Lauritz Tuxen. Court Painter. Works from Danish and Russian collections

On 27 September 2006 an exhibition opened in the Alexander Hall of the Winter Palace timed to coincide with the solemn transfer of the remains of Empress Maria Fedorovna from the Roskilde Cathedral (Denmark) and burial in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St Petersburg. The exhibition has been organized by the State Hermitage together with the State Museum of Arts in Copenhagen (Denmark), with the participation of the Pavlovsk State Museum-Preserve.

The exhibition displays16 works by Lauritz Tuxen (1853-1927) and a painting by Poul Fischer depicting Tuxen at work.

During the 1880s, Tuxen became a celebrity in Europe and won universal recognition as an outstanding master of state portraits after he received a commission to make a group portrait of many European monarchs at the Fredensborg Castle. The canvas depicted 32 persons. This work marked the start of Tuxen's nearly 40-year-long career as portraitist to European rulers: he filled numerous orders from the King Christian IX of Denmark, Queen Victoria of Great Britain and the Russian Emperors Alexander III and Nicholas II.

The Fredensborg Portrait itself is not being shown, although there are a portrait of Nicholas II as a child (1883) and the Portrait of Emperor Alexander III, Empress Maria Fedorovna and Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich (1884).

Paintings of the Wedding of Nicholas II and Grand Duchess Alexandra Fedorovna and the Coronation of Nicholas II occupy an important place in the exhibition. These are two topics which the artist dealt with several times. In the exhibition we are shown various stages of the master's work on these paintings: a sketch for the Wedding from the Hermitage and two versions of the Coronation from Copenhagen and St Petersburg, as well as a completed version of the Coronation - Tuxen's masterpiece, from the Pavlovsk State Museum-Preserve.

The central figure of the exhibition is Maria Fedorovna, the daughter of Christian IX, wife of Alexander III, mother of Grand Duke Nicholas Aleksandrovich, heir to the Russian throne. She appears on three canvases devoted to the subject of the coronation of Nicholas II and on sketches for the Fredensborg group portrait which are displayed in the exhibition.

A Portrait of Queen Victoria (1894) is also shown in the exhibition.

The State Hermitage Publishing House has prepared an illustrated scholarly catalogue of the exhibition. The scholarly editor of the catalogue and curator of the exhibition is A.A. Babin, leading researcher of the Department of Western European Art in the State Hermitage and doctor of art history.

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At the opening of the exhibition

His Royal Highness Crown Prince of Denmark Frederik at the opening of the exhibitiion

His Royal Highness Crown Prince of Denmark Frederik and Her Royal Highness Crown Princess of Denmark Mary-Elizabeth at the exhibition

At the exhibition

The exhibition catalogue