- Good evening ladies and gentlemen. I am Xavier Saloman,
I'm the Peter Jay Sharp Chief Curator here at the Frick. And it is a huge pleasure to
introduce tonight's speaker, someone I have long
admired across the ocean. Caroline de Guitaut, who is one of the great
forces behind the study and display and exhibitions and research at the Royal collection in England. She has worked there for 20 years, which I couldn't quite believe
when I read that in her CV, I'm sure she was five
years old when she started. (all laughing) And she very recently was promoted, just last year in 2019
as the deputy surveyor of the Queen's works of art. Now when I think about everything I'm looking after at the Frick, it feels daunting when I realize that she is looking after 700,000 objects that belong to royal family in the UK, which are also spread
across 13 royal palaces, so it's not just Buckingham
Palace and Windsor, but many other residences. Caroline has worked on
a number of exhibitions and research projects
in the Royal Collection. And her most recent exhibition, which is linked to tonight's lecture was on last year and it was entitled "Russia, Royalty and the Romanovs" and it was really an exhibition,
a fascinating exhibition, that looked at the relationship between the British royal family and the Russian imperial family, of course there were a lot of family links and other links that I'm sure
we'll hear all about tonight. But going all the way
back to the 17th century and onto the 19th century. She has worked on a number of volumes about the decorative arts
in the Royal Collection, and they focus on a range of objects from jewelry to fashion, to broader issues to do with the decorative arts, metal work and so on. But her real focus of interest, I would say in the last
few years, if not more, has been the work of Peter Carl Faberge and of course the work of
this great Russian genius, which is so incredibly well-represented at the Royal Collection. I was lucky enough, a year ago, to be a part of the
Royal collection course which invites foreign scholars, scholars from all over the world to be for a week with the Royal Collection and learn about it. And so me still, one of the most incredible
experiences there was to look at a selection, a small selection of the Faberge from the queen's collection with Caroline, it was just absolutely
eye-opening and marvelous. She is now working on the
catalog of that collection, the full catalog resume of the Faberge in the queen's collection which is due for publication
next year in 2021. And she was just telling
me it's about 900 objects, which I didn't realize
there were quite as many, and I'm sure they're all
incredibly wonderful. So tonight, Caroline will talk about the art of diplomacy
collecting Russian art in the age of Queen Victoria, this is a time to remind you all, please to turn your phones off. This lecture is recorded
live and will be available for future viewing on our website. And just to tell you all that the west gallery the enamels room will remain open for about half an hour after the lecture until about 7:30, so please feel free to
go into the west gallery and have a look around. Thank you so much. Please join me in welcoming
Caroline de Guitaut. (applause) - Well, good evening,
ladies and gentlemen. And it's a huge honor for me
really to be here this evening, and to have an opportunity to speak in this wonderful institution that has always been at the top of my list whenever I've had the
pleasure of visiting New York. And I'd like to extend a huge thank you to Xavier for arranging this, to all his team, and of
course to Ian Wardropper, the director for allowing
all this to happen, particularly as in a way
I'm rather daringly speaking about something which has
little connection, really to the wonderful collections
here at the Frick. So, during the long
reign of Queen Victoria, from 1837 to 1901, four emperors ruled Russia. Nicholas I died of pneumonia, although he was rumored
to have committed suicide. Alexander II was assassinated. Alexander III died
prematurely of kidney disease at the age of 49. And Nicholas II, as we know, was murdered by the Bolsheviks on the 16th of July, 1918, thus bringing to an end, more than three centuries of
the Romanov dynasty's rule. Queen Victoria died relatively
peacefully of a stroke at the age of 81 on the
22nd of January 1901 at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. The complex political relationship between Great Britain and Russia and their respective
rules is well-documented in the many political histories
written of this period. Queen Victoria being a
constitutional monarch who nonetheless, was the
figurehead of millions of people across the British empire, viewed her Russian counterparts, who were autocratic absolute rulers of the vast Russian empire
with great suspicion. In 1878, the queen
described the country thus: "Russia, our worst enemy, "in her policy of ambitious
aggression and duplicity." Her Russian counterparts were no less mistrusting of the British. Nicholas I who has allied himself with the conservative rulers
of Austria and Prussia, regarded Britain, with
its taste for democracy, as dangerously subversive. The vast personal correspondents
Queen Victoria produced during her reign and indeed her life, together with the unique insight we have from her journals, those
are her personal diaries, many volumes of which are
preserved in the royal archives at Windsor castle, chart this political relationship through her observations as well as giving a fascinating insight
into the personal relationships between the British royal
family and the Romanovs. But what also survives
in the Royal Collection and in the former collections
of the Russian imperial family is a fascinating and rich body
of fine and decorative art, much of it exchanged as
diplomatic or personal gifts between the sovereigns of each nation. Each work of art is a gift, and thus embodies an expression of gratitude to the recipient. And each illustrates in most instances the best of native craftsmanship. While, as we shall see, they also often reveal
