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Broker Peter Thompson joins Worth Avenue Yachts

A call to superyacht broker Peter Thompson confirms that he's now left Ocean Independence to join the team at Worth Avenue Yachts .

From captain to broker, Peter has been a part of the yachting industry for over 30 years. His seagoing experience included several circumnavigations and some of the finest vessels of their day, from Oceanco's Caprice and Achiever , to Benetti's Ambrosia II , and Reverie . The start of his brokerage career was with Cavendish White where he sat on the board of directors as Sales Director until Cavendish White was purchased five years ago by Ocean Independence.

During his brokerage career, Peter has seen a significant amount of success, being responsible for sales such as Diamonds Are Forever , Skylge , Montigne , Asteria , Quantum of Solace , Eleanor Allen , to name just a few.

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Peter Thompson, Founder and Director of Thompson of Monaco, is an experienced yacht broker with more than 40 years of experience in the industry. Being a superyacht captain before becoming a sales broker, Peter shares his wealth of knowledge in all aspects of yachting with our clients, from market trends and valuations to full operational expertise. Based in Monaco with clients around the globe, he is a trusted broker with a strong reputation for keeping sales negotiations on track and ensuring success for the buyers and owners he represents.

Please feel free to contact him for any yachting projects you might have at:

[email protected]

Or give him a call on +33 6 40 61 43 80

Julia Uprichard Simpson, Director and Managing Partner at Thompson of Monaco, is a skilled pair of hands with more than 20 years of experience in the superyacht industry. Focusing in recent years on yacht Sales and Charter and previously on yacht marketing, industry intel and event management her breadth of expertise is all to her clients’ advantage.

Get in touch with Julia for any yachting project you have in mind on:

[email protected]

Or give her a call on  +33 6 66 73 60 83

Dave van Dorst is a Dutch yacht broker whose life in yachting began in childhood, repairing boats his father was selling. Throughout his career, which includes over 35 years in the luxury sector, Dave has built some exquisite boats & yachts. Highly creative & service minded, Dave strives to always finds what his clients are searching for.

Don’t hesitate to get in touch with Dave for any Yachting projects you have in mind at

[email protected]

Or give him a call on +33 7 87 90 65 04

Ayrton Velona, assistant to Julia and Peter, has an international background with a yachting focus. Born in Monaco and raised around the world, Ayrton is from pure superyacht stock with his father being a longtime Captain and Yacht Broker in his time and his mother a Charter Broker. With yachting in his blood he spent 6 years working on board yachts from 60m-73m as deck crew visiting the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, USA, Central America and Africa before joining the Thompson of Monaco team. Assisting the directors in all aspects of the company Ayrton is learning the ropes as a broker and will be taking care of Charter Management for the company.

Get in touch for any information about the company with Ayrton at:

[email protected]

Or give him a call on +33 6 45 46 03 44

©2024 Thompson of Monaco. All Rights Reserved.

By SuperyachtNews 05 Jun 2020

YPI's Peter Thompson discusses the brokerage market

Logistics remain a major stumbling block for the brokerage community regardless of increasing enquiries….

Following the acquisition of YPI in 2019 by Mercantile & Maritime Investments,  a new chapter begins for the brand with renewed impetus to grow, innovate and reaffirm its position within the yachting community through the development of collaborations and business-to-business partnerships with the industry. SuperyachtNews speaks exclusively with Peter Thompson, YPI’s new managing partner for yacht sales, about the difficulties faced by the brokerage community today and his outlook for the near future.

“There has certainly been an uptick in the brokerage market over the last couple of weeks. However, the deals that are being done now are the deals that started before the COVID-19 outbreak. This is all well and good if the client, the vessel and the surveyor are all in a similar area, but currently the problem that remains is travel restrictions,” starts Thompson. “We are surveying a 51-metre boat next week in Sanremo and to get the surveyors to the vessel has been a huge task. Fortunately, however, the buyer is in France so they were able to drive to the yacht. Even then, we were unsure of what kind of reception there would be at the border, but thankfully there were no issues.”

Conversely, YPI currently has 74m Quantum of Solace on its books, with an owner that Thompson described as a “genuine seller”, that is generating plenty of interest. However, due to travel restrictions, Thompson has been unable to arrange visits to the boat. One particular interested party from Canada would be able to visit the vessel, but would be made to Quarantine on his return, which is proving to be a real stumbling block.

One of the major difficulties with travel restrictions and various regional policies and protocols is that, while there are naturally similarities, there is no genuine uniformity between nations. Furthermore, there is no uniformity in how buyers and sellers are approaching COVID-19, in terms of risk appetite.

“We have a number of boats in the US and we are currently considering whether or not we move them to the Bahamas. However, will we be able to fly people there? [And] if not commercial, would private air travel work? Can we transport clients directly from the airport to the boat provided they don’t go anywhere else between the aircraft and the boat? These are all restrictions that are making the equation harder,” continues Thompson. “We have used Bermuda for the time being, while the Bahamas are closed to vessels from the US in order to obviate boat show bonds. The boats may go to Bermuda, so long as the crew don’t get off the boat and have minimal interaction with the local community. It’s challenging, but there is light at the end of the tunnel - it just requires more guile to get to the end of the tunnel today.”

In light of all the difficulties faced in today’s climate, Thompson expresses how pleased he has been with the resilience of the brokerage market throughout, drawing comparisons with the 2008 financial crisis, which saw an influx of panic selling when the market crashed. By stark contrast there has been no such bubble burst throughout this crisis. That being said, it may be that there will be a raft of vessels hitting the second-hand market when travel restrictions are lessened. As it is today, owners wishing to sell will, for the most part, be unable to host interested parties aboard.

“This has been a gradual, almost haphazard market decline, unlike the 2008 crisis which was immediate and cataclysmic,” explains Thompson. “It is not so much an issue of uncertainty around economic viability; it’s simply that people can’t move. If owners are planning on selling, how are they going to get people to the boat right now? However, there hasn’t been any panic price-cutting to date and our enquiry level is certainly up on how it was a number of weeks ago, which is incredibly positive for the superyacht market.”

The issues faced by the brokerage sector today are representative of those faced by the world as a whole. That being said, Thompson remains pleased by the market’s resilience, and optimistic about the market’s ability to bounce back.

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In Conversation: Peter Thompson on Global Expansion

By Rose-Hannah Lishman

From the recent sale of Skyfall to the speculation around Spectre; TWW Yachts has made their mark on the industry since appearing as a new name with experienced hands just 2 short years ago. With global expansion and an exciting delivery on the way, we couldn’t wait until MYS to catch up with Managing Partner, Peter Thompson...

Sitting down to discuss the ever-apparent American market and view from their office in Monaco,  Peter 's knowledge radiates warmth and modesty. Hailing 30 years’ experience, he began, speaking about the brokerage's latest project.

