Russian culture abroad: Exhibition “Romanovs as Tsars-Collectors” launched in Paris

An exhibition called “Romanovs as Tsars-Collectors” kicked off on January 26 2011 in Paris Pinacotheca. This museum was opened in the center of France’s capital several years ago.

Exhibits for Paris exhibition have been provided by the State Hermitage Museum. The exhibition showcases more than 100 exhibits, collected in different epochs by Tsars of the Romanov House, including over fifty masterpieces by Titian, Rembrandt, Velázquez, Greuze and Chardin.

Explanatory texts on stands tell about Peter the Great who used to send authorized agents to Europe for purchasing sculptures and paintings. The collecting activity of Peter the Great is presented mainly by paintings of the Dutch and Flemish school, as the tsar was well versed in it. It was by the order of Peter I in 1710 that Rembrandt’s “David and Jonathan” was bought in Amsterdam. This canvas laid the foundations of the Russian collection of Dutch artists.

Catherine the Great managed to build an extensive collection due to paintings bought abroad. Displayed at the exhibition are paintings purchased in Paris by the tsarina’s agents, including Baron von Grimm and a renowned French author and philosopher Denis Diderot. When Catherine passed away the collection of the Hermitage numbered more than 4 000 masterpieces, and it was then that the collection was already considered to be one of the largest in Europe. Alexander I and Nicholas II too made contribution to the development of the collection.

The exhibition of the State Hermitage Museum’s masterpieces in Paris will work until May 29.