something of the personality and artistic interests of the donor, and a desire to give something which they know the recipient will value, and most importantly, enjoy. The first Russian work of art
to enter the Royal Collection during Queen Victoria's reign and arguably one of the most impressive due to its enormous scale, it stands more than two meters high without its stone plinth, was this malachite vase. It was produced in 1836 and was sent by emperor Nicholas I, as a thank you present to the queen, following the visit of
his eldest son to England. The future Alexander II, who the queen had received
at Windsor castle. Despite doubts as to the
grand duke's security, his visit had passed off without incident. And the emperor wished
to express his pleasure regarding the reception given
to his son by Queen Victoria via the British ambassador
in Saint Petersburg, Lord Clanricarde. Later in the year, during an
audience with the emperor, the ambassador was informed
of the emperor's intention to present the queen with a Malachite vase from the hermitage. It was dispatched on
the steamer S.S. Sirius, which sailed from Kronstadt
on the 16th of August, 1839. In Queen Victoria's journal,
for the 22nd of August, she records, "'the emperor is
going to send you a present,'" "Lord M said," that is Lord
Melbourne, her prime minister, "I said, 'no,' and he
continued quite touched. "a malachite vase, they say
it's the finest in the world, "and it stands in his palace at present." Nicholas I was instrumental in introducing monumental hard stone
vases to the decoration of the new hermitage. The purpose built museum that he created at the winter palace to house the imperial art
collections after this part of the palace had been
destroyed by fire in 1837. This watercolor shows
the main entrance hall and the elegance of the design by the german architect Leo von Klenze, who Nicholas employed to
create the renovated space. The massive granite columns are combined with large vases, carved from
richly colored hard stones found in Siberia. While decorative items
were carved from hard stone all over Europe, the scale and sophistication
of Russian vases are unique. There were three main lapidary, or stone carving factories, and they worked almost exclusively for the imperial household. The first hard stone carving factory had been established at Peterhof, much earlier in fact, by Peter the Great in 1721, as part of his efforts to introduce the European
decorative arts to Russia, and it was at the Peterhof
factory that this vase was made. The archives of the
factory record the costs of producing the vase, which amounted to the astonishing sum of 40,000 rubles. Which is the equivalent to
about $500,000 in today's money. Leading architects would design the vases as well as their intricate
gilt bronze mounts, and they generally echo
the French Empire style. But the Russians would
add an extra richness and much of the work they
produced in terms of hard stone is of an unsurpassed quality. For this vase, the gilt bronze work
alone cost 24,200 rubles, so nearly as much as the vase, the malachite itself. Oh sorry. Just to point out, the
photograph on the right shows the original height
of the hard stone pedestal, which actually is made of putilov stone, and that at some point in its history, after the date of this photograph, 1931, was actually reduced in scale, the reasons for which,
we don't actually know. The queen had placed the vase
in the grand reception room at Windsor castle, and as we've seen it was really
quite a monumental piece, particularly on that very high plint. And here, rather catastrophically
you can see the aftermath of the fire at Windsor castle, which took place in the autumn of 1992. But what it rather wonderful is that vase itself, which you can't see because it's hidden, but it's there, actually survived this
really devastating fire, which, as you can see, almost
completely destroyed the room. And the photograph on the right shows the grand reception room in its restored state five years later when the restoration
was completed in 1997. At the time of its production in 1836, this vase was the largest
malachite vase ever produced, and it was recorded in the catalog of the hermitage collection,
complied in 1837. The emperor had decided to
place it in the hermitage, and in the records it
was described as follows: by order of the minister
of the imperial court, the large porcelain vase, bearing portraits of emperor Alexander I, was moved from the round
hall in the hermitage, and in its place was installed a new large vase of malachite. In many ways it seems rather surprising that Nicholas I would part with such a significant object. And there's evidence to suggest that afterwards he may
well have missed the vase and possibly even regretted his decision. Because in 1841, he
commissioned a second vase of almost identical design
and scale to replace it. And the one he had
given to Queen Victoria. And this second one was designed by the architect Carlo Rossi, who'd been working almost exclusively in the Russian imperial court, designing some of the famous buildings created around the hermitage,
during Nicholas I's reign. And the replacement vase was positioned in the vacant position
of the previous vase given to Queen Victoria at the top of the counsel
staircase where it remains today, as you can see in this image. The marriage of Queen
Victoria to her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg Gotha took place on the 10th of February, 1840 at the chapel royal St. James' palace as recorded in sir George
Hayter's group portrait of the event. This was the moment for
the receipt of course of many wedding gifts. And the emperor of Russia sent
a surprisingly personal one. He commissioned the Russian
artist Carl Timoleon von Neff, to make portraits of his wife, the empress Alexandra Feodorovna and of his two daughters, Maria and Olga. Von Nuff had succeeded
