# Portrait of Peter the Great [View the canonical artwork record]() ## Artwork - Artist: [WERFF, Pieter van der]() - Date: 1651-1700 - Technique: Oil on canvas, 56 x 50 cm ## Commentary Portrait of Peter the Great 1690s Oil on canvas, 56 x 50 cm The Hermitage, St. Petersburg Peter I the Great \(Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov\) \(1672-1725\) ruled Russia and later the Russian Empire from 1682 until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his weak and sickly half-brother, Ivan V. Peter the Great carried out a policy of Westernization and expansion that transformed the Tsardom of Russia into the 3-billion acre Russian Empire, a major European power. ## Related artworks - [Granida and Diafilo]() - [Portrait of a Gentleman]() - [Portrait of a Lady]() - [Portrait of a Woman]() ## Attribution [Web Gallery of Art]()