“The VSY 64 is due for delivery in Feburary 2019 now as there have been some radical changes! They’ve changed the profile by putting pods on the side of the owner’s suite. The owner is also very focused on diving so the dive center was a big project to get designed too. She’s going to be pretty splendid.” 

One thing we have seen, are the interior renderings, and with a studio new to the industry taking it into their hands, Peter stressed its quality; “Franck Darnet’s done a fantastic job of the interior, he’s fairly untested in large yachts, but a pleasure to work with… Stand by as we’ve got a couple of new designs on the table from him: an 80m and a 100m!”

It’s clear that in new designs and therefore new builds, TWW is well versed. “There’s certainly activity in the American sector” Peter continues, “the slight problem is the value of the dollar – it’s great if you’re going to buy a 30m as they have a liberal supply of those in America, but for new constructions, the main builders of very large yachts are now European so they’re priced in Euros. It’s a psychological barrier.”

The recent sale of their CA, Skyfall , only confirms this demand for 30m+ superyachts in turnkey condition. “I don’t think there’s much on the market. Trinity is unlikely to build anymore at the moment but they had a very large client base and they were ideal for the US market,” Peter confirmed.

So, the American Market is indeed booming, but the inventory on offer isn’t satisfying standards; “ Now the clients don’t have a choice if they want to get into yachting and it’s over 30m it’s going to be a European build. The Euro price of yachting is now the deciding factor.”

Further, we spoke about how TWW deals with this newfound global demand. Quite simply, Peter responded, “There aren’t enough hours in the day! We never expected to grow so quickly. We’ve got some interesting people knocking at the door so I’m delighted by that but we have to deal with it very carefully...our ethos is not to be the biggest but to be the best!"

Finally, I had to ask about secretive project Spectre ; with the same owner selling Skyfall just last week, it was another indication that the in-construction Benetti was nearing ever-closer to launch and who better to ask about it… “We’ll I’ve always been close with the owner building this yacht and everything he’s done over 50m’s for the last 14 years,” closed Peter. Without giving anything else away, for now!

"We’re growing at a rate we’re finding quite surprising; and we’ve got some interesting people knocking at the door to come and find us so I’m delighted by that but we have to deal with it very carefully..." Peter Thompson - Managing Partner, TWW Yachts

"We’re growing at a rate we’re finding quite surprising; and we’ve got some interesting people knocking at the door to come and find us so I’m delighted by that but we have to deal with it very carefully..."

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YPI adds former captain as managing partner in sales

London-based Yachting Partners International has appointed Peter Thompson as managing partner for global yacht sales. He is tasked with building the sales department in Monaco and globally.

Thompson most recently was with Thompson, Westwood & White Yachts, a Monaco-based firm he co-founded in 2016. While there, he sold the 72m M/Y Honor (now Quantum of Solace ), the 69m M/Y Spectre , the 65m M/Y Double Down , and the 52m M/Y Aura (now DB9 ) among others. Prior to that, he was new build director at Ocean Independence.

His career spans four decades across yacht sales, corporate management and as a captain, where his final command was the 70m M/Y Reverie (now Freedom ).

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YPI announces Peter Thompson as new Managing Partner, Yacht Sales

The Monaco based company Yachting Partners International (YPI) has announced the appointment of Peter Thompson as Managing Partner - Yacht Sales (Global) today, who will now be responsible for building up the sales department in Monaco and globally.

Director at YPI Abdullah Nahar commented, “We are truly excited to welcome Peter as Managing Partner – Yacht Sales to YPI. Peter brings to the team an incredible wealth of experience of both market and technical prowess, and he instantly understood our ambition for the business and superyacht industry. Peter’s vision will see us continue to build a world-leading, global sales team that consistently defies the boundaries of the yachting industry.”

Prior to this appointment, Peter held the position of New Build Director at Ocean Independence and through his work as a broker, sold over 50 yachts mostly in the 45-metre-plus segment. His career in the industry spans through four decades with various roles including yacht sales, corporate management and superyacht captaincy.

Peter Thompson added, “It’s an exciting time to be joining the YPI team. The company combines a much-loved heritage with a new focus on industry collaborations and partnerships which is where my expertise lies. Abdullah and the team have impressive growth ambitions and I’m excited to see what we can accomplish together.”

Peter has also worked with Thompson, Westwood & White Yachts, a Monaco based yachting house that he had co-founded in 2016. During his tenure with them, the business grew significantly thanks to his impressive sales record, including the sale of 72.6-metre Honor (now Quantum of Solace), 69.2-metre Spectre, 65-metre Double Down and 52.2-metre Aura (now DB9).

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Be Not Afraid, Good Sir

• By Yachting Staff
• Updated: April 18, 2016

Leading Fearlessly

Yacht brokers Ralph Raulin and Peter Thompson at Worth Avenue Yachts are marketing the 91-foot Sunseeker Leading Fearlessly as “the most immaculate Sunseeker 90 on the market.”

The yacht is being offered at $3,995,000, which includes European VAT as well as American duty and taxes paid. She is lying in Boca Raton. Leading Fearlessly is a 2008 build. She accommodates eight guests in four staterooms, all ensuite.

Twin 1,800-horsepower Caterpillar engines push her to a cruising speed of 21 knots and a top speed of 28 knots. The last reported engine hours were 1,500 in July 2015. Trac Star digital zero-speed stabilizers are also installed, and a Raymarine electronics suite is at the helm.

What’s new on board: The owner recently installed new teak decks and audiovisual equipment.

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Ahoy Club Officially Launches Yacht Sales Division

Ahoy Club officially sells 37.92m (124ft) Tansu, MY SO’MAR with an asking price of €7,900,000, days after they formally announce their expansion into Yacht Sales.

The fastest-growing yacht charter company, Ahoy Club has officially announced its expansion into Yacht Sales followed by the sale of award-winning superyacht SO’MAR days later with an additional 5 vessels exclusively under their Sales Central Agency, including the impressive 72.6m QUANTUM OF SOLACE built by Turquoise Yachts asking €56,400,000. The announcement comes with some large visions shared by CEO, Ellie Malouf, and the opening of a new office in Monaco with a new global team.

Ahoy Club, led by CEO, Ellie Malouf shares her inspirational vision for what she calls ‘a natural expansion’ into Yacht Sales. “Yacht sales is a natural extension to bring what's been so successful for Ahoy Club in the charter market which is, great customer service, great technology & systems, the widest selection globally, transparent pricing, and a strong female presence. Our vision for Ahoy is to connect the world with the water, and to make Chartering and Owning a Yacht a wonderful experience. The ‘yacht lovers’ journey starts in many ways, however, one of the most common normally starts with a short-term local charter, often followed into a week-long charter in the Mediterranean or Caribbean, all the way through to purchasing their first yacht and hiring their own full-time crew. To finally managing their first refit, or rebuild, and then selling their vessel, only to eventually start all over again!”

