which portraits of Peter were painted by Nikitin. From "Jurnale" it is known that the tsar posed for Nikitin at least twice - in 1715 and 1721.

S. Moiseeva writes: “There was a special order from Peter, which ordered persons from the royal entourage to have his portrait by Ivan Nikitin in their house, and to charge the artist one hundred rubles for the execution of the portrait. However, royal portraits that could be compared with the creative handwriting I. Nikitin, almost did not survive. On April 30, 1715, the following was written in the “Journal of Peter”: “Ivan Nikitin painted His Majesty’s half persona. Based on this, art historians were looking for a half-length portrait of Peter I. In the end, it was suggested that this was the case.” The portrait should be considered “Portrait of Peter against the backdrop of a naval battle” (Tsarskoe Selo Museum-Reserve). For a long time, this work was attributed to either Caravaque or Tannauer. When studying the portrait, A. M. Kuchumov found out that the canvas has three later binders - two on top and one on the bottom, thanks to which the portrait became generational. A. M. Kuchumov cited the surviving account of the painter I. Ya. Vishnyakov about the addition to the portrait of His Imperial Majesty “against the portrait of Her Imperial Majesty.” Apparently, in the middle of the 18th century, the need arose to rehang the portraits, and I.Ya. Vishnyakov was given the task of increasing the size of the portrait of Peter I in accordance with the size of the portrait of Catherine. “Portrait of Peter I against the backdrop of a naval battle” is stylistically very close - here we can already talk about the iconographic type of I. N. Nikitin - the relatively recently discovered portrait of Peter from a Florentine private collection, painted in 1717. Peter is depicted in the same pose; noteworthy is the similarity in the writing of the folds and the landscape background."

Unfortunately, I could not find a good reproduction of “Peter against the backdrop of a naval battle” from Tsarskoe Selo (before 1917 in the Romanov Gallery of the Winter Palace). I will reproduce what I managed to get. Vasilchikov considered this portrait to be the work of Tannauer.

1717 - Portrait attributed to I. Nikitin and located in the collection of the Financial Department of Florence, Italy.

Portrait presented to Emperor Nicholas I c. S.S. Uvarov, who inherited it from his father-in-law, Gr. A.K. Razumovsky. Vasilchikov writes: “The legend of the Razumovsky family said that while Peter was in Paris, he went into the studio of Rigaud, who was painting a portrait of him, did not find him at home, saw his unfinished portrait, cut out his head from a large canvas with a knife and took it with him. gave it to his daughter Elizaveta Petrovna, and she, in turn, presented it to Count Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky. Some researchers consider this portrait to be the work of I. Nikitin. Until 1917 it was kept in the Romanov Gallery of the Winter Palace; now in the Russian Museum.

Received from the Strogonov collection. In the Hermitage catalogs compiled in the mid-19th century, the authorship of this portrait is attributed to A.M. Matveev (1701-1739), however, he returned to Russia only in 1727 and could not paint Peter from life and, most likely, only made a copy from Moore's original for bar.S.G. Stroganov. Vasilchikov considered this portrait to be Moor’s original. This is contradicted by the fact that according to all surviving engravings from Moora, Peter is depicted in armor. Rovinsky considered this portrait to be Rigaud’s missing work.

Literature used: V. Stasov "Gallery of Peter the Great" St. Petersburg 1903

According to various sociological surveys, Peter I remains one of the most popular historical figures in our time. Sculptors still exalt him, poets compose odes to him, and politicians speak enthusiastically about him.

But did it match real person Peter Alekseevich Romanov to the image that, through the efforts of writers and filmmakers, was introduced into our consciousness?

Still from the film "Peter the Great" based on the novel by A. N. Tolstoy (Lenfilm, 1937 - 1938, director Vladimir Petrov,
in the role of Peter - Nikolai Simonov, in the role of Menshikov - Mikhail Zharov):

This post is quite lengthy in content. , consisting of several parts, is dedicated to exposing the myths about the first Russian emperor, which still wander from book to book, from textbook to textbook, and from film to film.

Let's start with the fact that the majority imagines Peter I to be absolutely different from what he really was.

