Pwt 26 2017 changing places moscow in the 1850s

CHANGING PLACES:

Sukharev Tower, detail of N° 4

MOSCOW IN THE LATE 1850s

Weekly transmission 26-2017 presents: A Mysterious Moscow Photographer: Ferdinand Bureau Weekly Drawing by Théophile Bouchet: Travels in Russia, 2017 1858. Voyages d’Alexandre Dumas & Théophile Gautier en Russie (French) 1858. Alexandre Dumas & Théophile Gautier’ Travels in Russia (English text) Five Salted Paper Prints, Moscow in the Time of Dumas and Gautier

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Ferdinand Bureau, N° 4

As Theophile Gautier told, Moscow was then a total surprise for visitors, painters or daguerrerian artists had produced scarce images.

Ferdinand Bureau deserves a special attention, his photographs are among the very first representations of Moscow, only a few years after Roger Fenton’s.

We still do not know if Ferdinand Bureau (1813-1893) is a relative of the French Bureau family of photographers: Stanislas Victor Bureau (1806-1888), Victor Stanislas Bureau (1833-unkn.), Palmyre Stanislas dit Léon Bureau (1838-unkn.), Jean-Albert Dumaine.

A fashionable newspaper relates that Ferdinand angaged and married in Moscow Xaverine-Henriette-Octavie, daughter of colonel St-Sclair, of Scottish origin).

The e-bulletin presents articles as well as selections of books, albums, photographs and documents as they have been handed down to the actual owners by their creators and by amateurs from past generations.

The physical descriptions, attributions, origins, and printing dates of the books and photographs have been carefully ascertained by collation and through close analysis of comparable works.

N°26-2017. MOSCOW IN THE LATE 1850s (Written for the pleasure of 2017 Kolomna symposium attendees)

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Detail of a 1858 map of Moscow, the population was then estimated at 336000.

The yellow numbers, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, refer to the five salt paper prints.

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Weekly Drawing by ThĂŠophile Bouchet: Travels in Russia, 2017

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1858 : Alexandre Dumas et Théophile Gautier en Russie L’hiver 1858-1859, Alexandre Dumas et Théophile Gautier sont tous les deux en Russie pour des raisons différentes mais également littéraires. Dumas est l’homme des Mousquetaires, la plume d’action. Gautier est un poète et un critique d’art influent.

Dumas, parti avant Gautier, pousse loin l’exploration vers le Sud et le Caucase, Gautier ne passe « que » l’hiver et reste principalement à Saint-Pétersbourg et Moscou, où il prépare un ouvrage de commande, illustré de photographies de Richebourg.

L’un galope, notant tout, l’autre dépeint avec minutie… Ils ne se rencontreront pas sur place et ramèneront des récits de voyage parallèles : un pays lointain vu au même moment par deux géants des lettres françaises.

En juin 1858 Dumas est invité par des amis russes séjournant à Paris à les accompagner dans leur immense pays. Ce sera son plus long voyage, il sera comblé car la Russie est largement francophone en ce qui concerne ses élites, et a réservé un accueil enthousiaste à ses œuvres.

Dumas s'embarque dans un périple de neuf mois.

L'écrivain mêle dans son texte le récit direct avec de longs développements sur l’histoire, la géographie, la vie artistique, etc... Les premiers chapitres concernent la traversée de l’Europe avant l'arrivée en bateau à Saint-Pétersbourg.

La ville de Pierre le Grand est décrite en détail. Dumas multiplie les digressions les plus curieuses : sur la chasse à l'ours, sur la secte des scopsi (qui se mutilent en espérant s’éloigner du désir de la chair), sur l'oeuvre de Pouchkine, sur les tortures et les exécutions qui ont lieu dans la citadelle Pierre et Paul.

Un chapitre décrit en détail le vol organisé en Russie, depuis le pillage des biens de l'Etat par les fonctionnaires, jusqu'au exactions des collecteurs d’impôts à l’égard des paysans des campagnes.

