Masterpieces of French Drawings: 15th-18th centuries from the State Hermitage Museum Collection
30 January 2008 - 11 May 2008
The Hall of Twenty Columns

The exhibition will include 92 drawings of the French school dating to the 15th-18th centuries including 10 drawings by ornamentalist artists of the late 17th-early 18th centuries whose works constitute the core (both quantitative and qualitative) of the French drawing collection the State Hermitage Museum avails of. Without them the collection would be incomplete. The pieces to be displayed were created by the most gifted and well-known French artists of the 15th-18th centuries. The Hermitage Cabinet of Drawings, one of the largest depositories of graphical oeuvres in the world, is famous for the variety and quality of its collections. In the first place they include works illustrating the development of multiple European national schools of drawing (French, Italian, Flemish, Dutch, German etc) from the 15th and well into the 20th century.

Among the most well-known masters represented are Francois Clouet and Jacques de Bellange, Nicolas Poussin and Claude Gellee, Antoine Watteau and Gabriel de Saint-Aubin.

Separate sections of the exhibition display architectural and ornamental drawings, those of theatrical scenery design and landscapes. Among them are unique oeuvres by Charles de Wailly, Gilles Marie Oppenord, Nicolas Pineau and other great masters.