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Lot Essay
Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna (1819-1876) was the eldest daughter of Emperor Nicholas I (1796-1855) and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (1798-1860), née Charlotte of Prussia. In 1839, Maria married Maximilian, Duke of Leuchtenberg (1817-1852), the second son of Eugène de Beauharnais and Princess Augusta Amalia Ludovika Georgia of Bavaria. Bavaria.
The couple took up residence in St. Petersburg, eventually settling in 1844 in the Mariinsky Palace, which was named after Maria and overlooked St. Isaac's Square. Maria and Maximilian were active in artistic causes in the capitol and both served as the president of the Academy of Arts. They were avid art collectors and built up a considerable collection, which included such works as Antonio Canova's The Three Graces, (Hermitage, St. Petersburg), Pietro Perugino's Virgin and Child (Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg), Karl Briullov's Diana, Endymion and the Satyr (Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow) and works by Antoine Gros and Franois Gérard.
Following the premature death of Maximilian in 1852, Maria Nikolaevna married Count Gregory Stroganov (1824-1879) in 1854. Upon her death in 1876, her art collection was divided between their joint heirs, and works from the collection were subsequently exhibited in Russia in 1884 and in 1913.
For a further discussion of the art collection of Maria Nikolaevna, see O.Y. Neverov, Great Private Collections of Imperial Russia, New York, 2004, pp. 109-115.
The couple took up residence in St. Petersburg, eventually settling in 1844 in the Mariinsky Palace, which was named after Maria and overlooked St. Isaac's Square. Maria and Maximilian were active in artistic causes in the capitol and both served as the president of the Academy of Arts. They were avid art collectors and built up a considerable collection, which included such works as Antonio Canova's The Three Graces, (Hermitage, St. Petersburg), Pietro Perugino's Virgin and Child (Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts, St. Petersburg), Karl Briullov's Diana, Endymion and the Satyr (Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow) and works by Antoine Gros and Franois Gérard.
Following the premature death of Maximilian in 1852, Maria Nikolaevna married Count Gregory Stroganov (1824-1879) in 1854. Upon her death in 1876, her art collection was divided between their joint heirs, and works from the collection were subsequently exhibited in Russia in 1884 and in 1913.
For a further discussion of the art collection of Maria Nikolaevna, see O.Y. Neverov, Great Private Collections of Imperial Russia, New York, 2004, pp. 109-115.