the artist Karl Bryullov as painter to the imperial family. And was a rising star
in the Russian court. The gifts of the portraits may partly have been motivated or at least encouraged by the emperor's consort, Alexandra. Born princess Charlotte of Prussia, she was the eldest surviving daughter of king Frederick Wilhelm III, and her marriage to the future Nicholas I, on the first of July, 1817 was a political union, forging closer ties between the two countries. However, it appears that the couple were ideally suited, and their relationship
was very much regarded as a love match. Alexandra Feodorovna sat
for the British artist, George Dawe in this portrait in 1821. Dawe was one of the most
important British artists working in situ at the
Russian imperial court during this period of the 19th century demonstrating, in fact, the
continuing cultural exchange of artists and craftsman, between the two countries. Which had begun under Peter the Great with his establishment
of the capital of Russia in Saint Petersburg, and which had attracted
numerous British settlers to the opportunity of a new
European focused royal court. In fact, Dawe spent 10
years in Saint Petersburg, in the service of Nicholas I predecessor, emperor Alexander I. Not only did he paint the imperial family, including this portrait, which Prince Albert
himself acquired in 1844, and which served as the
model for all subsequent large scale portraits of Alexander I. But he also completed a
remarkable 322 portraits of Russian general and dignitaries who distinguished themselves
in the Napoleonic wars. And these portraits were
inserted into the war gallery in the winter palace, which Alexander I created
as a celebratory gallery and which opened on the
25th of December, 1826, the anniversary of Napoleons
expulsion from Russia. This triumphant or
triumphal military gallery was mirrored in England
by George IV's creation of the waterloo chamber at Windsor castle, which you can see below. This was painted and hung with portraits commissioned from the
famous British portraitist, sir Thomas Lawrence. And also, likewise, very much celebrated
the defeat of Napoleon, and it was completed in fact much later during the reign of William IV, as seen in Joseph Nash's
watercolor on the screen. The visit of emperor Nicholas
I in 1844 was a major event. The first visit of a
Russian emperor in 30 years since Alexander I's own visit
to the prince regent in 1814. The emperor himself saw it
as a watershed in relations between the two countries, and the respective ministers
of the two countries laid careful plans with Sir Robert Peel, Queen
Victoria's prime minister, explaining to the Russian
ambassador, Debrunov, "I spoke to the queen and Prince Albert, "they were greatly pleased
at the prospect of a visit "from the emperor. "The queen and prince were
really personally gratified "at the thought of having the
emperor under their roof." this medal was struck
to commemorate the event and is inscribed as follows: "Nicholas I, emperor of all Russian "Friend and guest of Queen
Victoria of the Britons, 1844." the visit itself lasted 10 days in June and was considered to
be an enormous success. Although having said that,
Queen Victoria's attitude toward the emperor seemed to seesaw. In her journal on the
9th of June she wrote: "I then gave him, for the empress, "a bracelet of enamel and
diamonds, containing my hair. "Begging the emperor to
place it at his feet. "Albert returned with a sketch of the Waterloo gallery at Windsor, "which I had had done for the emperor. "I told him at the same
time I would send him, "when it was completed, "a cup similar to the one
I had given at Ascot races, "which had so much admired. "I think that our simple
and unaffected reception "of the emperor in our home life, "as well as the honor
and civility shown him "without any ostentation "have made an impression on his mind. "But one has to keep in mind
that he has been brought up "with the greatest
severity by an autocratic "and unsociable mother. "The father having been a
madman and a perfect monster." Nicholas I certainly
didn't always get it right and certainly not in
Queen Victoria's eyes. And this was true when it
came to the collections of the imperial family. He sometimes in fact made really rather disastrous decisions. For example, he sold
off over 1000 paintings from the collections. Some of them of really high importance. And he had many other destroyed
if he didn't like them. He also melted down several
of Catherine the Great's gold and silver dinner services over 3000 pounds of metal in all. And he had new ones made in
a style that he preferred. His London service, which was intended to serve 50 people, included 1680 pieces and was ordered from the crown jewelers
in Britain, Garrard's and also from Hunt and Roskell and other British silversmiths. And these were particular silversmiths whose workshops he had taken
the opportunity to visit whilst he was in England
visiting Queen Victoria. And amongst the service were
seven large sculptural groups to decorate the center of the table. One of them being a copy of queen's cup, which had been made for presentation at the Ascot races in 1844. And which Victoria, of
course, had given him. As we've heard, Queen Victoria gave and promised several gifts. Both for Nicholas I and
for empress Alexandra. And in return, the emperor made a remarkable
series of gifts for the queen, which arrived throughout the rest of 1844. This elaborate table or
gueridon has gilt bronze mounts designed and made in the workshop of the Finnish born silversmith and bronze worker Carl Johann Tagelsten. He had qualified as a master craftsman in 1825 in Saint Petersburg, and from 1833, much of
his work was retailed by the renowned company
Nicholls and Plincke, one of the most fashionable
shops in Saint Petersburg, which has been founded in 1789, and was owned by a
succession of Englishmen, including Charles Nicholls
and William Plincke. It was particularly known