Ahoy Club are no stranger to this process, with Founder and Managing Director, Ian Malouf personally following a similar journey with his current ownership of ten yachts. From chartering, managing, refitting, relocating, and rebuilding, the business is excited to share the wealth of knowledge and experience they have with this newly created division. “We’re excited for this new venture and believe this will only strengthen our positioning in the market.” Mr Malouf explains “Offering a complete end-to-end yachting service is our vision. We’ve always believed in providing best-in-class service to our clients that rightly so, expect the best. Whether it’s charting a motor yacht for the week, or buying their first private yacht, we think of everything that is important to our customers or guests. Every consumer is different and has different end goals. We’re excited to bring the service we’re known for to the sales landscape and continue to differentiate and innovate.”

The launch of Ahoy Club’s completely rebuilt mega yacht, CORAL OCEAN is a perfect example of knowing how to manage and navigate the sales process with the clients’ end-goal in mind. “CORAL OCEAN was completely booked out for her first charter season in the Mediterranean this year, and that’s exactly what I wanted.” Mr Malouf added. “She is the 7th yacht I’ve purchased, and every yacht has had a different purpose for me, so I’ve had to make choices depending on my end-goal as an owner. From creating a vessel that remains iconic, but benefits both business and me as an owner wasn’t easy to navigate. I’ve done this many times now which means I’m an expert in the process, but I also know what to look for and what to stay away from to really ensure your vision as an owner is met. We’re excited to be part of many others owners’ buying and selling journeys now too.”

Joining the Ahoy Club Yacht Sales team, to add to the impressive expertise includes well-known global Yacht Sales Broker, Peter Thompson as their Global Sales Director. Peter is ranked amongst the world’s most successful sales brokers and has been a front-runner in several large yacht brokerages for over 17 years and prior to that was a well-known captain and owner’s representative for over 25 years.

Peter has led the team that successfully sold SO’MAR under the newly developed Ahoy Club sales arm. SO’MAR is an award winning and unique superyacht currently based in Turkey. Whilst she’s available for charter throughout the Mediterranean, she can take longer charters and explore lesser-known locations due to her due to her robust explorer yacht design. Her asking price was €7,900,000 and sold within days of launching the sales arm of Ahoy Club.

Julia Simpson also joins the Ahoy Club team as their new Commercial Director. With a career in yachting spanning over 16 years, Julia directs Ahoy Clubs’ commercial division. With a wealth of experience in selling, chartering, and marketing superyachts globally since 2006.

Combined, the new global team established by Ahoy Club brings over 40 years’ experience in yacht sales, with over 70 yachts sold globally and transacted over €1 billion worth of sales.

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Superyachts and bragging rights: why the super-rich love their ‘floating homes’

An academic spent six years studying the lavish boats of multimillionaires. Her conclusion: showing off the owners’ wealth and status matters more than travel

A s conspicuous displays of wealth go, the mooring of Motor Yacht A – owned by Russian tycoon Andrey Melnichenko – last month on one of the most striking spots on the Thames, next to D-day warship HMS Belfast by Tower Bridge, was hard to top. One of the world’s largest superyachts, the Philippe Starck-designed, 119-metre (390ft) white vessel – which features three swimming pools, a helipad and bombproof glass – embodies an exclusive lifestyle that is highly visible but inaccessible to all but the global financial elite and their entourage.

But Melnichenko, who made his £9.2bn fortune in coal and fertilisers, has put the distinctive boat up for sale after upgrading to the £347m, 143-metre Sailing Yacht A, believed to be similarly named to ensure it is listed first in shipping registers. His new vessel, which features three carbon masts more than 90 metres tall with a sail area greater than a standard football pitch, is the tenth-largest superyacht in the world. It propels him into the premier league of private yacht owners alongside fellow oligarch Roman Abramovich, whose 162.5-metre Eclipse is currently the second-largest.

The Chelsea football club owner’s spectacular £724m vessel, which made headlines last summer when it briefly moored on the river Clyde in Scotland, far from its usual cruising grounds, is believed to feature two swimming pools (one of which has an adjustable depth that allows it to be converted into a dancefloor), an exterior fireplace, a leisure submarine, armour plating, bulletproof windows, a missile defence system and an anti-paparazzi shield designed to dazzle digital cameras.

But one British academic has managed to penetrate this elusive milieu. Emma Spence has spent the last six years researching the industry, has crewed on superyachts around the world and shadowed a yacht broker in the tax haven of Monaco, observing how the boats are deployed to establish a pecking order among the super-rich. The researcher is completing a PhD on the superyacht scene and says the vessels are unique among prestige assets: unlike private jets they are not a useful mode of transport; unlike art and property, they always depreciate in value. Instead, as one owner told her, what makes a yacht desirable is that it “allows the super-rich to perform their wealth status”.

Superyachts are defined as boats with hulls that measure longer than 24 metres at the waterline and that require a professional crew to operate. With basic annual maintenance and operation costs expected to be 10% of the original purchase price, ownership is the preserve of multi-millionaires and billionaires.

In a forthcoming book on the lifestyles of the super-rich, Spence explains how merely possessing these elite craft is not enough to enhance the profile of the super-rich; how and where the yacht is used is equally important. This is why most owners and charterers of the luxury vessels prefer to go to prominent ports with bars and restaurants where they can guarantee an audience of super-rich peers. Her research focused on the Côte d’Azur, the centre of the superyacht scene, where hundreds of luxury vessels line the docks in Saint-Tropez, Nice, Antibes, Cannes and Monaco, the most prestigious port in the Mediterranean.

Among the owners she witnessed projecting their status were billionaire retailer Sir Philip Green, who took delivery of his third superyacht – the £100m, 90-metre Lionheart, his second boat to bear that name – earlier this year. While she was crewing on a yacht belonging to somebody else in Saint-Tropez in 2013, Green came on board without invitation. “He walked up on the aft deck in board shorts and a T-shirt – standard super-rich attire, as casual as you can be,” she says. “The grownup children [of the owner] and friends all immediately stood to attention until he told them it was OK to sit down. I’ve never seen anyone else command that respect on someone else’s yacht.”

The perma-tanned Topshop tycoon recently finished a two-month Mediterranean cruise with his wife, Tina, leaving their daughter, Chloe, on board in Monaco, where yacht owners and industry insiders gathered last month at the world’s most prestigious yacht show to size up one another’s nautical assets. “The family’s got a permanent berth there and I’ve docked alongside him for many years,” says Spence. “One time, years ago in Monaco, a ‘rival’ crew climbed on board in the night and changed the boat’s name with tape to Lion Fart.”

Some yacht owners are attracted to tourist resorts in the French Riviera because an integral part of their lifestyle is projecting their privilege beyond their elite peer group, Spence adds. “You have this tension between the privacy that yachts and the sea afford against this desire to see and be seen,” she says. “Tourists remind the super-rich of their wealth and their social status. In Saint-Tropez, you have hundreds of people on the docks as the yachts come in. The guests sit there on the aft deck. Most of these people you wouldn’t know if you passed them in the street. They’re not celebrities. But when they finally descend [ashore] there’s still this awe.”

