The curious history of trading cards: what advertising was like in the 19th century, and how it was collected. Collecting in the 18th century In the 19th century, many famous people collected

Nikita Lobanov-Rostovsky. Zurich, 2007 / photo wikipedia

Russian prince and London collector Nikita Lobanov-Rostovsky is an honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts, a permanent adviser to the Christie's and Sotheby's auction houses, and a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum, whose collection of theatrical and decorative art is considered the largest in the world. The collection at one time became a real ark of Russian art in emigration. He started collecting it in the early 1950s. “The beginning of my collection is Sergei Sudeikin’s costume sketches for the ballet “Petrushka”. I bought them for $25,” recalls Nikita Dmitrievich. Among the names of his collection are Lev Bakst, Alexandre Benois, Natalia Goncharova, Konstantin Korovin, Mikhail Larionov, Wassily Kandinsky, Kazimir Malevich, El Lissitzky and Marc Chagall

In 1987, he donated 80 works of Russian graphics from his collection to the Pushkin Museum. A. S. Pushkin, the canvas by Giorgio de Chirico “The Melancholy of a Poet” (1916) and the watercolor by the Dutch Theo van Duisburg “Black Zigzag” (1924). Among the prince's donations are 4,500 volumes of his personal library, donated in 2010 to the House of Russian Abroad. Nikita Dmitrievich’s priceless collection is located in the St. Petersburg Museum of Theater and Musical Art. “My goal is to die a poor man. I try to constantly part with what I have. That’s why I give with joy, without regret,” Lobanov-Rostovsky once admitted.

Topic: return of lost national relics

Victor Vekselberg / photo fabergemuseum.ru

Russian entrepreneur Viktor Vekselberg has the world's largest private collection of Faberge eggs, as well as a unique collection of icons and paintings. In the winter of 2004, the entrepreneur made the cultural deal of the century by purchasing the entire collection of the imperial jeweler at Sotheby’s auction even before the auction began. The cancellation of the auction then became an unprecedented case in history; Sotheby’s then noted that they were guided by the return of the precious heritage to their historical homeland. The hero of the occasion himself said: “Knowing that the Forbes Collection was going to be sold at auction, I immediately realized that this might be the only chance in my entire life to give my country one of its most respected treasures.” The purchase of Faberge became the foundation for Vekselberg’s cultural foundation “Link of Times,” whose projects are dedicated to the return of lost cultural and historical values ​​to Russia.

Topic: return of lost names / contemporary Russian art

Vyacheslav Kantor / photo moshekantor.com

The collection of entrepreneur and philanthropist Vyacheslav Kantor is the most famous private collection of Russian avant-garde art of the 20th century. The debut painting was the purchase at auction of a painting by the Italian artist Eugene de Blaas “Gathering Grapes” (1902). The most famous area of ​​the collection is contemporary Russian art. The mission of the Museum of Avant-Garde Art, founded by Kantor, is to show the contribution of artists of Jewish origin, born in Russia, to the art of the world avant-garde. Among the canvases in the Kantor collection are works by Eric Bulatov, Ilya Kabakov, Viktor Pivovarov, Valentin Serov, Ilya Repin, Marc Chagall, Chaim Soutine, Amedeo Modigliani.

Topic: Russian painting of the early 20th century / majolica by Mikhail Vrubel

Petr Aven / photo kandinsky-prize.ru

Entrepreneur and collector Peter Aven owns the country's largest collection of Russian paintings of the early 20th century. Among the paintings are works by Marc Chagall, Wassily Kandinsky, Konstantin Korovin, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Aristarkh Lentulov, Sergei Sudeikin, Pyotr Konchalovsky. Petr Aven also owns the largest collection of majolica by Mikhail Vrubel, an extensive collection of Riga porcelain and modern sculptures. Some of the most famous acquisitions of the collector were at the Christie’s auction a painting by Wassily Kandinsky “Sketch for Improvisation No. 8” for $23,000,000, as well as a sculpture by Henry Moore “Reclining Figure: Festival” for $30,000,000.

Topic: Soviet porcelain / agitlak / Tibetan icon painting / religious accessories

Alexander Dobrovinsky / photo dobrovinsky.ru

Russian lawyer and collector Alexander Dubrovinsky has the world's largest collection of Soviet porcelain. In addition, there is a luxurious collection of lacquered boxes depicting revolutionary miniatures, as well as a unique collection of relics that belonged to famous people. Among them are a watch that belonged to the English king Edward VIII, Winston Churchill's golf club stick and many more historical accessories.

Topic: Kasli iron casting

Vladimir Lisin / photo finansmag.ru

A Russian entrepreneur has assembled the world's largest collection of pre-revolutionary Kasli castings. The collection includes more than 200 works of architectural and artistic casting created in Kasli. Experts value rare exhibits of the collection at $3,000 - 5,000. The very first exhibit of Lisin’s Kasli collection is an old sculpture “Boar Hunt”, a gift from his wife’s grandmother, whose model was created by the French animal sculptor Men Pierre Jules. The collector notes that these works aroused his interest as a graduate of the foundry department - he understood how this or that work was made, and how much human labor was invested in the manual work of the artisans.

Theme: icons/sculpted frogs

Felix Komarov / photo felixkomarov.com

Patron of arts, creator of the Russian World gallery on Fifth Avenue in New York, Felix Komarov is the owner of the world's largest collection of large Russian icons, as well as the world's largest sculptural collection of frogs. To paraphrase the classic, the collector jokes that the more people he knows, the more he loves frogs. Its unique collection includes more than 15,000 exhibits. One of the frogs was carved by a Peruvian sculptor from a meteorite purchased at auction. There is a Chinese black jade frog weighing about one hundred kilograms. Komarov started collecting frogs by accident; he bought the first one in a gift shop in Manhattan. Another collection of Felix Komarov is an unparalleled collection of large temple icons from the 15th to 20th centuries. The largest of the images is about 2.5-3 meters.

