Feat of Peter the Great in the Storm
1832
- oil on canvas. 49 х 58
- Ж-2684
Received in 1928 from the State Museum Fund Provenance: Anichkov Palace
- Period Early 19th century
- CategoryHistory Painting
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Smaller copy-version of Peter the Great Saving Drowning People in the Storm on Lake Ladoga by Charles de Steuben (1812; Museum of Fine Arts, Amiens).
Quite a number of myths have grown up about the death of Peter the Great, including the fateful chill that he caught when saving some drowning fishermen, and also the suggestion of a poisoning organised by some of his closest associates. In his dynamic picture, which was copied by Alexander von Kotzebue, Charles de Steuben depicted the first of these stories, one that was truly worthy of the great monarch’s heroic reputation. In its time de Steuben’s painting greatly impressed the public, and it was acquired by Napoleon Bonaparte. Louis XVIII ordered a Gobelin to be made of it which was then sent as a gift to Emperor Alexander I (it is now in the Peterhof State Museum-Reserve).