According to the films, Peter is a huge man with a heroic physique and the same health.
In fact, with a height of 2 meters 4 centimeters (indeed, huge in those days, and quite impressive in our times), he was incredibly thin, with narrow shoulders and torso, a disproportionately small head and foot size (about size 37, and this is with so tall!), with long arms and spider-like fingers. In general, an absurd, awkward, clumsy figure, a freak of a freak.

The clothes of Peter I, preserved to this day in museums, are so small that there can be no talk of any heroic physique. In addition, Peter suffered from nervous attacks, probably of an epileptic nature, was constantly ill, and never parted with a traveling first aid kit containing many medications that he took daily.

Peter's court portrait painters and sculptors should not be trusted either.
For example, the famous researcher of the Peter I era, historian E. F. Shmurlo (1853 - 1934) describes his impression of the famous bust of Peter I by B. F. Rastrelli:

“Full of spiritual power, an unyielding will, a commanding gaze, an intense thought, this bust is related to Michelangelo’s Moses. This is a truly formidable king, capable of causing awe, but at the same time majestic and noble.”

This more accurately conveys the appearance of Peter plaster mask taken from his face in 1718 the father of the great architect - B. K. Rastrelli , when the tsar was conducting an investigation into the treason of Tsarevich Alexei.

This is how the artist describes it A. N. Benois (1870 - 1960):“At this time, Peter’s face became gloomy, downright terrifying in its menacingness. One can imagine what impression this terrible head, placed on a gigantic body, must have made, with darting eyes and terrible convulsions that turned this face into a monstrously fantastic image.”

Of course, the real appearance of Peter I was completely different from what appears before us on his ceremonial portraits.
For example, these:

Portrait of Peter I (1698) by a German artist
Gottfried Kneller (1648 - 1723)

Portrait of Peter I with the insignia of the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called (1717)
works by the French painter Jean-Marc Nattier (1685 - 1766)

Please note that between the painting of this portrait and the making of Peter’s lifetime mask
Rastrelli was only a year old. Are they really similar?

Most popular currently and highly romanticized
in accordance with the time of creation (1838) portrait of Peter I
works by the French artist Paul Delaroche (1797 - 1856)

Trying to be objective, I cannot help but note that monument to Peter I , works of sculptor Mikhail Shemyakin , made by him in the USA and installed V Peter and Paul Fortress in 1991 , also little corresponds to the real image of the first Russian emperor, although, quite possibly, the sculptor sought to embody that same "monstrously fantastic image" , which Benoit spoke about.

Yes, Peter's face was made from his death wax mask (cast by B.K. Rastrelli). But Mikhail Shemyakin consciously, achieving a certain effect, increased the proportions of the body by almost one and a half times. Therefore, the monument turned out to be grotesque and ambiguous (some people admire it, others hate it).

However, the figure of Peter I himself is very ambiguous, which is what I want to tell everyone who is interested in Russian history.

At the end of this part about another myth concerning death of Peter I .

Peter did not die from catching a cold while saving a boat with drowning people during a flood in St. Petersburg in November 1724 (although such a case actually happened, and it led to an exacerbation of the Tsar’s chronic illnesses); and not from syphilis (although from his youth Peter was extremely promiscuous in his relationships with women and had a whole bunch of sexually transmitted diseases); and not because he was poisoned with some “specially gifted sweets” - all these are widespread myths.
The official version, announced after the death of the emperor, according to which the cause of his death was pneumonia, does not stand up to criticism either.

In fact, Peter I had advanced inflammation of the urethra (he suffered from this disease since 1715, according to some sources, even since 1711). The disease worsened in August 1724. The attending physicians, the Englishman Horn and the Italian Lazzaretti, tried unsuccessfully to cope with it. From January 17, 1725, Peter no longer got out of bed; on January 23, he lost consciousness, to which he never returned until his death on January 28.

"Peter on his deathbed"
(artist N. N. Nikitin, 1725)

Doctors performed the operation, but it was too late; 15 hours after the operation, Peter I died without regaining consciousness and without leaving a will.

