CHERNETSOV, Grigory Grigorievich - b. 1802 Luch Kostroma, d. 1865 St. Petersburg

Russian painter and graphic artist, part of a family of painters. He received his first art education within the family. From 1824 to 1827 he attended the landscape painting class of Maksim Nikiforovitch Vorobyev (1787-1855). In 1827 he received a gold medal for paintings of the War Gallery at the Hermitage.

In 1828 he became court painter at the court of Emperor Nicholas I. In 1831 he was awarded the title of academician. With his brother Nikanor Grigorevich Chernetsov (1805-1879) he traveled to Italy, Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Greece and Turkey.

Grigory Chernetsov was one of the leading masters of Russian art in the first half of the 19th century, a representative of the academic trend. He is known primarily as a landscape painter, though, as a court painter, he recorded various official events - parades, festivals, the military oath. For his paintings he made numerous preliminary sketches, drawings, and studies, which constitute the bulk of his artistic heritage.

Long collaboration with his brother Nikanor led similarities in their styles resulting in an attribution problem.

The Gallery of 1812 in the Winter Palace

The Gallery of 1812 inside the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg was designed by Carlo Rossi (1775-1849), an architect of Italian by origin who had lived in St. Petersburg since childhood. He was prominent in the fields of official architecture and interior decoration. Rossi designed interiors at the Anichkov Palace, Pavlosk, the Winter Palace, and the Yelagin Palace, St. Petersburg.