Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 453 030 Artwork Purchases for Soloviev's New Home

It's OK to play with Maria. If she was still a child, it would be OK if she was kissed or kissed on her own initiative. Now the situation is different.

Now she is married to Saxe-Weimar. When Soloviev and Louisa went to bed, they were more or less in love, and they all knew that some things could only be done quietly. But Maria, after all, is the emperor's sister, and there is nothing wrong with a little ambiguity. If it goes a step further, it is obvious that she has this intention.

Especially leaning in his arms like this, although Maria's appearance is relatively backward among the sisters, she does have a good figure, which can be felt because the two are so close.

In general, it is so big.

Soloviev's data needs to be updated. Even though Maria is already a mother, she is still that child in his mind. It's just that because of genetic factors and habit problems, her butt is a little bigger than her sisters.

This may be a good body shape for childbirth. Although little Katya has a good figure, he cannot "check" it because of the age difference.

If such a young lady takes the initiative, it is still hard to resist.

In Europe, sometimes it is so troublesome.

And Maria is also very young. She has just turned 21 and is even full of youth.

But don't mention those hateful Austrian painters to her. The effect of the painting makes her face look very old.

In addition, there is also a very dangerous thing that Solovyov has always tended to ignore. Although under the advocacy of the Empress Dowager and the popularity of the empire skirt, corsets have bid farewell to most parts of Russia, but women's clothes are still very convenient for doing those things.

After coming here for a long time, it is indeed easy to forget that he even imported silk and finished products from Italy and sold nightgowns and various lining petticoats to ladies in St. Petersburg. He also has a business partner in this business, which is Maria's aunt.

But Maria didn't want to go further. She wasn't as lustful as Silvia and Polina. Kissing was just ambiguous at most. She was the most proactive among the sisters.

But considering that she was sometimes careless and tomboyish, if it wasn't for the fact that she put more effort into music and dance to make her look more ladylike, she would have hidden some of her "nature".

"Okay, Mishka, that's it. We will each go back to our rooms quietly. I'll go back to take care of the children, and what are you going to do?"

"Sleep."

She was too proactive, which made Solovyov feel a little tricky.

After all, Louisa was more gentle and considerate, and now he had to be more careful.

In the future, if you are not careful, it will be a small matter to overturn the car and Shura field.

Fortunately, although Maria was proactive and difficult to deal with, she was easy to serve. Pulling and kissing could satisfy her.

It will take some time to live in the Jelgava Palace. After knowing that he was here, there were indeed letters from Petersburg.

Recently, Belzoni, whom he hired, returned to St. Petersburg from Ryazan. His main responsibility was the construction of his manor.

Before going to war, Solovyov had some ideas about the decoration plan, and he also told his family.

Although the Rococo style is more girly, this manor is used to marry a wife, so naturally the woman's requirements must be taken into consideration.

Little Katya's requirements in this regard are surprisingly not high. Although she comes from a famous family, her personal requirements for life are very simple. Since her brother Mishka arranged the decoration of the new home in this way before getting married, she couldn't raise any opinions.

Speaking of which, this child is really suitable to appear at home as a housewife, and she is also enthusiastic about charity.

She has a small wish, which is to build an orphanage after marriage to take care of those helpless women and adopt orphans or children whose parents are unable to raise them.

This is easier to satisfy, if it is to restore history.

She was finally buried in the crypt of her own workhouse, but with the changes of the times in Petrograd-Leningrad and St. Petersburg, the original workhouse has become a warehouse.

In this letter, Belzoni mentioned that the future wife was more concerned about the workhouse, and did not make any requirements for the decoration of the house. It was only on the issue of decorative artworks that the Italian was now in trouble.

He had some ability to identify artworks in the monastery in the past, and now he wanted to purchase some paintings and statues, so he naturally had to ask for opinions.

Belzoni only knew the boss's business skills, and did not know his hobby for artworks, that is, he was very interested in Mrs. Lebrun's parent-child paintings.

In addition, some men always have some special needs, such as Rubens, who was admired by Mrs. Lebrun, even if he painted girls, they were full of power.

As for mythology, there are always some people who want to read it. And unlike the third edition of The Sun, this can be considered art. The problem of art is not a big problem.

Soloviev has heard many strange stories from Julie, such as a Polish prince who had to dress up as Cupid to be a model, but he still had to wear underwear.

Of course, Julie was her mother's favorite model, and even her bathing posture had to be drawn.

However, in Mrs. Le Brun's paintings, Julie was also painted as very smart.

And this kind of art is not easy to acquire in Italy and France. After all, Napoleon passed by the places where he passed by. Although he was not a veteran soldier like Massena who robbed money, food and women, he had a high ability to identify art.

Many precious Italian artworks were "collected" to France. Many of them became private collections, and some were sold publicly in exchange for funds.

Napoleon knew the secret of freeloading. He forced Spain to be a sucker, gave Louisiana to France, and sold it to the Americans.

Speaking of which, this transaction was not legal. If you look into it, if the Vienna system really cares about it.

That is, the United States is too far away, and there is nothing valuable on the Great Plains.

However, it is not known whether European countries will regret selling to Americans, and the local Indians are afraid that they will be unlucky.

But Spain's freeloading reminded Solovyov that there must be a lot of art there.

If the Peninsular War breaks out, a large number of fine works of art will certainly be lost from there.