So, all the stories about how at the last moment the dying emperor tried to write his last will on his will, but only managed to write "Leave everything..." , are also nothing more than a myth, or if you want, a legend.

In the next short part so as not to make you sad, I’ll give you historical anecdote about Peter I , which, however, also refers to the myths about this ambiguous personality.

Thank you for your attention.
Sergey Vorobiev.

Publications in the Museums section

Peter I: biography in portraits

Soviet painting began to develop in Russia precisely under Peter I, and ancient parsuns were replaced by paintings in European style. How artists depicted the emperor at different periods of his life - material from the portal “Culture.RF” will tell you..

Portrait from the Tsar's Title Book

Unknown artist. Portrait of Peter I. “The Tsar’s Titular”

Peter I was born on June 9, 1672 into the large family of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. Peter was the fourteenth child, which, however, did not prevent him from subsequently taking the Russian throne: the Tsar’s eldest sons died, Fyodor Alekseevich ruled only for six years, and Ivan Alekseevich in the future became only Peter’s co-ruler. After the death of his father, the boy lived in the village of Preobrazhenskoye near Moscow, where he played soldiers, commanded “amusing troops” consisting of his peers, and studied literacy, military affairs and history. At this age, even before his early accession to the throne, he was depicted in the “Tsar's Titular Book” - a historical reference book of those years. The “Tsar's Titular Book” was created by the Ambassadorial Prikaz, the predecessor of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as a gift to Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich.

Together with the authors - diplomat Nikolai Milescu-Spafaria and clerk Peter Dolgiy - the leading artists of their time who painted portraits of Russian and foreign rulers - Ivan Maximov, Dmitry Lvov, Makariy Mitin-Potapov - worked on the creation of the titular book. However, which of them became the author of the portrait of Peter is not known for certain.

Engraving by Larmessen

Larmessen. Engraving of Peter I and his brother Ivan

This French engraving depicts two young Russian tsars ruling simultaneously - Peter I and his older brother Ivan. A unique case in Russian history became possible after the Streletsky riot. Then Sophia, the boys’ older sister, with the support of the Streltsy army, opposed the decision to transfer the throne after the death of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich to Peter, bypassing the sickly Tsarevich Ivan (who, as historians suggest, suffered from dementia). As a result, both boys, 16-year-old Ivan and 10-year-old Peter, were married to the kingdom. A special throne was even made for them with two seats and a window in the back, through which their regent, Princess Sophia, gave various instructions.

Portrait of Pieter van der Werf

Pieter van der Werf. Portrait of Peter I. Approx. 1697. Hermitage

After the removal of Princess Sophia from the role of regent in 1689, Peter became the sole ruler. His brother Ivan voluntarily renounced the throne, although he was nominally considered the tsar. In the first years of his reign, Peter I focused on foreign policy - the war with the Ottoman Empire. In 1697–1698, he even assembled a Grand Embassy to travel to Europe to find allies in the fight against his main enemy. But a trip to Holland, England and other countries also yielded other results - Peter I was inspired by the European way of life and technical achievements and changed Russia’s foreign policy course to strengthen relations with Western world. When Peter was in Holland, his portrait was painted by local artist Pieter van der Werf.

Engraving by Andrian Schonebeck

Andrian Schonebeck. Peter I. Ok. 1703

After returning to Russia, Peter I launched reforms aimed at Europeanizing the country. To achieve this, he took various measures: he banned the wearing of beards, made the transition to Julian calendar, moved the New Year to January 1st. In 1700, Russia declared war on Sweden in order to return lands that previously belonged to Russia and access the Baltic Sea. In 1703, on the conquered territory, Peter founded St. Petersburg, which subsequently served as the capital of the Russian Empire for more than 200 years.

Portrait of Ivan Nikitin

Ivan Nikitin. Portrait of Peter I. 1721. State Russian Museum

Peter continued his active work on large-scale changes in the country. He carried out army reforms, created a navy, and reduced the role of the church in the life of the state. Under Peter I, the first newspaper in Russia, St. Petersburg Vedomosti, appeared, the first museum, the Kunstkamera, was opened, the first gymnasium, the University and the Academy of Sciences were founded. Architects, engineers, artists and other specialists invited from Europe came to the country, who not only created on the territory of Russia, but also passed on their experience to their Russian colleagues.