Topic: Russian painting of the realistic school of the 20th century

Alexey Ananyev / photo culture.ru

Russian entrepreneur and philanthropist Alexey Ananyev owns the country's largest private collection of works of socialist realism. The Institute of Russian Realistic Art in Moscow, which he founded, displays the most famous paintings by Geliy Korzhev, Viktor Popkov, the Tkachev brothers, Viktor Ivanov, Yuri Pimenov, Sergei Gerasimov, Arkady Plastov, Alexander Deineka, Georgy Nyssky. In the summer of 2014, at a London auction, Sotheby’s purchased the work of George Nyssa “Above the Snows” (1964) for £1,762,500. “This time is close and understandable to me - my childhood and youth took place in the second half of the 20th century, so I lived with everything that the artists of this period depicted. It’s easy for me to determine what the master had in mind, where the plot was invented and where it was taken from life,” says the collector.

Topic: paintings by Nicholas Roerich

Leonid Fedun / photo fratria.ru

Russian entrepreneur Leonid Fedun is a keen collector of works by the artist and philosopher Nicholas Roerich. Among the works in his Moscow collection are “Valley of the Blue Mountains” (1917), “Clouds” (1918), “Collecting Tribute” (1908), “Tower of the Ipatiev Monastery” (1903-1904), “House of Ja Lama” (1927- 1928). The collector purchased a number of unique works by Roerich, including sketches for theatrical works, in March 2005 at Bukowski's auction. “From my youth I loved him, though not as an artist, but as a philosopher, an adept of the new world religion, where Islam, Christianity, Buddhism,” the collector admitted in an interview.

Topic: icons / contemporary Russian art

Victor Bondarenko

Businessman and philanthropist Viktor Bondarenko has collected the largest collection of Orthodox icons and paintings of contemporary Russian art. An honorary member of the Russian Academy of Arts, a member of the Board of Trustees of the State Tretyakov Gallery, he is one of the most influential collectors of icon paintings. His painting collection includes works by such masters of modern art as Oscar Rabin, Vladimir Nemukhin, Mikhail Shvartsman, Eric Bulatov, Ilya Kabakov, Ernst Neizvestny, Dmitry Gutov, Alexander Kosolapov, Oleg Kulik.

According to statistics, about 40% of people in the world collect something in a collection. Famous personalities all over the world, who are idols of many generations, do not lag behind this trend.

Arnold Schwarzenegger collects Hammer cars. Madonna buys Picasso paintings, Barbra Streisand buys furniture from the 30s, and Demi Moore collects dolls. President Putin collects stamps with images of prominent people. Yuri Luzhkov and even Patriarch Alexy II are also interested in philately.

Collectors are divided into 5 types:

True collectors (who are able to give any amount for the desired copy).

Collectors (for them the main thing is that the item is expensive and elegant).

Amateurs (for them, a collection is nothing more than a tribute to fashion or imitation of other people)

Owners (those who received the collections either as an inheritance or through a misunderstanding).

Eccentrics (those who collect something unknown and unknown why).

One eccentric American collects snowballs, which he keeps in the refrigerator. He made one of them during the heaviest snowfall in history. Another was made for him by the mayor of New York. This collector loves his pieces so much that he even celebrates their birthdays. On this occasion, guests must come dressed all in white, and the host serves them only white dishes.

A collector from San Francisco collects objects whose shape or appearance is similar to a smile. He has 600 different buttons, pencils, watches, cups, balloons made of different materials, etc. These things make his life kinder and more fun. Thomas Edison had the most expensive collection! He possessed four thousand patents for his inventions, their value cannot even be estimated.

The fastest growing type of collecting is photography.

According to statistics, people who collect things often become wealthy people; apparently, the craving for new exhibits makes them earn more.

The largest collection belongs to an eccentric from Philadelphia - he collects tram cars. One day he sent a letter to the Soviet Union asking them to send him a Russian tram for his collection. Muscovites and Leningraders consulted and sent the American two trams as a gift - Moscow and Leningrad.

The smallest collection belongs to the Yerevan master. He started by making a violin measuring 15 millimeters. Then he made a locomotive train that fits freely into the eye of a needle. Finally, on an ordinary human hair he wrote with a piece of diamond: “Workers of all countries, unite!” Now in the collection of this craftsman there are many miniatures, which can only be viewed through strong magnifying glasses.

Collecting is also a profitable business. If money deposited in a bank usually doubles within 10 years, then the value of a work of art increases 1.5 times faster. In addition, in the soul of every collector there is hope for extraordinary luck, when the value of the purchased work can increase a hundred or a thousand times. And this happens sometimes.

Vladimir Shainsky collects turtles, shells, starfish and other inhabitants of the deep sea. Moreover, the composer obtained all these trophies himself from the bottom of the seas, where he managed to visit. He has been diving for over 40 years. Valdis Pelsh has not changed his passion for many years. His collection of military helmets (including a leather German helmet from the 19th century and a ceremonial helmet of an officer of the Napoleonic army) could be the envy of any museum. Valery Meladze is famous for his collection of weapons. There are more than a dozen daggers in his office. Thanks to his fans, Oleg Gazmanov had a collection of sabers and checkers. Alexander Rosenbaum is not limited to weapons. His home arsenal includes not only daggers and sabers, but also other military equipment.

