Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 14 014 Since there are products, there are naturally customers and sales channels (Part 2)

The idea is good, but because of the joining of Count Bobulinsky, his idea is Moscow and St. Petersburg, but at present, he can only take care of one side. While the manpower is limited, the nobles in St. Petersburg are obviously more capable of spending.

Although Mrs. Lebrun has received invitations from Moscow, she mainly deals with orders from St. Petersburg. Her portrait painting skills are indeed very good. The Russian royal family still likes her painting skills. She is also very popular among the nobles. In addition, her personal royalist views and the experience of Queen Marie always bring a lot of sympathetic voices.

So she has been in St. Petersburg so far. It is more convenient for the Russian royal family to summon her at 7 Million Street. In fact, she is also a way to pass on messages. Whether it is an older lady or a young lady, there must always be some activities there.

With Solovyov's current energy, the people he personally contacts are probably these, which is enough.

The site generously provided by Count Bobulinsky, no matter in which era, to build a factory, it always needs to be surveyed, mapped and completed with drawings, and then construction can be carried out.

The Count has something to do, and asked Duke Volkonsky for his adjutant to help. In fact, it is nothing. After all, Duke Dmitry Volkonsky himself has nothing to do in Petersburg. After Marshal Suvorov was sent back to his estate in Novgorod, several veterans of the Empress' era were also exiled and returned to their hometowns one after another, or retired to their estates with more honors. Times have changed.

The count was very much favored by his brother. Tsar Paul's feelings towards his mother were actually very complicated. He did not have much hostility towards this brother who looked a little spirited. Although he was the illegitimate son of Grigoriy Grigorievich Orlov, one of the murderers of his father, and his surname was derived from a village of Orlov's fiefdom, he rewarded him with the palace and manor left by his biological father, and gave him a lot of freedom in many aspects. Whether he borrowed a general's adjutant or did something, there was always a lot of room.

So Solovyov took a carriage and went to his Upper Palen Manor with the count to carry out the preliminary planning and design work. As for the construction, the count would find someone else.

Mrs. Le Brun had to complete the order of Countess Skafronskaya at No. 7 Million Street, and she had to wait for the summons of the Russian royal family at any time. Although the portraits of Tsar Paul and the two grand dukes were generally taken care of by specialized people, the royal women still welcomed Mrs. Le Brun's arrival.

And if you want to bring goods, in fact, although Mikhail Dolgorukov said it well, these young people have to serve. Although they may not always be in the barracks, they still have work to do. That is, Peter, who is not dared to be ordered by many people as an adjutant, has more time, but he will also accept various orders and tasks.

Mrs. Le Brun and her daughter Julie can often go in and out of the palace. Although there are entourages around, the lady still prefers to take her daughter to the Russian court and accept the summons of the queen or other ladies in the Winter Palace. She also undertakes many tasks.

In fact, there are some other voices in the royal family, mainly from the deceased queen. She has some opinions on Mrs. Le Brun’s artificial artistic style and painting methods, and even thinks that her granddaughters are

Well, although the queen herself supports art, she thinks that Mrs. Le Brun is like "monkeying". Although the grand duchess she painted is very cute, it can't change the old lady's own ideas.

A few days after Prince Saltykov's salon ended, Mrs. Le Brun was summoned by the royal family again. This time it was the Crown Princess (officially the Grand Duchess) Louisa of Baden, who was called Elizabeth Alexeevna in Russia. In fact, her father was Karl Ludwig of Baden.

She came from Baden, a small country among the German princes. It was originally just a German princedom, and later upgraded to a grand duchy. Until her grandfather Karl Frederick, the country's income was very low, and the princes had different ways to generate income for their families. When all the members of Hesse were in the army, the princes of Baden had been trying to marry their daughters. In some places such as Mecklenburg and Brunswick, all the nobles went out to serve as officers.

No wonder you can see so many Germans in Russia, but the lovely girls are an exception.

Mrs. Lebrun did bring things that she had agreed to bring into the palace with Soloviev, Count Bobrinsky, and Countess Skafronskaya. These early products were all made by Uncle Sergei, the loyal old servant of the Soloviev family. Although he was actually free, he still preferred to be with the young master. After all, unlike some poor peasant serfs, he was not only free, but also had two sons and three daughters. A free man had to save dowries for his children. Even if the young master was generous and paid enough wages, he had to calculate the amount.