Also, under Peter I, many scientists and artists went to study abroad - such as Ivan Nikitin, the first court artist to be educated in Florence. Peter liked the portrait by Nikitin so much that the emperor ordered the artist to make copies of it for the royal entourage. The potential owners of the portraits themselves had to pay for Nikitin’s work.

Portrait of Louis Caravaque

Louis Caravaque. Portrait of Peter I. 1722. State Russian Museum

In 1718, one of the most dramatic events in the life of Peter I took place: his possible heir, Tsarevich Alexei, was sentenced to death as a traitor by the court. According to the investigation, Alexei was preparing a coup d'etat in order to subsequently take the throne. The court's decision was not carried out - the prince died in a cell in the Peter and Paul Fortress. In total, Peter I had 10 children from two wives - Evdokia Lopukhina (Peter forcibly tonsured her as a nun a few years after the wedding) and Martha Skavronskaya (the future Empress Catherine I). True, almost all of them died in infancy, except for Anna and Elizabeth, who became empress in 1742.

Portrait of Johann Gottfried Tannauer

Johann Gottfried Tannauer. Portrait of Peter I. 1716. Moscow Kremlin Museum

In Tannauer's painting, Peter I is depicted in full height, and the emperor's height was outstanding - 2 meters 4 centimeters. The French Duke Saint-Simon, with whom Peter I was visiting in Paris, described the emperor as follows: “He was very tall, well-built, rather thin, with a round face, high forehead, beautiful eyebrows; his nose is quite short, but not too short and somewhat thick towards the end; the lips are quite large, the complexion is reddish and dark, beautiful black eyes, large, lively, penetrating, beautifully shaped; the look is majestic and welcoming when he watches himself and restrains himself, otherwise stern and wild, with convulsions on the face that are not repeated often, but distort both the eyes and the whole face, frightening everyone present. The spasm usually lasted one moment, and then his gaze became strange, as if confused, then everything immediately took on its normal appearance. His whole appearance showed intelligence, reflection and greatness and was not without charm.”.

Ivan Nikitin. "Peter I on his deathbed"

Ivan Nikitin. Peter I on his deathbed. 1725. State Russian Museum

IN recent years Peter I continued to lead an active lifestyle, despite serious health problems. In November 1724, he became seriously ill after standing waist-deep in water while pulling out a ship that had run aground. On February 8, 1725, Peter I died in terrible agony in the Winter Palace. The same Ivan Nikitin was invited to paint the posthumous portrait of the emperor. He had plenty of time to create the picture: Peter I was buried only a month later, and before that his body remained in the Winter Palace so that everyone could say goodbye to the emperor.

PETER I

The first known portrait of Peter I is placed in the so-called. "Tsar's Titular Book" or "The Root of Russian Sovereigns", a richly illustrated manuscript created by the embassy order as a reference book on history, diplomacy and heraldry and containing many watercolor portraits. Peter is depicted as a child, even before ascending the throne, apparently at the end. 1670s - early 1680s. The history of this portrait and its authenticity are unknown.

Portraits of Peter I by Western European masters:

1697- Portrait of work Sir Godfrey Kneller (1648-1723), the court painter of the English king, was undoubtedly painted from life. The portrait is in the English royal collection of paintings, at Hampton Court Palace. The catalog notes that the background of the painting was painted by Wilhelm van de Velde, a marine painter. According to contemporaries, the portrait was very similar; several copies were made from it; the most famous, the work of A. Belli, is in the Hermitage. This portrait served as the basis for the creation of a huge number of very different images of the king (sometimes faintly similar to the original).

OK. 1697- Portrait of work Pieter van der Werff (1665-1718), the history of its writing is unknown, but most likely it happened during Peter’s first stay in Holland. Purchased by Baron Budberg in Berlin and presented as a gift to Emperor Alexander II. It was located in the Tsarskoye Selo Palace, now in the State Hermitage.

