The Tsar's Surgeon and Other Early Art Collectors in the Grand Duchy of Finland

In this book, the early art collecting of the Grand Duchy of Finland is represented as a reflection of the history of art collecting in Russia. Finland absorbed strong influences in the field of collecting from a society that, in terms of art and cultural life, was in full flower in the mid-nineteenth century. Imperial Russia had a great tradition of private collecting. Elina Sopo's study reveals that, in the era of developing capitalism and the so-called Alexandrine period, the Grand Duchy of Finland was one of Imperial Russia's closest beneficiaries with regard to art collecting. This book is a remembrance of private collectors who put together collections, shaped the tastes of their eras and in their way wrote the history of art in Finland. Emperor Alexander II of Russia has left an indelible mark on Finnish society, starting from functions of state administration to Finnish cultural history; however, his humanistic values and his love of the arts have rarely been treated in Finnish