The collection of Russian paintings at the State Hermitage contains around 3,000 items. Over a half of them are portraits, which provide priceless iconographic material for historians. The portraits represent a wide thematic range - from images of Tsars and Grand Dukes to those of military, civil and cultural figures, members of the clergy, aristocrats, country gentlemen and merchants. The chronological scope of the collection largely lies between the 18th and the early 20th century. The...