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Representing Russia as a European military power --- The most impressive visual celebration of Peter the Great's landmark victories in the Great Northern War, including the first Russian naval victory, and one of the few illustrations of, or even printed document on, this defining conflict. An attractive example of the full set of the large-format engravings, ordered by Peter himself, who was "very happy" with the result (Rovinskii). At the Battle of Lesnaia the Russians defeated a Swedish force under General Lewenhaupt. The confidence of this victory contributed to the more significant victory in the Battle of Poltava, which effectively ended Sweden's role as a great power in Europe. This battle is here shown twice, and was famously sung by Pushkin a bit more than a century later. Subsequently, King Charles XII of Sweden fled to Turkey to convince the Sultan to declare war on Russia, leading to the Russo-Turkish war of 1710 1713. The Russians enjoyed their first great naval victory in the Battle at Hangö leading to Russian dominance of the Baltic sea. Larmessin was commissioned by Peter the Great himself in 1722 to engrave the battle scenes painted by Martin le Jeune (and now kept in the Tsarskoe Selo Catherine Palace). Once finished, "Petr byl ochen dovolen vypolneniem ikh" ["Peter was very pleased with their execution"] (Rovinskii). Our set belongs to the 18th-c. state without the name of the artists in French (which is the "extremely rare" first state (Rovinskii), which we never encountered on the market; one copy at the BnF); a third impression was produced in Rovinskii's time, ie. second half of the 19th century. Although the project was given to Larmessin, two additional French engravers were hired to complete the set: Maurice Baquoy (1675-1747), who was the father of Jean-Charles Baquoy, one of the 'finest vignettists of the 18th century'; and Charles Louis Simonneau (1645-1728), a prolific book illustrator and aristocratic portraitist. It is worth noting that the Larmessin preparatory drawings show signs of multiple hands working in different inks, suggesting therefore that both Nicolas III (1645-1725) and his son Nicolas IV (1684)1755) may have worked together on the royal commission. The four engravings are: Izobrazhenie batlii. Sentiabria 28 1708 [Illustration of the Batttle. near the village of Lesnaia. September 28 1708] Izobrazheni preslavnoi batalii [Image of the Famous Battle.not far from Poltava, June 27 1709] Izobrazhenie konechnogo razrusheniia [Illustration of the Final Destruction of the Swedish Army by the Russian Army after the main Battle of Poltava. June 30, 1709], engr. by Simonneau (as per the BnF description of their copy, contrarily to Rovinskii's statement) Izobrazhenie Morskoi Batalii. July 27 1714 [Illustration of the Naval Battle. at Gangut [Hangö] 27 July 1714], engr. by Baquoy Provenance: Private collection, Sweden. Physical description:Four large engravings (ca. 52.5 x 72.5 cm), with Russian text beneath image engraved in the same plate, state 2 (of 3, without the French names), by Larmessin, Baquoy and Simonneau, all framed in 20th-c. frames. Condition:Minor marginal tears or repairs, affecting the plate mark in a couple of instances; overall in fine, attractive condition. Bibliography:Le Blanc, Larmessin 51-54 (II-494); Rovinskii, Slovar II-579-580;cf. for the 1st state: BnF, Inventaire du Fonds Francais: vol. 1 (Roux) Baquoy 8 (p. 497, "curieuse pičce, qui ne doit pas courir les rues") and vol. XII (Hébert & Sjöberg) Larmessin 99-100 ; Pullins, David. 2014. 'Techniques of the Body: Viewing the Arts and Métiers of France from the Workshop of Nicolas I and Nicolas II de Larmessin'. Oxford Art Journal 37 (2): 135 55.
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