The painting was the work of the artist Gennadii Ratanov in 2007 for the exhibit of the memorial house of M.I. Muravyov-Apostol. The portrait was taken from a photograph by an unknown photographer in around 1858. The original photograph is kept in the State Museum of the Political History of Russia in the city of St. Petersburg. The photograph was transferred to the museum fund from the personal archive of Vyacheslav Yakushkin.
The portrait depicts the Muravyov-Apostol family: the Decembrist Matvey Ivanovich, his wife Maria Konstantinovna and two pupils: Anna Borodinskaya and Avgusta Sozonovich. Matvey Muravyov-Apostol is dressed in a brown suit with a white shirt, which was popular in those years. Maria Konstantinovna wears conservative but sophisticated clothes made of dense gray and brown fabric. Avgusta Sozonovich wears a dress with a white collar, which was fashionable in those years. Anna Borodinskaya is in a similar outfit.
In 1832, Matvey Muravyov-Apostol married to the pupil of the retired state councilor Brant, Maria Konstantinovna Konstantinova, in the Bukhtarma fortress. To Yalutorovsk, the married Muravyov-Apostols moved in 1836.
Orphaned Avgusta Sozonovich was the first to be sheltered in the family. Her mother died when Avgusta was just 4 years old. The father, an exiled Decembrist Pavel Sozonovich, gave his daughter to be raised in the Muravyov-Apostol family. A little later, the Yalutorovsk priest of the Sretensky Cathedral, Sergei Znamensky, brought the couple another girl, who was only 2 weeks old. The girl was named Anna, in honor of the mother of the Decembrist, who died when Matvey Muravyov-Apostol was only 6 years old. As part of a noble family, the children received a good upbringing and education. They studied literacy, foreign languages and music.
After the amnesty of 1856, the family moved to Tver, since they were not allowed to live in Moscow or St. Petersburg. The lives of the Muravyov-Apostols’ adopted daughters unfolded very differently. Anna Borodinskaya got married, but soon fell ill and died, leaving behind her little son Sergei. The Muravyov-Apostols raised him as their own grandchild. Avgusta Sozonovich, as a sister of mercy, visited the war fronts in the Balkans. Matvey Ivanovich lived to the age of 93. At an old age, due to illness, he could not move independently and went all but blind. Throughout his life, he tried to adopt pupils on multiple occasions, however, according to the law existing at that time, state criminals did not have such a right.
The portrait depicts the Muravyov-Apostol family: the Decembrist Matvey Ivanovich, his wife Maria Konstantinovna and two pupils: Anna Borodinskaya and Avgusta Sozonovich. Matvey Muravyov-Apostol is dressed in a brown suit with a white shirt, which was popular in those years. Maria Konstantinovna wears conservative but sophisticated clothes made of dense gray and brown fabric. Avgusta Sozonovich wears a dress with a white collar, which was fashionable in those years. Anna Borodinskaya is in a similar outfit.
In 1832, Matvey Muravyov-Apostol married to the pupil of the retired state councilor Brant, Maria Konstantinovna Konstantinova, in the Bukhtarma fortress. To Yalutorovsk, the married Muravyov-Apostols moved in 1836.
Orphaned Avgusta Sozonovich was the first to be sheltered in the family. Her mother died when Avgusta was just 4 years old. The father, an exiled Decembrist Pavel Sozonovich, gave his daughter to be raised in the Muravyov-Apostol family. A little later, the Yalutorovsk priest of the Sretensky Cathedral, Sergei Znamensky, brought the couple another girl, who was only 2 weeks old. The girl was named Anna, in honor of the mother of the Decembrist, who died when Matvey Muravyov-Apostol was only 6 years old. As part of a noble family, the children received a good upbringing and education. They studied literacy, foreign languages and music.
After the amnesty of 1856, the family moved to Tver, since they were not allowed to live in Moscow or St. Petersburg. The lives of the Muravyov-Apostols’ adopted daughters unfolded very differently. Anna Borodinskaya got married, but soon fell ill and died, leaving behind her little son Sergei. The Muravyov-Apostols raised him as their own grandchild. Avgusta Sozonovich, as a sister of mercy, visited the war fronts in the Balkans. Matvey Ivanovich lived to the age of 93. At an old age, due to illness, he could not move independently and went all but blind. Throughout his life, he tried to adopt pupils on multiple occasions, however, according to the law existing at that time, state criminals did not have such a right.
