Peter the Great A tsar in France - 1717

Directed by Gwenola Firmin, Francine-Dominique Liechtenhan et Thierry Sarmant
with Lienart editions, 2017
24 x 28 cm, 240 p., 38 € TTC
ISBN 978 2 35906 222 9

   Warrior-monarch and inveterate traveller, Peter the Great crisscrossed the world for almost four decades, from the White Sea to the Caspian, from Holland to Moldavia, from England to Persia. His voyages included two long journeys through Western Europe, the first in
1697–1698 and the second twenty years later, in 1716–1717. 
   In the course of this second journey he spent two months in France, in April–June 1717. Two years after the death of Louis XIV he discovered the West’s most populous kingdom, met the boy-king Louis XV, negotiated with the regent, Philippe d’Orléans, and mingled with statesmen, scholars, artisans and artists. Driven by an all-consuming curiosity, he visited palaces and manufactories, fortifi cations and libraries, churches and academies. On foot and in his horse-drawn carriage he explored the streets of Paris and toured the royal residences of the Ile-de-France: Versailles, Trianon, Marly, Saint-Germain, Fontainebleau. He and his entourage stocked up on books, objets d’art and scientifi c instruments to be taken back to Russia with the lavish diplomatic gifts offered by the French government. Visits and discussions with the French fuelled the ideas of this reforming tsar and would influence the works he had been engaged in since 1703 in and around Saint Petersburg. 
   This catalogue and the exhibition it accompanies commemorate the tricentennial of the journey of 1717 and its meeting between a venerable kingdom and a nascent empire: a seminal event for cultural relations between Russia and France.

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Contents :

Life of a Tsar
Peter the Great, first Emperor of all the Russias
The Journey to France
Peter the Great’s Second Visit to Europe: The Diplomatic Stakes
Peter the Great in France April–June 1717
Science
French Scientific Instruments in the Collection of Peter the Great
Books
French Books in the Library of Peter I
The Art of Tapestry
“The Tapestry Work here is Extraordinary”
Painting
Peter I and French Painting : Desir without love?
French Painters in Russia in the Early Eighteenth Century
Architecture
Peter the Great and French Architecture
Peter I and Versailles
Interior Design and Decoration
French Interior Decorators in Saint Petersburg
A Glorious Posterity
Peter and the French of the Englihtenment
Timeline of Peter the Great’s Reign
Timeline of the Second Journey to the West