Why is the King of Prussia BOWING to Moscow in this painting?
This is not the artist's imagination. Nikolai Matveyev depicted a scene that actually took place.
In 1818, King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, visited Russia as a royal guest. He came on family business: his daughter, Charlotte of Prussia, later Grand Duchess Alexandra Feodorovna, had given birth to a son. He asked his son-in-law, the future Emperor Nicholas I, to show him Moscow: He wanted to see the city with his own eyes, which had been damaged by fire and the French invasion of 1812.
They decided to show Friedrich Wilhelm III Moscow from the belvedere of the Pashkov House. From there, "the city was visible almost to the very edges…". Having ascended there, the king surveyed the panorama of the ancient capital. And, suddenly, he fell to one knee. “…We had just climbed the Pashkovsky Tower and surveyed this row of burnt-out streets and houses, when, to my great surprise, the old king, this wooden man, as they called him, knelt down, ordering his sons to do the same. After bowing to Moscow three times, he repeated with tears in his eyes several times: ‘Here is our savior!’” is how Count Pavel Kiselev, who had accompanied the monarch, described the incident.
This very moment was depicted in the painting ‘King of Prussia Frederick William III and his sons thank Moscow for saving his state ’ by artist Nikolai Matveyev. There was much to be thankful for.
Prussia initially fought on the French side in the War of 1812, but, after Napoleon's defeat, it declared neutrality and then sided with Russia, signing a treaty that guaranteed the restoration of the kingdom's 1806 borders. Prussia regained most of its territories, as well as part of the Kingdom of Saxony, the Rhineland, Westphalia and joined the German Confederation.
For a long time, the painting was kept in the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. Since 1931, it has been in the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery.