Vient ensuite le voyage en train pour Moscou, où Dumas décrit un incendie dont il est témoin, événement tragique dans une ville construite pour grande partie en bois.

L'écrivain et ses amis entreprennent ensuite de suivre la Volga jusqu'à Nijni-Novgorod, dont Dumas décrit la célèbre foire et où il rencontre les héros véritables de son roman Le maître d'armes (publié auparavant en 1840), puis les villes de Kazan et Astrakhan.

S’enfonçant dans les steppes de plus en plus sauvages, l'écrivain va à la rencontre des Kirghizes. Puis il est somptueusement reçu par Toumaine, prince kalmouk, qui lui offre le spectacle de dix mille chevaux sauvages traversant à la nage la Volga devant leurs yeux…

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Dumas passe ensuite dans le Caucase, et Dumas se met à écrire. C’est-à-dire qu'il écrit son récit Le Caucase pendant le voyage lui-même, alors que dans les premiers mois de cette expédition, tout au plaisir des découvertes, l’écrivain n’écrivait pas. Le récit en a été écrit au retour, entre 1859 et 1862.

Extraits du récit de Théophile Gautier : I. Découverte de la ville “Nous restions là, insensibles au froid, absorbés dans une contemplation muette et comme dans une sorte de stupeur admirative.

Aucune ville ne donne cette impression de nouveauté absolue, pas même Venise, à laquelle Canaletto, Guardi, Ronington, Joyant, Wyld, Ziem et les photographies vous ont de longue main préparé. Moscou n'a pas été jusqu'à ce jour souvent visité par les artistes, et ses aspects étranges n'ont guère été reproduits. Le rigoureux climat septentrional ajoute à la singularité du décor par les effets de neige, les colorations bizarres du ciel, la qualité de la lumière qui n'est pas la même que chez nous, et fait aux peintres russes une palette spéciale dont il est difficile de comprendre la justesse hors du pays.

Sur l'esplanade du Kremlin, le panorama de Moscou devant soi, on se sent vraiment ailleurs, et le Français le plus amoureux de Paris ne regrette pas le ruisseau de la rue du Bac...”

II. Excursion vers un monastère “Quand on a quelques jours de loisir à Moscou, les principales curiosités vues, il est une excursion qu'on ne manque pas de vous proposer et qu'il faut accepter avec empressement.

C'est une visite au couvent de Troitza, et nul ne se repent de l'avoir fait.

Il fut donc convenu que nous irions à Troitza, et l'ami de Russie, qui avait gracieusement entrepris la charge de nous piloter, s'occupa des préparatifs du départ. Il retint une kibitka et envoya en avant un relai de chevaux que nous devions prendre à mi-chemin ; car le trajet, en se mettant en route de bonne heure, peut s'accomplir dans une demi-journée, et l'on arrive assez tôt pour prendre une idée générale de l'édifice et du site. Injonction nous fut faite d'être debout à trois heures du matin.

L'habitude du voyage donne la faculté de se lever à l'instant précis sans avoir besoin pour cela de réveille-matin à sonnerie opiniâtrement tintinnabulante.

Aussi étions-nous sur pied et déjà prêts, munis pour viatique d'une tranche de viande et d'un verre de thé bien chaud — le thé est excellent à Moscou — lorsque la kibitka s'arrêta devant la porte de l'auberge.

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En cherchant à voir le temps qu'il faisait à travers les doubles vitres de la fenêtre, nous remarquâmes que le thermomètre intérieur marquait 15 degrés de chaleur Réaumur et que le thermomètre extérieur indiquait Trente-et-un degrés de froid. Un petit vent qui s'était rafraîchi sur les banquises du pôle avait soufflé pendant la nuit et amené une recrudescence glaciale.

Trente-et-un degrés de froid, c'est à donner, quand on y pense, le frisson aux natures les moins frileuses ; heureusement nous avions déjà subi toutes les rigueurs de l'hiver russe, et nous étions accoutumés à ces températures faites pour les rennes et les ours blancs...”

