The exhibition "Two of the Emperor" at the Museum of Decorative and Applied Art from February 14

[Art-Galera]

I will add some text (of release) and a few illustrations of the exhibits.

The central idea of ​​the exposition is the story of a personal acquaintance of the two emperors, their friendship and enmity, history of untapped opportunities for the dispensation of the future of Europe. Most clearly reveals that the idea of ​​objects related to Tilsit: here and the first meeting of the two emperors in June 1807, first in a tent on a raft in the middle of the Neman River, and then - moving to Tilsit and 15-day close contact, finally, the conclusion of peace, as it seemed Then both of them, "eternal" world.
It was at this time is one of the oldest exhibits - the first edition of a book on Napoleon in Russian ("Napoleon - French Emperor," 1806). And immediately after Tilsit was created artifact, which can be called a symbol of the exhibition - a unique bronze medallion with enamel image of two rulers, tightly hugging each other. The reverse of the medallion depicts the same Neman tent, which held its first meeting of the sovereigns ...
The War of 1812 is not for nothing that a turning point in the development of European decorative arts. Empire Style - French-Russian generation - has been felt perhaps most clearly is in the works of decorative art. Echoes in the form of military themes were manifested in the art of France and Russia, even a hundred years after the events themselves. That pot plant Gardner, in medallions on the sides with one side depicts a scene of Napoleon and Alexander the handshake at the conclusion of the Peace of Tilsit, on the other hand, as evidence of malice French - a reproduction of painting by Vasily Vereshchagin, "Fire in Moscow. The Return of the Petrovsky Palace. " Or the pearl collection A.Vihrova, one more thing, dated the beginning of the XX century., - Vase Imperial Porcelain Factory featuring pictures of the same Vereshchagin, "Napoleon at Borodino."