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Bust of Czar Nicholas I
Bust of Czar Nicholas I

Bust of Czar Nicholas I

Artist (German, 1777–1857)
Datec. 1825
MediumWhite marble
Dimensions22 3/4 x 19 1/8 x 15 1/8 inches (57.8 x 48.5 x 38.4 cm)
ClassificationsSculpture
Credit LineMuseum purchase
Object number1997.2.1
Collections
  • EUROPEAN
  • PROVENANCE RESEARCH
Label TextNicholas I (ruled Russia 1825-1855) here presents himself wearing the toga of a Roman emperor, though the moustache and hairstyle are distinctively modernizing features. So autocratic was his reign that he was known as the emperor who "froze" Russia for three decades. Moscow had been described as the Third Rome since the 15th century, but under Nicholas the idea of Rome became a symbol of everlasting monarchy and of the union of church and state, with the belief that Moscow superseded ancient Rome and Constantinople as the seat of the Orthodox Church.

Provenance(Shepherd Gallery, Associates) by 1982. Purchase 1997 through (Shepherd Gallery, Associates, New York) by Duke University Museum of Art, now Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University.