for its fashionable designs and meticulously executed bronzes. And the shop regularly
supplied the imperial cabinet with all many of silver
goods and furnishings, and was mainly familiarly
known as the English shop or the magasin anglais. And it was awarded the imperial warrant to become an official supplier
to the Russian imperial court in the 1840s. Inset into the top of the
table is a circular panel of Russian hard stone, which was made in the Peterhof
Imperial Lapidary workshops. And is listed in the records there at a value of 5,715 rubles. The beautiful and delicate flower bouquets are carved in relief from a range of different hard stones. And the design itself also as you can see incorporates insects and butterflies within a lapis lazuli Greek key boarder. The design of the magnificent bouquet was supplied by an Austrian floral painter called Joseph August Satory,
who came from Vienna, and who was commissioned to supply several floral compositions by the Peterhof Lapidary factory. In 1839, he visited Saint Petersburg, and he participated in
several academic exhibitions as a flora painter. And his works caught the
eye of empress Alexandra, and she acquired at least
one of his paintings during that time. And one of his designs was
used for the lapidary top which is remarkably similar to the one presented to Queen Victoria, which was made for
empress Alexandra in 1842, just a couple of years
before Queen Victoria's. The table sent to Queen Victoria
arrived in December 1844. And was placed in pride of place, you can just see it here in the window bay of
the white drawing room at Windsor castle, one of the principle reception rooms in the semi state apartments. And she viewed it on the 2nd of December and described it in journal
as "the pietra dura table, "which the emperor has sent me." At the same time, on exactly the same day, she also viewed another
of the emperor's gifts in the green drawing room, which had arrived in the
same shipment from Russia. The shipment in fact came
in a total of eight cases, transported on the steamer, Mermaid. And when she viewed the vase, she described it as a
splendid and immense piece. This was in fact, one of
the largest vases executed by the imperial porcelain
factory in Saint Petersburg. And it measures over one
and half meters in height and just over a meter in diameter. It's entirely made from porcelain with the exception of the handles and the rim around the top, which are cast from gilt bronze. Nicholas I, in fact, showed an unprecedented personal interest in the production and
decoration of this vase. Decorated with matte and burnished gold, it is also painted on each side with a view of one of
the imperial palaces, by one of the porcelain factory artists, called Nikolai Konolovich Kornilov One painting that you see
here is a view of Peterhof, the imperial palace
established by Peter the Great across the gulf of Finland. And it was directly
copied from the original, which was commissioned from the famous Russian marine
artist, Ivan Aivazovsky. The original painting was one of six ordered by Nicholas I in 1844. And these were placed in the emperor's private
rooms at Peterhof, and he himself personally
selected this specific view to be copied and painted onto the vase. On the other side is a topographical view of Tsarkoe Selo, which means Tzar's village, and this was the complex
of imperial palaces in the countryside
outside Saint Petersburg. The watercolor view was prepared
at the emperor's request by Vasily Sadovnikov, and it also bears an
inscription indicating that it was specially
prepared to serve as the model for the vase destined for Queen Victoria. There was considerable debate between the emperor via the
minister of the imperial court, prince Pyotr Volkonsky and also with the factory
as to what should be painted on the sides of vase, and this went on for many many weeks. The options appeared to
be the imperial monograms, flora ornament, or perhaps a coat of arms. And eventually the decision
was made by the emperor himself to apply the sides between the
two views of imperial palaces with the British royal arms
which you can see here. The queen was evidently
very pleased with the vase and in her letter of thanks to the emperor wrote that "the vase is superb, "it's placed in the drawing room "where we spend our
evenings and it is admired." A further letter kept in the same Russian state historical archives file, records that as a gift of thanks for such a magnificent vase, Queen Victoria sent a gift
in turn to the emperor, and this was also a gift
of porcelain in the form of the so-called orders service. The queen had noticed
that while at Windsor, the emperor had admired a service off which they presumably dined, which was decorated with the
British orders of chivalry and in fact had been made
for William IV in 1831 at the Worcester porcelain factory. Nicholas I seeing this service would have been reminded
of some services in Russia which would have been
enormously familiar to him and these had been commissioned by previous Russian sovereigns, in this case in the 1770s
by Catherine the Great, who had ordered from the
Moscow porcelain manufacturer of the English businessman
Francis Gardner. Services decorated with the
ribbons, badges and stars of the most senior imperial
orders of chivalry. The services were continually added to with replacement pieces
during successive reigns, including that of Nicholas I. For the emperor's gift, the queen decided to commission the Coalport porcelain manufacturer to which she and Prince Albert commissions during their reign to produce
the particular service for the emperor. And as you can see, it very
closely replicated the design of the service made for William IV, with this heavily gilt decoration, the same royal blue background, but to substitute the decoration
of the white reserves, instead of the British orders of chivalry, we have of course the
Russian orders of St. George, St. Alexander Nevsky, St.
