Description of the picture:
Empress Elizaveta Petrovna in Tsarskoye Selo – Evgeny Evgenievich Lansere. 1905. Gouache on paper glued to cardboard. 43,5×62
Evgeny Evgenievich Lansere is a versatile artist. The author of monumental murals and panels adorning the Moscow metro station, Kazan Station, the Moscow Hotel, landscapes, paintings on the theme from Russian history of the 18th century, he was also a wonderful illustrator of classical works of Russian literature (Dubrovsky and Shot “A S. Pushkin, “Hadji Murad” by L. N. Tolstoy), the creator of sharp political cartoons in satirical magazines of 1905, and a theater and decorative artist.
The painting reproduced here is one of the most interesting and significant easel works of the artist.
The picture testifies to the very understanding of historical painting in the art of the early XX century. So, the atmosphere of the era is revealed here through the images of art embodied in architecture and park ensembles, costumes and hairstyles of people, through the landscape, showing the court life, rituals. The theme of royal processions became especially favorite. Lansere depicts the ceremonial exit of the courtyard of Elizabeth Petrovna in her country residence. As if on the stage of the theater a procession takes place in front of the audience. The fat empress, dressed in woven clothes of amazing beauty, swims regally and majestically. This is followed by the ladies and gentlemen in magnificent dresses and powder wigs. In their faces, poses and gestures, the artist reveals various characters and types. We see the humble and timid, the arrogant and stiff courtiers. In the display of Elizabeth and her court, one cannot but notice the irony of the artist and even some grotesque. Lanceray contrasts the people he depicts with the noble severity of a white marble statue and genuine greatness embodied in the magnificent architecture of the Rastrelli Palace and the beauty of a regular park."