Presentation of a new acquisition by the State Hermitage

On 31 December 2004 the traditional presentation to the public of a recent acquisition by the Hermitage took place in the Picket Hall. This year’s selection is a miniature by Jean-Baptiste Isabey (1767-1855) entitled Portrait of Napoleon I.

The portrait is by the well-known French miniaturist and water color artist, Jean-Baptiste Isabey, who was a student of Jean-Louis David, Napoleon’s court artist, and who also enjoyed success as a lithographer and graphic artist. The miniature was signed by the artist "J.B. Isabey" to the right of center and bears the date "1808." A commemorative inscription is engraved on the reverse side of the bronze frame: "From a snuff-box presented by Emperor Napoleon I to M.M. Speransky in Erfurt in 1808."

It is a well-established fact that Napoleon gave a snuffbox to Russia’s Minister of Justice, M.M. Speransky. It is widely known that the attention which Napoleon directed to Speransky played a fatal role in the Minister’s fate: he was later accused of spying for France and was exiled in 1812. It is also known that the privations Speransky experienced in banishment compelled him to sell the diamonds that once decorated the snuff-box.

This miniature portrait by J.-B. Isabey was long held in the family of Speransky’s descendants. It was offered for sale to the State Hermitage by Mr. Peter. Schaffer, one of the owners of À la vieille Russie, a New York gallery specializing in Russian art and antiques. It was purchased for the E. Ya. Satanovsky Museum in Moscow.

The Hermitage takes pride in the acquisition of this splendid miniature, which has both artistic merit and historical importance given its association with such personalities as Alexander I, Napoleon, and Speransky.

Portrait of Napoleon I
Jean-Baptiste Isabey
Larger view

Dr. Mikhail Piotrovsky, Director of the State Hermitage Museum at the presentation