Elizabeth of Russia in cordergardia 

Curator: What strikes me first is the palpable energy. There’s a definite intensity of emotion radiating from this…frenetic gathering. Editor: And what do you make of the context surrounding that frenzy? Here, we have Eugene Lanceray's “Elizabeth of Russia in Cordergardia.” While undated, this painting seemingly captures a moment ripe with political undertones during her reign, a figure whose gender and authority were perpetually contested. Curator: Absolutely. It reads almost like a staged drama, illuminated by the stark contrast of light and shadow. This chiaroscuro feels quite deliberate, heightening the performative aspect of power and the anxieties intertwined with it. What catches your eye from a materialist perspective? Editor: The labor. Beyond Elizabeth, who is brightly illuminated and presumably a patron, there’s such an apparent abundance of bodies and tools—soldiers clutching rifles, their faces strained in collective fervor, the way they constructed a space for power to be put on display. One can almost feel the pressure, smell the sweat, experience the noise. What materials are on show, who uses them, and to what effect? Curator: Good point, the staging of all of that as material reality to assert power. That very staging, as much as the material realities, suggests both the construction and potential instability of the ruling class. Considering Elizabeth’s own struggles to legitimize her reign after taking the throne, the anxiety of sustaining power, and all its accoutrements of staging a military cordon. I find myself thinking of Judith Butler. Editor: See, now my thoughts have to do with that table in the foreground with all the glasses and bottles...there must be another purpose for this place! Also that central lantern. I’d want to investigate what it’s made of: Who manufactured and assembled that light source that has a clear power to cast that striking chiaroscuro? The oil paint helps establish some sort of drama in the picture, too. Curator: Yes, there are so many layers to unpack there— from questions of labor to displays of force to the question of gender dynamics and succession. What Lanceray’s brush has captured so skillfully are all the textures and tensions underpinning autocratic rule. Editor: Well, by observing labor and materiality, that provides one way for viewers to recognize something interesting in how people manufacture contexts to give their labor meaning. Curator: And considering those contexts can add even deeper interpretive meaning to that experience of labor and materiality.