Apart from furniture and tableware, the Merchant’s Drawing Room collection also features items that were commonly used in decorating staterooms. Among such staterooms were drawing rooms of urban estates, which hosted various receptions, as well as tea and evening parties. Lusher celebrations were usually held in halls. Drawing rooms were always richly decorated with expensive furniture, paintings, floor vases, and other exquisite interior items. These rooms usually had a fireplace, which not only provided heat, but also served as a design element that could be decorated with candlesticks, framed photographs, and a clock placed on the mantelpiece, as well as paintings, engravings, and other works of fine art hung above it.

Hanging above the fireplace in the merchant’s drawing room of the Tomsk History Museum is an engraving titled “Beethoven at Mozart”s.” It depicts a historical event that has spawned numerous legends. Beethoven sought to become Mozart’s student. They finally met in 1787, when Mozart invited Beethoven to his home during his visit to Vienna. Mozart asked the young pianist to play something for him. After Beethoven finished, Mozart did not show much enthusiasm in his evaluation of the performance. However, the young musician did not hesitate to offer the host to choose a theme for improvisation, after which he performed the piece that he composed on the spot. This time, Mozart was very intrigued by Beethoven’s composition. According to a legend, he exclaimed: “Watch that boy, one day he will give the world something to talk about! ” However, Beethoven did not get the chance to study under Mozart, as the young musician was forced to return to his home city when his mother got sick. After his mother died, the 17-year-old Beethoven had to take care of his younger brothers.

The engraving contained in the Tomsk History Museum is a genuine work of the Austrian engraver L. T. Neumann. It was acquired specifically for the new exhibition “The Merchant”s Drawing Room.” Engraving is a form of graphic art in which images are created with the use of special prints. The engraved image is then replicated by being transferred from the original metal print onto printing plates, which can be made of a variety of materials. The Russian word for engraving, “gravyura, ” comes from the French “gravure, ” which means “carving” or “creating a relief”.