Vladimir, St. Stanislaus, the white eagle and St. Anne. And in the center, rather
than the royal arms on the prototype, we see the senior
Russian order of chivalry represented by the badge
of the order of St. Andrew. The original dessert service
consisted of 62 pieces and was sent directly
to the winter palace. But the emperor decided to
use it for large banquets and commissioned an additional 124 pieces from the imperial porcelain
factory in Saint Petersburg to supplement the service. And as you saw just there, a substantial number of pieces in fact are still located in the
hermitage museum today. In a letter to the emperor,
dated the 1st of July 1845, which accompanied her gift of porcelain, Queen Victoria wrote to
him that these objects which I sent to you are my
portrait by Winterhalter and a porcelain service similar to that which you admired at Windsor. Well, we've seen the porcelain service and the portrait which the queen sent is almost certainly a copy of this one. Here, of course, she is depicted
in typical regal splendor. Dressed in the mantle of
the order of the garter, the wears the diamond diadem. And beside her on the table are the imperial scepter and
the imperial state crown. And in the background, we have a glimpse of the southeast corner of Buckingham palace which the emperor had visited
during his stay in 1844. The queen recorded in her journal on the 30th of September, 1843 that she and Prince Albert "looked at Winterhalter's full
length portraits of us both, "which are now quite
finished, and really splendid, "both of as to painting and likeness." And in 1899, much later, she remarked that it was the
portrait that she liked best, and as a result, many many copies of this
portrait were produced, largely made to be given
away as state gifts. The leading German court portraitist, Franz Xaver Winterhalter was first brought to the
attention of Queen Victoria by the queen of the Belgians, and subsequently he
painted numerous portraits at the English court from
1842 until his death in 1873. And the queen and Prince
Albert admired his ability to capture likenesses so accurately. But Winterhalter is equally renowned for his ability to depict
the rich fabrics and textiles which so often adorn his royal sitters. In this portrait, which
the queen commissioned as a birthday present
for her prime minister, Sir Robert Peel, the prince of Wales later, Edward VII, wears a Russian style blouse, ad adaptation of a
traditional Russian shirt. And in her journal,
Queen Victoria recorded on the 8th of October, 1843, that the prince of Wales
appeared at luncheon in his new blouse, which he is always to wear now, it is in fact a Russian dress. The shirt that he wears
here may in fact have been a gift from grand duke Michael Pavlovich, the brother of emperor Nicholas I, who was then, at that moment,
visiting the royal family. Less than a year later, during Nicholas I's visit in 1844, Queen Victoria sketched
Bertie as he was known wearing a Russian style dress, but also wearing the star
and ribbon of the grand cross of St. Andrew, which with the emperor has presented him, and the insignia still remain
in the Royal Collection today, along with the queen's sketch. And it seems that this
fashion for Russian dress probably inspired by this
increasingly close relationship between the queen and the
Russian emperor persisted. And in one of Winterhalter's, in fact, most famous group portrait
of the royal family, painted in 1846 of which I'll just show
you a small detail here, the prince of Wales, sitting next to or standing
next to his mother, is once again attired
in a Russian costume. This time in a rich red
fabric with gold braid. The aftermath of the 1844 visit was marked by yet more gifts exchanged between Nicholas
I and Queen Victoria. Following the visit,
the emperor commissioned this portrait as a gift for the queen, which was not completed,
in fact, until 1847. In the selection of the
artist Franz Kruger, it is clear that empress Alexandra profoundly influenced her husband. Her taste formed in the artistic milieu of the early 19th Berlin, meant that many German
painters inevitably flocked to Nicholas I's court. We've seen that a German
architect, Leo Von Klenze had built a new hermitage. And Nicholas I also made
an extensive collection of contemporary German sculpture. As soon as the couple were married and moved into the winter palace, the emperor began to
add paintings by Kruger, the berlin court painter
who became a great favorite and great Russian court artist. The monumental scale of this painting, the canvas measures over
three and half meters in height and two and
half meters in width, it's impressive. And Queen Victoria records on
the 10th of November, 1847, "The Russian ambassador presented "a fine full length portrait
of the emperor of Russia, "which is an excellent likeness." At the time of his visit,
three years earlier, she had described the emperor as, "very striking, he is still very handsome, "very tall, with a very fine figure, "and beautiful Grecian profile." The scale of the painting, which probably would
have suited an enormous Russian imperial palace, appears to have been rather
difficult to accommodate in an English palace, albeit it one on quite a large scale. And as a result, the
queen in fact commissioned the artist William Cordon, the younger, the create a copy of the portrait so that she could insert
it into one of the hangs at Buckingham palace in the 1844 room, which is in fact one of the rooms which the emperor had
occupied during his visit. The original painting was
later moved to Windsor castle where it was photographed
hanging in the guard chamber in 1931, you can see it here. And it was taken down prior
to the second world war, and the canvas was rolled up,
in fact, for almost 80 years, until it was recently
conserved for exhibition. And I just wanted to include these images. Some of my colleagues, very kindly posed in front of the painting, because it's quite difficult to appreciate just how large this canvas is, it's very very large. And also, what deserves
attention is this spectacular Rococo revival frame, with sprays of oak leaves and palm frons, and also unquestionably Russian and unquestionably imperial, the Russian imperial eagles and crown in the four corners. By the early 1850s, the