Spence saw how a group of young men who were children of superyacht owners often encourage this fascination with their way of life. “Each night, they’d go to big clubs, such as the VIP Rooms in Saint-Tropez or Gotha in Cannes, spend £5,000, £10,000 on a table and buy huge bottles of Dom Pérignon with sparklers,” she says. “There’s a group of young women that spends the day going from one port to the other, getting entry to these clubs and schmoozing these wealthy young men. The women come on board the boats, go up to the top deck and ask for champagne. They’re all drunk and you’re trying to explain at 3am that they can’t wear stilettos on board.”

While in the clubs of the Côte d’Azur, uber-wealthy heirs might lavish money on these hangers-on, but back on their parents’ yachts, their attitude changes. “On board, it’s the parent’s stack of wine – it’s not something to be given away,” says Spence. “The older son of one owner came down to check I was serving the cheapest champagne. You downgrade from vintage Dom to Veuve Clicquot – from 100 euros a bottle to 30 euros.”

The super-rich also use their yachts to control the level of access they grant to those outside their wealthy circle, says Spence. For example, some exploited maritime law to get rid of the young women they brought back from the clubs. In the morning, they would go to bed and order the yacht to leave port, knowing the crew would have to remove any stragglers before they set sail. “If you’re in port then you can have as many people on board as you want but at sea you can only have 12 passengers, unless you have large-yacht certification,” says Spence. “The owner’s sons would just slink off to their cabins leaving a few random women dotted around the yacht. It’s awkward when these people think they’re going to stay and spend the week partying on a yacht and then they’re unceremoniously kicked off.”

The symbiotic relationship between superyacht owners and crew is not as one-sided as it might appear. During the Monaco Grand Prix, securing the most prestigious berth on the T-jetty – the first row of yachts on the race start line – is reliant on the captain’s contacts, not the owner’s, says Spence. “It’s knowing who to pay extra to for the privilege. It’s a reflection of the owner’s status, but it’s done via the connections of the crew. If your captain speaks fluent French and has worked in the industry for years, then they’ll have much a better chance of getting into a prominent position in the port.”

“The whole industry is completely gendered,” says Spence. “The interior crew are women and the deck crew are male. I’ve come across two female captains in six years of researching the industry, and I know of two chief stewards who are female. The women retire because owners don’t want them in the interior of a boat after a certain age – late 30s and you’re off.”

The majority of owners buy superyachts secondhand via brokers and refit them to their tastes. Camper & Nicholsons put the global number of yachts of at least 30 metres at 4,476, with 268 sold via brokers last year at a total cost of $2.68bn (£2.18bn), or an average of $10m. They estimate that 222 yachts of over 30 metres have been bought worldwide so far this year. The next step up is to buy or commission a “series yacht” from a shipyard, which will have the same cabin configuration, exterior style and machinery across the line, but the owner will dictate the furniture and furnishings. The top tier are custom-designed by naval architects and can take shipyards several years to complete.

Peter Thompson, a broker at Monaco-based Thompson, Westwood and White Yachts, says eastern European oligarchs and Gulf royals dominate the 100-metre-plus superyacht market, also known as gigayachts.

The primary factor behind the increasing size of superyachts is the growing wealth of the super-rich. The number of ultra-high-net-worth individuals, with net assets of at least $30m, rose by 61% between 2005 and 2015 to 187,468 worldwide, according to the latest wealth report by estate agent Knight Frank . Of these, Credit Suisse calculates that the number worth at least $100m rose from 30,000 in 2010 to 44,900 in 2015 , while those with assets above $500m increased from 2,800 to 4,500 in the same period.

Broker Simon Goldsworthy, of luxury yachting specialists Camper & Nicholsons, says: “The client who 15 years ago would have been satisfied with a 40-metre [yacht], which would then have been one of the largest yachts in the bay, is now surrounded by dozens of yachts of 60-70 metres, and this plants the seed that he really ought to upgrade.”

Innovative design has also played a part – there are things you can fit onto a 60-metre yacht that you simply can’t fit on to a 40-metre one, such as infinity pools, helipads, cinemas, dive rooms, and so on. Evan K Marshall, a London-based superyacht designer, says many of his clients’ yachts are more expensive, and far more personalised, than their homes. “Within the circles of friends who own vessels, there is a healthy competition,” he says. “If someone says: ‘Oh, I’ve just ordered an 80-metre,’ his friend’s going to be on the phone to his broker: “Listen, I’m thinking of building an 85-metre!” We love that.”

Among Marshall’s most prolific clients is the Brooklyn automotive tycoon John Staluppi, who names his boats after James Bond films. Last year, he ordered his 19th superyacht, the 66-metre Spectre, due to be delivered by the Italian Benneti shipyards in 2017. Thompson, who was involved in many of the projects, says Staluppi gets a new superyacht every 18 months to three years, compared with a client average of every five to seven years. “The first one I did was The World is Not Enough, then he sold that and bought Quantum of Solace, then he sold that and bought Casino Royale, then Diamonds are Forever. Right now we’ve got Skyfall and there’s Spectre on the way. He loves the creation side of it. But he doesn’t travel a lot. He uses them as floating homes.”

In the French Riviera, many owners flip between staying on board their yacht or in their luxury villas or mansions, says Spence. “They would have a fully staffed house and the boat doing exactly the same thing, 20 minutes’ drive away. You’d both be on call, so you wouldn’t know when the owner would turn up at the house or the boat. So you would have a system that the staff at the house would call ahead to the boat, and the owners would appear 10 minutes later and you’d just happen to have fresh towels and scented water waiting for them.”

In recent years, a growing number of superyacht owners and charterers, particularly those under 40, have cruised further afield than the “milk run” of Mediterranean resorts to remote routes, including the Arctic Northwest Passage, fuelling demand for designer icebreakers, such as the SeaExplorer range. William Mathieson, editorial director of the Superyacht Group, says this trend for “expedition yachts” is due to an emergent younger super-wealthy class – from heirs to dotcom billionaires – “who want to chase an elusive experience”. Although some owners might pursue remote and exotic adventures, he suspects that for others it will become the yachting equivalent of the Chelsea tractor.

While Spence says this trend partly reflects that yachting still involves romanticised notions of escape, it is also rooted in owners’ preoccupation with bragging rights.

She crewed on one yacht that was sailing around the world; the owners would just fly in when it reached a certain port of call. “They would leave it in the Med then fly down to Mauritius, then would fly back again when it’s in India,” she says. “You’re really using it as a floating hotel. They would eat meals on board and pop off to do a bit of shopping.

“Having their yacht in far-removed locations is a social statement in itself, even if they do not make it on board themselves. Even mooring your yacht on the Thames is conspicuous in that it is far removed from the south of France where all the other yachts are.”