III. Plaisirs gastronomiques “Avant de se mettre à table les convives s’approchent d’un guéridon où sont placés du caviar, des filets de hareng marinés, des anchois, du fromage, des olives, des tranches de saucisson, du bœuf fumé de Hambourg et autres hors-d’œuvre qu’on mange avec des petits pains pour s’ouvrir l’appétit. Le luncheon se fait debout, et s’arrose de vermouth, de madère, d’eau-devie de Dantzig, de Cognac et de cumin, espèce d’anisette.

Dans toutes les maisons comme il faut, on mange à la française ; cependant le goût national se fait jour par quelques détails caractéristiques. Ainsi, à côté du pain blanc on sert une tranche de pain de seigle bien noir, que les invités russes grignotent avec une sensualité visible. Ils paraissent aussi de trouver fort bons des espèces de concombres marinés à l’eau de sel, qu’on nomme ogourtzis, et qui, d’abord, ne nous ont pas paru autrement délicieux.

Au milieu du dîner, après avoir bu les grands crus de Bordeaux et le vin de Champagne de la veuve Clicquot, qu’on ne trouve qu’en Russie, on prend du porter et surtout de kwas, espèce de bière locale faite de croûtes de pain noir fermentées, au goût de laquelle il faut s’accoutumer… Après un séjour de quelques mois, on finit par prendre goût aux ogourtzis, au kwas et au chtchi, le potage national russe...

En Russie on mange des côtelettes de poulet. Ce mets est devenu à la mode depuis que l’empereur Nicolas en a goûté dans une petite auberge près de Torjok et les a trouvées bonnes.

La recette en avait été donnée à l’hôtesse par un Français malheureux qui ne pouvait pas payer son écot, et fit ainsi la fortune de cette femme. Nous partageons le goût de l’empereur, les côtelettes à la Préobrajenski qui mériteraient de figurer sur la carte des meilleurs restaurants.”

(Théophile Gautier, Voyage en Russie, 1866)

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1858 : Alexandre Dumas & Théophile Gautier in Russia In the winter of 1858-1859, Alexandre Dumas and Théophile Gautier were both in Russia for different reasons. Dumas is the man of the Musketeers, the pen of action. Gautier is an influential poet and art critic.

Dumas, arrived before Gautier, pushed the exploration to the South and the Caucasus far away, Gautier spent "only" the winter and stayed mainly in St. Petersburg and Moscow, writing a commissioned book illustrated with photographs by Richebourg.

The first one gallops, noting everything, the other depicting meticulously ... They will not meet on the spot and bring back parallel travel stories: a distant country seen at the same time by two giants of French letters.

June 1858, Dumas is invited by Russian friends staying in Paris to accompany them in their immense country. It will be his longest journey. Russia is largely francophone in regards to its elites, and has reserved an enthusiastic reception to Dumas’ works. He embarks on a journey of nine months.

The writer mixes in his text direct narrative with long developments on history, geography, artistic life, etc. The first chapters concern the crossing of Europe before the arrival by boat in St. Petersburg.

The city of Peter the Great is described in detail. Dumas multiplies the most curious digressions: on bear hunting, on the sect of the Scopsi (who mutilate themselves hoping to move away from the desire), on the works of Pushkin, on tortures and executions in the citadel of Peter and Paul.

A chapter describes in detail the systemic social disorder general in Russia, from the plundering of State property by the civil servants, to the exactions of the tax collectors towards the peasants of the countryside.

Next comes the train journey to Moscow, where Dumas describes a fire he witnesses, a tragic event in a city built largely out of wood.

The writer and his friends then proceed to follow the Volga as far as Nijni-Novgorod, of which Dumas describes the famous fair and where he meets the true heroes of his novel The Master of Arms (previously published in 1840) of Kazan and Astrakhan.

Sinking into wild steppes, the writer goes to meet the Kyrgyz. Then he is sumptuously received

by Tumain, Kalmouk prince who offers him the spectacle of ten thousand wild horses swiming across the Volga before their eyes ...

