A sketch of the scenery by Matvey Andreevich Shishkov for The Death of Ivan the Terrible (a historical tragedy) written by Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy (1817 - 1875).

   A sketch of the scenery by the Russian theater artist Matvey Andreevich Shishkov ( 1832−1897) for The Death of Ivan the Terrible (a historical tragedy) written by the Russian playwright  Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy (1817 - 1875).

   The Death of Ivan the Terrible was first performed at the Alexandrinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg in 1867. It was not a success, due to the lead role having been given to a comic actor.
   The world-famous Moscow Art Theatre began its second season with a production of the play, which opened on 29 September 1899. It was directed by the seminal theatre practitioner Constantin Stanislavski, who also played the lead role initially. When Stanislavski fell ill after the first few performances, he was replaced by Vsevolod Meyerhold.

   Matvey Andreevich Shishkov was a Russian theater artist. He studied at the Stroganov School and with the theater decorator H. Shenyang in Moscow. From 1852 he worked under the guidance of A. A. Roller in St. Petersburg. Academician of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts (1869), Professor (1884). Sh. strove to introduce historical everyday authenticity into Russian theatrical and decorative art, which, however, often turned into excessive naturalism and props. Shishkov's best works are the scenery for the performances "The Death of Ivan the Terrible" by A. K. Tolstoy (1867, Alexandria Theater, together with V. G. Schwartz and G. G. Gagarin), "Blacksmith Vakula" by Tchaikovsky (1877, Mariinsky Theater, together with M. I. Bocharov).