Fashionable innovations of Tsar Peter the Great

We recently came into possession of a portrait painted by Michiel van Musscher in the latter years of the seventeenth century. It is a fascinating likeness of a proud and stalwart man, depicted full-length in a splendid outfit. A typical Turkish costume, we were assured. The artist was undeniably Michiel van Musscher. But whether the man in the portrait was indeed a Turk was open to question.

The young man is portrayed in a knee-length tunic of silver-grey quilted silk with a deep pleat at the front. Over this warm garment he wears a red mantle lined with costly sable. His legs are clad in pliant boots of red leather. Next to him, on the table, is a hat of sable fur with a velvet brim.

Long boots and a fur coat on top of a quilted silk tunic? Surely it was not that cold in Turkey? We compared the costume with an illustration of a Turkish sultan and his court. There were few similarities to be found. Our fellow clearly came from another realm altogether. His country of origin lay in colder climes; in Russia, to be precise.

Not Turkish but Russian

It is there, in the late seventeenth century, that we find what is known as Russian transitional dress. The traditional Russian outfit, which consisted of an ankle-length caftan with wide sleeves drooping almost to the ground, was gradually making way for Polish costume. Progressive aristocrats led the way by opting for this more comfortable attire, which consisted of a knee-length coat with fitted sleeves and pliant boots and which offered greater freedom of movement. The ankle-length, fur-lined caftans continued to be worn until the end of the seventeenth century, however, particularly among more conservative circles. They gave excellent protection in the severe Russian winters. Our painting shows a typical example of a fashionable Russian costume from the close of the seventeenth century.

The Great Embassy of Tsar Peter the Great

The date indicated by the clothing in the portrait coincides with that of the Great Embassy of Peter the Great. On 20 March 1697, a company of over 250 people set off for Western Europe in order to acquaint themselves with the technical achievements there. The delegation was headed by Peter's best friend, Admiral François Lefort (1656-1699), originally from Switzerland. In his wake came two deputy ambassadors and a retinue of 20 noblemen, 35 young Russian volunteers, a host of priests, secretaries, musicians, interpreters, soldiers, cooks, pages, four dwarves and a monkey. The Tsar himself accompanied them incognito under the name of Peter Michailov. To address the monarch by his true name or title was punishable by death. Their expedition took them to Holland, England, Vienna and finally Venice.

On arriving in Holland, the Russians apprenticed themselves to various shipyards; one learned the craft of sailmaking, another became a rope-maker and so on. Peter found a temporary home in a small house in Zaandam, which must have been uncomfortable accommodation for the lofty Tsar. He had a boundless curiosity for Western technical achievements. Whenever the company rode past a windmill or over a bridge, a command to halt would sound, for Peter wished to examine the construction or operation of the structure and take measurements. He attended lessons in anatomy in Amsterdam under Professor Frederik Ruysch (father of the artists Rachel and Anna), learnt medicine at Leiden under Professor Herman Boerhaave (Peter subsequently gave medical treatment to his courtiers) and peered through the microscopes of Anthonie van Leeuwenhoek.

An event of great importance to Russia's standing in Western Europe was the official reception given to the ambassadors by the States General of the Netherlands. The diplomatic mission set off for The Hague, with Peter still incognito in the background, in October 1697. The official reception took place there at the Binnenhof, in the recently completed Trêves Hall. The ambassadors, who travelled in simple Western clothing, changed for the occasion into dazzling Russian robes of gold and silver brocade, sewn with pearls and precious stones and trimmed with fur. They presented the members of the States General with a gift of 600 pelts of sable which they had brought with them from Russia for this purpose. The political success of the Embassy was perhaps limited, but the company made an indelible impression on their hosts.

Michiel van Musscher and Admiral Lefort

The leader of the Great Embassy, Admiral Lefort, wished to have a memento of the reception at the Binnenhof in The Hague, and chose to have himself immortalised in his costly attire by the Amsterdam portraitist Michiel van Musscher. This painting, signed and dated 1698 by Van Musscher, now hangs in the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire in Geneva. Peter the Great similarly had his portrait painted by Van Musscher during his stay in Amsterdam. The description of Van Musscher's goods drawn up in 1699 mentions two portraits of the Groote Zaar (Great Tsar), at least. One of these, an allegory glorifying Peter as a noble peacemaker and patron of the arts and sciences, is probably located in one of the historic collections of the Dutch Royal House (Stichting Historische Verzamelingen van het Huis Oranje-Nassau). The portrait of Lefort is listed in the same inventory. Our painting is also from Van Musscher's hand, and here we come closer to discovering the sitter's identity. As well as the likenesses of Lefort and Peter the Great, Van Musscher painted a young man in Russian costume of the same period; there can be little doubt that our young man too was a member of the Great Embassy.

