When artists created portraits of emperors, they seeked not only to preserve physical resemblance, but to also glorify their customers. To show their high status, masters used special artistic means. Artists assimilated their models with divinities, mythological heroes, represented the model as a hero-warrior on horseback. The ruler was portrayed on the canvas as a powerful, victorious leader.
Emperor portrait on horseback became especially popular during the reign of Nicholas I who loved horses. Nicholas inherited from his predecessor Emperor Alexander I gelded horse Tolstoy Orlovsky and mare Atlanta. The horses even got personal tsar’s pension, as they participated in military operations. Nicholas I sent them to Tsarskoye Selo where the Pension Stables were located. There was also a cemetery for horses there, where Nicholas favorite horse Flora was buried.
The author of the portrait presented at the exhibition is artist Vasili Timm. He studied in the Imperial Academy of Arts, attended battle painting class. Working on the portrait, the master resorted to creative findings of Franz Kruger, favorite portrait painter of Emperor Nicholas. Nicholas portraits by Kruger received approval from the imperial customer. They became an etalon not only for the Russian painters of those days, but also for other generations of artists turning to the image of Nicholas. On his canvas, Vasili Timm emphasized the calm tranquility and majesty on the Emperor’s face.
Vasili Timm published the Russian Arts Bulletin containing drawings with explanatory texts. Drawings subjects were contemporary events and important phenomena of social life. During the Crimean War, military subjects were especially popular. The magazine published both Timm’s drawings and works of other artists. The master depictured life around him – people, their morals and domestic life, his prints demonstrated his ability as a caricaturist-illustrator. The bulletin was published for more than 10 years. Literary critic Vissarion Belinsky called Timm “indisputably the best graphic artist of Russia”.
Emperor portrait on horseback became especially popular during the reign of Nicholas I who loved horses. Nicholas inherited from his predecessor Emperor Alexander I gelded horse Tolstoy Orlovsky and mare Atlanta. The horses even got personal tsar’s pension, as they participated in military operations. Nicholas I sent them to Tsarskoye Selo where the Pension Stables were located. There was also a cemetery for horses there, where Nicholas favorite horse Flora was buried.
The author of the portrait presented at the exhibition is artist Vasili Timm. He studied in the Imperial Academy of Arts, attended battle painting class. Working on the portrait, the master resorted to creative findings of Franz Kruger, favorite portrait painter of Emperor Nicholas. Nicholas portraits by Kruger received approval from the imperial customer. They became an etalon not only for the Russian painters of those days, but also for other generations of artists turning to the image of Nicholas. On his canvas, Vasili Timm emphasized the calm tranquility and majesty on the Emperor’s face.
Vasili Timm published the Russian Arts Bulletin containing drawings with explanatory texts. Drawings subjects were contemporary events and important phenomena of social life. During the Crimean War, military subjects were especially popular. The magazine published both Timm’s drawings and works of other artists. The master depictured life around him – people, their morals and domestic life, his prints demonstrated his ability as a caricaturist-illustrator. The bulletin was published for more than 10 years. Literary critic Vissarion Belinsky called Timm “indisputably the best graphic artist of Russia”.