The world’s top five superyachts

1. Azzam Built: 2013. Owner: believed to be Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan , the emir of Abu Dhabi and president of the United Arab Emirates. Cost: estimated to be $400m. Length: 180 metres. Special features: Her interior is believed to be in a relaxed French Empire style.

2. Eclipse Built: 2010. Owner: Roman Abramovich. Cost: £724m. Length: 162.5 metres. Crew: 70. Special features: Three-person leisure submarine, two swimming pools, one of which has an adjustable depth feature that allows it to be converted into a dance floor, a missile defence system, and an anti-paparazzi shield that fires light beams to target and disrupt digital cameras.

3. Dubai Built: 2006. Owner: Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the emir of Dubai and the prime minister of the UAE. Cost: estimated to be $400m. Length: 162 metres. Crew: 88. Special features: The royal yacht features a circular staircase with glass steps that change colour, a mosaic swimming pool and a landing platform for a Blackhawk helicopter.

4. Dilbar Built: 2016. Owner: Alisher Usmanov, Russian billionaire and one of Arsenal football clubs’s main shareholders. Cost: $452m (estimate). Length: 156m. Special features: 41,000sq ft of living space and two helipads.

5. Al Said Built: 2008. Owner: Sultan Qaboos bin Sa‘id Al Saïd of Oman. Cost: Unknown. Length: 155m. Crew: 154. Special features: Concert hall that can accommodate a 50-strong orchestra, a helipad and a cinema.

Running costs

The annual operation costs: 10% of the original purchase price. For a 71-metre yacht, fuel usage is 500 litres an hour (an average of $400,000 per year), according to Towergate Insurance.

Docking costs: $350,000; insurance: $240,000; maintenance and repairs: $1m per year; crew wages: $1.4m.

Crew salaries

Captain: €9,000-€12,000 per month on a yacht of 40 metres, rising to more than €15,000 on vessels longer than 70 metres, now commonly known as mega-yachts. Junior deckhand or a junior steward: €2,000-€2,500 per month.

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Sunrise Yachts Sponsor 2011 Moscow International Boat Show (MIBS)

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Written by Mike Smith

Sunrise Yachts, a luxury yacht building company which is based in Turkey, has been made a main sponsor of next year’s 2011 Moscow International Boat Show (MIBS). The four-day Russian yacht show event is currently scheduled to run from April 14-17 at the Moscow’s Crocus exhibition centre.

moscow boat show

MIBS is organised by the ITE Group and it is one of Russia’s leading boat shows and is an internationally recognised superyacht event. The show covering everything from small parts and accessories to large superyacht with over 9,000 people and 178 exhibitors attended the last year show.

The Paolo Scanu-designed Sunrise 45 yacht is an ocean-going cruising yacht that was released in 2009 to much acclaim at this was the group’s first-ever model.

Sunrise Yachts was founded in 2007 by the German entrepreneur Herbert P Baum along with the French-British yacht builder Guillaume Roché. The luxury yacht group is based in Antalya, Turkey and utilises a 10,000sq m shipyard facility. Sunrise has two sheds measuring 100m (328ft) x 16m (53ft), as well as a 70m (230ft) x 16m (53ft) fully acclimatized paint shed that can accommodate new-build and refit projects up to 65m (213ft) in length and 1,200 tonnes displacement.

The sunrise 45m superyacht by Sunrise Yachts

Along each side of the yacht-building facility, space is available for long-term sub-contractors with the latest equipment and logistics capabilities, along with air-conditioned storage, ventilation and extraction plants. The shipyard is organized as an “assembler,” based loosely on the car industry’s model, with a small, yet powerful project management team charged with running all the in-house long-term sub-contractors.

Please contact CharterWorld - the luxury yacht charter specialist - for more on superyacht news item "Sunrise Yachts Sponsor 2011 Moscow International Boat Show (MIBS)".

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"The Spark of Peter the Great"

Lyudmila Markina

THE EXHIBITION "TSARINA ELIZABETH AND MOSCOW", WHICH RAN AT THE TRE-TYAKOV GALLERY FROM DECEMBER 9 2010 TO MARCH 27 2011, COMMEMORATED THE 300TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF THE RUSSIAN EMPRESS. STAGED IN THE ENGINEERING BUILDING ON LAVRUSHINSKY LANE, IT CONCLUDEDA TRIO OF SHOWS THAT HAVE RUN THERE OVER MANY YEARS: THE FIRST PROJECT, "CATHERINE THE GREAT AN D MOSCOW" (AT TH E KRYMSKY VAL BUILDING), TOOK PLACE IN 1998. THAT WAS A PIONEERING EFFORT TO INTRODUCE TO THE PUBLIC THE ARTEFACTS OF "IMPERIAL" HISTORY AND CULTURE, WHICH WERE KEPT AWAY FROM THE PUBLIC EYE UNDER SOVIET RULE. THE TIES BETWEEN THE GREAT FEMALE RULER OF RUSSIA AND MOSCOW HAD NEVER BEFORE BEEN THE SUBJECT OF CA-REFU L STU DY. A YEAR LATER TH E EXHIBITION "PETER TH E G REAT AN D MOSCOW" OPENED IN THE ENGINEERING BUILDING, MARKING THE 300TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GRAND EMBASSY OF PETER I.

According to legend, the title of this article was coined by an associate of the reformist Tsar to characterize Elizabeth 1 . Kazimierz Waliszewski's testimony largely corresponds with the historical appraisal of the Russian Tsarina - Peter I's daughter - as the figure who continued the policies of her great father.

Born, like her father, in Moscow, Elizabeth could have rightly called herself a Muscovite. She was born on December 18 (in the Old Style) 1709, during the celebration of victory at the Battle of Poltava. When the Tsar was told about the birth of a healthy baby, he exclaimed: "Let us interrupt our celebration of victory and hurry to congratulate my daughter on arriving into this world, as if auguring the longed-for peace" 2 . The youngest daughter of Peter I and his unwed wife Catherine I was born in the "Russian Bethlehem" - Kolomenskoye, Peter I's ancestral estate, which, as legend has it, was Peter's birth place as well 3 . A renovated model of this village from the Shchusev Museum of Architecture was featured at the show, for the first time after a 30-year period of oblivion.

The royal father chose a name for the baby - Elizabeth (which means "God's oath" or "a woman worshipping God"). Russians worshipped several saints of the same name: Elizabeth the Wonderworker of Constantinople (on April 24), Elizabeth the Righteous of Palestine, mother of St. John the Baptist (September 5), and Elizabeth of Adria-nople, a martyr (October 22). There are few known ancient Russian icons featuring St. Elizabeth. The exhibition displayed one such rare one - "Saint Martyr Elizabeth Against the Backdrop of the Novode-vichy Convent" (from the Historical Museum, Moscow).