So he made it by hand, and he was always very careful. He also added a layer of lacquer on the outside, which was a very bright sky blue. After Mrs. Lebrun got it, she fiddled with a sample in her hands for a long time. Some cheerful colors are easy to attract women's attention.

These things were packed in the small toolbox that Julie was holding. After arriving at the palace, she always had to wait for a while. However, although the Russian court had a lot of red tape, it was better than the French court before. Although there, the queen might prefer Mrs. Lebrun, but there was no less trouble.

Here, what needed to be done was to wait, because Grand Duchess Elizabeth was always quiet and even a little depressed recently. She always needed some time to prepare and dress up.

She rarely showed her melancholy appearance in the bedroom. Sometimes she had to hide her problems in front of her husband and lived a repressed life. However, if people saw it, they might think of such a pitiful and lovely woman.

What Mrs. Lebrun saw was usually the Grand Duchess who was carefully dressed up. After some makeup, she looked the same as when she fled to St. Petersburg, the lovely Psyche. No wonder her mother-in-law always had some restrictions on her.

When the female painter was summoned to the palace, it was one of the few happy moments after she got married. After all, Mrs. Le Brun and her daughter could talk to her more and were very happy.

Being a daughter-in-law of the Russian royal family was the hardest job after being a daughter-in-law of the Habsburgs. Although she might lose her life in France, before the Revolution, these French husbands had many lovers outside, but they still had to treat the one at home well.

Although Catherine II liked her very much, now that the old lady was gone, she would be suppressed by her mother-in-law. Under some influences, even Paul, who was very satisfied with his daughter-in-law and gave her some rewards from time to time, seemed to have changed his attitude recently.

The cause was probably that the unstable King of Sweden began to propose to her sister Frederica again. If it was just a regret, it would be fine, but Gustav IV found Baden. Queen Maria, who was jealous of her daughter-in-law's favor in front of Queen Catherine, began to question her now. It was naturally difficult for the Grand Duchess who was alone here. This is what happened not long ago.

After carefully looking at Elizabeth's makeup, Mrs. Le Brun could actually detect it.

"Vous vous maquillez, Votre Altesse, mais cela ne peut cacher votre visage hagard." (Your Highness, you put on makeup, but it can't cover up your haggard face.)

But there are some things that Grand Duchess Elizabeth can't tell the other Elizabeth. The current owner of the court is Queen Maria. If Paul hadn't been a diligent tsar, this lady would probably want to learn from her mother-in-law.

Fortunately, Solovyov was not in the court, otherwise his complaints would have earned him a ticket to visit his hometown of Arkhangelsk. You know, this grenadier lieutenant had already been sharp once before, but he fought back against the hated Princess Saltykov for his stepmother. Even the prince himself was beaten up by his wife at home, and he secretly felt "too good" on this issue, but the queen was different. Complaining about this narrow-minded queen who pretended to be pious could kill people.

"Merci, Madame Le Brun, you are the main tenant, you have been here since the day, I am here with you." (Thank you, Madame Le Brun, I am fine now. We agreed to have you here today.)

Mrs. Le Brun came here to paint the portrait of the Grand Duchess. Alexandra and Elena were very satisfied with the portraits she painted for the two Grand Duchesses last year. Except that they looked a bit like each other, they looked like they were beautified, but not as vivid as the paintings by the Russian court painters before.

However, it was another scene for Grand Duchess Elizabeth, because she was a recognized beauty. Even when she just married to Russia, Count Platon Zubov, the lover and favorite of Catherine II, had madly pursued Louisa, who was only 15 years old at the time. This sounds unreasonable, but she is indeed the kind of quiet and taciturn beauty, and she is also very smart and considerate.

Although she was relaxed at this time, she looked sad. In the past two years, when Mrs. Lebrun and Julie came to the palace to create for the royal family, Julie's funny faces could make her laugh, but today she seemed unable to laugh.

