Portrait of Count K.V. Nesselrode
Unknown artist of the middle of the 19th century. Copy of the portrait by F.Kruger, 1840’s
Middle of the 19th century
Oil on canvas
93 х 77 cm
From earlier acquisitions 1931, previously in the collection of M.N.Ermolova (?)
Open storage
Count Karl Vasilyevich (Karl Robert) Nesselrode (1780–1862) was a Russian statesman, Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was in the foreign service from 1801 to 1856 (for 55 years). From 1816 he was President of the Collegium of Foreign Affairs, from 1822 to 1856 Foreign Minister.
For forty years, he headed the foreign policy of Russia, more than anyone before and after him. Nesselrode was the penultimate Chancellor in the history of Russia (since 1844). His exceptionally long service is usually explained by the fact that Nesselrode had always answered to the will of the emperors Alexander I and then Nicholas I, real designers of foreign policy. The diplomat, historian and political writer S.S.Tatishchev called him a “Molchalin of diplomacy” (Molchalin is a character of A.Griboyedov’s “Woe from Wit”. According to him, the best way of making a career is to please everyone, be moderate and accurate, not to have his own opinion).
The inscription «Н.Е.» (“N.E”) on the back would suggest that the portrait was in the collection of Maria Nikolayevna, daughter of Nicholay Petrovich Yermolov (1827–1879). Nicholay Petrovich Yermolov served in the archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs till 1855. He also chaired the Justice of the Peace sessions and published the “Notes” of his cousin uncle, General Alexey Petrovich Yermolov.
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