There are some four hundred pieces of stained glass in the Hermitage collection produced in different countries between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. This rich body of material illustrates a unique aspect of the European cultural heritage.
Like many other groups of works in the museum, the stained glass collection was formed only gradually, over the course of nearly two hundred years. Pieces arrived both as individual items and as part of larger collections. We find the first mention of stained glass in the reign of Russian Emperor Nicholas I, whose Arsenal – a museum of arms and armour that he set up at Tsarskoe Selo – was adorned with an abundance of stained glass. Although the glass served a purely auxiliary function within the interior space, it already represented an extremely significant body of works.
In 1886, Emperor Alexander III decided to break up the Tsarskoe Selo Arsenal and had all its treasures transferred to the Hermitage, which was how the stained glass found its way into the museum. This older part of the collection, however, suffered most during the sales of art from state collections in the 1930s. Amongst the notable losses were signed works from the different Swiss schools. But more items were to arrive: between 1926 and 1932 the collections of the Central School of Technical Drawing of Baron Stieglitz were transferred to the Hermitage. Most of the 115 pieces of stained glass from the Stieglitz School had been purchased at auction in Western Europe. Then in 1932 came 40 pieces of painted glass from the museum of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. The remaining works in the Hermitage collection arrived from various sources, including private collections, between 1918 and 1940. Occasional acquisitions continue to be made today.
Elena Shlikevich
