Military gallery of 1812 in the Hermitage portraits. Military Gallery of the Winter Palace

"Tour of the Military Gallery of the Hermitage" (on the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the Hermitage) Completed by: Student group No. 19 Koveshnikov Danila Supervisor: Teacher of history and social studies Vituleva Valentina Ivanovna

military gallery- one of the galleries of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg. The gallery consists of 332 portraits of Russian generals who participated in the Patriotic War of 1812.

F. Kruger Portrait of Emperor Alexander I

F. Kruger Portrait of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III

P. Kraft Portrait of the Austrian Emperor Franz I

AT Soviet time the gallery was supplemented with four portraits of the palace grenadiers, special troops created in 1827 to guard the home of veterans Patriotic War. These portraits were also done by George Doe. D. Dow Portrait of the Palace Grenadier Ilya Yamnik

The hall that houses the gallery was designed by architect Carlo Rossi Architect Carlo Rossi (1775-1849)

The fire that started in the Winter Palace on December 17, 1837 destroyed the decoration of all the halls, including the Military Gallery. But not a single portrait was harmed. B. Green. Fire in the Winter Palace on December 17, 1837

The gallery was opened under Nicholas I in 1826. Portrait of Emperor Nicholas I

More than three hundred images of generals and field marshals are presented here. 150 portraits were painted from nature, 150 - from engravings, since the heroes have already died. 13 frames are empty: they are signed, but images of people could not be found.

Mikhail Andreevich Miloradovich (1771-1825), general of infantry

Pyotr Ivanovich Bagration (1765-1812), general of infantry

Denis Vasilyevich Davydov (1784-1839), lieutenant general

Alexander Ivanovich Osterman-Tolstoy (1770-1857), lieutenant general

Kulm Cross At the same time, a new award appeared - the Kulm Cross. Initially, it was made from trophies - metal helmets of French cuirassiers. Now the Hermitage has two such crosses.

Sergei Grigoryevich Volkonsky (1788-1865), major general

Alexey Andreevich Arakcheev (1769-1834), Count

Mikhail Illarionovich Kutuzov (1745-1813), Field Marshal General

Mikhail Bogdanovich Barclay de Tolly (1761-1818), Field Marshal General

P. von Hess " battle of Borodino» The gallery also has paintings depicting the main battles of the war.

P. von Hess "The Retreat of the French across the Berezina River"

The Russian tsar has a chamber in his halls: It is not rich in gold, not in velvet; It is not in her that the diamond of the crown is stored behind glass: But from top to bottom, in full length, all around, With His free and wide brush, The quick-eyed artist painted It. There are no country nymphs, no virgin Madonnas, No fauns with cups, no full-breasted wives, No dances, no hunts, but all cloaks and swords, Yes, faces full of warlike courage. In a tight crowd, the artist placed Here the chiefs of our people's forces, Covered with the glory of a wonderful campaign And eternal memory year twelfth. Often I wander slowly between them, And I look at their familiar images, And, it seems, I hear their militant cliques. A.S. Pushkin

Literature: 1. A set of postcards "Heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812", M., art, 1990 2. http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/ustava51/post301475690/ 3. http:// library.pgups.ru/jirbis2/images/gallery_1812.pdf

There are no country nymphs, no virgin madonnas,

No fauns with bowls, no full-breasted wives,

No dancing, no hunting - but all raincoats, but swords,

Yes, faces full of martial courage.

A.S. Pushkin

332 portraits of generals who showed courage during the Patriotic War of 1812 adorn the Military Gallery, which stretches from the Armorial Hall to the Great Throne Hall of the Winter Palace. According to the project of Carl Rossi, by 1826, several small rooms for various purposes were combined to create a portrait hall. Since the opening of the gallery was bound to take place on December 25 - the day of the expulsion of Napoleon's army from the Russian land, the work on creating the interior of the hall and painting portraits was carried out in a rather hasty manner. And yet, on opening day, many places on the walls of the gallery were empty, draped with cloth. The name plates on them denoted the heroes, whose portraits were soon to take their places.

