More than 400 works from the personal collection of Catherine the Great will travel to Australia 31 July 2015 – 8 November 2015. Gathered over a 34-year period, the exhibition represents the foundation of the Hermitage’s collection and includes outstanding works from artists such as Rembrandt, Velasquez, Rubens and Titian. Exemplary works from Van Dyck, Snyders, Teniers and Hals will also travel, collectively offering some of the finest Dutch and Flemish art to come to Australia.
Rembrandt Harmensz. Van Rijn, Young woman trying on earrings 1657. Oil on wood panel, 39.5 х 32.5 cm. The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (Inv. no. ГЭ-784). Acquired from the collection of the Comte de Baudouin, Paris, 1781.
The exhibition, presented by the Hermitage Museum, National Gallery of Victoria and Art Exhibitions Australia, is exclusive to Melbourne as part of the Melbourne Winter Masterpieces series.
Catherine the Great’s reign from 1762 to 1796 was known as the golden age and is remembered for her exceptional patronage of the arts, literature and education.
Of German heritage, Catherine the Great was well connected in European art and literature circles. She saw herself as a reine-philosophe (Philosopher Queen), a new kind of ruler in the Age of Enlightenment. Guided by Europe’s leading intellectuals, such as the French philosophers Voltaire and Diderot, she sought to modernise Russia’s economy, industry and government, drawing inspiration both from classical antiquity and contemporary cultural and political developments in Western Europe.
A prolific acquirer of art of the period, Catherine the Great’s collection reflects the finest contemporary art of the 18th century as well as the world’s best old masters of the time, with great works by French, German, Chinese, British, Dutch and Flemish artists. Notable in this exhibition are entire groups of works acquired from renowned collections from France, Germany and England representing the best collections offered for sale at the time.
Exquisite decorative arts will be brought to Australia for this exhibition, including 60 items from the Cameo Service of striking enamel-painted porcelain made by the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory in Paris. Commissioned by Catherine the Great for her former lover and military commander, Prince Grigory Potemkin, the dinner service features carved and painted imitation cameos, miniature works of art, based on motifs from the French Royal collection.
Director of the Hermitage Museum, Mikhail Piotrovsky said, ‘These outstanding works from the personal collection of Catherine the Great represent the crown jewels of the Museum. It was through the collection of these works and Catherine the Great’s exceptional vision that the Hermitage was founded. Today it is one of the most visited museums in the world. We are very pleased to be able to share these precious works with Australian audiences at the 250-year anniversary of this important institution.’
Catherine the Great’s love of education, art and culture inspired a period of enlightenment and architectural renaissance that saw the construction of the Hermitage complex. This construction includes six historic buildings along the Palace Embankment as well as the spectacular Winter Palace, a former residence of Russian emperors. On view in the exhibition will be remarkable drawings by the Hermitage’s first architects Georg Velten and Giacomo Quarenghi, complemented by excellent painted views of the new Hermitage by Benjamin Patersen.
Alexander Roslin Swedish 1718–1793 Portrait of Catherine II 1776–77 oil on canvas
These, along with Alexander Roslin’s majestic life-size portrait of Catherine, set the scene for a truly spectacular exhibition.
Visitors to the exhibition will be able to immerse themselves in Catherine the Great’s world evoking a sensory experience of a visit to the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. The exhibition design will have rich treatments of architectural details, interior furnishings, wallpapers and a colour palette directly inspired by the Hermitage’s gallery spaces. Enveloping multimedia elements will give visitors a sense of being inside the Hermitage, evoking the lush and opulent interiors.
The Hermitage Museum was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been open to the public since 1852. With 3 million items in its holdings, the Hermitage is often regarded as having the finest collection of paintings in the world today. In 2014, The Hermitage celebrated its 250-year anniversary and opened a new wing of the museum with 800 rooms dedicated to art from the 19th to 21st centuries.
The exhibition is organised by The Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg in association with the National Gallery of Victoria and Art Exhibitions Australia.
Titian
Italian [1488–90]–1576
Portrait of a young woman [c.1536]
oil on canvas
96.0 х 75.0 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg [Inv. No. ГЭ-71].
