T.T. KORSHUNOVA
The State Hermitage has an interesting collection of tapestries made in St Petersburg at the first Russian tapestry manufactory founded by Peter I in 1716-1717.
One of the earliest tapestries in the collection was intended to commemorate the anniversary of the victory of Russia over Sweden in the Battle of Poltava in 1709. It was started in 1719, but not finished until 1722. It was woven by the French craftsman Philippe Begagle, who played an important part in the creation of the Russian tapestry-making school. He was assisted by his first Russian pupil Ivan Kobylyakov.
By the early 1730s, a large staff of Russian weavers was employed by the St Petersburg manufactory. In the 1730s-40s, a number of remarkable tapestry sets was made - outstanding examples of Russian applied art. Among the best works of this period are the tapestries from the "Countries of the World" series. In these years the great volume of commissions and lack of cartons meant that Western tapestries from Imperial palaces were often used as samples.
The second half of the 18th century was the most prolific period for the manufactory. These years saw the making of individual tapestries as well as whole series of outstanding workmanship. The portraits of the founder, Peter I, as well as Catherine II, were often made at the manufactory.
The influence of the Neoclassical style meant that more and more tapestries made in the last quarter of the 18th century were dedicated to classical subjects. One of the first significant works of this type is the tapestry Hector Rebuking Paris (1773) after a passage in Homer's Iliad. The Empire style had its mark on the tapestries made in the first quarter of the 19th century. All of them are quite large in size and stylistically close to decorative painting used in the state rooms of the time. The more frequent images include the allegories of Day, Night, Dawn against the background of the sky and framed by lavish Empire ornaments.
From the end of the 18th century, Russian and European tapestries started to resemble easel paintings. This tendency meant that more and more items produced by the manufactory were copies of original paintings by European and Russian artists. Many copies of Hermitage paintings were specially made for the needs of the manufactory. These include classical, biblical and genre scenes. Some tapestries were inspired by Russian history (e.g. Farewell to the Conscript by I. Salov, a response to the events of the War of 1812).
In 1828, the Cabinet, which was then in charge of the manufactory, ruled that the production of tapestries be stopped in view of great expenses and meagre profits, and that the manufactory should be used exclusively for the production of carpets for palaces. On 1 June 1857, the Imperial Tapestry Manufactory was closed by decree of Alexander II.
