Reclaiming the siege of Leningrad from the Russian state: Living Pictures reviewed spectator.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from spectator.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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A noticeable friction arose towards the end of the 19th century between Russia’s old-world nobility and its merchant millionaires. The nobility were condescending to the brash new capitalist businessmen for their ignorance of etiquette, but envied their opulent lifestyles, aware they were being usurped. This process accelerated with the generation that came of age in the 1890s. Suddenly there were dozens of young men born into great wealth who were also educated and deeply cultured, having often been the first members in their families to attend elite schools and universities. Such were Sergey Shchukin and Ivan Morozov, who in the years leading up to the First World War amassed private collections of modern French art of such quality that they were without counterpart anywhere in the world, even in Paris. Although Shchukin’s collecting stopped abruptly in 1914, Morozov continued for three more years, having emulated his late brother Mikhail