In the summer of 2013, the administration of St. Petersburg Primary School No. 206 decided to give Lenin's portrait for restoration. On a huge canvas, Lenin looks thoughtfully into the distance.
During the restoration of a painting depicting the leader of the proletariat, experts discovered that on the other side of the canvas, under a layer of paint, another portrait was hidden: on the reverse side of the canvas was an image of Nicholas II. Now both portraits have been restored, and in the near future they will be transferred to one of the main museums in St. Petersburg. Ironically, the worst enemies cannot be separated, and Lenin and Nicholas II will always have to coexist on canvas. “They cannot be separated without damaging one of the images,” explains the curator of the restoration, Tatyana Potselueva. "This is their fate: to continue to be together."
The mystery of the canvas is revealed after 100 years
In Soviet times, a portrait of Lenin by the famous artist Vladislav Izmailovich hung in the assembly hall of the St. Petersburg school No. 206. The painting was painted in 1924, immediately after the death of the leader of the proletariat. The artist sketched Ilyich from a photograph of 1918, where he was captured against the background of the Kremlin walls. In his painting, Izmailovich portrayed Lenin not in Moscow, but against the background of the Peter and Paul Fortress in the northern capital. The portrait was not particularly artistic, but it corresponded to the ideological spirit of that time, so it was decided to hang the picture in an educational institution. Lenin watched the schoolchildren from the wall of the assembly hall for several decades, until in 1970 one of the first graders fell right on the painting during a boyish fight.
The canvas turned out to be perforated, but then no funds were found to restore the canvas, and the damaged area was simply covered with a rag. In this state, the picture hung for more than forty years. Finally, in 2013, the portrait was sent for restoration to the Stieglitz Academy of Arts. During the standard preparation for the restoration, experts made an amazing discovery: it turned out that Lenin was not alone on the canvas.
“We have carried out the necessary research, which is usually done before starting work,” Tatiana Potselueva told SPB. AIF. RU. - An X-ray of the canvas showed that a portrait of Nicholas II is being drawn on the other side of the canvas. We were amazed."
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Double portrait
The portrait of the last Russian tsar was under a thick layer of paint on the back of the canvas. The restorers have carried out painstaking work, inch by inch, removing the paint from the canvas, under which Nicholas II was hidden. A whole team of historians and researchers joined the work. They established that the emperor was depicted by the artist Ilya Galkin in 1896, the year of the coronation of Nicholas II. In the picture, the tsar appears in a ceremonial form - in a red military uniform with orders. The portrait of the emperor was hung in the Petrovsky School, whose pupils learned education for commercial and industrial activities.
After the revolution, the presence of portraits of the royal family in educational institutions became unacceptable: they were replaced by paintings depicting the Bolsheviks. In 1917, the artist Izmailovich painted over a portrait of Nicholas II with water-soluble paint, and seven years later he painted Lenin on the other side of the canvas. In this form, the picture began to hang in an educational institution on the Fontanka embankment, which later became school number 206. For a hundred years, no one guessed what secret the picture hides in itself: if it were not for the schoolchildren's fight, the portrait could still hang. covered with a rag, in the assembly hall.
Fate or coincidence?
All the restorers and employees of the academy were stunned by the amazing find. Indeed, the double-picture story is literally steeped in mysticism. Not only are the worst enemies painted on different sides of the same canvas: Lenin is depicted against the background of the Peter and Paul Fortress, where the remains of Nicholas II were subsequently buried. In addition, the image of the tsar was discovered precisely in 2013 - the year of the 400th anniversary of the elevation of the Romanovs to the throne.
“History echoes on canvas in an unusual way,” says Alexander Karpov, associate professor at the Stieglitz Academy. "The painting depicts two rulers: one of them lost his state in 1917, and the second began to build it in the same year."
Even modern technologies will not allow separating rivals: Lenin and Nicholas II will have to be there forever. The unique double portrait will be on display in one of the main museums of St. Petersburg - the fate of the two rulers will be decided by a special commission headed by Deputy Prime Minister Olga Golodets.
"This is not just a picture, but the fate of our state," said the acting rector of the Stieglitz Academy, Vasily Kichedzhi. "His place is not in our educational institution, but in one of the greatest museums."