Eastern and Central Europe (Eyewitness Travel Guides)

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).