Portrait of an official. Painted on paper. China. About 1200 A. D.
Rich and varied are the collections of the CHINESE SECTION of the Hermitage. They take 18 rooms Hermitage, 2nd floor, rooms 351 — 367) and cover the period from the 2nd millennium Р’. C. to the present day. Specimens of Chinese workmanship were constantly brought to Russia still in the 18th century. Many outstanding examples of Chinese stone – carvings porcelain, lacquer, enamels, etc., had been acquired by purchase or as gifts throughout the 19th century, and are acquired nowadays too. It is however the archaeological expeditions undertaken by the Russian scientists S. Oldenburg in 1914—1915 and P. Koslov in 1908—1909, 1924 and 1926 that gave the Oriental section of the Hermitage Continue Reading »
CHINESE SECTION OF THE HERMITAGE
The INDIAN SECTION of the Hermitage
JAMINI ROY. Toilet. India, 20th century
The INDIAN SECTION of the Museum, though small, (Hermitage, 2nd floor, rooms 368 — 371) covers the period from the 15th century up to the present day, and includes some distinguished examples of Indian craftsmanship chiefly of the 17th and 18th centuries as well as paintings of the modern school. The Museum is fortunate in possessing one of the world’s richest collections of Indian steelwork, — arms and armour as well as pieces other than arms and armour. Continue Reading »
THE DEPARTMENT OF THE HISTORY OF CULTURE AND ART OF THE ANTIQUE WORLD
Statue of Aphrodite. (The “Tauride Venus”). Marble. 3rd century Р’. C. Greco-Roman.
Greek and Roman antiquities occupy 24 rooms of the ground floor in the New Hermitage building. Hermitage, rooms 100—131. Of all collections in the Russia it is the very best for not only does it contain the widest representation of original antique monuments, but it gives the opportunity of tracing the continuous development of Antique art throughout the whole period of Greek and Roman civilisation.
Some antique sculptures, now incorporated in the collection, were acquired in the early 18th century. Such is the statue of Aphrodite Hermitage, room в„– 109), known as the Tauride Venus, purchased by Peter the Great. This was the first antique statue of high artistic value which was brought to Russia. The nucleus of the collection, however, was formed in the 19th century by purchases of separate works of art as well as collections bought en bloc; of these special mention deserves the acquisition in 1861 of a considerable part of the Marquis Campana collection, which enriched the Museum with a great number of vases of rare beauty and outstanding importance. Archaeological excavations undertaken since the first half of the 19th century by Russian scientists on the sites of Greek settlements on the Black Sea coast were Continue Reading »
THE ITALIAN SCHOOL ART. PART I
SIMONE MARTINI (1283-1344). Madonna.
Painted in the 1330′s.
The Department of the History of West-European Art begins with the exhibition devoted to the Italian School, which is housed in 32 rooms (1st floor, rooms 207 — 233) and embraces a period from the 13th to the 18th century. Here, displayed side by side, according to the principle assumed by the Hermitage, are paintings of which a great many are of outstanding importance, sculptures, engravings, objects of applied art, such as textiles, furniture, earthenware, glass, enamels, etc. Continue Reading »
THE ITALIAN SCHOOL ART. PART II
RAPHAEL (1483 -1520). Madonna and Child.
(The “Madonna Conestabile”).
Painled about 1500.
Raphaelis represented by two early works of his. Hermitage, 1st floor, room 229. One is the “Madonna Conestabile” painted when the artist was not older than twenty, a tiny tondo, fully representative of the sense of delicacy and purity so typical of the works of the youthful Raphael. The carved and gilt frame originally formed part of the panel on which the picture was painted and which was removed when in the 19th century the work was transferred from panel to canvas. Continue Reading »
THE NETHERLANDISH SCHOOL ART
ROGIEK VAN DER WEYDEN (about 1400-1464). St. Luke
painting the Madonna. Painted about 1435—1440.
The Netherlandish section of the Museum is not large (Hermitage, 1st floor, rooms 260 — 262, 258) but contains a number of noteworthy paintings Among these will be found: two panels by Mattre de Flemalle “Madonna and Child” and “The Trinity” which were two wings of an altarpiece, and of which the first is most characteristic of the artist’s tendency towards realistic rendering of the subject while he places the Madonna Continue Reading »
THE FLEMISH SCHOOL ART
PETER PAUL RUBENS (1577 1640). The Carters. Painted about 1620.
The Hermitage collection is particularly rich in Flemish works, having 42 canvases by Rubens, 26 – by Van Dyck, 14 – by Snyders, 37 – by David Teniers the Younger, 10 — byJ Jасоb Jordaens, as well as paintings by Adriaen Brouwer, Pauland Cornelisde Vos, Lucasvan Valkenborch, Joosde Momper, “Velvet-Brueghel”, Sebastian Vrancx, Theodor Rombouts, Lucas van Uden and others. (1st floor, rooms 248 -245). The art of Rubens (Hermitage, room 247) Continue Reading »
THE DUTCH SCHOOL ART. PART I
Hermitage_FRANS_HALSFRANS HALS (about 1580 -1666). Portrait of a Young Man with
a Glove in his Hand. Painted about 1650
Realistic art of Holland has always been popular in Russia. Already the earliest acquisitions made for the Hermitage in the 18th century included Dutch pictures. The purchase of Count Braid’s collection in 1769 gave the Museum the “Portrait of an Old Woman” and the “Portrait of a Scientist” by Rembrandt, a number of paintings by Terborch, Mieris, Isaak and Adriaen van Ostade, and Wouwerman. A series of Dutch paintings including four canvases by Rembrandt came to the Hermitage with the collections of Crozat and Walpole acquired in 1772 and 1779. Continue Reading »
THE DUTCH SCHOOL ART. PART II (REMBRANDT)
REMBRANDT HARMENSZ VAN RUN (1606
Signed and dated in 1634.
Among the chief glories of the Museum is the Rembrandt collection. Hermitage, room 254 numbering 25 paintings and almost all of his etchings, most of them being the first imprints. The collection embraces all the phases of Rembrandt’s artistic career, from the early works of his to those dated in the year of his death. Portraits, mythological and biblical subjects are represented in the collection with equal completeness. It is a series of masterpieces, probably unrivalled in any other picturegallery of the world. There are portraits of the painter’s early period. Continue Reading »