How would the wood have been protected to prevent it from cracking? There are some cracks I see, but for wood this is rather minor...a lacquer of some kind, perhaps?

Wood cracks when different parts of it dry at different paces. The most basic things people do to prevent cracking are: * choosing the right kind of wood * after cutting down a tree, letting the wood dry very slowly over months and even years * protecting the surface from moisture and microbiological life

I know that its a retorical question but how do men curl thei hair without any modern gadgets to do that with?

But back in that time most men that were some what high up in society wore wigs.

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Course: The Metropolitan Museum of Art > Unit 1

Lesson 10: Puzzles and surprises

Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, an 18th-century Russian portrait bust

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Met curator Wolfram Koeppe on lasting monuments in Alexander Danilovich Menshikov, an 18th-century Russian portrait bust created by an anonymous artist, c. 1703–4.

The pictorial program of this intriguing portrait reflects the sitter's meteoric rise as a military commander and his personal search for a pedigree. The oval reliefs show the Justice of Trajan (right) and Alexander the Great and Hephaestion at the tent of Darius (left). Hephaestion's friendship with Alexander (who happened to share a first name with Menshikov) is meant to underscore Menshikov's service to his master and close friend, Peter the Great. After the emperor's death in 1725, his widow, Catherine, assumed power and virtually entrusted Menshikov with ruling Russia. Upon her death in 1727, Menshikov's opponents instigated a political rebellion. Menshikov, who had been knighted in 1703 and received the rank of prince in 1705, was stripped of his possessions and title and exiled to northern Siberia, where he died in poverty.

View this work on metmuseum.org.

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Jeff Kelman
Posted 9 years ago. Direct link to Jeff Kelman's post “How would the wood have b...”
How would the wood have been protected to prevent it from cracking? There are some cracks I see, but for wood this is rather minor...a lacquer of some kind, perhaps?
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(4 votes)
Answer
- Hyta
  Posted 8 years ago. Direct link to Hyta's post “Wood cracks when differen...”
  Wood cracks when different parts of it dry at different paces. The most basic things people do to prevent cracking are:
  * choosing the right kind of wood
  * after cutting down a tree, letting the wood dry very slowly over months and even years
  * protecting the surface from moisture and microbiological life
  Button navigates to signup page
  (4 votes)
Ken Muir
Posted 9 years ago. Direct link to Ken Muir's post “I know that its a retoric...”
I know that its a retorical question but how do men curl thei hair without any modern gadgets to do that with?
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(2 votes)
Answer
- Coleman M. Vaughn: Hot Topic Studios
  Posted 8 years ago. Direct link to Coleman M. Vaughn: Hot Topic Studios's post “But back in that time mos...”
  But back in that time most men that were some what high up in society wore wigs.
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  (2 votes)

Video transcript

I have a very deep affection towards this bust of a man who looks at you with a quiet, focused gaze, and kind of smile which radiates an ironic feeling. When the Metropolitan was lucky enough to get it in 1996 it was really a challenge to find out who the sitter is. Itâ€™s a great mystery: who he is, who made it. The wig and the armor are a clue. The wig is very typically for the late seventeenth century. And if we look closer at the armory, it tells us a whole story in details. The armory shows you Alexander the Great. And names came up. A colleague pointed me to a portrait of Alexander Menshikov, picked by Peter the Great to be the general field marshal of all the Russians, in 1703. He was very well known for his ostentatious behavior. When Catherine I took over he virtually ran the country. After the death of Catherine he was sent to Siberia The aristocracy tried to eliminate his memory. There are only less than a dozen portraits. We know from descriptions that Alexander Menshikov had a very high forehead, very gazing, strong eyes, and especially these thin lips. The whole pictorial program is so thought through. It must have been a collaboration of the patron together with the artist to create a monument that would last. The artist was able to capture in wood, the personality of the sitter. Even if we canâ€™t name the artist, this is the beginning. Now we have all the time in the world to find out the rest.