News | NGV winter exhibition ‘Masterpieces from The Hermitage: The Legacy of Catherine the Great’

The NGV has announced this year’s Melbourne Winter Masterpiece exhibition will be ‘Masterpieces from the Hermitage: The Legacy of Catherine the Great’.

From one great empire to another – last year we took in the Royal Collection of the Hapsburg’s of Spain in ‘Italian Masterieces from the Prado‘, this winter we look to Russia and the  collection of Catherine the Great. The Hermitage holds one of the most important collections of European Art and one of the largest collections of art anywhere in the world.

This exhibition will highlight the collection as it was drawn together by Catherine the Great. She founded the Hermitage in 1764, but she had begun to collect pictures from the moment she ascended to the throne in 1762. The works coming out for this exhibition range in date from artists who would have been ‘old masters’ for Catherine, such as Titian and Rubens, to artists who worked at the Russian court in the second half of the eighteenth century, such as the Swedish painter Alexander Roslin, whose famous portrait of Catherine the Great will be part of the Winter Masterpieces exhibition. Catherine styled herself as reine-philosophe, a Philosopher Queen, and Roslin was one of many artists, writers, musicians and intellectuals who were drawn to the Catherine’s cosmopolitan court from across Europe. Her rule from 1762 until 1796 is considered a golden age in Russia.

 Alexander Roslin Swedish 1718–1793 Portrait of Catherine II 1776–77 oil on canvas 271.0 x 189.5 cm The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg Acquired, 1918 (Inv. № ГЭ-1316)

Alexander Roslin
Swedish 1718–1793
Portrait of Catherine II 1776–77
oil on canvas
271.0 x 189.5 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
Acquired, 1918 (Inv. № ГЭ-1316)

During her long reign Catherine set about making St Petersburg one of the cultural capitals of Europe. As well as collecting art she oversaw the construction of many new buildings, including the Hermitage, and the exhibition will include drawings by the Hermitage’s first architects Georg Velten and Giacomo Quarenghi, as well as painted views of the new Hermitage by Benjamin Patersen.
Benjamin Patersen Swedish 1750–1815 View of Palace Square from Nevsky Prospekt 1800 oil on canvas 64.0 х 99.0 cm The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg Acquired, 1950 (Inv. № РЖ-1902)

Benjamin Patersen
Swedish 1750–1815
View of Palace Square from Nevsky Prospekt 1800
oil on canvas
64.0 х 99.0 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
Acquired, 1950 (Inv. № РЖ-1902)

The exhibition will also include drawings and decorative arts alongside painting and sculpture and it will be exciting to see drawings such as this black and red chalk portrait of Charles IX by François Clouet. The decorative arts will include the Cameo Service from the Sèvres Porcelain Manufactory that Catherine commissioned for her former lover and military commander Prince GrigoryPotemkin.
 François Clouet French c.1510–1572 Portrait of Charles IX 1566–69 black and red chalk 33.1 x 22.5 cm The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (Inv. No. OР-2893)

François Clouet
French c.1510–1572
Portrait of Charles IX 1566–69
black and red chalk
33.1 x 22.5 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
(Inv. No. OР-2893)

Catherine set about collecting art with the ambition to amass a great collection worthy of a powerful ruler. She enlarged the collection rapidly with the purchase of a number of major collections of art. One of the most well-known is her purchase of the collection of Britain’s first prime minister, Sir Robert Walpole. A large part of his collection of paintings by Van Dyck, Poussin, Rubens and Rembrandt was sold to Catherine (the failure of Britain to retain this collection was described by one commentator at the time as heralding ‘the decline of the empire of Great Britain‘). Several paintings from Walpole’s collection will be included in the Melbourne exhibition such as David Teniers II rather grandiose representation of a domestic interior ‘Kitchen’.

 David Teniers II Flemish 1610–1690 Kitchen 1646 oil on canvas 171.0 х 237.0 cm The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg Acquired from the collection of Sir Robert Walpole, 1779 (Inv. № ГЭ-586)

David Teniers II
Flemish 1610–1690
Kitchen 1646
oil on canvas
171.0 х 237.0 cm
The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
Acquired from the collection of Sir Robert Walpole, 1779 (Inv. № ГЭ-586)

Like last year’s Prado show, the Hermitage exhibition will emphasise the peripatetic life of many European masterpieces, which often passed through the hands of several notable collectors and resided in a number of different countries. By the mid-eighteenth century works by artists such as Titian, Velazquez and Rubens were found across Europe and were sought after by collectors in many different countries. The NGV exhibition will be particularly strong in Dutch and Flemish painters, but it will also include art collected by Catherine from French, Swedish, Italian, Chinese, Spanish and Italian artists. Highlights include four Rembrandts from the Hermitage collection, drawings by Poussin, portraits by Anthony Van Dyck and Frans Hals. Lucky for us this year these paintings will make another journey. Indeed, for most (if not all) the art in the exhibition it will be the first time we have been able to see it in Australia.

Masterpieces from the Hermitage: The Legacy of Catherine the Great will be at NGV International from July 31–November 8 2015. Tickets are available for purchase via the NGV website.

— Katrina Grant