Early German Lithography from the State Hermitage Collection

The 80 works by the German artists of the first third of the 19th century are displayed in the Hall of Twelve Columns of the New Hermitage. This group of works makes up just a small part of the Hermitage Collection. The works selected are the rarest prints of high artistic quality; besides, these are typical examples of artistic production of the first third of the 19th century. Lithography was the most widespread means of artistic printing of the 19th-century, since it was the most simple, convenient and cheapest way of publication. It is of great importance for the history of arts. Lithograph became widespread in all spheres of publishing and artistic activities. Numerous artists - from the era of Romanticism up to Postimpressionism and Art Nouveau – were engaged in creating designs for lithography prints. Lithography was invented by Alois Senefelder in Germany at the turn of the 9th century.

The Hermitage possesses an interesting and large collection of the early German lithography. A significant part of the collection is formed by the prints that came to the Museum from the Winter Palace after the October Revolution of 1917. The Imperial Hermitage Museum collection was poor in prints. After the revolution a considerable number of prints were transferred from the State Museum Fund (formerly they were part of the St Petersburg nationalised collections). Besides, such famous collectors as S. P. Yaremich, G. S. Vereisky made a considerable contribution to the Hermitage Collection of lithographs. Each of these assemblages entered the Hermitage in its own way and at its own time.

However, only at present the Hermitage collection of early German lithography, except for a few works that have never been on display, makes up a significant single whole.
The exhibition is accompanied by the scholarly catalogue of Early German Lithography from the State Hermitage Collection published by the Hermitage Publishing House. The author of the catalogue and the curator of the exhibition is Mikhail Dedinkin, Senior Researcher of the Department of Western European Art.

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At the opening of the exhibition

First visitors