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Home > Gallery > Mstera > Over $500
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#004140
Title: Trip of Peter the Great to Holland
Artist: Molodkin Nikolay
Size: 15x11x4
Size (inches): 6x4.25x1.5
Price : $750 SOLD!
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Description: This work is painted by one of the talented Molodkin brothers, Nikolay Molodkin. He is the youngest in the Molodkin's family. The father of brothers, Vladimir Molodkin, has raised his boys to be great artists.
The work is called "The Trip of Peter the 1st to Holland", and shows an interesting episode from the life of Peter the Great. In 1698 Tsar Peter arrived to Holland where he took lodgings at a local blacksmith's house and began working incognito at a shipyard. His dream was to build his own fleet and to open the Southern seas to Russia. In the beginning of Peter's reign, Russia had access only to the Arctic seas and had no fleet whatsoever. Peter decided to go to Holland to study both navigation and marine engineering from the Dutch who were at that time considered the best specialists in these fields.
The romantic story of Peter's stay in Amsterdam is known to every Russian schoolchild. Tsar Peter and his friend Menshikov began working as carpenters. They were dressed as common sailors and worked together as sail-makers, mast builders, and seamen.
Peter became a great admirer of Holland. While living in this country, he learnt much about Western culture. Returning to Russia he brought many habits and ideas of Western Europe and adopted many of them in Russia.
The blue colors of the icy lake and the sky, and brown-orange tones of the landscape interact and contrast each other nicely. Gold paint is used to detail special elements for emphasis and additional splendor.
The scene is framed with a gold line. Intricate gold foliage ornamentation decorates the edges of the lid, and wraps around the box's sides.
The box is constructed from paper-mache. Black lacquer is used to paint the exterior of the work while red lacquer completes the interior of the box. The lid is hinged from the top of the composition. The box rests upon four legs. The work is signed, and titled by the artist at the bottom of the composition.
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