OK. 1700-1704 engraving by Adrian Schonebeck from a portrait by an unknown artist. Original unknown.

A converted version of a portrait of this type depicted the king in full growth and was located in the hall of the General Assembly of the Governing Senate. Now located in the Mikhailovsky Castle in St. Petersburg.

1717- Portrait of work Jean-Marc Nattier (1686-1766), a famous French artist, was written during Peter’s visit to Paris, undoubtedly from life. It was purchased and sent to St. Petersburg, and later hung in the Tsarskoye Selo Palace. Now it is in the Hermitage, however, there is no complete certainty that this is an original painting and not a copy.

At the same time (in 1717 in Paris), the famous portrait painter Hyacinthe Rigaud painted Peter, but this portrait disappeared without a trace.

Portraits of Peter, painted by his court artists:

Johann Gottfried Tannauer (1680-c1737), Saxon, studied painting in Venice, court artist from 1711. According to entries in the "Jurnal" it is known that Peter posed for him in 1714 and 1722.

1714(?) - The original has not survived, only the engraving made by Wortmann exists.

A very similar portrait was recently discovered in the German city of Bad Pyrmont.

1710s Profile portrait, previously mistakenly considered to be the work of Kupetsky. The portrait was damaged by an unsuccessful attempt to renew the eyes. Located in the State Hermitage.

1716- According to some information, it was written during Peter’s stay in Prussia. The original has not survived, but there is an engraving by Afanasyev, from a drawing by F. Kinel.

A version of the same portrait, which came to the Hermitage in 1880 from the Velika Remeta monastery in Croatia, probably created by an unknown German artist. The king's face is very similar to that painted by Caravaque, but the costume and pose are different. The origin of this portrait is unknown.

1723- the original has not survived, only an engraving by Soubeyran exists. According to "Jurnal", written during the stay of Peter I in Astrakhan. The last lifetime portrait of the Tsar.

* * *

S. Moiseeva writes: “There was a special order from Peter, which ordered persons from the royal entourage to have his portrait by Ivan Nikitin in their house, and to charge the artist one hundred rubles for the execution of the portrait. However, royal portraits that could be compared with the creative handwriting I. Nikitin, almost did not survive. On April 30, 1715, the following was written in the “Journal of Peter”: “Ivan Nikitin painted His Majesty’s half persona. Based on this, art historians were looking for a half-length portrait of Peter I. In the end, it was suggested that this was the case.” The portrait should be considered “Portrait of Peter against the backdrop of a naval battle” (Tsarskoye Selo Museum-Reserve). For a long time, this work was attributed to either Caravaque or Tannauer. When studying the portrait, A. M. Kuchumov found out that the canvas has three later bindings - two on top and one on the bottom, thanks to which the portrait became generational. A. M. Kuchumov cited the surviving account of the painter I. Ya. Vishnyakov about the addition to the portrait of His Imperial Majesty “against the portrait of Her Imperial Majesty.” Apparently, in the middle of the 18th century, the need arose to rehang the portraits, and I.Ya. Vishnyakov was given the task of increasing the size of the portrait of Peter I in accordance with the size of the portrait of Catherine. “Portrait of Peter I against the backdrop of a naval battle” is stylistically very close - here we can already talk about the iconographic type of I. N. Nikitin - the relatively recently discovered portrait of Peter from a Florentine private collection, painted in 1717. Peter is depicted in the same pose; noteworthy is the similarity in the writing of the folds and the landscape background."

1717 - Portrait attributed to I. Nikitin and located in the collection of the Financial Department of Florence, Italy.

Used literature:

V. Stasov "Gallery of Peter the Great" St. Petersburg 1903
D. Rovinsky "Detailed dictionary of Russian engraved portraits" vol. 3 St. Petersburg, 1888
D. Rovinsky “Materials for Russian iconography” vol.1.
A. Vasilchikov "On portraits of Peter the Great" M 1872
S. Moiseev "On the history of the iconography of Peter I" (article).
L. Markin "RUSSIA of Peter's time" (article)