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Portrait of the Grand Duke Peter Fyodorovich on a Horse. 1742
GROOTH Georg Christoph,
Oil on canvas
60,5 х 50
State Russian Museum
Annotation
Peter Feodorovich (1728–1762) was the son of Tsarevna Anna Petrovna and Duke Charles Frederick of Holstein-Gottorp; he was also the grandson of two implacable enemies, Emperor Peter the Great of Russia and King Charles XII of Sweden. He became heir to the Russian throne in 1742 and was Emperor from 25 December 1761 to 28 June 1762, but was never crowned. He imitated Peter the Great in intending to carry out a number of reforms. The Manifesto on the Freedom of the Nobility, the abolition of the Office for Secret Investigation and the secularisation of church lands formed the basis of the legislative measures subsequently taken by Catherine the Great. The view of traditional historiography is that he was ignorant and feeble-minded. He was overthrown by a palace coup instigated by his own wife, the future Catherine the Great, and was soon killed.
Author's Biography
Grooth Georg Christoph
GROOTH Georg Christoph (1716, Stuttgart – 1749, Saint Petersburg)
German painter. Portraitist. He worked in Russia from 1740 (1?) to 1749. Since December 1743, the Keeper of the Palace art galleries. He also decorated the interiors of palaces and other buildings in St. Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo. He created a whole gallery of portraits of the Russian aristocracy.