The Old Drawing Room

Next to the Ball Room, a Drawing Room was arranged for relaxation and conversations. Charles Cameron decorated it in 1784, in the same style as the neighboring hall. They are alike in the delicate pastel colors of the walls and the exquisite molding of the doorways and rosettes of the plafonds. Two Italian modeling masters, Antonio Bernasconi and Domenico Felice Lamoni, performed finishing works in Cameron's team. According to the inventory of 1801, the walls were covered by silk wallpaper with a colored border. After the fire of 1803, Andrey Voronikhin left the decoration intact, but expanded the window openings, as it was done in many interiors of the first floor to enhance the light flow. At the request of the Empress, the fireplace was moved from the east side to the south, for which it was necessary to break through the masonry in the walls through all the floors. The walls of the Drawing Room were upholstered in green taffeta with a colored border.

In 1824, the Drawing Room was connected to the Ball Room by a large arch, most likely, upon the project of Carlo Rossi. The newly created interior was used as a dining room. In 1858, under Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolaevich, there was a Reception Room with his personal study located in the former Billiards Room. During the restoration of the palace in the post-war period, the interior was recreated in the state of the late 18th century, based on archival inventories: the paintings commissioned by Pavel Petrovich and Maria Fedorovna during the trip abroad were placed on the silk-clad walls. In 2015–2016, during the restoration of the entire complex of living rooms of the central building, the decor of the walls of the Old Drawing Room was changed with the maximum approximation to the historical decoration of the end of the 18th century. Recreated was the delicate pastel coloring of the walls, characteristic of Cameron, in pink-blue and pistachio shades. A bronze gilded chandelier with crystal decor harmonizes with the artistic solution of the interior decoration (Saint Petersburg, the late 18th century) and a patterned French carpet (the early 19th century).

The main decoration of the Old Drawing Room is the picturesque masterpieces brought by the owners of Pavlovsk from their famous foreign trip. While in Paris, Pavel Petrovich and Maria Fyodorovna visited not only the studio of Hubert Robert but also his older confrere in the art, the famous marine painter Claude Joseph Vernet, commissioning him to write four marine paintings. However, the artist painted only one picture: Shipwreck. Of all the artist's great oeuvre, it is the largest painting; being saturated with color effects, the ongoing drama is additionally enhanced. In addition to the commission, Pavel Petrovich bought several more paintings from Claude Joseph Vernet. One of them, A Rocky Landscape with a Cascade, is placed on the opposite wall.

Next to the landscape by Vernet is the painting View of the City of Rome from the Park of Villa Conti in Frascati by Jakob Philipp Hackert. This German artist spent most of his life in Italy. Being in Rome, Pavel Petrovich visited Hackert's workshop, commissioning him to do four landscapes of the Roman Campagna, which later became part of the decoration of Pavlovsk. In the 1930s, three paintings of the series were taken away to the Hermitage and only one remained in Pavlovsk. During the war, it was not evacuated and was stolen. After the war, the painting was discovered in Germany and returned to Pavlovsk. Now, it holds its historical place.

The Old Drawing Room has a unique furniture set of carved gilded wood in the style of Louis XVI; during their stay in France, the owners of Pavlovsk commissioned it in the workshop of Henri Jacob. Henri Jacob received the status of a royal furniture maker and began working for Queen Marie Antoinette, in particular, for her palace in the Little Trianon. It was the queen who recommended the master to Maria Feodorovna, for whom he made several sets of sitting furniture and separate sets of chairs. The set of the Drawing Room was done in 1784, the sofas and armchairs are upholstered in silk faille with authentic tambour embroidery. The embroideries were made in Lyon per the drawings of Pierre Ranson. Until 1803, the set was in the Greek Hall, then in the Large State Dining Room. During the war, it was evacuated and saved. However, the silk of the upholstery was cut and worn. In the 1980–1990s, they were restored: authentic embroidery of the 18th century was transferred to the new silk, identical in quality to the previous upholstery.

In the 18th century, during festive evenings and receptions for a small select society, they not only danced and played music, but also played charades and, especially, cards. Following the European fashion, they were fond of such card games as Whist, Ombre, Boston, Backgammon. To the right of the sofa is an open card-table (Saint Petersburg, 1790) with mother-of-pearl chips and game brushes (Austria, the 18th century) with indispensable chalks.

Decorative round tables were characteristic of the decoration of the living rooms, often used as stands for elegant table decorations. On the table near the right window, there is a spherical jasper vase made in 1807 at the Peterhof Lapidary Factory and presented to Empress Maria Feodorovna on October 14 of the same year, for her birthday. To the left of the sofa, there is a tripod table of gilded bronze with a tabletop of green marble with light veins, which was called Verdantik (from “verde antico”). Under the hood, there is a small bronze sculpture A Kiss, based on the model of Clodion, the famous French sculptor of the 18th century and a brilliant master of small plastic arts.

In the interior of the Drawing Room, you can see first-class artistic bronze works (France, the 18th century), significant acquisitions of which were made during the reign of Emperor Paul I. On the carved gilded console between the windows, there is a set of two candelabra and the clock Diana made of gilded and patinated bronze (Paris, workshop of R. Robin, the 1780s). On the opposite wall on the mantelpiece, there are bronze gilded candelabra in the form of two female figures holding a bouquet of lilies and roses (Paris, the 1770s, per the model of Étienne Maurice Falconet). Between them is the mantel clock Allegory of Sciences and Arts (Paris, the 1790s). The allegories are embodied by female figures of patinated bronze sitting on the sides of the column that holds the dial. On the pedestal of the column, there is a relief overlay made of gilded bronze representing the cupids' studies in arts and science.

On the sides of the fireplace, small glazed cabinets display various souvenirs belonging to Maria Feodorovna. The right one holds Sevres porcelain products: cups, craft shuttles, and a biscuit porcelain bust of Queen Marie Antoinette. There are also elegant two cups with portraits of Pavel Petrovich and his bride, Princess Sofia Dorothea of Württemberg, on a figured tray, a gift from King Frederick II of Prussia. The left one holds mother-of-pearl wares, including a needlework box, a gift from Maria Feodorovna's daughter Maria Pavlovna, Duchess of Saxe-Weimar (Austria, Vienna, the early 19th century).