After holiday service in the Palace Church with the subsequent consecration of the gallery, soldiers of the infantry and cavalry marched along it in a solemn parade, saluting the portraits of their heroic commanders.

It is worth noting that all these portraits were created by one artist - the Englishman George Dow, who was assisted by Alexander Polyakov and Wilhelm Golike. The list of generals was compiled by the Inspectorate Department of the General Staff, however, some names were deleted from there personally by Alexander I without explanation. Historians suggest that the emperor removed from the honorary gallery the military personnel who showed sympathy for the Decembrist uprising.

A fire in 1837 completely destroyed the interior of the Military Gallery. However, surprisingly, every single portrait of the heroes was saved from the fire. During the restoration, the architect Vladimir Stasov enlarged the gallery by almost 6 meters, making it even more significant and solemn.

The list of generals who were honored to decorate the gallery of the Winter Palace with their portraits was formed in 1820. Considering the huge scope of work, George Dow immediately began to write them. Alas, it turned out that by that time many generals from the list had already died, or were so middle-aged that they did not at all want to make the difficult path along Russian roads from their provinces to the capital, with the sole purpose of posing for an artist a couple of times. Therefore, many of them were painted from already existing portraits sent to St. Petersburg from all over the country by the generals themselves, or their relatives. Several funny cases, when a wife sent a portrait of her husband during his youth, with a cover letter: "Despite the fact that my husband died at a respectable age, I can testify that over the years he has not changed at all."

G. Chernetsov, 1827 ... Wikipedia

Military Gallery of the Winter Palace, E. P. Hau, 1862 The Military Gallery is one of the galleries of the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg. The gallery consists of 332 portraits of Russian generals who participated in the Patriotic War of 1812. The portraits were painted by George Doe ... ... Wikipedia

military gallery- The Winter Palace (now part of the Hermitage), a collection of portraits of Russian generals and military leaders - participants in the Patriotic War of 1812 and Foreign campaigns of 181314 (written in 181928 by the English portrait painter J. Dow with the participation of ... ... Encyclopedic reference book "St. Petersburg"

"Patriotic War" redirects here; see also other meanings. This term has other meanings, see War of 1812. Patriotic War of 1812 Napoleonic Wars... Wikipedia

Not to be confused with Tuchkov, Pavel Alekseevich (mayor of Moscow). Wikipedia has articles about other people with that surname, see Tuchkov. Pavel Alekseevich Tuchkov 3rd ... Wikipedia

Award medal in honor of the 100th anniversary of the victory in the Patriotic War of 1812. Inscription: " glorious year this past, but the deeds committed in it will not pass ”The Patriotic War of 1812 left a deep mark on the mind Russian society, in ... Wikipedia

The building of the Moscow City Duma Date of foundation 2012 Location ... Wikipedia

This term has other meanings, see the Battle of Smolensk. Battle for Smolensk (1812) Patriotic War of 1812 ... Wikipedia

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Books

• Military gallery of 1812, Martirosova Maria Albertovna. The book introduces the collection of portraits of Russian heroes of the war of 1812-1814 - the "Military Gallery" of the Hermitage, the main work English artist XYIII–XI X c. D. Doe. The book contains biographical…
• War Gallery 1812 George Doe, Pantileeva A. (ed.-comp.). The book introduces the collection of portraits of Russian heroes of the war of 1812-1814 - the "Military Gallery" of the Hermitage, the main work of the English artist of the 10th-13th-19th centuries. D. Doe. The book contains biographical…

E. P. Renne, Candidate of Art History, Art. n. With. State Hermitage

The Military Gallery of the Winter Palace is perhaps one of the outstanding and grandiose monuments created in honor of the victory of the Russian army in the war against Napoleon.

The walls of the gallery, located in the heart of the imperial palace next to the Throne Room, are covered with five rows of bust portraits. The monotony of long rows of images of the same size is interrupted by seven huge portraits framed by solemn Corinthian columns and a passage to the neighboring halls. Three of them show equestrian images of the heads of state - allies of the Russian Emperor Alexander I: the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III and the Austrian Emperor Franz I. Four others show full-length portraits of the commanders-in-chief: Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, M. I. Kutuzov, M. B. Barclay de Tolly, Duke of Wellington.