The unknown Russian

The pertinent question is, who is the man in the painting? Since he formed part of the Great Embassy, he was probably among those in the immediate entourage of the Tsar or Lefort, and he probably visited the artist's studio together with them. Most likely he too wished for a portrait of himself as a souvenir, and commissioned Van Musscher to paint it. However, the Russians did not make the acquaintance of Van Musscher until the late summer of 1697 and they had to leave the Netherlands by the beginning of the next year. The work would have to be done quickly if the sitters were to be able to take their portraits home with them. The artist thus painted the likeness of the man but had no time to complete the background. That is why our Russian stands on a platform, with a table at his side bearing his fur hat. Time was too short to select a suitable background (a standard decor or a special setting). The plain brown background was probably just a makeshift solution. The portrait is actually unfinished.

The main in the painting must therefore have been someone from the Tsar's immediate entourage, for instance one of the 20 noblemen, or one of the secretaries or adjutants. He may well have been Count Anton Manuelovitch de Vieira (1676-1745), who was initially adjutant to one of Peter's closest friends Prince Alexander Menchikoff and later the adjutant of Peter the Great himself. There is a portrait of him in an 1870 album of reproductions of historical Russian portraits in the library of the Royal Archives in The Hague. The shape of the face, the arch of the lips, the pronounced chin and the glance show a striking resemblance to those of the young man in our painting. Unfortunately, no documents have so far been unearthed indicating the presence of Vieira in the Netherlands.

Peter the Great's scissors

By early 1698, Peter the Great and his retinue were back home in Russia. The Tsar immediately undertook to reform his country along West European lines. He set the modernisation process in train the day after his arrival by personally snipping off the beards of the boyars who came to pay him homage. Soon afterwards he opened his assault on the long, wide-sleeved caftans, arguing that they were an impediment to action. Then, during a two-day banquet at the residence of Admiral Lefort, Peter went around with scissors trimming off the hems of the outmoded garments. What started as a one-man campaign soon gained the force of law. Guards at the gates to Russian cities were instructed to force citizens wearing old-fashioned dress onto their knees and to trim their long caftans so that they would just touch the ground. Within a span of barely five years, the fashionable look of Moscow and other large towns had been totally transformed. Not that the Russian town dwellers had much choice; anyone wearing outmoded clothing was simply refused entrance at the city gates. Peasants alone were exempted from the strictures, on the payment of a tax.

The paint of a Russian artist

The portraits of Lefort and the Groote Zaar were still with Van Musscher in his studio in 1699. Probably they were earmarked for Dutch patrons. Our portrait was apparently delivered by Van Musscher before compilation of his inventory in 1699; at least, it is not mentioned in that list. The painting presumably travelled back home to Russia with its owner. Convincing evidence for this recently came to light - not from a historian but from a restorer of paintings. While cleaning the picture, he noticed an overpainted area near the bottom of the mantle. Attempts to remove this paint layer were unsuccessful. The two layers had fused to such an extent that any attempt to strip away the upper layer would inevitably have damaged the underlying one. This implies that the overpainting was done soon after completion of the painting. A photograph taken after restoration shows that the first layer of paint can be seen translucently through the second. The hem of an ankle-length garment is visible through the painted wooden floorboards. The owner of the portrait presumably instructed a Russian painter to shorten his long caftan to comply with the wishes of the Tsar.

The pieces of the puzzle now fall into place. Michiel van Musscher was commissioned to paint portraits of some members of the Great Embassy. He had little time to carry out this task. The young man in our painting was keen to take the portrait back home with him. This left the artist no chance to paint a detailed background. Once back in Russia, Peter the Great launched his dress reforms. The young man commissioned a local painter to adapt the portrait painted by the celebrated Van Musscher to the ukases of the Tsar and bring his costume up to date. In this way he could safely celebrate the memory of his visit to Western Europe.

Michiel van Musscher

Rotterdam 1645 - 1705 Amsterdam

Rotterdam-born Michiel van Musscher became one of the most successful portrait painters of the final quarter of the seventeenth century. He learned his craft under the tutelage of several renowned masters, including Abraham van de Tempel, Gabriel Metsu and Adriaen van Ostade. He moved from Rotterdam to Amsterdam in 1668. Here he remained until his death in 1705. Michiel van Musscher specialised in portraiture and the painting of genre pieces. His style shows influences of his former master Gabriel Metsu and of Frans van Mieris. His technique is smooth and refined, but nonetheless freer and more robust than that of the fijnschilders of Leiden. Van Musscher is outstanding in the representation of fabrics.

Peter the Great

(1672-1725)

Peter the Great ascended the Russian throne jointly with his half-brother Ivan in 1682. After the latter's death in 1696, Peter I ruled alone. Besides attempting to defeat the Turks, his great aim was to modernise his country. He took a passionate interest in shipbuilding, pyrotechnics and the scientific advances of his age. He organised a Great Embassy, which travelled Western Europe in search of knowledge from 1697 to 1698, as a way of bringing Russia into contact with progress in the West. This journey was of inestimable importance to the modernisation of the Russian realm. Peter owed his epithet 'the Great' not only to his achievements but to his imposing stature. He was over two metres tall! The house where he lodged in Zaandam is still standing and is open to the public.