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Dumas then passes into the Caucasus, and there Dumas begins to write. That is, he wrote his account The Caucasus during the journey itself, whereas in the first months, to the delight of discoveries, the writer did not write, the account of the Russian expedition Was written upon return, between 1859 and 1862.

Extracts of Theophile Gautier: I. Discovering Moscow “No city gives such an impression of absolute novelty ; not even Venice, for which Canaletto, Guardi, Bonington, Joyant, Wild, Ziem, and photographs prepare one long beforehand.

Hitherto Moscow has not been much visited by artists, and its quaint aspects have rarely been reproduced ; the severe Northern climate adds to the peculiarity of the picture by the effects of snow, the strange colour of the heavens, the quality of the light, which is not the same as with us and requires of Russian painters a special scale of colour, the truthfulness of which it is difficult to understand when one has not visited the country.

On the esplanade of the Kremlin, with the panorama of Moscow stretched out before one, one really feels in a foreign country, and a Frenchman, the most in love with Paris, does not regret the gutter of the Rue du Bac...”

II. Excursion to a Monastery “There is one excursion which is certain to be suggested, and which should be made when one has a few days of leisure, after having seen the chief sights : it is a visit to the Troitza Convent.

The trip is worth the trouble, and no one ever regrets having taken it. So it was agreed I should go to Troitza, and the Russian friend who had so kindly undertaken to show me about, took charge of the preparations.

He ordered a kibitka and sent on a relay of horses, which we were to find half-way, for by making an early start the trip may be made in half a day, and Troitza be reached early enough to enable one to get a general idea of the buildings and the site. I was strictly charged to be ready at three o'clock in the morning.

I was up and ready when the kibitka stopped before the inn door. On trying to see what kind of weather it was I noticed that the thermometer inside the house marked sixty-six degrees, while the thermometer outside showed over twenty-five below zero.

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The kibitka was waiting for us and the impatient horses tossed their heads, shaking their long manes and chewing the snow. A kibitka is a sort of box as much like a hut as a carriage and placed upon a sleigh. It has a door and a window, which must not be shut, for the breath of the passengers freezing upon the pane would turn to ice, and thus one would be deprived of air and plunged in a white darkness.

There was not a breath of wind, and it seemed as though the wind itself were frozen. I could have gone about with a lighted candle in the hand without the flame flickering...�

III. Table pleasures “In the first hall, on a sort of bar, caviare, herrings, sandwiches of white and of brown bread, cheese of various kinds, bottles of bitters, kummel, and cognac, are used in Russian fashion to give clients an appetite. The hors d''ceuvres here are eaten before the meal, and I had travelled too much to think this fashion strange. Every country has its own habits. In Sweden, for instance, they give you your soup at dessert...

The table was splendidly set, and covered with silver plate and glassware. A line of tall white bottles rose above the long, corked bottles of claret, covered with metallic caps, and the champagne bottles with lead caps. All the best brands were to be found there : Chateau Yquem, Haut-Barsac, Chateau Laffitte, Gruau-Larose, Veuve Cliquot, Roederer, Moet, Sternberg Cabinet... a complete assortment of fa- mous drinks, bedizened with gilded labels, in brightly coloured, attractive designs and authentic coats of arms.

The best wines of France are drunk in Russia, and the purest juice of our harvests, the unpressed wine of our wine-presses, goes down these Northern throats, which never think of the cost of what thev drink. Except chtchi soup, the cookery, it is needless to say, was french.

Waiters in black coats, white cravats, and white gloves, moved around the tables, and did their work thoroughly and quietly. The meal had collected in the same hall the travellers who were scattered through the different carriages, and I noticed that when travelling, as when in town, the women appeared to feel the cold less than the men: most of them were satisfied with their fur-lined satin pelisses, and they did not pull up their collars around their heads, nor overload themselves with one garment upon another. No doubt feminine coquetry has something to do with this, for what is the use of having a good figure and a small foot, if one has to look like a bundle of wraps. A pretty Siberian girl attracted every one's eyes by her elegance, which travel did not interfere with in the slightest ; she seemed to have just got out of her carriage at the Opera-house door... “ (Theophile Gautier, Travels in Russia)

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FERDINAND BUREAU (1813-1893). Moscow Kremlin, c. 1860 Salt paper print, 240x177 mm, black stamp “Moscou” on mount, embossed stamp of paper manufactor on mount, number in mount corner.