If they fall into the hands of the British, they really don't know how to appreciate them, and they are used to plundering.

If it is the French, although they are also cultural relic thieves, the French are more knowledgeable and are still elegant thieves, better than the British who don't distinguish between good and bad, and even shape the appearance of the building according to their own ideas, and plunder reliefs and various cultural relics.

That is really a waste of natural resources. Even Russia hopes to understand the matter to some extent, and it is still research after stealing.

When it comes to the Germans, there are even very moral "thieves" who advise their companions not to steal those precious murals.

As for the looters of the Temple of Athena, the arsonists of the Old Summer Palace, the creators of the Bengal Great Eating, Lord Elgin and his family, they are insects among British insects.

The British nowadays are more or less good at maintaining their reputation. The local gentlemen are not willing to be thieves like this, and they are quite critical of the plunder of old Elgin.

But Solovyov, when it comes to art transactions, France can no longer be counted on.

He calculated his own property and found that under his father's management, although he was not very rich in Petersburg, after some comparison, at least in the countryside of Ryazan, the Solovyov family was still a noble family with a very good family background.

Although these people with titles are not as rich as many families, they do have a lot of property.

Aniya of the Orlov family, her father is still alive, and the property left to this only daughter in marriage is 3 million rubles, which has been notarized, and has Alexander's endorsement and seal.

Considering that among the tangible assets of this Orlov, the most valuable of her family's collection is undoubtedly the breeding of the Orlov trotter horse, which makes cultural things look inconspicuous.

Besides, the five brothers of the Orlov family did not have any advantage in culture. Their wealth was all based on the favor and trust of the empress, and the byproduct was the huge wealth and Maria's uncle Alexei.

The property of the Solovyov family is currently estimated at 2 million rubles.

At that time, my grandfather obtained 400,000 rubles through smuggling and corruption, which almost cost Peter the Great his life. This time, my father relied on patents, operating rights and equity to make the family property reach 5 times the peak period.

Although the times have changed, some artworks can also be purchased. Belzoni is really more suitable for this.

You know, Belzoni became famous in history for his expedition in Egypt. Although he destroyed more things, he found a lot of things in the temples and valleys, and also discovered a huge temple.

Let him buy art collections for his employer, and finally the negative effect has turned into a positive effect.

Anyway, Solovyov has always been fair in doing things, and he also considers that he has to pay.

When Napoleon was involved in a huge chaos in Spain because of the intervention of the Spanish Bourbon idiots, it would be very troublesome.

However, Soloviev was also quite tasteful. Now he could easily buy a lot of artworks that would become very famous in the future at a relatively low price.

For example, "Venus Dressing", although it has been hidden from the world for a long time after the painting was completed, it is also a famous collection of the Spanish royal family.

In addition to this, there are other precious artworks.

In this regard, he can probably only be regarded as a hobby, and he bought those statues from Peter the Great. At that time, the nobles and civilians of the Orthodox faith were still quite resistant.

Now more than 80 years have passed, and French culture has been accepted. Those paintings that were unacceptable in the past are now all works of art. Can the problem of art be called immoral?

Soloviev also did some research. Mrs. Lebrun once explained to him some typical characteristics of painters from the 17th century to the early 18th century.

Speaking of which, let alone private courses, it is difficult for art academies to hear what Mrs. Lebrun taught in person.

It was a reward for saving Julie's marriage, and some paintings of great value were indeed mentioned.

Julie's father was, after all, a famous art connoisseur and buyer of the Bourbon dynasty, and he was quite familiar with the situation in Paris and Madrid.

In this regard, Solovyov also felt it necessary to teach Belzoni.

On the one hand, he went to London. If there were some artworks to be sold in London, Belzoni would buy them there.

In addition, when he went to Madrid, he could also inquire through some connections.

Although Russia and France were at war, in Spain, diplomats from both sides could still contact each other, and the relationship was not bad.

From Madrid, he could contact Mr. Lebrun's friends and put forward this request.

Solovyov knew very well that although Alexander agreed with his strategy in principle, the Prussian king's performance caused the plan, which still had a chance of winning, to fail, and the war would almost end in the summer.

At this time, since he was in the winter camp, he could still do some private business.

Before the Bayonne conspiracy, there was no obstruction from Madrid to Moscow, and this distance was enough to build three lines of defense in the Kursk salient.

As for the situation of some paintings and sculptures, he also decided to give Belzoni such an instruction.

In addition to the Rococo style decoration, Solovyov also hoped to dress his wife with exquisite jewelry when getting married.

However, he looked disgusted with diamonds, but proposed to purchase some gemstone necklaces.

After replying to the letter, he also attached the list.

In addition to these, if possible, he could also go to France to deliver the letter to Paulina and Sylvia.

However, considering the bad relationship between Paulina and Aunt Josephine, he only talked about some problems and sent greetings to his lover and children.

Personal problems are almost done now, and he has to focus more on military affairs.

It's not for other reasons. The Russian army's logistics lines still need to be improved. In addition to the Baltic coast, there is also the line from Smolensk to Brest.

The Russian army's storage is no longer a problem, and a large amount of supplies can be accumulated.

But the dispatch to the front line has always been a difficult problem.

In addition to the quartermaster general, as the chief of staff, he really needs to make a good distribution.

The Guards also have to come to the battlefield. In addition, there are also supplementary soldiers and legions. This project is not small.