Exhibition Views 2006

October 21, 2006 – May 27, 2007, Kadriorg Art Museum 
The exhibit introduces the wider public to the portraits of the Russian tsars and their family members from Estonian art collections—in paintings, graphic art, sculpture, as well as applied arts. The portrait gallery starts with an effigy of Rurik, Russia's ancient ruler, although it focuses primarily on the rulers from Peter the Great to Nicholas II, or those, during whose reigns Estonia was part of the Russian Empire.
Royal portraiture constitutes a separate genre, the importance of which is not limited to art history. Rather they are documents of a period or historical remembrances, which can tell the experienced observer something about the power, ideology, mentality of the people, and social structure during the period in which they were created. Being ceremonial, royal portraits are at the top of the genre, and its most influential manifestation.

Curators of the exhibition: Mai Levin and Aleksandra Murre