The idea of ​​creating a memorial gallery with portraits of more than 329 participants in the Patriotic War of 1812 and the Foreign Campaigns of 1812-1814 is attributed to Alexander I himself. In any case, it was he who invited the English artist George Doe to paint portraits. The emperor personally reviewed and approved the lists of those whose names were to decorate the gallery. The main condition was the direct participation in the hostilities against the French in the campaigns of 1812-1814 in the rank of general. The military men in bust portraits are depicted in the uniforms of their regiments with a full set of orders and insignia. Captured in different angles generals against the background of clouds or trees, against a neutral dark or light background, with mountain landscape or red drapery do not seem monotonous. Moreover, they surprise brightly pronounced individuality. Numerous testimonies of contemporaries about the striking similarity of portraits with the originals have been preserved. “The similarity in his portraits (Dow. - E. R.) extraordinary, striking action, faces go out of bounds,” wrote Pavel Svinin, publisher of the Otechestvennye Zapiski magazine. He was echoed by the English physician Augustus Granville, who visited St. Petersburg in 1827: “... the portraits are executed in a bold, inspired manner, with the expectation of a certain room. In addition, they, as I understand it, convey a striking resemblance. I can confirm this in relation to those with whom I already knew or met later. Rightly deserving of praise for having succeeded in conveying so many outstanding personalities, Mr Doe can be additionally proud of the fact that he varied the pose and accessories of each of them so much that no two identical compositions can be found in the gallery.

The military gallery in the Winter Palace is unique. It gives us a visual representation of a whole section of the Russian society of Pushkin's time. Unlike other monuments that commemorate glorious military victories, the gallery not only glorifies a few military leaders, but demonstrates an understanding of the role played by the army as a whole, an army that relied on the people rallied to repel the enemy. Long rows of portraits give rise to associations with warriors lined up shoulder to shoulder, standing up for the defense of the Fatherland.

A lucky chance helped Alexander I find an artist for such a large-scale project. Talented portraitist caught the eye Russian emperor during the First Congress of the Holy Alliance in the small German town of Aachen. In the autumn of 1818, not only crowned and high-ranking representatives of Russia, England, Austria and Prussia came here to discuss issues of European politics that had become urgent after the war with Napoleon, but also numerous artists who were looking for contacts and orders. One of them was the Englishman George Doe (1781–1829), who arrived in Aachen in the retinue of the Duke of Kent. According to the memoirs of the aide-de-camp of Emperor Alexander I A. I. Mikhailovsky-Danilevsky, the future military historian and writer, the artist asked “permission to bring me pictures of his work and leave them in my room for several days, so that our compatriots who came to me could to see and thereby to know him. He brought me three or four portraits, of which everyone was amazed by the similarity, and by the way, Prince Volkonsky ... who said that I should send Dow to him to take a portrait from him ... ". The sovereign, who saw the portrait, was amazed at the similarity and speed with which the artist worked, and ordered Dou to make an offer to come to Russia to create portraits of the generals, to which the latter, "as you can easily imagine, gladly agreed."

Already in the spring of 1819, Dow arrived in St. Petersburg, and in the fall of 1820, he showed at an exhibition at the Imperial Academy of Arts several of his works brought from England, and paintings that he managed to create in Russia, including 5 of 80 portraits painted for future gallery. Unusual for the Russian eye, the artist’s pictorial manner, which seemed too bold, sketchy, theatrical, caused an ambiguous reaction from critics, although everyone recognized the artist’s “extraordinary talent”, and he was awarded the title of “honorary free associate of the Academy of Arts”.

