Tatyana LESNIKOVA, Cand. Sc. (History), Higher School of Restoration, Russian State University of the Humanities Some of Russia's manorial estates of the 18th and 19th centuries can by right be called real museums boasting superb collections of paintings, applied art and antiques. Their owners were art connoisseurs who spared no efforts in replenishing the stocks of their home museums. Yet with the passage of time-especially in the years of revolutionary turmoil in the wake of October 1917-many exhibits were lost, or appropriated by other museums; and some landed abroad. More often than not, we cannot tell anything about their authors or origin. One such item is the canvas A SCHOLAR'S STUDY that graced the manor of the counts Orlovs-Davydovs. But then... What happened then will be the subject of our story... But first, some background information about the owners of the manorial estate dubbed Otrada. This manor was built in the village of Semyonovskoye near the town Serpukhov south of Moscow; in the 18th century the estate belonged to the Orlovs, a dynasty well known here in Russia for its intense public involvement. Its first owner was Vladimir Grigoryevich Orlov, the younger brother of Grigory and Alexei Orlovs, who were implicated in the coup of June 28, 1762, that brought Catherine II (Catherine the Great) to the Russian throne. The empress was generous in rewarding the plotters: the five Orlov brothers were granted the title of counts, they received an immense remuneration from the treasury and important posts in the government. Thus fortune smiled on the Orlovs, the lucky brothers, and made them famous and wealthy overnight. The younger brother, Vladimir, took a course at Leipzig University and, upon his return to the then Russian capital, St. Petersburg, was appointed Chief Director of the Academy of Sciences, a post he held in 1766 to 1774. Vladimir Orlov shouldered most of the organizational work there; he kept a deep interest in science and respect for ... Читать далее