Nicholas I and the New Hermitage
21 February, 2002 - 25 August, 2002

The New Hermitage was the beloved brainchild and the pride of Emperor Nicholas I. The monarch commissioned the design and construction of a new building for the imperial collections - what came to be known as the New Hermitage - from the Bavarian architect Leo von Klenze who had by that time already built the Glyptothek and Pinakothek in Munich. The Tsar thoroughly examined and personally approved all the plans connected with the Public Museum, right down to the designs for cupboards, display cases and candelabra. Construction work lasted ten years. The official opening of the New Imperial Museum took place on 5 (17 New Style) February 1852.
In the prelude to the opening of the museum, paintings were actively purchased in Europe. In the early 1840s Pavel Krivtsov (1806-1844), a counsellor at the Russian embassy in Italy, made a number of successful acquisitions of paintings in Rome and Bologna. Among them were Francesco Francia's Madonna and Child with Saints and Murillo's Immaculate Conception that appear in the exhibition. In 1846 the museum obtained the large collection of the diplomat Dmitry Tatishchev (1767-1845) as a bequest. It is represented in the exhibition by Robert Campin's diptych The Trinity and Virgin and Child by the Fireplace. In 1850 a number of valuable Italian, Dutch and Flemish paintings were purchased from the collection of King William II of the Netherlands. These included Flora by Francesco Melzi, a Portrait of Cosimo I Medici(?) by Agnolo Bronzino, St Luke Painting the Virgin by Rogier van der Weyden and Descent from the Cross by Jan Gossaert. That same year saw the acquisition in Venice of the collection of Christoforo Barbarigo that included Titian's Repentant Mary Magdalene, Christ Pantocrator and Portrait of Pope Paul III. This was followed in 1852 by the acquisition of a number of paintings from the collection of Marshal Nicolas Jean Soult (1769-1851) that particularly benefited the Spanish section of the picture gallery.
In late 1845 Nicholas I made an extended visit to Italy where he purchased and commissioned more than twenty marble statues and groups. The Emperor's journey to Italy can without doubt be considered the most important event in the formation of the Imperial Hermitage's collection of modern sculpture. In 1851 a collection of ancient and modern sculpture was purchased for the museum from Anatoly Demidov.
The exhibition is enhanced by examples of lapidary art from the three main centres of artistic stone-working in nineteenth-century Russia -the Peterhof, Yekaterinburg and Kolyvan works. The bowls, vases, candelabra, torchØres, tables and consoles were produced from a variety of Ural and Siberian minerals
In all the exhibition features some 120 items, including paintings, works of decorative, applied and graphic art and books. Documents reflecting the first years of the museum's existence are also included.

The Walpole Immaculate Conception
Bartolome Esteban Murillo
Larger view

The Virgin and Child by a Fireplace (Right Wing of a Diptych)
Robert Campin
Larger view

The Descent from the Cross
Jan Gossaert
Larger view

Nymph with a Scorpion
Lorenzo Bartolini
Larger view

Vase-Tripod
Imperial
Imperial Yekaterinburg Lapidary Factory
Larger view