No matter how quickly Dow worked, and in terms of productivity, combined with quality, not a single Russian artist of that time could argue with him, but the gallery was not ready for the moment of the unexpected and still remaining mysterious death Emperor Alexander I in the autumn of 1825. Judging by the documents of the Court Office, the curator of the Hermitage, F.I. by this time, almost all members of the imperial family and the inner circle, government officials and secular ladies, representatives of science and the artistic elite, and many portraits are made in life size in growth and repeated several times. It is clear that with such a volume of work, he needed assistants. In 1822, the Kostroma landowner, General P. Ya. Kornilov, sent his serf, self-taught artist Alexander Polyakov (1802–1835) to Dow's training. Simultaneously with Polyakov in Bulant's house on Palace Square, 47, another assistant worked - "a poor and timid man who did not know his own worth" Vasily (Wilhelm August) Alexandrovich Golike (1802–1848). Despite the fact that all the portraits were cataloged by the Hermitage as works by George Doe, the stylistic differences between them are obvious.

Under the new Emperor Nicholas I, in June 1826, the architect Karl Ivanovich Rossi began to build a gallery on the site of small rooms in the central part of the Winter Palace between the White (later Armorial) and the Great Throne (St. George) halls. Construction was carried out in a hurry. The solemn illumination of the gallery took place on December 25, 1826, the day of the annual celebration of Napoleon's expulsion from Russia. As Pavel Svinin wrote in the journal: “... this great enterprise ... has now been brought to an end ... On December 25, the day of the birth of Christ and the deliverance of Russia in 1812 from the invasion of the Gauls with twenty languages, this gallery was consecrated in the presence of the imperial surnames and all generals, officers and soldiers who have medals of 1812 and for the capture of Paris. However, much more had to be done. At the time of the opening of the gallery, about 100 bust portraits were missing. The portrait of Alexander I riding a white horse was installed in the year. After the death of George Doe in October 1829, his relative and executor Thomas Wright transferred to the Hermitage the finished portraits that remained in the artist’s studio, among which were several bust and three large portraits of Kutuzov, Barclay de Tolly and Wellington, dated 1829. The final form of the gallery was captured by the artist G. G. Chernetsov in 1829 (Hermitage Collection). In 1832–1833, the equestrian portraits of the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm III by Franz Krüger (1797–1857) and the Austrian Emperor Franz I by P. I. Krafft (1780–1856) were placed in the gallery. In 1837 Dow's equestrian portrait of Alexander I (Moscow, Kremlin Museums) was replaced by a more successful portrait by F. Kruger. In 1834-1836 A. S. Pushkin often visited the Winter Palace. In the poem “The Commander”, dedicated to Barclay de Tolly, he remarkably accurately described his feelings from visiting the gallery, where “all the cloaks, yes swords, and faces full of martial courage”, the faces of those whom he knew well, disliked someone, he was friends with many, treated many with deep respect, seeing in them heroes who rallied the nation, which he brilliantly expressed in the lines of the same poem: ".

The fire that raged in the Winter Palace in December 1837 destroyed the decorations of all the halls, while the portraits of the Military Gallery were saved by the guards. In a record short time (1838-1839), the entire Winter Palace was restored and decorated in a new way. The gallery was rebuilt according to the project of the architect V.P. Stasov, who somewhat changed its appearance. “The ceiling is raised, and more light is given from above; here you can see some parts of the cunning roof-lantern device (clearances) of the ceiling. A lovely gallery (choirs) with a bronze lattice decorated with girandoles was again made above the cornice, ”wrote the writer Alexander Bashutsky in the Otechestvennye Zapiski magazine.

The gallery successfully survived the revolution of 1917 and the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945, when the portraits, along with other works of art, were evacuated beyond the Urals, to the city of Sverdlovsk. For the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg, it was restored, the walls were returned to their original color, the ceiling paintings were restored, the old glass shades were replaced with new ones with modern lighting, all the portraits were conserved. The grand opening took place on the city's birthday on May 27, 2003, and now, as before, the gallery preserves for us the appearance and names of those who entered one of best pages into Russian history.

Military Gallery of the Winter Palace State Hermitage Museum

Among the memorial structures created in memory of 1812, the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace is a kind of monument.