Royal Collection contained many remarkable works of Russian art. And at the great exhibition of 1851, the first of the grand artistic
and industrial exhibitions which was the brain child of Prince Albert and which was mounted
under the royal patronage of both him and Queen Victoria, it afforded a great opportunity for the finest of Russian craftsmanship to be displayed on the world's
stage for the first time. On one of her more than 20
visits to great exhibition, Queen Victoria was impressed
by the plate jewelry and malachite furniture, and remarked in her journal, "we went first to look
at the Russian exhibits, "which have just arrived
and are very fine, "doors, chairs, a chimney piece, a piano, "as well as vases in malachite. "Specimens of place and
some beautifully tasteful "and very lightly set jewelry." It appears that Queen
Victoria and Prince Albert, oh sorry, very much in the Russian taste, these pieces were in fact
created in the workshops of the Demidov family. And in fact, Queen
Victoria and Prince Albert would go on to acquire one of these pieces immediately after the end
of the great exhibition. Prince Albert purchased this vase, which you could see in this display and the photograph of the display, and you could also see just in this detail of the watercolor we saw previously. And he purchased this vase
on the 25th of June, 1851. The monumental vase and pedestal, along with the doors also displayed and the two other vases, as I've said, were made in the Demidov lapidary factory. And the noble Demidov family had been granted lands
in the Ural mountains in the 17th century, where they discovered metal
and precious stone deposits in very large quantities. And by the 19th century, they became proprietors of
numerous mines and foundries, and one of them, the
famous Nizhne-Tagil mine, was renowned for its malachite. Malachite of course is
a very brittle stone, and for large pieces such as this, it has to be used as a veneer, which is applied in what
the Russians refer to as a mosaic technique to a solid core. This was often made of stone, but occasionally could be made of metal, as in the case of this vase. And the skill required
is highly specialized, and pieces took many many years to make. The doors, for example
that we saw exhibited at the great exhibition took
30 men over a year to create. So these are highly highly
complex pieces to make. The flamboyance of the gilt bronze mounts and the malachite combined, really put these creations
in a unique category within the European decorative arts. And the mounts that we see
on this particular piece very much in the neo rococo taste, are in fact in the records
of the creation of the vase described as Chinese. And they were made in the institute of electroplating and bronze work under the direction of Ivan Duval. And this was an institute which had in fact been started in 1844 by Nicholas I's son-in-law,
Duke Maximilian von Gutenberg. It was empress Alexandra Feodorovna, the consort of Nicholas I, who had sent the very first
monumental malachite vase to enter the Royal Collection
in the 19th century. But this was not sent to Queen Victoria, it was sent to her uncle, King George IV. And this vase was
designed by Ivan Galberg, which you can see on
the right of the screen, and his drawing also shows
the wonderful options for the gilt bronze mounts, which you see down here, and we can see that ultimately the palmette motif mounts were chosen. And what's also rather fascinating is that the pedestal of the vase was mounted on one side with
the Russian imperial arms, and on the other, with
the British royal arms, indicating that this was really
very much a diplomatic piece delivering a very strong message. In fact malachite featured
very strongly in the decoration of the rooms created for
Nicholas I's consort, Alexandra. And here we see a view from that period from the 19th century of the famous malachite
room in the hermitage, which still exists there today, where you've had this
wonderful combination of a mix of bright green malachite pillars and gilded plasterwork and mirrors, creating this gloriously rich effect. George IV, who was evidently
very pleased with this vase, had it placed in the central window bay of the new large drawing room, now known as the crimson drawing room, in his newly decorated
apartments at Windsor castle, where it's depicted in this
water color by Joseph Nash. After the generally very happy relations between Britain and Russia
of the 1830s and 1840s, Queen Victoria's reign would
see one of the lowest points of British-Russian
relations by the mid 1850s. The Crimean war of 1853 to '56, which pitted Russia against
the British, the French, the Turks and the Sardinians, is often called the first
world war of the 19th century due to the severity of the conflict and the immense loss of life. Queen Victoria took a
particularly close interest in the campaigns and also the
welfare of her servicemen, and the war had a very long lasting impact on her approach to Russia. On hearing of Nicholas I's death in 1855, she wrote in her journal, "Poor emperor, "he has alas the blood of many
thousands on his conscious." This incredibly powerful painting, which depicts a roll call
after the battle of Inkerman on the 5th of November, 1854, captured the public's imagination when it was exhibited at the royal academy in London in 1874, it was painted 20 years after
the war itself had concluded. And such was the intensity of interest in the strength of feeling that it actually required a policeman to stand by it constantly
while it was on display. Its power, of course, lying in the fact that it conveys the
reality of the suffering of the ordinary soldier in
the aftermath of conflict. Queen Victoria decided
to acquire the painting and she had it removed
from the royal academy so that she could show it
to Nicholas I's successor as emperor Alexander II, who was visiting England in May that year. By the time of her golden jubilee in 1887, Queen Victoria had
married her heir apparent, the prince of Wales to the
sister of the Russian empress and her second son to the
only surviving daughter of emperor Alexander II. This remarkable group portrait by the Danish artist Laurits Regner Tuxen, is a powerful dynastic image. Encapsulating in oil