The most popular type of collecting in the world is numismatics (collecting coins). Psychologists believe that a person begins to collect a collection after he cannot fulfill his desires in real life. Using the collection, you can create a fairly accurate psychological portrait of a person. If all the exhibits are from India, a person has always wanted to visit there. If you see a collection of toy soldiers in front of you is a hidden warrior and aggressor.

Singer Irina Otieva collects pig figurines. When asked why pigs, Irina jokingly replies that if she collects “pigs” at home, there will be less of them in the world. The collections of Alexander Shirvindt and Mikhail Derzhavin are many years old. Avid smoker Alexander Shirvind has been collecting smoking pipes for many years, and fisherman Michal Derzhavin has been collecting fishing rods. Moreover, all their home exhibits do not sit on the shelves, but go into use. Until recently, Tatiana Bulanova was an avid collector of hippos. Her passion went so far that Tatyana was already afraid of receiving a live hippopotamus as a gift and decided to quit.

Experts believe that a full-fledged collection can be called:

The collection of stamps is at least 10,000 pieces.

Collection of books - at least 1000 copies.

A collection of coins - at least 1000 pieces.

In addition, the collection must contain at least 1-2% rarities.

The Kristovsky brothers from the Umaturman group collect beer mugs. Writer Alexandra Marinina collects rare Christmas bells - clay, crystal, porcelain, metal. Elton John collects cars. The garage on his estate contains 26 rare cars.

One Brazilian captain collects the sounds of waves from all the oceans and seas he has visited. It also records the noises of ships passing by, operating ports, etc. The famous fat man Alexander Semchev collects good perfume. He does not forget about his other collection - models of helicopters and tanks, which he glues together in his spare time.

The most expensive type of collecting is the hobby of antiques.

Russian entrepreneurs of the 19th century approached their business differently than Western entrepreneurs. They considered it not so much a source of income as a mission that was entrusted to their shoulders by God or fate. In the merchant community, it was believed that wealth should be used, so merchants were engaged in collecting and charity, which was considered by many as a destiny from above.

Most entrepreneurs of those times were fairly honest businessmen who considered patronage almost their duty.

It was thanks to patrons of art that museums and theaters, large temples and churches, as well as extensive collections of art monuments appeared in Russia. At the same time, Russian philanthropists did not seek to make their business public; on the contrary, many helped people on the condition that their help would not be advertised in newspapers. Some patrons even refused their titles of nobility.

The heyday of philanthropy, which began in Russia in the 17th century, came in the second half of the 19th century. City palaces and country estates of the nobility were filled with vast libraries of rare books and collections of Western European/Russian art, which their owners donated to the state.

There have always been flamboyant rich people. Exotic pets, strange friends, unusual appearance, strange wills... At the same time, the oddities of the old Russian rich are often balanced by charitable projects and bright business ideas. From this point of view, the most unusual millionaires of Russia of the 19th century are not so different from modern ones. Although some philanthropists deep down cherished the dream of receiving a state award for their deeds or having their name shined. Today, philanthropy in Russia is experiencing a revival, so it would be appropriate to remember our most famous patrons of the arts.

Gavrila Gavrilovich Solodovnikov(1826-1901). This merchant became the author of the largest donation in Russian history. His fortune was about 22 million rubles, 20 of which Solodovnikov spent on the needs of society. Gavrila Gavrilovich was born into the family of a paper merchant. The future millionaire was introduced to business from childhood, so he never really learned to write or express his thoughts. But at the age of 20, Solodovnikov had already become a merchant of the first guild, and at the age of 40 he earned his first million. The businessman became famous for his extreme prudence and frugality. They say that he did not hesitate to eat yesterday's porridge and ride in a carriage without tires on the wheels. Solodovnikov conducted his affairs, albeit not entirely cleanly, but he calmed his conscience by drawing up a well-known will - almost all of the merchant’s fortune went to charity. The patron made the first contribution to the construction of the Moscow Conservatory. A contribution of 200 thousand rubles was enough to build a luxurious marble staircase. Through the efforts of the merchant, a concert hall with a theater stage was built on Bolshaya Dmitrovka, where ballets and extravaganzas could be staged. Today it has become the Operetta Theater, and then it housed the Private Opera of another philanthropist, Savva Mamontov. Solodovnikov wanted to become a nobleman, for this he decided to build a useful institution in Moscow. Thanks to the philanthropist, a Clinic for Skin and Venereal Diseases appeared in the city, equipped with all the most interesting things. Today, its premises house the Moscow Medical Academy named after I.M. Sechenov. At that time, the name of the benefactor was not reflected in the name of the clinic. According to the merchant's will, his heirs were left with about half a million rubles, while the remaining 20,147,700 rubles were spent on good deeds. But at the current exchange rate this amount would be about 9 billion dollars! A third of the capital went to the development of zemstvo women's schools in a number of provinces, the other third to the creation of vocational schools and a shelter for homeless children in the Serpukhov district, and the remaining part to the construction of houses with cheap apartments for poor and lonely people. Thanks to the will of the philanthropist, in 1909 the first “Free Citizen” house with 1,152 apartments for single people appeared on 2nd Meshchanskaya Street, and the “Red Diamond” house with 183 apartments for families was built there. With the houses came the features of communes - a store, a dining room, a laundry, a bathhouse and a library. On the ground floor of the house there was a nursery and kindergarten for families; the rooms were offered with furniture. Only officials were the first to move into such comfortable apartments “for the poor.”

