The sculpture of Paul I is installed on a four-sided polished shaped pedestal made of Finnish granite. The emperor is depicted in a ceremonial uniform and a tricorne hat, leaning on a cane. The emperor’s pose, the tilt of his head, and the expression on his face give the monument an air of dignity and grandeur. In Pavlovsk, the statue stands in the center of the Parade Square in front of the Pavlovsk Palace, with the emperor facing the entrance alley, “welcoming guests” to his summer residence.
The model of the statue was created by the famous Russian sculptor Ivan Petrovich Vitali based on a ceremonial portrait of the emperor painted by Stepan Semyonovich Shchukin. The portrait of Paul I was painted in 1796 and approved by the emperor himself. Both in the painting and in the monument, the likeness to Paul I is preserved. In the center of the canvas, against a smooth empty gray-green background, the tsar is depicted in the uniform of the Preobrazhensky Regiment with a blue St. Andrew’s sash, wearing a large black tricorne hat.
The portrait of Paul I by Shchukin is housed in the Tretyakov Gallery. For the monument to the emperor, Ivan Petrovich Vitali was awarded the Order of St. Anna, 2nd class. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the authorship of the monument was often mistakenly attributed to other sculptors — Peter Karlovich Klodt von Jürgensburg and Louis Jean Jacques.
The first bronze statue, cast at the St. Petersburg Electrotyping Factory, was installed in Gatchina on a granite pedestal with a base on August 1, 1851, during the reign of Emperor Nicholas I, son of Paul I. A copy of the sculpture, made by the electrotyping method by master Sokolov, was installed in Pavlovsk near the Pavlovsk Palace on June 29, 1872. The year of the monument’s installation is not accidental, as it was in this same year that Konstantin Nikolaevich opened the Picture Gallery and the Museum of Antiquities to the public, turning part of the Pavlovsk Palace into a public museum modeled after the New Hermitage.
The statue of Emperor Paul is made from a zinc-based alloy (spelter), which was widely used in the second half of the 19th century. The pedestal for the monument is made of brickwork and clad with metal sheets of the same alloy. The coat of arms and an inscription in bronze letters are affixed to the pedestal: “To Emperor Paul I, founder of Pavlovsk, 1872.” The emperor is depicted full-length in uniform, holding a cane and wearing a large triangular hat. Around the monument, a flower bed in the shape of a Maltese cross was arranged, surrounded by a low fence.
