‘The Portrait of Emperor Paul I “ was painted by an unknown artist in late 1790s. As a prototype the author used the painting, which Stepan Schukin created after the monarch’s accession to the throne. Royal persons seldom sat for their portraits. Most frequently the artists copied works of those who had been lucky to paint portraits from nature. By the way, Schukin also painted Paul in absentia.

This non-canonical gala portrait differs from others because never before has anyone painted regal persons in such a way. Schukin depicted the emperor in the uniform of Preobrazhensky Regiment with a blue ribbon of St.Andrew’s order against the smooth vacant grey-and-green background. He did not present the monarch in a gold embroidered gala uniform, in an ermine mantle, with many attributes of power as it had been accepted before.

However, the painter did not just copied the original, but introduced some changes. Thus, the figure of the emperor is depicted more stocky then on Schukin’s painting. It made the canvas even less typical compared to the gala portraits of that epoch, on which the model was painted embellished, without blatant drawbacks. The figure of the emperor is surrounded by the symbolic landscape. This deprived the portrait of laconism that was present in Schukin’s work.