Portrait of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich

Alexei Mikhailovich (1629–1676) was the second tsar of the Romanov dynasty and reigned from 1645. In this portrait he is shown in the “Great Attire”, the ceremonial dress with the royal regalia. He holds an orb topped with a cross and a sceptre with a double-headed eagle beneath a crown; an inscription with the tsar’s title is placed to the right of the figure.

The portrait was created in the late 1670s – early 1680s by an unknown artist associated with the school of the Armoury Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin. Under Alexei Mikhailovich the Armoury had a painting workshop with a staff of more than twenty masters, who also painted “from life”. The first Russian portraits were called parsunas, from the Latin persona. Working alongside invited foreign artists, Russian painters mastered oil painting on canvas.

The picture is painted in oil on canvas and has been in the Historical Museum since 1924.