The Boudoir

According to the established tradition, in the women's half, the boudoir was always located next to the bedroom. This small room is distinguished by a variety of decorative design, which gives the visitor an infinite variety of visual impressions. Charles Cameron designed the layout of the room in the 1780s, and its decoration was completed by Vincenzo Brenna in 1791. At the request of the owners of Pavlovsk, Brenna included in the interior design decorative and artistic objects they brought from the foreign trip: reliefs, columns, and pilasters. On the central wall, there is a two-column portico: antique porphyry columns frame a marble fireplace with a mirror niche, in which the details of artistic decoration are refracted. The walls are decorated with marble pilasters painted with Arabesque ornaments imitating the paintings of Raphael's loggias in the Vatican. Each wall is a kind of decorative panel. In the center of each such panel, in an octagonal niche-frame, antique marble reliefs are placed: Portrait of a Roman (the 1st century CE) and Rural Herm (the 2nd century CE) (to the right and left of the fireplace), and two 18th-century Italian medallions with portraits of Alexander the Great and his mother Olympia (to the right and left of the glazed door). Here's what Maria Feodorovna wrote in 1795: “My boudoir has an oblong shape, the plafond is painted with arabesques in a vault, the walls with marble pilasters are painted with arabesques; four marble bas-reliefs, a beautiful cornice, a beautiful fireplace is placed in a depression in the apse of a kind, its dome and the pediment resting on two pillars of porphyry; the fireplace garniture is made of porphyry and jasper, and a large marble vase stands in the alcove of the apse". Between the pilasters, picturesque compositions depicting famous monuments of India are also included. They are copies of color engravings by famous English artists William and Thomas Daniell. The exquisite painting of the pilasters combines a picturesque frieze and, particularly, the painting of paduga, where four landscapes with ruins Four Times of the Day are painted directly on the plaster among intricate arabesques. Fantasies with ancient ruins under different lighting conditions during the day were extremely fashionable in the art of the late 18th century. A new artistic taste brought by the owners of Pavlovsk from the trip to Europe found a vivid embodiment in the decorative interior design.

The fireplace with porphyry columns is the center of the composition. After the restoration and partial reconstruction, the large marble vase returned to its historical place. On the mantelpiece, there are vases and obelisks of colored stone (Western Europe, the 1780s) and French candelabra of gilded bronze (the late 18th century). In front of the fireplace is a masterpiece of Russian porcelain: the round table with a porcelain top depicting views of Pavlovsk (Saint Petersburg, Imperial Porcelain Manufactory, 1789). The decorative details of the table legs are Vestal figures made of white glazed porcelain, made according to the models of the factory's model master Jean-Domenicus Rachette. The table was made for Pavlovsk and is located in its historical place. Between the table and the fireplace, there is a floor incense burner vase in the form of a tripod made of different varieties of European marble (Italy, B. Ferrero, the 1780s). This is a gift to Pavel Petrovich from the King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia. To the left of the fireplace, against the wall, there is a small piano in a marquetry case. It was commissioned by Catherine II in London in 1774 and made based on drawings by the English architect Robert Adam. In the corner between the piano and the fireplace, there is a marble group Cupid and Psyche brought from the trip (Italy, Carlo Albacini, ca. 1780, copy of the ancient original). To the right of the fireplace is a porcelain clock vase set in bronze (clockmaker Louis-Jean Laguesse). The ensemble includes two candelabra (on the consoles on the opposite side). The ensemble was made in France at the Sevres Porcelain Manufactory in the 1790s, bronze by the workshop of Pierre-Philippe Thomire.

On the other side, opposite the window, there is a desk decorated with a vase clock with a rotating dial, and four candlesticks in the form of vases (France, master Pierre Denizeau, the late 18th century). At the table, there is a chair with armrests in the form of winged sphinxes, made specifically for the Boudoir following the project of Andrey Voronikhin. Originally, two rosewood ladies' secretaries with inserts of Sevres porcelain painted with flowers stood against the walls, facing each other. They were sold in 1932. Now, their place is occupied by similar-sized mahogany secretaries (Germany, master David Roentgen, the 1780s). On the left secretary are the clock Mars (France, the late 18th century) and two bronze statuettes, A Girl with a Nest and A Boy with a Bird (Italy, per the model of Carlo Albacini, the 1780s).

The Boudoir is located in the center of the southern facade of the palace, and from the balcony window, the prospect of the main alley of the Private Garden opens, leading to the Pavilion of the Three Graces. Maria Fedorovna purchased the window drapery with a border of iris flowers in France, at the famous Lyon silk manufactory. The carved gilded stools were originally upholstered with the same silk.

After the fire of 1803, Voronikhin preserved the decoration of Vincenzo Brenna intact. The sculptural overdoors were added: groups of cupids by the sculptor Mikhail Aleksandrov-Uvazhny. Following the Voronikhin's drawings, a new set of furniture was made (one chair survived), as well as a yellow-green glass lamp in the form of an antique oil lamp.

During the fire of 1944, the pilasters were burned, the painting of the ceiling was lost, the molding on the walls and cornice was damaged, as well as the design of the fireplace. The interior was recreated in 1967 following the project of S. V. Popova-Gunich, the stucco decor by I. I. Kalugin, the paintings of the walls, the ceiling, the arches on marble, artificial marble, and plaster were made by a group of artists following the sketches and under the direction of A. V. Treskin.