A unique painting was found under fourteen layers of paint in the Bakhrushin estate

Restorers promise to restore the original appearance of the dining room of the old house

The Bakhrushin Museum shared with MK an interesting story showing what discoveries are made in the process of restoration of ancient buildings. Craftsmen working at the estate of Alexey Alexandrovich Bakhrushin “looked into the past” of the house of the famous merchant-philanthropist and collector of theatrical antiquities. This happened when they removed fourteen (!) layers of paint from the walls of the dining room – under the centuries-old “growth” a painting in the form of a thistle was discovered. Museum workers immediately understood: this is the same silver stencil painting, supposedly created by the artist Sergei Yaguzhinsky at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

The painting was discovered during probing – a trial layer-by-layer clearing with a scalpel, from which such work begins. “Restoration artists clear away the historical layer, clearing it not only of subsequent painting, but also of darkened varnish. Then the plaster and painting are restored within the limits of loss,” explains restorer Victoria Yakovleva.

Yakovleva found in the Russian State Archive of Literature and Art records of a student of Yaguzhinsky who made stencils for painting. Based on these “sources”, as well as historical photographs, the original appearance of the room was reconstructed. Some of the decorative elements, such as friezes with ornaments, did not survive, but were recreated.

In 2024, the Bakhrushinsky museum and theater quarter will be opened in Moscow – on this day, the Bakhrushin house-museum, built in 1896, will appear before visitors as a modern and at the same time historically accurate object.

Let us also recall that the Faceted Dining Room, decorated so carefully, was no accident for Alexei Alexandrovich. When he donated his museum to Russia (represented by the Academy of Sciences) in 1913, the solemn ceremony took place here, and great people of that time came to it, including the crowned person – Grand Duke Konstantin Romanov.