Peter I was a very doting father to his youngest daughter. A considerable "Collection of Letters of the Members of the Imperial Dynasty" (from the Russian Archive of Ancient Documents, RGADA) contains several letters from the Tsar addressed personally to Elizabeth. Already in May 1710, when the child was four months old, Peter asked his spouse to "give a bow to the four-month-old lovely little one". This missive, written when preparations for an assault on Vyborg were underway, was sent from a schooner called "Lizetka", in honour of the baby Elizabeth. In a letter sent from Amsterdam on May 4 1717, already addressed directly to Elizabeth, the Emperor talked "about my and Yekaterina Alexeevna's good health" 4 . In most cases, the royal father addressed his daughter on a tenderly humorous note: "Lizetka, my friend, hail to you... God grant it that I see you happy" 5 .

As an infant, Elizabeth was very pretty. The rare portraits by Ivan Nikitin and Louis Caravaque feature a good-looking blonde with rosy cheeks and a soft skin. When Lizanka was eight years old, she caught chicken pox. The grave disease all but disfigured the young girl but fortunately all ended well, "without a harm to the little face", and in 1719 a Dutchman living in Russia, Jacob Debi, remarked: "[Elizabeth] is most charming, and could have been regarded as a perfect beauty had it not been for the auburn shade of her hair, which, however, may change over the years" 6 . Surviving artefacts such as a locket (from the Kremlin Museum) and an envelope with a lock of hair, which Peter the Great's sister Natalya Alexeevna attached to a missive to Catherine Alexeevna (from RGADA), show the natural colour of the Tsar's daughter's hair.

For Elizabeth, Moscow was her "little homeland" where she spent her childhood and where her inner self was shaped. In her "tender age", Elizabeth was a bold and very skilful rider who spent her time racing on a horse across the fields in Izmailovo and Perovo, areas near Moscow. For a hunt the princess would put on an elegant doublet trimmed with gimp and a white chemise with lace neckwear. One of the portraits made by an unknown Russian artist (in the Tre-tyakov Gallery) shows the princess in a hunter's garb of this kind. The exhibition featured Elizabeth's hunting accessories: a personal knife with her monogram engraved on the blade; a lady's small sword with a diamond edge; an Austrian arquebus with an image of Venus and Cupid shooting at deer; and a light-weight arbalest for lady hunters chasing birds, created by German armourers.

Unlike Peter the Great, who rejected old Muscovite customs and habits in favour of the new European ones, Elizabeth remained loyal to the old capital throughout her 20-year rule (1741-1761). She did much to foster banking and light industry, theatre and opera, and academia and education in Moscow.

A "Chronicle" of Elizabeth's life in Moscow was compiled using official annals of the court and other publications of that period. Among the numerous published edicts, researchers identified those directly concerning Moscow. As early as in the first year of her rule (May 1742) Elizabeth issued a directive "to build homes in Moscow according to set guidelines", which also prescribed the width for streets (eight sazhens) and side-streets (four sazhens). In 1748 this directive was followed by another (of July 2) requiring that houses built "on sites burnt out by fire" also conform with "the set guidelines". These orders streamlined traditional town development in Moscow and brought discipline to the construction of residential housing.

Unlike St. Petersburg, where the Winter and Summer palaces were built to Bartolomeo Rastrelli's design during the reign of Elizabeth, Moscow did not become a site of construction projects of such magnitude. As for the building of new landmarks, there were few such projects accomplished in Moscow. When such projects were carried out, the sites were chosen inside the Kremlin or near Kitai-Gorod, and construction took place in the 1750s. It was supervised by Dmitry Ukh-tomsky, appointed as the head of the team of Moscow architects in 1747. Ukhtomsky set about his task without delay, and designing the Kuznetsky Bridge (1751-1757) he said his objective was the "regularity and splendour" of Baroque, so much favoured by Elizabeth. In 17531757, under Ukhtomsky's leadership, the new Krasniye Vorota (Red Gates) were built in stone, to a similar design, by Mikhail Zemtsov, as the old coronation timber archway, erected in 1742, which it replaced. However, the decoration of the gate showed new stylistic trends. All architectural projects conceived by Ukhtomsky - a belfry above the Voskresensky Gate in Kitai-Gorod (1753), buildings of a hospital and a shelter for invalids (1757-1759), a church dedicated to the Metropolitan of Moscow St. Alexius (1748-1751) and a church dedicated to St. Nicetas the Goth on Staraya Basmannaya Street (1751) - were designed in Rastrelli's style.

The show had a special section focused on Moscow's architecture of the Elizabethan period. On view were rare drawings and drafts made by Ukhtomsky, loaned by GIM and RGADA. The Architectural Museum loaned a model of the Red Gates, which were torn down in the 1930s, and fragments of a statue that adorned this masterpiece of Moscow's Baroque architecture. The exhibition organizers' aim was to show off the image of the old Russian town and to make visitors share their admiration for the beauty of the ancient capital city, a beauty preserved for posterity in the works of visual art of the age of Elizabeth. These items include rare panoramic views made by Ivan Michurin, featured on a 1739 map of Moscow, and "A View from Za-moskvorechye (Beyond the Moscow River)" on a lithograph by Ivan Sokolov. The lively atmosphere of Moscow is captured in several drawings made for the Coronation Album by the engravers Grigory Kac-halov and Johann Shtenglin.

Considering that most buildings in the old capital were made of timber, the edicts issued by the authorities placed a special emphasis on prevention of fires. On May 5 1752 a horrendous fire broke out in Moscow, destroying much of the city, causing irreparable harm to its residents and killing many. In the wake of it, in June, a directive was issued concerning "safety measures against fire in public places", "supply of water pipes for different governmental agencies and courts of justice, and for the streets" and "supervision thereof by the police"; it was also mandated that each police team have "six sailcloth screens". The following year, there was another fire, which demolished a palace in Lefortovo and a German "Wooden Comedy" theatre on Novaya Basmannaya Street. The authorities responded with edicts "prohibiting henceforth to build up squares and requiring that structures standing thereupon be razed" and "forbidding to cover roofs with straw in co-achmens' neighbourhoods in Moscow". Ponds had to be dug "in commoners' courtyards", and smitheries, where naked flame was used, had to be transferred far away from the city. In this respect, on May 27 1753 a prohibition was issued against "building timber houses inside two town areas: the Kremlin and Kitai-Gorod". The regulations provided for fire victims and beggars as well, prohibiting them from "idling about" and ordering to go to "the agencies and shelters" in charge. Of great importance for Muscovites were the edicts "forbidding raising the prices for timber and all manner of supplies and materials".

Many such measures were taken to improve the mores of Muscovites. On January 25 1744 an edict was issued "prohibiting fast rides across the town and utterance of expletives, the violators to be fined". The sale of wine, as well as the "Russian amusement" - fist-fighting -were prohibited during liturgies and church processions carrying the cross.