the dynastic marriages which the queen's children
and grandchildren had made, largely due to her playing the role of the grandmother of Europe
as she was often known. And acting as matchmaker, effectively manipulating
the line of succession in virtually every royal and
princely house of Europe. The queen herself
commissioned the painting from the Danish court painter Tuxen whose 1885 group portrait of
the king and queen of Denmark she had much admired. This portrait was in fact
painted for Queen Victoria's daughter-in-law, Alexandra of Denmark who had married the
prince of Wales in 1863. And Alexandra's sister, Dagmar had married the
future emperor Alexander III of Russia three years later in 1866, taking the name Marie Feodorovna on her conversion to the
Russian orthodox faith. And this united, by
marriage, the royal families of Britain, Russia, and Denmark who would meet annually,
or at least annually in Denmark at Fredensborg Palace where this particular
portrait was painted. The queen formed a vast
collection of portraits of her extended and immediate family, often commissioning copies of portraits from their own collections. This portrait of the empress of Russia, Marie Feodorovna on the right
of the screen, for example, she commissioned from the
artist Robert Antoine Muller after the original in Marie
Feodorovna's possession which was by Heinrich von Angeli. It was also during the later
part of Queen Victoria's reign once these connections had been formed, that works by the renowned
jeweler and goldsmith, Peter Carl Faberge began to
enter the Royal Collection. Marie Feodorovna and Alexander III were the first members of
the Russian imperial family to commission works from the firm. Including this frame with a portrait miniature of the empress and this topaz and nephrite portrait bust. And Queen Victoria herself largely because she was
influenced by her relatives in Denmark and Russia began to purchase pieces
from Faberge herself including miniature
enameled and gem set eggs, which she would give to her
extended family at Easter. The close family ties with Russia established in the 1860s became closer still in the 1870s, when the only direct dynastic marriage between a child of the sovereign
of the British royal family and a child of the Russian
emperor took place. Queen Victoria's second eldest son, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, was married to Maria Alexandrovna, the only surviving
daughter of Alexander II. Aside from the rather complex
and protracted negotiations over the marriage, this event caused a large
influx of Russian works of art into the queen's collection. The emperor gave this portrait
of his daughter to the queen. And until this point of course she had only seen her future
daughter in photographs in black and white, and was not to meet her until three months after the couple were married in Russia. Queen Victoria described this portrait which arrived by messenger from Russia, as "the long expected portrait," "a lovely picture" and
"beautifully painted." the artist, Gustav Richter, was a German working at the Russian court, and his portrait was copied in miniature and given as official
presents from the couple as wedding gifts. And in her praise of the painting, Queen Victoria described
it as "beautiful," and "quite worthy of Winterhalter." And it does bear, in fact,
a very striking resemblance to another portrait by Winterhalter of a Russian sitter in
the Royal Collection. This really ravishing portrait of Grand Duchess Alexandra
Losifovna of Russia, wife of emperor Alexander
II's younger brother, is really a marvelous tour
de force by Winterhalter. Once capturing, at once,
the elegance of the sitter who was considered a great beauty, as well as conveying
the wonderful textures of lace, silk, and pearls. And Richter appeared to
borrow, not only the pose, but also the interest in texture, albeit in a looser and
more impressionistic way. The queen placed that portrait, in fact, at the end of her dining
table at Osborn House, surrounded by ribbons
in the Russian colors, on the day of her son's
wedding in the cathedral chapel of the winter palace in Saint Petersburg. And she commissioned the Russian
artist, Nicholas Chevalier to record the marriage
service in this painting. The artist produced numerous sketches, one of which Prince
Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh sent to his mother, to enable her to understand
the orthodox marriage ceremony. And you can see that
this sketch actually has these paper flaps added at the front which can be lifted, allowing the queen to
understand the different stages of the ceremony. And when he wrote to the queen, sent a telegram with a sketch, he said, "I hope to be able
to send sketches by Chevalier "by using the little additional slips, "you will be able to follow "the different parts of the service." When Queen Victoria finally
met her new daughter-in-law in England three months after the wedding, most of her concerns about
the union were dissipated and it was a relief that
the general population who was still feeling rather
bruised after the Crimean war seemed to accept the new royal princess. In the familial, political,
and diplomatic negotiations prior to the union, there had been many
misgivings on both sides. In a letter written by the
queen's private secretary the previous year, he refers to the great
many little difficulties and trouble which considering
she, i.e. Marie Feodorovna sorry, Marie Alexandrovna, is the spoiled daughter
of a semi eastern despot may grow into larger ones. Timed to arrive during emperor
Alexander II's first visit to see his recently married
daughter in May 1874, went numerous gifts to different members of the royal family. And they included this
particular personal gift to Queen Victoria, which rather recalls the
monumental hard stone vases presented earlier in her reign. This vase is based on a design
for a silver two-handled cup, and it's cut from Korgon porphyry. Particularly renowned
for its violet gray hue, and particularly beloved
by emperor Alexander II. While the base, as you can see, is in a contrasting stone, in fact a green porphyry. And it also bears a
very strong resemblance, this base to a much later pedestal, which was made to support a vase, a vase made by the Faberge firm, which is located here
