The 1812 War Gallery contains most, if not all, available paintings of Russian Generals who fought in the war against Napoleon. To summorize this war: Napoleon came into Russia, fought one big war deciding battle that ended undecided, occupied Moscow and suddenly left it. After that Tzar Alexander did the same all the way to Paris. In the end nothing much was gained by either, but a lot of people were death.
If you want to read a nice book that has the war as the setting in which the stories unfold, try "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy. It is a long read, you can become tired with it, but there are several nice story flows in it. It took me only half a year. :) Actually it is not about the war at all, but about Natasha and Pierre of course. But that's just my opinion. :)