The art collection of the State Pushkin Museum includes a pencil drawing titled “Actors of the Alexandrinsky Theater at Rehearsal”. It was created by Pyotr Andreyevich Karatygin (1805–1879), an actor and playwright.

The drawing depicts a group of actors during rehearsal. In addition to the actors, Pyotr Andreyevich Karatygin also depicted himself in the drawing. To his right is his elder brother, Vasily Andreyevich Karatygin (1802–1853), with a cane. He was the most prominent representative of the Karatygin dynasty of artists. Other artists are (from left to right): Alexander Khrapovitsky, Ivan Sibiryakov, Ivan Sosnitsky, Nikita Kukolnik, Pyotr Grigoriyev, Nikolai Dyur, Yakov Bryansky, Ivan Boretsky, Pyotr Karatygin, Vasily Karatygin, Pavel Tolcyonov, Alexey Maksimov, Mikhail Velichkin, Konstantin Tretyakov, Vasily (?) Godunov, Alexander Martynov, Alexander (?) Vorotnikov, Alexander Afanasiev, Pyotr Radin.

On August 31, 1832, the Saint Petersburg Russian Drama Company began its performances in a newly constructed building designed by the architect Karl Ivanovich Rossi. That same year, in honor of the wife of Emperor Nicholas I, Alexandra Feodorovna (Alexandrina), the building was named the Alexandrinsky Theater. The renowned critic Vissarion Grigoryevich Belinsky noted,

In February 1837, the Alexandrinsky Theater was scheduled to host a performance of “The Miserly Knight”. It was canceled due to the untimely death of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin. In 1870, the tragedy “Boris Godunov”, written by Pushkin, was staged for the first time at the theater.

The pencil drawing on display belonged to Ilya Samoylovich Silberstein (1905–1988), a Soviet literary critic, scholar, and collector.