Acquired from the collection of Baron Louis-Antoine Crozat de Thiers, Paris 1772
Anthony van Dyck
Flemish 1599–1641
Family portrait (c. 1619)
oil on canvas
113.5 х 93.5 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ГЭ-534)
Acquired from a private collection,
Brussels, 1774
Frans Snyders
Flemish 1579–1657
Concert of birds (1630–40)
oil on canvas
136.5 х 240.0 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ГЭ-607)
Acquired from the collection of Sir Robert
Walpole, Houghton Hall, 1779
Peter Paul Rubens and workshop
Flemish 1577–1640
The Adoration of the Magi (c. 1620)
oil on canvas
235.0 х 277.5 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. № ГЭ-494)
Acquired from the collection of Dufresne,
Amsterdam, 1770
Diego Velázquez
Spanish 1599–1660
Luncheon (c. 1617–18)
oil on canvas
108.5 х 102.0 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ГЭ-389)
Acquired 1763–74
Leonardo Da Vinci (school)
Female nude (Donna Nuda) (early 16th
century)
oil on canvas
86.5 х 66.5 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ГЭ-110)
Acquired from the collection of Sir Robert
Walpole, Houghton Hall, 1779
Peter Paul Rubens and workshop
Flemish 1577–1640
The Apostle Paul (c. 1615)
oil on wood panel
105.6 х 74.0 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ГЭ-489)
Acquired before 1774
Cornelis de Vos
Dutch/Flemish (c. 1584)–1651
Self-portrait of the artist with his wife
Suzanne Cock and their children (c. 1634)
oil on canvas
185.5 х 221.0 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ГЭ-623)
Donated by Prince G. A. Potemkin, 1780s
Jean-Baptiste Santerre
French 1651–1717
Two actresses 1699
oil on canvas
146.0 х 114.0 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ГЭ-1284)
Acquired 1768
Anthony van Dyck
Portrait of Philadelphia and Elizabeth Wharton 1640
oil on canvas
162.0 х 130.0 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ГЭ-533)
Acquired from the collection of Sir Robert
Walpole, Houghton Hall, 1779
Charles Vanloo
French 1705–65
Sultan's wife drinking coffee (1750s)
oil on canvas
120.0 х 127.0 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ГЭ-7489)
Acquired from the collection of Madame
Marie-Thérèse Geoffrin, Paris, 1772
Domenico Capriolo
Italian (c. 1494)–1528
Portrait of a young man 1512
oil on canvas
117.0 х 85.0 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ГЭ-21)
Acquired from the collection of Baron LouisAntoine
Crozat de Thiers, Paris, 1772
Jean Louis Voille
French 1744–1804
Portrait of Olga Zherebtsova (1790s)
oil on canvas
73.5 х 58.0 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ГЭ-5654
Acquired from the collection of E. P. Oliv,
Petrograd, 1923
Peter Paul Rubens
Flemish 1577–1640
Landscape with a rainbow 1632–35
oil on canvas
86.0 х 129.0 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
Acquired, 1769 (Inv. № ГЭ-482)
David Teniers II
Flemish 1610–90
Kitchen 1646
oil on canvas
171.0 х 237.0 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ГЭ-586)
Acquired from the collection of Sir Robert
Walpole, Houghton Hall, 1779
Melchior d’Hondecoeter
Dutch 1636–95
Birds in a park 1686
oil on canvas
136.0 х 164.0 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ГЭ-1042)
Acquired from the collection of Jacques
Aved, Paris, 1766
Jean-Baptiste Perronneau
French 1715–83
Portrait of a boy with a book (1740s)
oil on canvas
63.0 х 52.0 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ГЭ-1270)
Acquired from the collection of A. G.
Teplov, St Petersburg, 1781
Rembrandt Harmensz. Van Rijn
Dutch 1606–69
Portrait of a scholar 1631
oil on canvas
104.5 х 92.0 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. no. ГЭ-744)
Acquired from the collection of Count
Heinrich von Brühl, Dresden, 1769
