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| | This anteroom or grand vestibule was originally intended to contain a cycle of monumental murals devoted to important events in the history of the Russian state. A reminder of this can be found in the painting on the central part of the ceiling featuring a double-headed eagle and allegorical figures representing the cities of Russia. Later it was decided to devote the wall paintings to the evolution of Russian art, forging a logical thematic link with the Gallery of the History of Ancient Painting. The theme of "The Introduction of the Arts into Russia" was maintained in the decoration of the room with a frieze containing bas-relief portraits of Russian artists, sculptors and architects. At the opening of the New Hermitage, the room housed works by 19th-century Russian artists: The Environs of Bakhchiserai by Andrei Martynov, A Peasant Boy Putting on a Bast Shoe by Alexei Venetsianov, The Imatra Waterfall in Finland by Fiodor Matveyev, The Ninth Wave by Ivan Aivazovsky, View of the Grand Canal in Venice by Alexander Mordvinov and Interior of the Church on Golgotha by Maxim Vorobyov. |
