In the history of world art, Prince Paolo Troubetzkoy (1866–1938) has a special niche of an impressionist sculptor endowed with an authentic and ingenious gift. In an equal measure, his oeuvre belongs to Russia, the homeland to his ancestors, and to Italy, where he was born, evolved as an artist and lived a larger part of his life.
All in all, about 80 works will be demonstrated: 20 will be contributed from the State Tretyakov Gallery collection, and a number of significant pieces executed in Russia will come from the State Russian Museum. Nearly half of the exhibits, or 40 portraits, statuettes, compositions, will be contributed by Moscow collector D.M. Yakobashvili. Those are works made in France, Italy and the U.S.
Moscow museum patrons and art specialists will see a large portion of exhibits from that collection for the first time. Among its masterpieces there is a portrait of Bernard Shaw, portrait statuettes of Giacomo Puccini, Auguste Rodin and other luminaries. The gem of the Yakobashvili collection is the portrait of the sculptor’s wife, Elin Troubetzkoy, known in a single copy.