The Empress also took care of ecological problems in the city. Evidence of this is an edict of September 3 1747 "on prohibiting, in areas around Moscow, the construction of wineries and glass works not provided with water supply lines". It was also required that construction materials be brought from remote places, "not from nearby locales"; felling trees in nearby forests was forbidden. Elizabeth abolished the so-called "bozhedomkas" - the huge pits where bodies of murdered people were buried. In 1743, near Maryina Roshcha, a special burial "barn" was built, financed by the Head Office of the Moscow Gover-norate from the Office's "irregular revenues". Five years later, behind the Meshchanskaya Sloboda (Commoners' Borough), a large open area was allocated for a cemetery.

During Elizabeth's rule, economic considerations began to play a more important role in Moscow politics than before. Inland custom houses throughout the country were abolished, and so was the Customs Court. It was replaced by a Merchants' Court of Oral Adjudication, established in Moscow in 1754. Several days later, Russia opened its first State Lending Bank, which had a branch in Moscow called the Noblemen's Bank. At nearly the same time (on May 15) the commission in charge of collecting inland port duties was relocated to the old capital. The mint was moved from St. Petersburg to Moscow in June 1742. Light industry received a boost from a 1744 decree allowing the merchant M. Gusyatnikov to establish a hat-making workshop, and a 1753 decree allowing another merchant A. Fedotov to open a leaf-gold and silver plant.

It should be noted that while some decrees touch on important political and economic matters, others sound funny. One such example is an enactment "prohibiting private individuals from keeping bears in towns". Whenever the Empress came to Moscow, measures of unprecedented force to bring order to the town and to safeguard royalty were introduced. A special edict from the police chief's office required to keep Moscow clean and its pavements in good repair. In 1744, this office employed convicts (except those convicted for grievous crimes) for the hurried removal of piles of garbage around the Kremlin and for "the cleaning of the streets". Moscow's noblemen whose family members "have caught measles or smallpox" were strictly barred from the royal residences. Out of concern for Elizabeth's peace of mind, the authorities forbade burials along the path of her journey from the Kremlin to the Golovinsky Palace (formerly the An-nenhof Palace, designed by Rastrelli and renamed by a decree of February 29 1744) by the Yauza river.

The exhibition, alone among the three shows, introduceda section devoted to "The Church and the Tsarina". Since Elizabeth was a deeply religious person, this subject is very relevant. During Elizabeth's reign, for the first time after Peter I's reforms, which abolished the church patriarchy, the ruler of the state had the interests of the Russian Church close to her heart. The Tsarina, who was a Christian Orthodox believer, regularly attended the ceremonies of sanctifica-tion of new churches, church services and the weddings of her courtiers, and made pilgrimages to monasteries. She often visited the Voskresensky and New Jerusalem monasteries as well as the Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius.

The exhibition prominently featured pictorial representations of Elizabeth; overall, more than 100 images survived. Of all the female monarchs in Russia, Elizabeth was rightfully considered the most attractive. She inherited from her parents a superb physique: from her father, her height and beautifully shaped lean arms and trim legs, and from her mother, an ample bosom and thick hair. Nearly all contemporaries remarked on the empress's extraordinary look. A Lady Rondo, wife of an Englishman in the Russian court of Anna loannovna, described her thus: "Princess Elizabeth, who, as you know, is daughter of Peter I, is a beauty. She's very fair-skinned; her hair is not very dark, her blue eyes big and lively, and she has good teeth and a pretty mouth" 7 . The young Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, the future Grand Duchess Yekaterina Alexeevna (Catherine II), shared her impressions from a meeting with the Russian Empress which took place in Moscow on February 9 1744: "Indeed, you could not have looked at her for the first time without admiring her beauty and stately carriage. She was a tall woman, very portly, albeit this portliness did not in the least detract from her handsomeness, nor was there any sign of self-consciousness in her demeanour; her head was very beautiful too; that day the Empress was dressed in a gigantic pannier, which she was fond of wearing, although she put it on only on occasions of public appearances. Her dress was made of silver-wefted brocade with a gold trim; her head was graced with a black feather secured on the side of the head, in a straight position, and the hair, elaborately coiffed, was adorned with dozens of diamonds." 8

It appears that the French painter Louis Caravaque (1684-1754) was her favourite artist from childhood. In 1716 Caravaque settled as an employee of the Russian court and had priority over other artists when it came to painting portraits of Peter the Great and his family, including the young Elizabeth. Favoured by the general public, Cara-vaque's works, in Rococo style, were rightfully acclaimed by connoisseurs as well. The court artist's high reputation and perhaps Elizabeth's old childhood allegiance secured for Caravaque the commission to create a portrait of the Empress on the occasion of her coronation. The portrait was so good that the "Caravaque canon" was made the official standard for portraying Elizabeth, used many times by painters and lithographers 9 .

During the 1740s Caravaque together with his assistants produced a series of the Tsarina's portraits which were sent to Russian diplomatic missions in European countries. Not marked by great depth or insight, the Caravaque canon relied on the ideas of regal greatness and dignity common in European art, while also emphasizing her beauty, the feature that the Empress herself found most endearing. Some of the important images of Elizabeth were created by a "Hofmaler" (court painter) Georg Christoph Grooth (1719-1749), who was in the employ of the Russian court from 1741 onwards. The German painter created several "minor pictorial portraits" featuring the Russian Empress in different guises and garbs: as the colonel of the Preobrazhensky Regiment, as a noblewoman at a fancy-dress ball with a mask in her hand, and as the goddess of beauty Flora. Grooth proved capable of accurately capturing Elizabeth's tastes and reflecting the singularities of court life during her reign. The image of the Russian Tsarina who was so fond of "laughter and amusements" was fashioned in the Rococo style. It agrees very well with the description given by one of the Tsarina's contemporaries, Ivan Galenevsky, whose "laudatory odes" are on view at the exhibition:

She evinces an endearing joy And pours sweetness with her sugary hand 10

The Tretyakov Gallery rightfully prides itself on the fact that the masterpieces in its possession reflect the versatile image of Elizabeth. The exhibition displayed this collection including the unique portrait of the Empress within an ornament of flowers, created by the Austrian artist Georg Caspar Prenner, as well as intimate portraits by Pietro Ro-tari and Louis Tocque.

The letters and Elizabeth's personal signatures on state documents were exhibited too. Nearly all of the documents signed by the Tsarina are held in Moscow, at RGADA. Out of the spotlight, Elizabeth remained very much herself. Childless, she was especially fond of a nephew, Grand Duke Pyotr Fedorovich and, initially, his fiancee, Grand Duchess Yekaterina Alexeevna (the future Catherine the Great). When this assiduous little girl in wintry Moscow was "learning by heart a handful of" Russian prayers, in order to convert into Orthodox Christianity, she "caught pleurisy" and nearly died. When, barely returned home from a visit to the Trinity Monastery, Elizabeth learned about the princess's disease, she did not even set foot in her own room before hurrying to Catherine's quarters, accompanied by Alexei Razu-movsky, Jean Armand de L'Estocq and a surgeon. Seated by the bed where the unconscious girl was resting, she held her head while the doctor performed a bloodletting. The Empress was the first person the girl saw when she regained consciousness. To lift her spirits, Elizabeth literally showered her with expensive gifts 1 1. One of the sections at the exhibition was devoted to the "minor court" and its day-to-day activities in Moscow.

