Eastern and Central Europe (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

(Ben Green) #1
ST PETERSBURG 149

FLEMISH, DUTCH AND
GERMAN ART


The small collection of early
paintings from the Netherlands
includes a Madonna and
Child (1430s) by the Master of
Flemalle. Over 40 works by
Rubens cover religious sub-
jects and scenes from
Classical mythology, as well
as landscapes and portraits.
The Dutch section is rich in
Rembrandts. Among the many
small-genre paintings is Gerard


FRENCH AND
ENGLISH ART

French art was de rigeur for
collectors in the 18th century.
Major artists of the 17th
century, including Louis Le
Nain and the two brilliant and
contrasting painters Claude
Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin,
are well represented. Antoine
Watteau’s Embarrassing
Proposal (c. 1716), Stolen Kiss
(1780s) by Jean Honoré
Fragonard and François
Boucher’s far-from-virtuous
heroines represent the more
wicked side of 18th-century
taste, but Catherine the Great
preferred didactic or instruc-
tional works. She also
patronized sculptors and
English artists. Catherine pur-
chased works by Etienne-
Maurice Falconet, Jean-Antoine
Houdon, Sir Godfrey Kneller

19TH- AND 20TH-
CENTURY EUROPEAN ART

Although the royal family did
not patronize the new move -
ments in art in the 19th cen-
tury, there were far-sighted
private individuals whose col-
lections were nationalized and
entered the Hermitage after the
1917 Revolution. The Barbizon
school is well repre sented by
works from Camille Corot
and French Romanticism
by two richly-coloured
Moroccan scenes of the 1850s
by Delacroix. Nicholas I
acqui red works by the German
Romantic painter Caspar David
Friedrich. Collectors Sergey
Shchukin and Ivan Morozov
brought the museum its fine
array of Impressionist and
Post-Impressionist paint ings
includ ing pieces by Monet,
Renoir and Pissarro and sev-
eral pastels by Degas. Works
by Van Gogh, such as his
Women of Arles (1888), and
those by Gauguin, Cézanne,
Matisse and Picasso show the
changes in colour and tech-
nique introduced over a period
of time. The bold inno vation
of Picasso’s Cubist period of
1907–12 fills a whole room.

Stolen Kiss (1780s), by French artist Jean Honoré

and Sir Joshua Reynolds.
However, her most daring
purchase was of works by the
still largely unknown Joseph
Wright of Derby. The Iron
Forge (1773) is a masterpiece
of artificial lighting, but
Firework Display at the Castel
Sant’Angelo (1774–5) is a truly
romantic fiery spectacle. She
provided much work for
English cabinet-makers and
carvers of cameos and was one
of Wedgwood’s most presti-
gious clients, ordering the
famous Green Frog Service.

Women of Arles (1888), painted by Vincent Van Gogh


Terborch’s Glass of
Lemonade from the
mid-17th century, in
which all the usual
elements of a genre
scene are imbued
with psychological
tension and heavy
symbolism.
In the German
collection, it is the
works of Lucas
Cranach the Elder
which captivate the
viewer. His Venus and Cupid
(1509), the stylish Portrait of
a Woman in a Hat (1526) and
the tender Virgin and Child
Beneath an Apple Tree reveal
the varied aspects of his talent.

ITALIAN AND SPANISH ART


The fine display of Italian art
begins with some early works
revealing the rise of the
Renaissance in the 14th and
15th centuries. The merits of
the later Florentine and
Venetian schools can be seen
in the masterpieces by da
Vinci, Michelangelo, Titian
and Raphael, while the
Baroque style is represented
by the vast canvases of Luca
Giordano and other artists.
Elegant sculptures by Antonio
Canova stand in the Gallery of
Ancient Painting.
The Spanish collection is
more modest, but Spain’s great-
est painters can all be seen,
from El Greco’s The Apostles
Peter and Paul, to Ribera,
Murillo, and Zurbarán with
St Lawrence. The portrait of a
courtier, Count Olivares,
(c. 1640) by Velázquez,
contrasts with a much earlier
genre scene of a peasant’s
breakfast (1617–18).

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