Alexander Ludvigovich Stieglitz(1814-1884). This baron and banker was able to donate 6 million from his fortune of 100 million rubles to good causes. Stieglitz was the richest man in the country in the second third of the 19th century. He inherited his title of court banker, along with his capital, from his father, the Russified German Stieglitz, who received the title of baron for his services. Alexander Ludvigovich strengthened his position by acting as an intermediary, thanks to whom Emperor Nicholas I was able to conclude agreements on external loans for 300 million rubles. Alexander Stieglitz in 1857 became one of the founders of the Main Society of Russian Railways. In 1860, Stieglitz was appointed director of the newly created State Bank. The baron liquidated his company and began to live on interest, occupying a luxurious mansion on the Promenade des Anglais. The capital itself brought Stieglitz 3 million rubles a year. Big money did not make the baron sociable; they say that even the barber who cut his hair for 25 years never heard the voice of his client. The millionaire's modesty took on painful traits. It was Baron Stieglitz who was behind the construction of the Peterhof, Baltic and Nikolaevskaya (later Oktyabrskaya) railways. However, the banker remained in history not for his financial assistance to the tsar and not for the construction of roads. His memory remains largely due to charity. The Baron allocated impressive sums for the construction of the Technical Drawing School in St. Petersburg, its maintenance and museum. Alexander Ludvigovich himself was no stranger to art, but his life was devoted to making money. The adopted daughter’s husband, Alexander Polovtsev, managed to convince the banker that the country’s growing industry needed “scientific draftsmen.” As a result, thanks to Stieglitz, a school named after him and the country’s first museum of decorative and applied arts appeared (the best part of its collections was eventually transferred to the Hermitage). Polovtsev himself, who was Alexander III's Secretary of State, believed that the country would be happy when merchants began to donate money to education without the selfish hope of receiving a government award or preferences. Thanks to his wife’s inheritance, Polovtsev was able to publish 25 volumes of the Russian Biographical Dictionary, but because of the Revolution this good deed was never completed. Now the former Stieglitz School of Technical Drawing is called Mukhinsky, and the marble monument to the philanthropist baron was thrown out of it long ago.

Yuri Stepanovich Nechaev-Maltsov(1834-1913). This nobleman donated a total of about 3 million rubles. At the age of 46, he unexpectedly became the owner of an entire network of glass factories. He received them from his diplomat uncle Ivan Maltsev. He turned out to be the only one who survived the memorable massacre at the Russian embassy in Iran (Alexander Griboyedov was killed at the same time). As a result, the diplomat became disillusioned with his profession and decided to take up the family business. In the town of Gus, Ivan Maltsev created a network of glass factories. For this purpose, the secret of colored glass was obtained in Europe; with its help, the industrialist began to produce very profitable window glass. As a result, this entire glass and crystal empire, along with two rich houses in the capital, painted by Aivazovsky and Vasnetsov, was inherited by the middle-aged, already single, official Nechaev. Along with his wealth, he also received a double surname. The years lived in poverty left their indelible imprint on Nechaev-Maltsev. He was known as a very stingy person, allowing himself to be spent only on gourmet food. Professor Ivan Tsvetaev, the father of the future poetess, became a friend of the rich man. During rich feasts, he sadly calculated how many building materials could be bought with the money spent by the gourmet. Over time, Tsvetaev managed to convince Nechaev-Maltsev to allocate 3 million rubles required to complete the construction of the Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow. It is interesting that the philanthropist himself did not seek fame. On the contrary, for the entire 10 years that construction was underway, he acted anonymously. The millionaire went to unimaginable expenses. So, 300 workers he hired mined special white frost-resistant marble right in the Urals. When it turned out that no one in the country could make 10-meter columns for the portico, Nechaev-Maltsev paid for the services of a Norwegian steamship. Thanks to a patron of the arts, skilled stonemasons were brought from Italy. For his contribution to the construction of the museum, the modest Nechaev-Maltsev received the title of Chief Chamberlain and the Diamond Order of Alexander Nevsky. But the “glass king” invested not only in the museum. With his money, a Technical School appeared in Vladimir, an almshouse on Shabolovka, and a church in memory of the murdered on Kulikovo Field. For the centennial anniversary of the Museum of Fine Arts in 2012, the Shukhov Tower Foundation proposed to give the institution the name of Yuri Stepanovich Nechaev-Maltsov instead of Pushkin. However, the renaming never took place, but a memorial plaque appeared on the building in honor of the philanthropist.

Kuzma Terentyevich Soldatenkov(1818-1901). A wealthy merchant donated more than 5 million rubles to charity. Soldatenkov traded in paper yarn, he was a co-owner of the Tsindelevskaya, Danilovskaya, and Krenholmskaya textile factories, and also owned the Trekhgorny brewery and the Moscow accounting bank. Surprisingly, Kuzma Terentyevich himself grew up in an ignorant Old Believer family, not learning to read and write. From an early age, he already stood behind the counter in his rich father's shop. But after the death of his parent, no one could stop Soldatenkov from quenching his thirst for knowledge. A course of lectures on ancient Russian history was given to him by Timofey Granovsky himself. He introduced Soldatenkov to the circle of Moscow Westerners, teaching him to do good deeds and sow eternal values. A wealthy merchant invested in a non-profit publishing house, printing books for the common people at a loss. Even 4 years before Pavel Tretyakov, the merchant began to buy paintings. The artist Alexander Rizzoni said that if it were not for these two major patrons of the arts, there would simply be no one for Russian fine art masters to sell their works to. As a result, Soldatenkov’s collection included 258 paintings and 17 sculptures, as well as engravings and a library. The merchant was even nicknamed Kuzma Medici. He bequeathed his entire collection to the Rumyantsev Museum. For 40 years, Soldatenkov donated 1,000 rubles annually to this public museum. By donating his collection, the patron only asked that it be placed in separate rooms. The unsold books of his publishing house and the rights to them were donated to the city of Moscow. The philanthropist allocated another million rubles for the construction of a vocational school, and gave two million for the creation of a free hospital for the poor, where they would not pay attention to titles, classes and religions. As a result, the hospital was completed after the death of the sponsor; it was called Soldatenkovskaya, but in 1920 it was renamed Botkinskaya. The benefactor himself would hardly be upset upon learning this fact. The fact is that he was especially close to Botkin’s family.

