Exhibition 'The Count's Daughters'

About exhibition

The exhibition explores themes of education, upbringing, and leisure through the material world that surrounded young aristocratic women. Various 'fragments' of their daily life — snuffboxes, jewelry boxes, perfume bottles and powder compacts, pincushions and embroidered purses, art books and educational materials, keepsakes from friends and lovers — allow one to mentally reconstruct moments of their lives, their pastimes, and everyday activities. The display is divided into two thematic sections: the first, titled 'Domestic Everyday Life', is devoted to the girls' daily pursuits: needlework, music-making, and reading. The second section — 'Going Out into Society' — reveals another facet of the lives of the count's daughters, recounting lavish balls and receptions through various social accessories. The project is dedicated to the two daughters of Count P. B. Sheremetev, the builder of the Kuskovo Estate ensemble — Anna and Varvara Sheremeteva. Their portraits are placed at the very beginning of the exhibition: thus the abstract image of an 18th-century noblewoman acquires two concrete faces.