The Dressing Room of Maria Feodorovna

This small room completes the Southern Suite of rooms of Empress Maria Feodorovna. Designed by Charles Cameron, it was symmetrical to the Dressing Room of Paul I in the Northern Suite. In 1797–99, during the construction and design of new state halls in the southern semicircle, the architect Vincenzo Brenna completely redesigned the Dressing Room, turning it 180 degrees, while retaining the same character of decoration. The coffered vault is decorated with stucco rosettes and picturesque garlands of roses. In the lunettes of the vault, there are three allegorical compositions: The Triumph of Venus, The Toilet of Venus, and The Court of Paris, which were done by the court artist Johann Jakob Mettenleiter (recreated by A. V. Treskin in 1967). The walls are decorated with mural landscapes of Pavlovsk Park on dry plaster. On the left is The Grand Cascade by Andrey Martynov, on the right is The Valley of the Slavyanka River with the Temple of Friendship" by Giovanni Battista Scotti. After the war, the frescoes were fixed and restored, filling up the losses. In the rectangular frames of the walls, among the decorative stucco ornaments, there are bas-reliefs on the motifs of ancient mythology: large square works by Ivan Prokofiev (1797–1799), small rectangular ones by Ivan Terebenyov (1804). After the war, new castings from restored originals were installed in the walls.

Behind the glazed door on the end wall of the southern semicircle, you can see a fresco depicting an architectural perspective. It was done in 1807 by the decorator Pietro Gonzaga. This is the only surviving fresco from his numerous works in Pavlovsk. In the late 19th century, it was painted over, which contributed to its conservation to some extent. After the war, it was cleared and the paint layer was fixed. In 2012, a second serious restoration was carried out.

In the decoration of the Dressing Room, a unique steel vanity should be specially noted, consisting of a table with a mirror, compact vases, candlesticks, as well as a chair and a bench. The items are decorated with silver and gold notches and thousands of details, forged and faceted to resemble “steel diamonds”. The toilet was made in 1787 by the Tula master-gunsmith S. Samarin. Catherine II purchased it as a gift to Maria Feodorovna. There are console tables with marble tabletops (Russia, the 1790s) near the walls. They have Chinese porcelain vases of the 18th century on them. Chairs of carved wood with white paint and gilding in the style of Louis XVI were made in the workshop of Henri Jacob in 1782 and brought from the trip. On the chairs, there is upholstery that is quite fashionable for the time; it is made of calico with a printed pattern at the German manufactory of Mulhausen.

An elegant marble fireplace complements the decoration of the room. On the fireplace, there is a set of clocks and candelabra of French work of the 18th century made of gilded and patinated bronze, as well as a set of decorative vases made of fluorite with bronze by Matthew Boulton, the English master of the 18th century. In front of the fireplace is a mahogany screen (Russia, the late 18th century) with an insert on a pastoral plot (France, the 18th century, painted on velvet). In the corners to the right and left of the fireplace, there are elegant gilded bronze tables of the 18th century of French and Austrian work. The chandelier in the form of a fountain with a rod of painted milk glass was made in Saint Petersburg by the master Johannes Zech in the 1790s.