Tretyakov brothers, Pavel Mikhailovich(1832-1898) and Sergey Mikhailovich(1834-1892). The fortune of these merchants was more than 8 million rubles, 3 of which they donated to art. The brothers owned the Great Kostroma Linen Manufactory. At the same time, Pavel Mikhailovich conducted business at the factories themselves, but Sergei Mikhailovich was in direct contact with foreign partners. This division was in perfect harmony with their characters. While the older brother was reserved and unsociable, the younger brother loved social gatherings and moving in public circles. Both Tretyakovs collected paintings, with Pavel preferring Russian painting, and Sergei preferring foreign, mainly modern French. When he left the post of Moscow city mayor, he was even glad that the need to hold official receptions had disappeared. After all, this made it possible to spend more on paintings. In total, Sergei Tretyakov spent about a million francs, or 400 thousand rubles, on painting. Already from their youth, the brothers felt the need to make a gift to their hometown. At the age of 28, Pavel decided to bequeath his fortune to the creation of an entire gallery of Russian art. Fortunately, his life turned out to be quite long; as a result, the businessman was able to spend more than a million rubles on purchasing paintings. And Pavel Tretyakov’s gallery, worth 2 million, and even real estate, was donated to the city of Moscow. The collection of Sergei Tretyakov was not so large - only 84 paintings, but it was estimated at half a million. He managed to bequeath his collection to his elder brother, and not to his wife. Sergei Mikhailovich feared that his wife would not want to part with the valuable collection. When Moscow got an art museum in 1892, it was called the City Gallery of the brothers Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov. It is interesting that after Alexander III attended the meeting, he offered his elder brother the nobility. However, Pavel Mikhailovich refused such an honor, declaring that he wanted to die as a merchant. But Sergei Mikhailovich, who managed to become an actual state councilor, would clearly accept this proposal. In addition to the gallery's collection, the Tretyakovs maintained a school for the deaf and dumb, helped widows and orphans of painters, and supported the Moscow Conservatory and art schools. Using their own money and on their site in the center of the capital, the brothers created a passage to improve transport links in Moscow. Since then, the name Tretyakovskaya has been preserved in the name of both the gallery itself and the passage created by the merchants, which turned out to be a rarity for a country with a turbulent history.

Savva Ivanovich Mamontov (1841-1918). This bright personality in the history of Russian culture had a significant influence on her. It is difficult to say what exactly Mamontov donated, and it is quite difficult to calculate his fortune. Mamontov had a couple of houses in Moscow, Abramtsev’s estate, land on the Black Sea coast, roads, factories and millions of dollars in capital. Savva Ivanovich went down in history not just as a philanthropist, but also as a real builder of Russian culture. Mamontov was born into the family of a wine farmer who headed the Moscow-Yaroslavl Railway Society. The industrialist made his capital from the construction of railways. It was thanks to him that the road from Yaroslavl to Arkhangelsk, and then also to Murmansk, appeared. Thanks to Savva Mamontov, a port appeared in this city, and the road connecting the center of the country with the North saved Russia twice. First this happened during the First World War, and then during the Second. After all, almost all allied aid came to the USSR through Murmansk. Art was not alien to Mamontov; he himself was a good sculptor. The sculptor Matvey Antokolsky even considered him talented. They say that thanks to his excellent bass, Mamontov could become a singer; he even managed to make his debut at the Milanese opera. However, Savva Ivanovich never made it onto the stage or into school. But he was able to earn so much money that he was able to set up his own home theater and establish a private opera, the first in the country. There Mamontov acted as a director, conductor, and decorator, and also provided a voice for his artists. Having purchased the Abramtsevo estate, the businessman created the famous Mammoth circle, whose members constantly spent time visiting their wealthy patron. Chaliapin learned to play the Mamontov piano, and Vrubel wrote his “Demon” in the study of the patron of the arts. Savva the Magnificent made his estate near Moscow a real art colony. Workshops were built here, peasants were specially trained, and the “Russian” style was introduced in furniture and ceramics. Mamontov believed that people should be accustomed to beauty not only in churches, but also at train stations and on the streets. The millionaire was also sponsored by the World of Art magazine, as well as the Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow. Only now the art lover became so carried away by charity that he managed to get into debt. Mamontov received a rich order for the construction of another railway and took out a large loan as collateral for the shares. When it turned out that there was nothing to repay the 5 million, Savva Ivanovich ended up in Tagansk prison. His former friends turned away from him. In order to somehow pay off Mamontov’s debts, his rich collection of paintings and sculptures was sold for next to nothing at auction. The impoverished and aged philanthropist began to live at a ceramic workshop behind the Butyrskaya outpost, where he died unnoticed by everyone. Already in our time, a monument was erected to the famous philanthropist in Sergiev Posad, because here the Mamontovs laid the first short railway line specifically for transporting pilgrims to the Lavra. It is planned to erect four more monuments to the great man - in Murmansk, Arkhangelsk, on the Donetsk Railway and on Teatralnaya Square in Moscow.

