Battle of Lesnaya (Battle of Poltava)
1717
- oil on canvas. 90 х 112
Received in 1926; earlier – Museum of Sychevka, Smolensk Region; before 1918 – Dugino Estate of the family Panin-Meshchersky, Sychevka District, Smolensk Province- Государственный музей изобразительных искусств им. А. С. Пушкина
The painting was created in Amsterdam; Peter the Great asked Nattier to come there in 1717 to paint portraits of his wife Catherine and his confidants. Marie-Catherine Tocque, the artist’s daughter, recalled that the painter created this piece under the direct observation of Peter the Great. Madam Tocque also mentioned that the painting depicts the Battle of Poltava. However, Peter’s letter that he wrote to his wife from Paris on May 2, 1717 and sent to the Hague says that the battle depicted is actually the Battle of Lesnaya, which took place on September 28, 1708. Peter’s testimony appears to be more credible. As one of the scholars working on Nattier’s oeuvre noted, the composition can be seen as an allegory of war. The artist was depicting a generalized image of Peter’s victorious military campaigns. The picture was probably inspired by such Dutch painters of battle scenes as Maas Dirk and Jan van Huchtenburg, and plays a unique part in the oeuvre of Nattier, who was a portrait painter.