Portret van Nicolaas I Pavlovitsj, tsaar van Rusland 1843

Benoit Taurel made this print of Nicholas I, Tsar of Russia, using an unspecified printing technique. He offers us an image of imperial authority, of course. But what was the public role of such images at this time? Tsar Nicholas I ruled Russia with autocratic severity, expanding the secret police and quashing dissent. Taurel’s portrait thus participates in a wider politics of imagery of the period, which attempted to reinforce the legitimacy and might of the Tsarist regime. The eagle-eyed may notice the landscape. This is very likely not a depiction of Russia at all but is an Italian landscape. Nicholas had a strong affinity for Europe and he was keen for Russia to be regarded as a European power. How interesting, then, that this work is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum, Netherlands. To understand this work fully, we need to consider the social conditions of artistic production in 19th-century Russia and Western Europe. Accessing archives and collections would allow a greater understanding of the role this work played.