Varvara Alekseevna Morozova (Khludova)(1850-1917). This woman owned a fortune of 10 million rubles, having donated more than a million to charity. And her sons Mikhail and Ivan became famous art collectors. When Varvara’s husband, Abram Abramovich, died, from him she inherited the Tver Manufactory Partnership at the age of 34. Having become the sole owner of large capital, Morozova began providing for the unfortunate. Of the 500 thousand that her husband allocated to her for benefits to the poor and the maintenance of schools and churches, 150 thousand went to a clinic for the mentally ill. After the revolution, the clinic named after A.A. Morozov was named after the psychiatrist Sergei Korsakov, another 150 thousand were donated to the Trade School for the Poor. The remaining investments were not so large - 10 thousand were received by the Rogozhsky Women's Primary School, the amounts were spent on rural and earthly schools, on shelters for the nervously ill. The Cancer Institute on Devichye Pole received the name of its patrons, the Morozovs. There was also a charitable institution in Tver, a sanatorium in Gagra for tuberculosis patients. Varvara Morozova was a member of many institutions. Trade schools and primary schools, hospitals, maternity hospitals and almshouses in Tver and Moscow were eventually named after her. In gratitude for the donation of 50 thousand rubles, the patron's name was engraved on the pediment of the Chemical Institute of the People's University. For the Prechistensky courses for workers in Kursovoy Lane, Morozova bought a three-story mansion, and she also paid for the Doukhobors to move to Canada. It was Varvara Alekseevna who financed the construction of the first free library-reading room named after Turgenev in Russia, opened in 1885, and then also helped to purchase the necessary literature. The final point of Morozova’s charitable activities was her will. The factory owner, held up by Soviet propaganda as a model of money-grubbing, ordered all her assets to be transferred into securities, deposited in a bank, and the proceeds given to the workers. Unfortunately, they did not have time to appreciate all the kindness of their mistress - a month after her death the October Revolution happened.

Savva Timofeevich Morozov(1862-1905). This philanthropist donated about 500 thousand rubles. Morozov managed to become a model of a modern businessman - he studied chemistry at Cambridge, and studied textile production in Liverpool and Manchester. Returning from Europe to Russia, Savva Morozov headed the Nikolskaya Manufactory Partnership, named in his honor. The managing director and main shareholder of this enterprise remained the industrialist's mother, Maria Fedorovna, whose capital was 30 million rubles. Morozov's progressive thinking said that thanks to the revolution, Russia would be able to catch up and overtake Europe. He even drew up his own program of social and political reforms, which aimed to transition the country to a constitutional regime of government. Morozov insured himself for the amount of 100 thousand rubles, and issued the policy to bearer, transferring it to his favorite actress Andreeva. There, in turn, she transferred most of the funds to the revolutionaries. Because of his love for Andreeva, Morozov supported the Art Theater; he was paid a 12-year lease for premises in Kamergersky Lane. At the same time, the contribution of the patron was equal to the contributions of the main shareholders, which included the owner of the gold-canvas manufactory Alekseev, known as Stanislavsky. The reconstruction of the theater building cost Morozov 300 thousand rubles - a huge amount for those times. And this despite the fact that the architect Fyodor Shekhtel, the author of the Moscow Art Theater Seagull, did the project completely free of charge. Thanks to Morozov's money, the most modern stage equipment was ordered abroad. In general, lighting equipment first appeared in the Russian theater here. In total, the patron spent about 500 thousand rubles on the Moscow Art Theater building with a bronze bas-relief on the facade in the form of a drowning swimmer. As already mentioned, Morozov sympathized with the revolutionaries. Among his friends was Maxim Gorky, and Nikolai Bauman was hiding in the industrialist’s palace on Spiridonovka. Morozov helped deliver illegal literature to the factory, where the future People's Commissar Leonid Krasin served as an engineer. After a wave of revolutionary uprisings in 1905, the industrialist demanded that his mother transfer the factories to his complete subordination. However, she succeeded in removing her obstinate son from business and sent him with his wife and personal doctor to the Cote d'Azur. Savva Morozov committed suicide there, although the circumstances of his death turned out to be strange.

Maria Klavdievna Tenisheva(1867-1928). The origin of this princess remains a mystery. According to one legend, her father could be Emperor Alexander II himself. Tenisheva tried to find herself in her youth - she got married early, gave birth to a daughter, began taking singing lessons in order to get on the professional stage, and began to draw. As a result, Maria came to the conclusion that the purpose of her life was charity. She divorced and remarried, this time to a prominent businessman, Prince Vyacheslav Nikolaevich Tenishev. He was nicknamed the “Russian American” for his business acumen. Most likely, the marriage was of convenience, because only in this way could a girl raised in an aristocratic family, but illegitimate, get a firm place in society. After Maria Tenisheva became the wife of a wealthy entrepreneur, she devoted herself to her calling. The prince himself was also a famous philanthropist, having founded the Tenishev School in St. Petersburg. True, he still fundamentally helped the most cultured representatives of society. While her husband was still alive, Tenisheva organized drawing classes in St. Petersburg, where one of the teachers was Ilya Repin, and she also opened a drawing school in Smolensk. In her Talashkino estate, Maria opened an “ideological estate.” An agricultural school was created there, where ideal farmers were trained. And in handicraft workshops masters of decorative and applied arts were trained. Thanks to Tenisheva, the “Russian Antiquity” museum appeared in the country, which became the country’s first museum of ethnography and Russian decorative and applied arts. A special building was even built for him in Smolensk. However, the peasants, for which the princess cared well, thanked her in their own way. The prince's body, embalmed for a hundred years and buried in three coffins, was simply thrown into a pit in 1923. Tenisheva herself, who ran the magazine “World of Art” with Savva Mamontov, who gave funds to Diaghilev and Benois, lived out her last years in exile in France. There she, not yet old, took up enamel art.

