For two centuries, both in the times of the original owners of the Arkhangelskoye and after the foundation of the museum, sculptures adorned one of the halls of the library, serving as its symbol and ‘trademark’.

The views of the French philosopher, writer, composer and botanist Jean-Jacques Rousseau were extremely popular in Yusupov’s times: many nobles had lifetime editions and portraits of the Genevan philosopher. Yusupov had a papier-mâché bust of Rousseau, which was a rarity. Made using an unusual technique, it has somehow remained intact to this day.

A life-size realistic figure was created based on the famous engraving by H. Guttenberg after Jean Michel Moreau the Younger’s drawing “The Last Words of J.-J. Rousseau”. It captures the last minutes of the famous philosopher’s life: sitting on a chair in front of the window, he asks his wife to open the shutters, pointing at them with his hand.

Rousseau’s ideas, i.e., admiration for nature and simplicity, criticism of urban culture and civilization that corrupt the natural goodness of human nature, valuing the heart over reason, had a profound effect on social thought and literature of that time.