Peter the Great in His Studio

This second rendering of Peter the Great in His Studio, also dated 1870 and also held in the Hermitage, indicates that the subject was sufficiently important to Makovsky — or sufficiently in demand — to warrant multiple versions. Repeat versions of successful compositions were common in nineteenth-century practice, reflecting both the commercial success of popular subjects and the different requirements of different clients. The Peter subject carried enormous cultural weight in the context of Alexander II's reform program, which self-consciously invoked the Petrine legacy of westernizing modernization. A depiction of Peter in his studio — engaged with the intellectual tools of rational governance — positioned the subject within the progressive tradition of Russian history that reformers wished to claim as their inheritance.

Oil on canvas, likely similar in handling to the companion version in the same collection. Makovsky's ability to produce convincing multiple versions of a successful composition reflects the professional craft basis of his practice, in which aesthetic invention and commercial reproducibility were balanced practical concerns.