The Mikhailovsky Palace

The end of the seventeenth century and the start of the eighteenth brought major changes to Russian life and culture. Peter the Great turned Russia towards the West and replaced the old religious ideology with a new system of Western values. Peter invited architects, sculptors and painters to Russia from Germany, Holland, France, Italy and other European countries.

The portrait genre – from official to chamber – came to dominate Russian art from Peter’s time. Peter, however, also assisted the development of Russian artists, architects and sculptors. Several of them were accorded the honour of studying in Europe. One such artist sent to study in Italy at the time of Peter the Great was Ivan Nikitin (circa 1680 — after 1741). In 1716, he and his brother Roman travelled to Florence, where he studied at the Academy of Arts. Nikitin’s artistic heritage is small, with very few authentically signed works surviving to this day. One of his best works is Portrait of a Field Hetman (1720s). The name of the subject has likewise never been fully established. Possible candidates for the figure portrayed in Nikitin’s picture are various Ukrainian hetmen and Casimir Jan Sapega, a Polish nobleman who served Russia until his death in 1730.