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The Stroganoffs: Art Patrons and Collectors
In the Anteroom and Nicholas Hall of the Winter Palace (rooms No. 191
and 192) opened an exhibition devoted to the famous Stroganoff family
which from the middle of the 15th till the end of the 19th centuries played
an important role in the political, economic and cultural life of Russia.
The outstanding quality of the various works of art of a few centuries
emphasize the uniqueness of the Stroganoff collections. The exhibition
showcases 370 objects, including paintings, sculptures, drawings, applied
art and coins coming from Russia, Europe, and the East, from antiquity
till the 19th century. Count Sergey Grigoryevich Stroganoff (1794-1882) created one of the first collections of icons in Russia. The collection of paintings and coins was substantially expanded. In 1925, the numismatic collection including over 53,000 coins was transferred to the Hermitage Numismatic Department. The rarest and most remarkable coins are showed in the exhibit. A magnificent collection of works of art was put together by the son of Sergey Grigoryevich, Pavel Sergeyevich Stroganoff (1823-1911). Creations of Italian masters of the 15th - early 16th centuries, Flemish and Dutch painters, and modern Western and Russian masters, woodworks, ceramics and furniture were added to the collection. At first Pavel Sergeyevich kept his treasures in his estate Znamenskoye - Koriyan in the Tambov Province; in 1857, architect I.A. Monighetti started to build a mansion for him at 11 Sergiyevskaya Ulitsa in St. Petersburg. The five watercolors displayed in the exhibit show this building. Pavel Sergeyevich bequeathed a number of works of art from his collection, including G.M. Manieri’s Via Dolorosa and P. Jansens’ Room in a Dutch House, to the Hermitage. La Capricieuse by A. Watteau, showed in the exhibition, which came to the Hermitage after the Bolshevik revolution, was also owned by Pavel Sergeyevich. Love of classical antiquity was inherited by the sons of Sergey Grigoryevich, Grigory and Pavel, who also became prominent collectors. Pavel’s magnificent collections in Sergiyevskaya Ulitsa included Etruscan and Attic painted vases, bronze and terra-cotta statuettes and clay lamps. In the 1920s, these collections were moved to the Stroganoff Palace. After it was closed down, 15 marble sculptures, 135 bronze works, 50 terra-cottas, glassware and carved gems came to the Hermitage. The Stroganoffs started to buy Chinese art in the 18th century. A big collection of chinoiserie was preserved in the house of Pavel Sergeyevich Stroganoff in Sergiyevskaya Ulitsa; it may be seen in the watercolors dating from the 1860s. The exhibition includes two black lacquer cups with mother-of-pearl encrustation in a frame of French bronze, showed in J. Maiblume’s watercolor Green Parlor. The Stroganoffs put together the world’s first collection of late antique and early medieval oriental silverware, whose core were Iranian cups of the Sasanian age. This richest collection included 29 objects, most of which were genuine masterpieces. In 1925, almost all of them came to the State Hermitage Museum. The Hermitage’s small collection of Mexican antiquities owes its best pieces to the Stroganoffs. The Mexican artifacts coming from the Stroganoff Palace are still Russia’s best from the viewpoint of quality. They were transferred to the Hermitage in 1926-28. The Aztec bell in the form of an eagle warrior is one of the world’s masterpieces. During the 1920s - 1930s, the Stroganoffs’ collections were distributed among museums, while some pieces from them were sold at auctions. The exhibition shows the prominent role which the Stroganoff dynasty played in the cultural life of Russia. |
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Copyright © 2011 State Hermitage Museum |
