2-708-789 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Menshikov in Berezovo (a study)', 1881, (1965). Sketch for a picture of the same name of 1883. Russian statesman Alexander Danilovich Menshikov (1673-1729) was a close supporter of Peter the Great, and under Catherine I he was the de facto ruler of Russia. Menshikov arranged the engagement of his daughter Maria to Peter the Great's grandson Peter II. In 1727, however, he was accused of state treason and stealing from the Treasury, and he and his family were exiled to Berezov (now Berezovo, Tyumen Oblast), where he died. He sits and broods in a cramped and gloomy peasant hut (izba) with mica window panes. His son Alexander and eldest daughter Maria, the former fiancée of Peter II who is dying of tuberculosis, look similarly despondent. Only the younger daughter, Alexandra, who is reading the Gospel aloud, brings a note of optimism. Painting in the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. From "Russian Painting of the 18th and 19th Centuries" by Vladimir Fiala. [Artia, Czechoslovakia, 1965]