The Russian Museum presented a newfound painting by the beloved artist Peter I
THIS MESSAGE (MATERIAL) IS CREATED AND (OR) DISTRIBUTED BY A FOREIGN MASS MEDIA PERFORMING THE FUNCTIONS OF A FOREIGN AGENT AND (OR) A RUSSIAN LEGAL ENTITY PERFORMING THE FUNCTIONS OF A FOREIGN AGENT.
An exhibition-presentation “Portrait of a young man in a green caftan” by Ivan Nikitin opened in the Garden lobby of the Mikhailovsky Palace. The hall also presents other works by the master from the collections of the Russian Museum. The portrait entered the museum in 1897 (previously kept in the collection of Prince Alexei Borisovich Lobanov-Rostovsky) as a work by an unknown artist, and now the authorship of Ivan Nikitin has been confirmed through research and restoration.
Ivan Nikitin (circa 1680 – not earlier than 1742) was a notable portrait of his time and a favorite artist of Tsar Peter I. The origin of “Portrait of a Young Man in a Green Caftan” was unclear until the 1980s, when the first heavy complex studies were made. However, darkened lacquer and later restoration notes prevented attribution, and only in the mid-2010s did the restorer Natalia Romanova bring the work closer to the author’s intention.
The portrait was recognized as unfinished, but art critic Grigory Goldovsky, head of the Department of Painting of the 18th – first half of the 19th centuries.
“An artist, in order to fully reveal himself from an aesthetic point of view, and there is simply no need to scrupulously add every detail. If you remember Karl Bryullov, none of his paintings are academically complete, but they are all absolutely solid and complete in terms of aesthetic value. Similarly, this portrait speaks of everything that the master said was studied. This is evidenced primarily by the warm impression that he makes on you, ”said Goldovsky.
Presumably, on the canvas of the image is a contemporary of Nikitin, the painter Andrei Matveev, the time of creation is the end of the 1720s.
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Other works by Ivan Nikitin in the collection of the Russian Museum – “Peter I on his deathbed”, “Portrait of Princess Praskovya Ioannovna”, “Portrait of Baron Sergei Grigorievich Stroganov” – are evidence of a reliable cultural revolution that occurred during the time of Peter the Great.
![](https://img.rosbalt.ru/photobank/21/fc/84/18/TFyvh4PfRNZ2-580x.jpg)
The exposition will last until October 31.