But Mrs. Lebrun also understood people's hearts. She knew that the Grand Duchess was in a bad mood, so she didn't ask her to put on a fake smile, which would make the character's face stiff. Instead, she asked Julie to take a red pillow and put it under the Grand Duchess's arms.

"Cet oreiller est doux comme un gteau et très confortable, Luise." (This pillow is as soft as a cake, very comfortable, Louise)

In front of this mother and daughter, it seems that the Grand Duchess doesn't pay much attention to the rules of the palace, and she has never made many demands on people. The servants in the palace are actually more willing to let her be the master, treat others generously, and seldom use them. People, the most troublesome thing is actually the queen. The princess is also a princess from the German princes. The difference in life should not be too big. When she was in Gatchina, she was just a servant. When the queen died, other problems were added.

Elizabeth was quieter and more docile than usual as Madame Le Brun sat here, which was more comfortable for her, and Madame Le Brun asked Julie to recommend something new to her while her makeup was being touched up.

"Luise, tu peux peut-être essayer ceci, un eye-liner, pour rendre tes yeux plus brillants."

"Merci."

There may be nothing else to the Grand Duchess. After tracing it a few times like this, when she looked in the mirror, it was probably more of the psychological effect of Julie talking to her, and she looked a little better. This made the Grand Duchess She was intrigued and accepted the eyeliner, but she also gave Madame Le Brun and Julie an extra treat.

"Julie, these silver earrings are for you."

"Madame Le Brun, voici pour vous un chapeau, comme celui de votre autoportrait, mais plus orné." (Madame Le Brun, this is for you, a hat like the one in your self-portrait, more ornate. .)

Although her natal family was not well-off, she did not spend much in the palace, but when it came to giving rewards, she was actually very attentive.

Because a straw hat appeared in Madame Le Brun's past self-portraits, and at one stage it was an important element in her own creation.

Although the Grand Duchess did not speak much, she was still very attentive when preparing rewards and gifts.

Madam Lebrun also knew that the Grand Duchess was very satisfied today. After they left, several Grand Duchess came over to chat with their sisters-in-law. Although they are not very good mothers-in-law, there were still many words between the several sisters-in-law and their sisters-in-law. of.

Even for looks, everyone likes to be with good-looking people. Calling Louisa of Baden Psyche is actually not a friendly thing to her. This is reminiscent of the Greek-Roman mythology. Second creation, the love story of Eros (Cupid) and Psyche, Psyche’s beauty is more respected than loved

Of course, the Grand Duchess were also chirping, and the older Alexandra and Elena also heard the story of the prince's wife being deflated. For the old woman who looked like a witch and spoke sharply, Alexandra, who had always been quiet and liked to write poetry, would inevitably want to use some words to ridicule the old woman.

"It's a great place to be, it's a great place to be" 'était pas surprenant. C'était dégotant. Vieille femme, elle veut toujours utiliser un peu de magie noire, et puis elleéchoue, hahaha" (A witch who wanted to use magic to humiliate a lady to be married, and then was killed by a young officer. Sorry, I am today. I really can’t tell. It’s not surprising what happened to the prince’s wife. She was an annoying old woman. She always wanted to use some black magic and then failed, hahaha)

The atmosphere was quite cheerful. In French, ha may be pronounced as a, but it was difficult for Alexandra to remain reserved. She started to cover her face with a fan and started laughing wildly. The two younger sisters Elena and Maria who were seated also laughed too, and then Elizabeth also chuckled, filling the air with joy.

As for the next step, Elena, who still likes painting, discovered that her sister-in-law looked in good condition today. And what is the reason, naturally it is also a little makeup skills.

Well, that's probably it. The Grand Duchess was unusually happy today. She even got together with her sisters-in-law and mingled with each other again. It seemed as if the humiliation of regretting the marriage that Alexandra suffered when they were engaged did not exist.

The Swedish man had a change of heart, was capricious, and would eventually lose his throne.

Gustav IV not only broke off his engagement, but also offended the entire Russian royal family, which angered the Empress to death and made Paul and the Queen extremely angry. The two Grand Dukes were indignant about the humiliation suffered by their sister. The Grand Duchess was innocent, and several older female Grand Duchesses were all drawing circles to curse the Swedish king.