in New York, actually, thinking of works that are nearby that you might be able to see. And this is a vase that
is in the board room of the New York stock exchange and was a gift from emperor
Nicholas II, in 1904, in gratitude for the launch of a bond that enabled him to
raise millions of rubles to pay for the expansion of
the Russian railway system. So this base would be familiar if you ever have the opportunity to see that particular piece. The vase and pedestal
took 18 months to carve; and the vase in particular is remarkable for its crispness and subtly, particularly in the interplay
of matte and shiny surfaces that we see in the detail. Queen Victoria positioned
the vase, once again, in pride of place in the
crimson drawing room, you can see it just on the
right of the screen there. And this space of course
had previously been occupied by George IV's malachite vase, the gift of Alexandra Feodorovna. The Russian orthodox faith
of Maria Alexandrovna, Duchess of Edinburgh prompted the only Russian architectural scheme
in a British royal palace to be created. And his was made at the home she shared with Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, at Clarence House, just
alongside St. James' palace. The interior, as you can see, was decorated in the
traditional Russian style, and the iconostasis
contained icons commissioned from the Russian painter
Carl Timoleon von Neff that we met earlier at the
beginning of this talk. Designed purely for
Maria's personal devotion, the creation of the
chapel was nonetheless, really a diplomatic gesture
on the part of the queen, who wrote, "I have confidence
that the marriage of my son "with the daughter of the Russian emperor "will serve to reaffirm
the ties of friendship "between two great Christian nations." The chapel was in fact,
much later dismantled and unfortunately very little
evidence of it survives within the current architectural
scheme at Clarence House. The final dynastic marriage involving Queen Victoria's
family with the Romanovs was between her favorite granddaughter, princess Alix of Hesse, daughter of Queen Victoria's daughter, Princess Alice, Duchess of Hesse, and of course with emperor
Nicholas II, of Russia, on the 26th of November, 1894. On the day of their wedding, Queen Victoria stood at a dinner for the Russian anthem to be played while she was dining at Windsor castle. And she reflected in her
journal how impossible it seemed that gentle little simple Alicky, should be the great empress of Russia. The queen once more commissioned Tuxen to capture the solemnity
and beauty of the wedding, as well as to make careful
likenesses of all those present, most of whom were her own relations. And Tuxen himself recorded
in his autobiography how he was intoxicated by
the beauty of the scene. The singing, the richness of the colors, the light and the golden fabrics. Among the numerous firsthand
accounts of the preparations for the ceremony which were
received by Queen Victoria, was this letter with sketches
from the bride's sister, Grand Duchess Serge, and she describes how
beautiful the bride will look, but also conveys the great
sadness of the occasion, which took place just
two weeks after the death of Alexander III, father of Nicholas. As Queen Victoria's long
reign drew to an end, the strong family connections
which she had forged dominated the relationship between the two sovereigns. But nonetheless, country
and responsibility of state always came first. In October 1896, Nicholas and Alexandra made a visit to the queen,
it would be, in fact, the last time that they saw her. And she was at that moment resident at Balmoral castle in Scotland. Diplomatic talks were blended
with family gatherings and military displays as captured
in an album of photographs which recorded the visit. A few months later, the imperial couple sent
this silver gilt and enameled notebook case to the queen,
made by the Faberge firm. The first page was
inscribed by the couple, with a dedication for Christmas, and the following year, the
queen chose to use the notebook for her diamond jubilee celebrations on the 22nd of June, 1897. And inside, the following pages after the queen's own signature are recorded the signatures
of every sovereign, and every royal prince or
princess who attended the event, so it's really a very historic document. Further gifts of Faberge
were sent by the couple, including this desk clock, with panels of delicately
engraved rock crystal. And the final piece that
I would like to show you, this magnificent silver gold rose diamond and cabochon sapphire brooch. This was Nicholas and Alexandra's official diamond jubilee gift to make Queen Victoria's great milestone. In many ways this jewel
really sums up the subject of my lecture, and the story of the long
and complex relationship between Queen Victoria and Russia. With its resulting
acquisition of Russian art, which now forms a part
of the Royal Collection. And a selection of which I've had the pleasure of
showing you this evening. Like the more monumental
works of decorative art, the large porcelain vases, the huge hard stone carvings, it really encapsulates the best of contemporary Russian craftsmanship, using the finest Russian raw materials. It is overtly Russian. Within the heart-shaped diamond mount, Slavonic characters, subtly
representing the figure 60, for the achievement of Queen
Victoria's 60 years of reign. It also mimics the duality
of the relationship, marking both a state occasion, but acknowledging Queen
Victoria's achievements. But the figure 60, as you can see, is held within a heart, reflecting the increasingly
close dynastic and family ties between the respective sovereigns, which evolved during the century. The emperor and empress
commissioned Carl Faberge to make the brooch, showing once again, the careful attention
of donor to recipient, which characterized many
of the Russian gifts given to the queen. And in acknowledgement,
Queen Victoria herself, chose to wear this special gift close to her own heart on the day she celebrated
her diamond jubilee. In the telegram, offering congratulations on the 23rd of June, 1897, Nicholas and Alexandra
wrote these simple words: "Touched you wore our present." thank you very much. (applause)
