Tag Archive for Russian Art

WAYLA | Marie-Anne Collot’s Bust of Diderot | Katrina Grant

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This weekend is the final weekend of the NGV’s Masterpieces from the Hermitage: The Legacy of Catherine the Great. There are talks, drawing and music events over the weekend (see more here http://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/whats-on/programs-events/). I gave a talk at the first Friday Late event on Marie-Anne Collot’s bust of Diderot and thought I would share some of my thoughts on this portrait as a final farewell to the exhibition. In the current exhibition at the NGV of ‘Treasures from the Hermitage’ we enter the exhibition face-to-face with Catherine the Great’s formal royal portrait by Alexander Roslin, a portrait that embodies her position as an autocratic ruler. She is flanked by marble busts of two of France’s leading Enlightenment thinkers, Voltaire and…

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Lecture Series | Philosophy, Literature, and Catherine the Great | NGV International

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Marie-Anne COLLOT, French 1748–1821, Voltaire (1770s),, marble, 49.0 x 30.0 x 28.0 cmThe State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg (Inv. no. Н.ск. 3) Acquired from the artist, 1778

In conjunction with the current NGV exhibition Masterpieces from the Hermitage: The Legacy of Catherine the Great the NGV is presenting a series of lectures on Philosophy, Literature and Catherine the Great. Catherine the Great’s intellectual pursuits extended far beyond her collection of art. Exchanging letters over a fifteen year period with French writer, historian and philosopher Voltaire, she was spurred to bring Russia into the modern era through ideas raised by the Enlightenment and its supporters. Patronage of the arts and education, as well as economic achievements, led to Catherine’s reign being cited as the golden age of Russia. In this special series of four lectures, specialists of history, philosophy and literature explore this rich period through the lens of the philosophers and…

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