State Hermitage
June 14 - September 8, 2013
Rotunda Winter Palace

in the Rotunda of the Winter Palace to the public is a picture of the Dmitry Nikolayevich Kardovsky (1866-1943)« Ball in St. Petersburg Nobility February 23, 1913 "and 47 portrait sketches for her. The exhibition is dedicated to the 400th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty and the 100th anniversary of the grand ball.

DMITRY Kardovsky Ball in St. Petersburg Nobility in honor of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty, February 23, 1913 1915 paper glued on canvas, watercolor, gouache, white, pencil Source: hermitagemuseum.org

DMITRY Kardovsky Portrait of Count DA Tolstoi, the director of the Hermitage and the vice-director of the Museum of Alexander III. 1914 Paper, pencil, watercolor Source: hermitagemuseum.org

program of anniversary celebrations in 1913 was extensive, the celebration lasted from February until the autumn. This was a nation-wide event, signifying the triumph of the state government, the national spirit. The highest approved "ceremonial" day of the solemn celebration of the 300th anniversary of the reign of the Romanov dynasty was prescribed 21 February 1913. On this day, at eight o'clock in the morning of 21 broadside guns fortress residents of the capital heralded the start of the festivities. From the main churches of the capital to Kazan Cathedral stretched religious processions, and in exactly the specified time has arrived, "the highest train" with members of the royal family. On the same day in the capital and its suburbs were folk festivals, theaters were presented commemorative performances of historical content. February 22 in the Nicholas Hall of the Winter Palace, a solemn ceremony of taking the Emperor and Empress of congratulations.

DMITRY Kardovsky Portrait of W. C. KGS. 1913 Paper, pencil, watercolor Source: hermitagemuseum.org

DMITRY Kardovsky Portrait of Countess NF Charles, the wife of the Duke GG Mecklenburg-Strelitz. 1915 Paper, pencil, watercolor Source: hermitagemuseum.org

February 23, 1913 the St. Petersburg nobility at its meeting on St. Michael Street was given a "grand Ball ", which was attended by over 3,200 guests. It was the last large-scale festival in pre-revolutionary Russia. Ball started at half past nine pm, when a royal box proceeded king and queen and personages of the imperial family. Ball opened the polonaise from the opera Glinka's "A Life for the Tsar" by Ballroom Orchestra of the Life Guards Regiment. Nicholas II in the first couple danced with his wife, St. Petersburg district marshal of the nobility VA Somovoi, Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna - with the St. Petersburg county marshal of the nobility SM Somov. After the polonaise was dancing - waltzes, quadrilles, mazurka and cotillion with an abundance of fresh flowers and colorful ribbons. Nicholas II and his daughter Olga departed from the ball at twelve o'clock.

DMITRY Kardovsky Portrait of the Minister of the Interior AG Bulygin. 1910 Paper, pencil, watercolor Source: hermitagemuseum.org

DMITRY Kardovsky Portrait of Count AA Bobrinsky, a member of the State Council, the President of the Imperial Archaeological Commission 1913. Paper, pencil, watercolor Source: hermitagemuseum.org

Watercolor, embodying the scene of the anniversary of the ball, has become one of the few large-format works of famous Russian artist Dmitry Nikolayevich Kardovsky. Apprentice P. Chistyakov and I. Repin at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and Professor Aschbe in Munich, Kardovsky was famous domestic illustrator, genre painter, stage designer. The Hermitage "Ball at the St. Petersburg Nobility Assembly in 1913," not being a proper historical work, performed on the model of academic multi-figure compositions, with the difference that each of its characters imprinted with photographic accuracy and psychological certainty. In the center of waltzes with His Serene Highness Prince I. Saltykov 17-year-old Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, the eldest daughter of the king, to which the ball was the first "adult" holiday. In the royal box shows the members of the royal family - Nicholas II, Alexandra Feodorovna, Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich (Younger), the Grand Duke Peter Nikolaevich and Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich. Among the dancers - Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, sister of the emperor, together with his cousin, the Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, the master of ceremonies Court cornet P. Raevskii, one of the first Russian military pilots Lieutenant NS Provincial. In the crowd are easily recognized prominent political and public figures - Secretary of State AG Bulygin, who headed the "Committee for the celebration of the tercentenary of the ruling apparatus of the Romanovs", Earl A. Bobrinskii, Hermitage director Earl D. I. Tolstoy, chief chamberlain composer Alexander Taneyev.

47 portrait sketches by the artist to create paintings for the exhibition provided a grandson Dmitry Nikolayevich Kardovsky - Nikolai Petrovich Veselkin, a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, director of the Institute Evolutionary Physiology and Biochemistry IMSechenov.

Curators - Galina Printseva, a leading researcher in the Department of History of Russian Culture in the State Hermitage Museum, Alexander Solovyov, a senior researcher at the Department of History of Russian Culture of the State Hermitage Museum.

Source : hermitagemuseum.org