A Bronze Bust of Emperor Nicholas I

This bust is after a design by the Prussian sculptor Ernst-Julius-Wilhelm Mehnert (1823-1878). Shortly after the death of Emperor Nicholas I, his successor Emperor Alexander II commissioned from Mehnert a full-length sculpture of Nicholas I in Cossack dress uniform, worn by Nicholas in his capacity as chief of the Life-Guard Cossack Regiment. After his death, this uniform was kept on display in the portrait gallery of the Winter Palace, and later in the Hermitage. Casts of Mehnert's sculpture can be found in the collections of the Hermitage and the Russian Museum.