Expressing his condolences over the death of Peter the Great, Matveyev presents Catherine the First with an “Allegory of Painting,” performed with watercolor on an oak board. The beginning artist portrayed the Empress in the form of Minerva, reclining on the clouds, who gazed benevolently and with interest at the confidently painting Painting. “It expresses hope for the future of Russian culture.
The small allegorical picture, with a straightforward plot, writes art historian T. V. Ilyin, thus became a milestone in the way of mastering Russian art of the common European “language”, combining the new European science with the seriousness and sincerity of the national feeling. The portrait tradition by this time has already taken shape – the development of the painting begins in Matveyev’s “Allegory of Painting” in the European sense of the word. “
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