The Moscow Kremlin, usually referred to as the Kremlin, is a fortified complex at the heart of Moscow, overlooking the Moskva River to the south.

Up to the 14th century, the site was known as the 'grad of Moscow'. The word "Kremlin" was first recorded in 1331. The grad was greatly extended by Prince Yuri Dolgorukiy in 1156, destroyed by the Mongols in 1237 and rebuilt in oak in 1339. Dmitri Donskoi replaced the oak walls with a strong citadel of white limestone in 1366–1368 on the basic foundations of the current walls; this fortification withstood a siege by Khan Tokhtamysh. Dmitri's son Vasily resumed construction of churches and cloisters in the Kremlin. The newly built Cathedral of the Annunciation was painted by Theophanes the Greek, Andrei Rublev, and Prokhor in 1406.

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FERDINAND BUREAU (1813-1893). Old Moskvoretsky Bridge and Kremlin Walls, c. 1860 Salt paper print, 240x177 mm, black stamp “Moscou” on mount, embossed stamp of paper manufactor on mount, number in mount corner.

Grand Prince Ivan III organised the reconstruction of the Kremlin, inviting a number of skilled architects from Renaissance Italy, including Petrus Antonius Solarius, who designed the new Kremlin wall and its towers, and Marcus Ruffus who designed the new palace for the prince.

The highest building of the city and Muscovite Russia was the Ivan the Great Bell Tower, built in 1505–08 and augmented to its present height in 1600.

The Kremlin walls as they now appear were built between 1485 and 1495. Spasskie gates of the wall still bear a dedication in Latin praising Petrus Antonius Solarius for the design.

Old Moskvoretsky Bridge was in line with Pyatnitskaya street of Zamoskvorechie and Moskvoretskaya street in Zaryadie. This wooden bridge burnt down in 1871; after the fire, steel arches and decking were installed on the old abutments.

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FERDINAND BUREAU (1813-1893). Assumption Church in Pokrovka Street, c. 1862 Salt paper print, 240x177 mm, black stamp “Moscou” on mount, embossed stamp of paper manufactor on mount, number in mount corner.

Perhaps the most delightful example of the Naryshkin baroque was the multi-domed Assumption Church on the Pokrovka Street in Moscow (built 1696-99, demolished 1929).

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FERDINAND BUREAU (1813-1893). Sukharev Tower and Trinity in Sheets Church, c. 1862 Salt paper print, 240x177 mm, black stamp “Moscou� on mount, embossed stamp of paper manufactor on mount, number in mount corner.

Among the most famous of the buildings demolished in Moscow in 1920-1930. Built in 16921695 on the initiative of Peter I in Muscovite Baroque style, the tower was on the Garden Ring, at its intersection with Sretenka, and served as the Sretensky Gate of the Earthen City.

The tower, built by architect M.I. Choglokov, commemorates the victory of Peter over his sister Sofia with the help of the Streletskaya Sloboda regiment, LP. Sukharev (hence its name). In 1698-1701, a four-tiered tower were built, in the third tier of which a clock was installed. In the wards of Sukharev Tower was placed the School of Mathematical and Navigational Sciences, created by Peter I, later transferred to Petersburg. An astronomical observatory was installed, Yabov Bruce conducted observations. In 1921, the tower became the Moscow Communal Museum, predecessor of the Moscow History Museum, until the 1934 destruction.

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FERDINAND BUREAU (1813-1893). Strastnoy Monastery, Moscow, c. 1862 Salt paper print, 240x177 mm, black stamp “Moscou� on mount, embossed stamp of paper manufactor on mount, number in mount corner.

The former Strastnaya Square name originates from the Passion (Russian: Strastnoy) Monastery, which was demolished in the 1930s. At the center of the square is a famous statue of Pushkin...

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