Recently the owner of the main exhibition of the museum "The Sovereign's Court in Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda" — Tsar Ivan the Terrible — returned to the main exposition. Not in person, of course, but in portrait form. His customary place was taken by his likeness by the well-known Soviet and Russian painter N.V. Kolupayev.
The portrait of Tsar Ivan the Terrible was painted in 1996 on commission from the Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda museum-reserve for a new, and potentially main, exhibition that was intended to sequentially reveal the key concept — the idea of the formation of the Russian state in the 16th century and the leading role in this of its first autocrat.
The painting has been on display in the exhibition space virtually since it entered the museum — that is, since 1997 — and remains there to this day. Such a long "service" could not but affect the condition of the canvas. Therefore it required the intervention of restorers. This task was brilliantly accomplished by Vladimir restorer Svetlana Krasulina. With jeweler-like precision and care, S. Krasulina cleaned and removed surface dirt, including dust-like deposits, and carried out antiseptic treatment of areas of the painting found to be affected by microorganisms. In many places it was necessary to even out the varnish layer. According to the restorer, the artist most likely retouched some fragments (possibly to intensify the image or color effect, i.e., to reinforce his concept) after the work was already finished. Therefore, during the restoration some areas had to be carefully toned and strengthened with a layer of varnish.
Meticulous work produced the expected result: the life-size portrait of Ivan the Terrible, refreshed and rejuvenated, once again appeared before the visitors of Aleksandrovskaya Sloboda.
