The Appearance of Christ before the People by Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov

PD Photo: The Appearance of Christ before the People (Deutsch: Christus erscheint dem Volke / Русский: Явление Христа народу) oil on canvas painting (1837-57) by Russian Neoclassicist painter Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov (Алекса́ндр Андре́евич Ива́нов; 1806-1858), dimensions 540 cm x 750 cm, currently located at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov, who adhered to the waning tradition of Neoclassicism, was a native of St. Petersburg, Russia, but spent most of his life in Rome. His magnum opus ‘The Appearance of Christ before the People’ took 20 years to complete (1837-57) because of which he has often been called the master of one work. Critical appraisal about Ivanov improved in the later generations, because numerous sketches he had prepared for his magnum opus have been recognized as masterpieces in their own right. Most of his works are on public display at the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Arabian horse on 1968 Soviet Union postage stamp

PD Image: Arabian horse on postage stamp of value 6 Kopecks issued by the postal department of the Soviet Union (USSR) in 1968

Danae, by Rembrandt van Rijn

Danae (1636-1643), oil on canvas painting by Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-1669), dimensions 185 cm x 203 cm (72.83” x 79.92”), located at Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg, Russia.

The Three Graces by Antonio Canova

Image: The Three Graces, sculpture by Antonio Canova, located at Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.

The Slave Market in Rome (Slave Auction) by Gerome

Image: The Slave Market in Rome (Slave Auction) by French painter and sculptor Jean-Leon Gerome, a 1884 oil on canvas painting of dimensions 92 cm x 74 cm currently located at The State Hermitage Museum of Art And Culture in St. Petersburg, Russia.

The State Hermitage Museum of Art And Culture in St. Petersburg, Russia, is one of the largest and oldest museums of the world, founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and open to the public since 1852. Its collections comprise nearly 3 million items, including the largest collection of paintings in the world. The collections occupy six historic buildings along Palace Embankment, including the Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors. Apart from them, the Menshikov Palace, Museum of Porcelain, Storage Facility at Staraya Derevnya and the eastern wing of the General Staff Building also are part of the museum.

Pool in a Harem by Gerome

Image: Pool in a Harem (Une piscine dans le harem) 1876 oil on canvas painting by French artist Jean-Leon Gerome, dimensions 73.5 cm x 62 cm currently located at Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.

Rasputin among his admirers in 1914

The Tsar referred to Rasputin as ‘our friend’ and a ‘holy man’, and Rasputin had a considerable personal and political influence on Tsarina Alexandra, who believed that God spoke to her through Rasputin. Rasputin used to speak of salvation as depending less on the clergy and the church than on seeking the spirit of God within. He claimed that yielding to temptation (for him this meant sex and alcohol) was needed to proceed to repentance and salvation. During the years of World War I, Rasputin's drunkenness, sexual promiscuity and willingness to accept bribes in return for helping petitioners who flocked to his apartment, as well as his efforts to have his critics dismissed from their posts, made him cynical. Attaining divine grace through sin was one of the central secret doctrines which Rasputin preached to and practiced with his inner circle of high society ladies.

Church of All Saints, Yekaterinburg

Photo: Church on Blood in Honor of All Saints Resplendent in the Russian Land in Yekaterinburg.

The Church on Blood in Honour of All Saints Resplendent in the Russian Land is a Russian Orthodox Church in Yekaterinburg constructed in 2000-2003 on the site where the former Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Tsarina Alexandra, their children and other members of the household were all executed following the Bolshevik Revolution.

After the February Revolution, Tsar Nicholas II and his family were taken prisoners. The Tsar and his family were initially kept at the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoe Selo outside St. Petersburg. Kerensky, leader of the provisional government, moved them to the former Governor's mansion in Tobolsk, and later they were transferred to the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg.

As suspicion of a potential attempt to liberate the Royal family grew, the revolutionaries holding them captive, decided to execute them. On July 17, 1918 the entire imperial family consisting of Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich of Russia were taken to the cellar of the Ipatiev House and executed.

The Ipatiev House was owned by a man named Nicholas Ipatiev. The Ural Soviet evacuated him and built high walls around the house, where on April 30, the imperial family was moved. In 1974, Ipatiev House was declared a National Monument, but three years later the Soviet government demolished the house, probably to prevent its attracting foreign visitors.

On September 20, 1990 the Sverdlovsk Soviet handed over the plot to the Russian Orthodox Church for construction of a memorial chapel. After the last Tsar's canonization, the Church planned to build a memorial dedicated to the Tsar family. Construction began in 2000, and the main church was consecrated by patriarchs from all over Russia on 16 June 2003, 85 years after the execution of the Tsar and his family.

The completed complex has two churches, a belfry, a patriarchal annex, and a museum dedicated to the Tsar’s family, covering 29,700 square feet area.

Engagement photo of Alexandra and Nicholas II

Official engagement photo of Alexandra and Nicholas II, April 1894

Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna

Image: Portrait of Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna by Nikolai Kornilievich Bodarevsky, Tsarskoe Selo, Russia, 1907

Born Alix von Hessen und bei Rhein (6 June 1872 - 17 July 1918), was Empress Consort of Russia as the spouse of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of the Russian Empire. She was born a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and later given the name Alexandra Feodorovna on admission into the Russian Orthodox Church, which canonized her as Saint Alexandra the Passion Bearer in 2000.

Alexandra, the last Tsarina of Russia, was best-known as one of the most famous royal carriers of the haemophilia disease, as well as for her notorious friendship with the Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin, who was an important factor in her life.

The Provisional Government formed after the Russian revolution kept Alexandra, Nicholas II and their children confined in their primary residence, the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, until they were moved to Tobolsk in Siberia in August 1917. On 30 April 1918 they were transferred to the town of Yekaterinburg, where they were imprisoned in the two-story Ipatiev House. Alexandra and her family, including the seriously ill son Alexei, along with several family servants, were executed by firing and bayonets in the basement of the Ipatiev House early in the morning of 17 July 1918, by a detachment of Bolsheviks led by Yakov Yurovsky.

Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin

Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin, often called the ‘Mad Monk’, is perceived as having influenced the latter days of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II, his wife the czarina Alexandra. He attracted the admiration and enmity of the Russian aristocracy and nobility in equal measures. Believed to be a psychic and faith healer by many Russians, it has been claimed that Rasputin caused to discredit the tsarist government of Russia, leading to the fall of the Romanov dynasty in 1917. But contemporary views saw Rasputin in various hues: as a saintly mystic, visionary, holistic healer and prophet, or contrarily, as a debauched religious charlatan. His life and death has been the subject of much speculation and conspiracy theories, mostly based on dubious memoirs, hearsay and legend, including the theory that Rasputin died of a bullet fired by a British secret service agent, who was present at the scene of his murder, stage-managed by his Russian opponents. Popular culture is also much influenced by Rasputin, including various books, films, television episodes, music, etc. The music group Boney M released the semi-biographical song ‘Rasputin’ in 1978, which was a huge hit.

Russian Venus by Boris Kustodiev

Painting: Russian Venus by Boris Kustodiev (1926) at Nizhny Novgorod Museum of Art