Portraits from the Tsarist Russia reorganized Museum of Antiquities

It is acknowledged in the publication that the second half of the 19th century and the period after the failed uprising of 1863-1864 was a time of forced russification and pravoslavisation of our country. This involved intensified repressions by Tsarist Russia against any manifestations of Lithuanian and Polish nationality. A special commission formed under the order of Governor General Mikhail Muravyov reviewed and removed everything from the Museum of Antiquities that was the least bit reminiscent of Lithuanian statehood and Catholicism. These works were sent to the N. Rumyantsev Museum in Moscow and their place was taken by the exhibits that served as evidence that the lands of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, then known as the north-west lands of the Russian Empire, "were actually Russian regions through the ages". There are a few portraits in the Lithuanian Art Museum's collections from the Museum of Antiquities reorganized by the order of Muravyov. These were taken to the museum from Vilnius University in 1947. In the absence of more precise information, these were recorded as portraits of unknown Russian officials and Orthodox clergy. Because of their officialdom and for ideological reasons they were not subject to the attention of researchers for a long time.It was possible to identify most of the people depicted in the portraits by using comparable iconographic material and a catalogue of the Museum of Antiquities (then reconstructed and incorporated as part of the Vilnius Public Library) compiled by Flavian Dobriansky. These people were high officials who acted as policy makers in Tsarist Russia and their names are found again and again in the history of Lithuania in the second half of the 19th century. In the article, the author gives a detailed discussion of the collection and provides imporrant information on the history of the Museum of Antiquities