Margarita Kirillovna Morozova(Mamontova) (1873-1958). This woman was related to both Savva Mamontov and Pavel Tretyakov. Margarita was called the first beauty of Moscow. Already at the age of 18, she married Mikhail Morozov, the son of another famous philanthropist. At 30, Margarita, pregnant with her fourth child, became a widow. She herself preferred not to deal with the affairs of the factory, whose co-owner was her husband. Morozova breathed art. She took music lessons from composer Alexander Scriabin, whom she supported financially for a long time in order to give him the opportunity to create and not be distracted by everyday life. In 1910, Morozova donated the art collection of her deceased husband to the Tretyakov Gallery. A total of 83 paintings were transferred, including works by Gauguin, Van Gogh, Monet, Manet, Munch, Toulouse-Lautrec, Renoir, and Perov. Kramskoy, Repin, Benois, Levitan and others). Margarita financed the work of the publishing house “Put”, which until 1919 published about fifty books, mainly on the topic of religion and philosophy. Thanks to the philanthropist, the magazine “Questions of Philosophy” and the socio-political newspaper “Moscow Weekly” were published. On her Mikhailovskoye estate in the Kaluga province, Morozova transferred part of the land to the teacher Shatsky, who organized the first children's colony here. And the landowner supported this establishment financially. And during the First World War, Morozova turned her house into a hospital for the wounded. The revolution destroyed both her life and her family. The son and two daughters ended up in exile, only Mikhail remained in Russia, the same Mika Morozov, whose portrait Serov painted. The factory owner herself lived out her days in poverty at a summer dacha in Lianozovo. Personal pensioner Margarita Kirillovna Morozova received a separate room in a new building from the state several years before her death.

Research shows that the motives for charity and patronage of the arts among Russian entrepreneurs were complex and far from clear-cut. There was no single ideological basis for performing charitable acts. In most cases, both selfish and altruistic motives acted simultaneously: there was a businesslike, well-thought-out calculation, and respect for science and art, and in some cases it was a special kind of asceticism, going back to national traditions and religious values. In other words, everything depended on the social appearance of the benefactors. From this point of view, we can talk about the most important motives for charity and patronage of Russian entrepreneurs.

At the end of the 19th century, advertising began to make its way into people's everyday lives. At that time, many were not yet accustomed to intrusive advertisements, and they aroused genuine interest, and cards with products even became collectibles.

A hundred years ago, almost anyone could become an unwitting collector of advertising. Many people from the middle and upper classes collected so-called "commodity cards". These cards with drawings were often included with purchased items, especially groceries. To design the collection, special albums were even produced, and collectors exchanged missing copies.

Modern researchers know of more than 6,500 cards of various goods. Many of them attribute beneficial and even healing properties to the advertised products. Enticing slogans claim that illness and drunkenness can even be cured. And advertising for Hires Root Beer promises that it “cleanses the blood.”

People of the Victorian era also liked art, so the authors of advertisements carefully borrowed elements of their works from artists, poets and writers. That's why a portrait of Rembrandt, who died in 1669, graces the Enterprise flour trading card.

The high popularity of trading cards was facilitated by a technological innovation: color printing. The magazines published at that time, even the most expensive ones, were black and white, less often two-color. That is why color applications in the form of cards have become widespread. Ironically, trading cards went out of fashion when magazines began printing their own color advertisements.

Nowadays, advertisements have become much more frivolous and “aggressive”. Thus, in a scandalous advertisement for a Dutch clothing company

The first Russian collectors of the European type.

Spontaneous collecting activity, of course, existed in Russia long before the onset of the eighteenth century. But Peter's reforms in the field of culture give it a new direction - they focus on rapprochement with the culture of Western Europe. It was Peter I who stimulated the development of private collecting in Russia, which flourished magnificently in the second half of the 18th century. Following the Russian sovereign, who brought a new hobby from his travels abroad, many of his associates began to collect rarities, and a number of remarkable private collections gradually formed - A.D. Menshikova, B.P. Sheremeteva, D.M., A.M. and D.A. Golitsyn and others.
The first family meetings are drawn up under the influence of fashion or to please the king. But collections are gradually being formed, which are a source of research activity for scientists and form true connoisseurs of art. Among them: the collection of Count Y.V. Bruce, who was known in Europe as a mathematician, physicist and astronomer, the art collection of the architect and art historian Yu.I. Kologrivov, collection of Baron S.G. Stroganov.
Empress Elizaveta Petrovna continued the tradition established by her father. In Elizabethan times, art galleries became one of the elements of magnificent palace decoration, which was supposed to stun those invited to the court and testify to the power of the Russian state. By the middle of the 18th century, many interesting and valuable private collections appeared, the owners of which were representatives of the highest aristocracy, who, following the empress, sought to decorate palaces with works of art. The opportunity for Russian nobles to travel a lot and interact closely with European culture contributed to the formation of new aesthetic preferences of Russian collectors.
The richest collection of paintings by Western European masters was compiled by Catherine II, whose private collection served as the beginning of one of the largest museums in the world - the Hermitage. The state's largest collector, she was a patron of foreign artists, a tastemaker whom people sought to imitate. At the same time, she listened carefully to the advice of her agents, who guided her artistic taste. Usually these were Russian diplomats at European courts: A.K. Razumovsky, P.M. Skavronsky, N.B. Yusupov, A.M. Beloselsky in Italy, I.S. Baryatinsky in France, D.M. Golitsyn in Vienna, D.A. Golitsyn in The Hague, S.R. Vorontsov in Italy and England. Many of them simultaneously created their own collections of paintings.
In the second half of the 18th century, replenishment of public and private galleries was carried out both through purchases at European auctions and orders of paintings and sculptures from modern masters. Satisfying the demand for Western art on the part of Russian nobles was greatly facilitated by the revolutionary events in France, as a result of which the art market was abundantly replenished with works by masters of European schools. A market for works of art was also formed in Russia, mainly in St. Petersburg, where objects of art and art industry were brought annually in large quantities from Western Europe.

