Repin

Nicholas II of Russia by Ilya Repin (1896)

160 cm x 251 cm (62.9 in × 98.8 in)

Oil on canvas

Ilya Repin started his career as a cartographer in military school. After a few fits and starts, he finally entered the Russian Imperial Academy in St. Petersburg where his work began to focus on social issues. His political views would ebb and flow over the years but seemed to have a friendly relationship with the upper classes. Eventually, he took a job as a professor at the Academy in the early 1890s.

This work was painted on the occasion of Nicholas II’s coronation as Czar of All the Russias in 1894. Every source I read says that Nicholas was completely unprepared for rule and everyone in the imperial circle knew it, including Nicholas and his parents. The new Czar accepted the crown as a divine calling however, seeing it as his destiny and duty. His reign was a disaster.

The painting is large, just over eight feet by five. The Czar is near life-size, front-and-center in the vast space of his new throne room. He isn’t in his coronation robes or crown, however. Repin has him dressed in his military formals. I think that sends a message different from other formal royal portraits. Except for the throne in the background, this looks like a portrait of a young gentleman officer in any given army. Nicholas looks youthful, relaxed, and optimistic. His arms are folded gently in front of him. The size of the work denotes importance, but Nicholas stares the viewer straight in the eye. He isn’t looking down at us nor ignoring us all together. If one didn’t know the rest of the story, he looks like a decent man — and in his private life, it seems he was. He is in charge and has power, sure, but compared to other portraits of absolute monarchs, this depiction is quite humble.

The setting is important here. The space around Nicholas is vast. He stands in the very center of the room and the hazy background creates a sense of a huge space. This room is so large that the walls blur in the distance. The throne room announces the imperial majesty of this person, and, for me, it symbolizes the massiveness of his empire and authority. It also feels like a metaphor for the scale of his new role. The room and the job dwarf him.

Light shines in the windows behind him but the shades are drawn, creating bright streaks of light across the floor that point to the throne. I think it’s interesting that the colors of the throne match those in the Czar’s uniform. My eye makes a very quick association between the two. They go together visually and in reality. However, because all the lines lead to the throne – the pattern in the floor, the streaks of light, the columns and balcony along the wall (even Nicholas is facing it) – it is emphasized. Nicholas is the larger shape by far, in the center foreground, and clear, but the throne and its meaning dominates the painting. In his own painting, Nicholas seems diminished.

Court artists got to know their patrons well and their art could be perceptive as a result. It seems like Repin wanted Nicholas to look amiable and hopeful, but some details seem apprehensive. In the end, they were prophetic. The responsibilities of the imperial office overwhelmed Nicholas. Even though he tried to manage it, he did not have the skills needed to rule. The Czar was a weak-willed reactionary who listened to the wrong people and made the same mistakes over and over and over. The consequences destroyed his country and his family.

This work is cared for by the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.