The hall that houses the gallery was designed by the architect Carlo Rossii and was built from June to November 1826. The ceiling with three skylights was painted according to sketches by Giovanni Scotti. Portrait of Karl Ivanovich Rossi. Artist B.Sh. Mitoire 1820s

The solemn opening ceremony of the hall took place on December 25, 1826, on the anniversary of the expulsion of Napoleon's army from Russia. By the opening of the gallery, many portraits had not yet been painted, and frames covered with green rep with name plates were placed on the walls. As the paintings were painted, they were placed in their places. Most of the portraits were painted from life, and for those already dead or dead, portraits painted earlier were used. Company of Palace Grenadiers. Artist K. K. Piratsky

The painting by G. G. Chernetsov captured the view of the gallery in 1827. The ceiling has three skylights, along the walls there are five horizontal rows of chest portraits in gilded frames, separated by columns, full-length portraits and doors to adjacent rooms. On the sides of these doors at the top were twelve stucco laurel wreaths surrounding the names of the places where the most significant battles of 1812-1814 took place, from Klyastitsy, Borodin and Tarutino to Brienne, Laon and Paris. Military gallery of the Winter Palace. G. Chernetsov. 1827.

332 portraits of the generals of the Russian army, participants in the war of 1812 and the foreign campaign of 1813-1814 were placed here.

Emperor Alexander I personally approved the lists of generals compiled by the General Staff, whose portraits were to decorate the Military Gallery. These were participants in the Patriotic War of 1812 and foreign campaigns of 1813-1814, who were in the rank of general or were promoted to general shortly after the end of the war. Portrait of Alexander I. Artist F. Kruger, at the end of the gallery.

Portraits for the Military Gallery were painted by George Dow and his assistants Alexander Vasilyevich Polyakov and Vasily Alexandrovich Golike. Portrait of George Doe (sitting) painted by his student Vasily Golike (standing) surrounded by the Golike family. 1834

In the 1830s, large equestrian portraits of Alexander I and his allies, King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia and Emperor Franz I of Austria, were placed in the gallery. The first two were painted by the Berlin court painter F. Kruger, the third by the Viennese painter P. Kraft. Portrait of Franz I by P. Kraft Portrait of Friedrich-Wilhelm III by F. Kruger

Even later, two works by the artist Peter von Hess, a contemporary of George Doe, were placed in the gallery - “The Battle of Borodino” and “The Retreat of the French across the Berezina River”. Battle of Borodino. Artist Peter von Hess. 1843

The retreat of the French across the Berezina River. Artist Peter von Hess. 1844

The fire that started in the Winter Palace on December 17, 1837, destroyed the decoration of all the halls, including the Military Gallery. But not a single portrait was harmed. The new decoration of the gallery was made according to the drawings of V.P. Stasov. The architect made some changes that gave the gallery a solemnly strict and more imposing appearance: the length of the gallery was increased by almost 6 meters, and a choir gallery was placed above the cornice - a bypass gallery. Military gallery of the Winter Palace. Artist P. Gau. 1862

In 1949, on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of A.S. Pushkin, a marble plaque with lines from the poem “The Commander” by the great Russian poet was installed in the Military Gallery. In 1834-1836 A.S. Pushkin often visited the Military Gallery. Her inspired and accurate description begins the poem "The Commander", created in 1835, dedicated to Barclay de Tolly. “The artist has placed a close crowd. Here are the chiefs of our people's forces, Covered with the glory of a wonderful campaign And the eternal memory of the twelfth year. A.S. Pushkin

among the 15 commanders of the guards, field and reserve artillery brigades who took part in the battle of Borodino, 10 people (66.6 percent) were pupils of the cadet corps out of 47 commanders of the artillery companies of the guards, field, reserve and reserve artillery who fought on the Borodino field, 34 people , or 72.3 percent, graduated from the cadet corps in horse artillery, pupils of the cadet corps - commanders of cavalry companies - amounted to 72.7 percent

The Military Gallery presents 56 portraits of students of the cadet corps