Field Marshal Boris Petrovich Sheremetev(1652-1719) was one of the first to accept the Western European way of life imposed by Peter I and furnished his houses in a European manner. His heir, Pyotr Borisovich Sheremetev (1713-1788), trying to keep up with the times, has been purposefully acquiring works of art since the 1740s. Under the influence of fashion, he creates a cabinet of curiosities in a house on the Fontanka embankment, similar to the one created by Peter I. An integral part of the cabinets of curiosities was a collection of paintings.
Later, in 1750, a “picture room” with a trellis hanging appears. Active construction required equally active collecting activity. Being a very rich man, P.B. Sheremetev collected significant, mainly in quantity, collections of paintings, sculptures, porcelain, collections of coins, medals and weapons. His heir, Nikolai Petrovich Sheremetev (1751-1809), who received an excellent education, continued the family tradition of collecting, but with greater knowledge of the matter than his father.

Alexander Sergeevich Stroganov(1733-1811), a representative of the famous Russian noble family, owned one of the most valuable art collections of the Russian aristocracy, both in quantity and quality. In his palace on Nevsky Prospekt, he created a library and an art gallery, which became one of the first Russian museums.
A.S. Stroganov is an example not of a simple collector, of which there were already many in his time, but of an erudite lover of painting, endowed with curiosity and love for art. That is why he managed to turn his collection into a systematic collection of artistic value. The Stroganov collection included works of fine art, decorative and applied art, as part of interior decoration, coins and medals, as well as a collection of minerals, which indicates a family connection with the cabinets of curiosities of the first half of the 18th century.
One of the most educated collectors of the 18th century, along with A.S. Stroganov, was Nikolay Borisovich Yusupov(1750-1831). Gathering N.B. Yusupov worked for almost 60 years: from the 1770s to the end of the 1820s and created one of the largest collections of Western European painting in Russia.
Collection of N.B. Yusupov was extensive and varied. It included easel painting, sculpture, works of decorative and applied art, a collection of engravings, drawings, miniatures, an excellent library and a large family archive. However, the core of the collection was an art gallery, numbering up to 600 paintings. Prince Yusupov's art gallery contained works from almost all European schools, but French, Italian, Flemish and Dutch artists were especially well represented.
Yusupov showed himself to be a genuine collector and connoisseur, well versed in the modern artistic process. He became a conductor of new aesthetic tastes associated with the artistic processes of the coming century. Prince Yusupov was the first to import first-class works of French artists of the early 19th century into Russia.

Ivan Ivanovich Shuvalov(1727-1797) - one of the most prominent representatives of the family, an educated Russian nobleman of the era of Elizabeth, and later Catherine - was a philanthropist, a European renowned art connoisseur, and also had an excellent art gallery. He made a huge contribution to the formation of the Hermitage art gallery, as he was Catherine’s advisor in matters of acquiring paintings and placing orders from the Russian court to foreign artists. Shuvalov’s aesthetic preferences played a role in the development of Russian artistic culture in the mid-18th century, since, while forming the Hermitage collection, he greatly influenced the tastes of other collectors of the era, who were guided by the imperial collection when selecting their collections.
In addition, I.I. Shuvalov is the founder and first curator of Moscow University, founder and first president of the Academy of Arts. Shuvalov's personal collection formed the main core of the art gallery of the Academy of Arts. He donated to the Academy his collections of paintings and graphics, compiled during his long stay abroad. Thanks to I.I. Shuvalov, the Academy of Arts now has a unique collection of ancient casts, from which new generations of artists study.
As noted above, collectibles in the 18th century were mainly examples of Western European culture, science and art. However, in the second half of the 18th century, other trends were also noticeable: interest in the national past arose. Stories from Russian history appear in literature, visual and theatrical arts. The collection, study and publication of historical documents and works on Russian history begins. This stimulates interest in collecting Russian antiquities. A number of collections of ancient manuscripts and other ancient Russian monuments appear. Among such collections is the collection of P.F. Korobanova, P.N. Beketov, Count F.A. Tolstoy, F.G. Bause et al.
Portrait galleries were an obligatory component of private noble collections in the second half of the 18th century, which appeared in connection with the growing interest of the nobility in Russian history, on the one hand, and to strengthen the personal prestige of the owners, on the other. Portrait galleries were designed to perpetuate the family and served as proof of the nobility, wealth and ancient origin of the owners. It was fashionable to order portraits of family members from leading Western European or Russian artists. Some collectors collected portraits of prominent historical figures. Among the most interesting portrait galleries: the galleries in Kuskovo - of the Counts Sheremetevs, Nadezhdin - of the Princes Kurakins, Zubrilovka - of the Princes Prozorovskys, Otrada - of the Counts Orlov-Davydovs, Andreevsky - of the Counts Vorontsovs, etc.
In the second half of the 18th century, portrait galleries became widespread among all strata of the nobility. They are the most valuable documentary material of the era.
In cases where the collector was guided not only by ambitions and aspirations, but by a sincere desire to help the development of national culture, collections ceased to be simply objects of collecting. They became the working material that helped artists realize their creative potential. Count A.S. was one of these patrons and true connoisseurs of fine arts. Stroganov. Stroganov's art gallery and his magnificent library were available to all connoisseurs, amateurs and foreign guests of the imperial court. Here, classes on the history of art were held for students of the Academy of Arts, famous and aspiring artists got acquainted with the works of old masters, copied them, just as it was in the famous Medici gardens.

Walk through the halls of the Hermitage again and pay attention to the plaques under the paintings in the halls of Italian, Flemish, and French painting of the 17th-18th centuries.

Tatiana Nesvetailo
art critic, senior researcher at the State Russian Museum