The exhibition displayed a locket with a lock of Elizabeth's hair, a china set and other personal items, as well as a renovated dress. An acknowledged woman of fashion, the Russian Empress regularly ordered from European countries large quantities of clothes, adornments, and toilet waters. In connection with this, a special section at the exhibition called "The Feminine Side of the Empress" was of great interest. Although handsome by nature, Elizabeth throughout her life never stopped taking care of her appearance, and knew the recipes of various beauty aids. For instance, Catherine II recalled that in the summer of 1749 the Empress noticed that Catherine's face skin had a strong tan and sent her an "ointment". The effect of the concoction ("an egg yolk with lemon juice and French vodka") was so remarkable that "I continued to apply this ointment further on" as "the best remedy against inflammation of the skin" 12 . The show featured a unique archival document listing "varieties of water for smelling and sprinkling" 13 utilized by the Empress. It includes "jasmine water from Cyprus with ambergris", "water called bouquet", "tuberose water" and "water from violet flowers". The names suggest that Elizabeth especially favoured flower scents. She had a very fine taste and, although fond of ornamenting herself with diamonds, always chose her clothes with a sense of proportion and harmony.

The Empress loved lingerie and fabrics "of the very best variety", most of which were brought from abroad. General Ivan Glebov's elder son, on a visit to Paris, brought "two pieces of very luxurious and splendid textile" 14 sent by Yekaterina Alexeevna's mother. Aware of Elizabeth's soft spot, the politic Grand Duchess presented one piece to the Tsarina as a gift. In the mid-18th century the production of silk fabrics - brocade, heavy silk and satin - began on a large scale in Russia. Fabrics in the style of Rococo were distinguished by their rich floral designs, bright colours and light-hued backgrounds. Sometimes woven ornamental patternswere complemented with handmade embroidery. The exhibition showcased a variety of textiles of the period. A document from the 1750s from the archives, the "Registry of Dresses Brought to the Ceremonial Bedroom of Elizabeth Petrovna", is certain to refresh modern viewers' knowledge about the clothes and their colour designs. The listing includes, among other things, such items as a "scarlet velvet housecoat with a bodice of white taffeta, scarlet velvet corset of white taffeta for lining, yellow taffeta housecoat, crimson taffeta housecoat, white housecoat, blue gros de Tour housecoat" 15 . The same archive holds a registry of bills "from the basest handcraftsmen" indicating the type of services and prices 16 . From 1753 through 1755 a tailor Shefler required to pay, "for the sewing of a little dress", 42 rubles and 40 kopecks, while the amount due to a tailor Kosman was enormous - 247 rubles and 17 kopecks. An artisan called Schicht had 53 rubles due to him for the manufacturing of corsets, and a valet named Bastidon - 53 rubles, for "confected wigs". It was mostly foreigners who were engaged in such trades. However, Russian names sometimes appear as well. For instance, a tailor Gra-nin asked 91 rubles "for the sewing of a little dress". The document references 40 rubles due to a "sergeant Stepan Pastukhovsky, an attendant of the wardrobe, for the money from his own funds that he expended" on ribbons and different cloths, as well as "instruments, lead and oak".

Although Elizabeth's wardrobe included plenty of dresses and other accessories suitable for a lady, many were lost during her lifetime. A fire in Moscow in 1752 "deprived the Empress of all of her huge stock of clothes". The Tsarina herself told the Grand Duchess that "the fire consumed 4,000 clothes, and of all of them, she misses only one, made of the fabric that I gifted to her and which was sent to me by my mother. The fire also consumed other precious things belonging to the Empress, including a tub with different stones bought by Count Rumyantsev in Constantinople, which cost 8,000 chervonetses." 17 However, all the losses were made up and even exceeded within just ten years. Pyotr Fedorovich's tutor Jacob von Staehlin informed that after the Tsarina's death in 1761 the new Emperor discovered in her wardrobe 15,000 clothes, "some worn only once, some worn never at all, two trunks of silk stockings and ribbons, up to several thousand boots and shoes. More than 100 uncut pieces of expensive French textiles." 18 Unfortunately, the Tsarina's original dresses have not survived to this day. The exhibition features a woman's dress of the mid-18th century, which a renovator from GIM fashioned from a piece of fabric that probably belonged to Elizabeth.

The huge array of portraits, genre compositions and documentary evidence presented at the show "Tsarina Elizabeth and Moscow" enriches our knowledge about how the Russian Tsarina lived and ruled.

1 Waliszewski, Kazimierz. Daughter of Peter the Great. Moscow, 1989. p. 263.

2 Kostomarov, Nikolai. Russian History in Biographies of Its Greatest personalities. vol. 7, book 3. Moscow, 1992. p. 213.

3 "The Russian Bethlehem, Kolomenskoye village, / which brought Peter into the world, / The source and beginning of our happiness..." Sumarokov, Alexander. The Russian Bethlehem (a poem). / In: Sumarokov, Alexander. Complete works. Moscow, 1787. vol. 6. P. 303.

4 RGADA (Russian Archive of Ancient Documents). Fund 4. Collection of Letters of the Members of the Imperial Dynasty and other Persons of Highest Standing. Item 22. Sheet 2.

5 Peter I's letter to his daughter Elizabeth, written in Preobrazhenskoe village on February 2 1718.

6 Pavlenko, Nikolai. Elizaveta Petrovna (Empress Elizabeth). Moscow: 2008. P. 13.

7 Quoted from: Empress Elizabeth and Tsarskoe Selo. St. Petersburg, 2010. P. 7.

8 Memoirs of Empress Catherine II. Reprint from a 1907 publication. Moscow, 1989. P. 39.

9 The copies of paintings and the lithographs were accomplished by Alexei Antropov, Ivan vishnyakov, Christian-Albert wortmann, Ivan Sokolov, and Johann Stenglin.

10 RGADA. Fund 17. Item 171. Sheet 21.

11 Memoirs of Empress Catherine II. Reprint of a 1907 publication. Moscow: 1989. Pp. 211-212.

12 Memoirs of Empress Catherine II. London: 1859. Reprint: Moscow: 1990. P. 82.

13 RGADA. Fund 14. Chancellery of the Court. Document 61. Sheet 17.

14 Memoirs of Empress Catherine II. London: 1859. Reprint: Moscow: 1990. P. 122.

15 RGADA. Fund 14. Chancellery of the Court. Item 88. Sheet 9.

16 RGADA. Fund 14. Chancellery of the Court. Item 933. Sheet 3.

17 Memoirs of Empress Catherine II. London: 1859. Reprint: Moscow: 1990. P. 144.

18 Anisimov, Eugene. Russia in the Mid-18th Century. The Fight for Peter I's Legacy. Moscow: 1986. P. 149.

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