The collection of graphics of the State Historical and Cultural Museum and Heritage Site "The Moscow Kremlin" is closely related to the history of the Moscow Kremlin, its monuments, architectural buildings and exhibits, preserved inside the Kremlin’s walls. The graphics fund is rather young. In 1961, it became a part of the research archive, which, in addition to documents, also included architectural drawings and graphic materials on paper base. The graphic art collection currently comprises over 6,500 items dating from the 17th century to the 1990s. The items in the collection are diverse, ranging from drawings, watercolours and designs to engravings and lithographs. The views of the Moscow Kremlin and images of its numerous artefacts are prevalent among them. The watercolours and drawings of the antiquities of the Russian State, created by F.G. Solntsev, is the largest collection of a single artist. Over 1,400 artworks of the painter and archeologist, Academician of Painting, were made in 1830-1840s.

The collection of architectural graphics is made up of more than 2,000 exhibits. They are mainly drawings of the Moscow Kremlin – plans, façades, sections, measures of cathedrals, palaces, walls, towers and other constructions, some of which have not survived. The authors of these designs and drawings are the famous architects of the 18th-19th centuries, such as V.I. Bazhenov, M.D. Bykovsky, P.A. Gerasimov, I.V. Yegotov, I.L. Mironovsky, F.F. Richter, V.P. Stasov, K.A. Ton, D.V. Ukhtomsky, N.I. Chichagov, N.A. Shokhin, and others. There are over 500 drawings of the 1940-1970s among the architectural documents in the fund.

Watercolour sketches and drawings were painted by such artists of the 18th-19th centuries as F.Ya. Alexeev, V.M. Vasnetsov, J.A. Weis, V.S. Sadovnikov, K.A. Ukhtomsky. Among the materials on the restoration of the cathedrals, there are about 50 drawings on a tracing paper of the murals of the Annunciation Cathedral made by artist N.M. Safonov in 1884.

The collection also includes works of landscape prints from the 18th and 19th centuries, dominated by views of Moscow and the Kremlin. These include the well-known series of late 18th-century engravings after drawings by G. de la Barthe and F. Durfeldt. The engravings of the early 18th century by the famous engravers P. Picart and the brothers I.F. and A.F. Zubov are represented by more recent prints. Printmaking of the first half and middle of the 19th century are represented by the famous lithographer A. Kadolle and the largest publisher of lithographic series G. Daziaro.

The graphics fund keeps a small collection of printed books and manuscripts, albums and addresses, related to the theme of coronation and other solemn ceremonies that took place in the Moscow Kremlin. All these pieces are undoubtedly of great artistic and historical value in the context of the study of both the masterpieces of the Moscow Kremlin and Russian culture on the whole.

 

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