Exhibit offers rare glimpse of British masterpieces from Russian Imperial Collections
British art masterpieces collected in Russia that have rarely -- if ever -- been viewed in the West will be on display in a new exhibition opening Saturday, Oct. 5, at the Yale Center for British Art.
"British Art Treasures from Russian Imperial Collections in the Hermitage" is the first major traveling exhibition of British art drawn exclusively from the collections of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia. The exhibition coincides with the bicentenary of the death of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia 1762-1796, whose enthusiasm for British art stimulated the interest of Russian collectors during the 18th- and early-19th centuries. Many of the items on display will be seen for the first time outside of St. Petersburg.
Approximately 160 objects have been chosen for the exhibition, including paintings by Sir Anthony Van Dyck, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Sir Thomas Lawrence and Joseph Wright of Derby. Among these are paintings by Van Dyck which had been in the collection of former British prime minister Sir Robert Walpole at Houghton Hall. Empress Catherine purchased the Houghton Collection in 1779 after unsuccessful attempts were made to persuade the British government to save the collection for the English nation. Other works by these notable painters on view are Reynolds' "The Continence of Scipio," Wright of Derby's "La Girandola," "Castel S. Angelo" and "The Iron Forge" and Lawrence's portraits of Count Simon Vorontzov and Count Mikhail Vorontzov.
In addition to the paintings, the exhibition provides a rare opportunity to view some of the collections of British decorative arts from the Imperial Treasury of the Hermitage. Foremost among these are two wine-coolers: Charles Kandler's so-called "Jerningham" cooler, which is one of the largest pieces of English Rococo silver, and Philip Rollos' wine cooler with lion handles. Pieces by other prominent silversmiths such as Augustine Courtauld, Paul de Lamerie and Nicholas Sprimont will also be on view, along with watches, clocks and snuff boxes encrusted with precious stones.
Among the most famous objects of British art in the Hermitage is the dinner service made for the Empress Catherine's Chesmensky Palace by Josiah Wedgewood in the 1770s. Most of the original 952 pieces survive; a representative group of 20 pieces with views of British houses and gardens will be a highlight of the exhibition. Also being showcased are a group of plaques and medallions from Wedgewood's factory and 15 gemstones by the intaglio engravers Charles and William Brown. Catherine the Great's enthusiasm for the works of these latter artists led her to virtually monopolize their output, with the result that few museums elsewhere contain examples.
A final highlight of "British Art Treasures from Russian Imperial Collections in the Hermitage" are architectural drawings for the Imperial Palace at Tsarskoe Selo by Charles Cameron and William Hastie.
"A number of the spectacular objects in this exhibition have rarely, if ever, been on view even at the Heritage," notes Brian Allen, director of studies at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art in London, who is curator of "British Art Treasures from Russian Imperial Collections in the Hermitage." "And this exhibition provides a unique opportunity for the American public to examine a remarkable but comparatively unexplored area of Anglo-Russian cultural relations."
In conjunction with the exhibition, Mr. Allen will present a lecture titled "From the Thames to the Neva: British Art from the Hermitage" on Friday, Oct. 4, at 4 p.m. Other upcoming talks are "Catherine the Great -- A Great Collector: Many of Her Treasures Came from England" by writer and editor Rosamond Bernier on Wednesday, Oct. 9, at 5 p.m.; "The Founding of St. Petersburg" by Yale historian Paul Bushkovitch on Tuesday, Oct. 15, at 5 p.m.; and "The Rise of St. Petersburg and Its British Community in the 18th Century" by University of Cambridge professor Anthony Cross on Thursday, Oct. 24, at 5 p.m. All of the lectures, which are free and open to the public, will take place in the lecture hall of the Yale Center for British Art, 1080 Chapel St. Seating is limited to 200.
"British Art Treasures from the Imperial Collections in the Hermitage" and its national tour are made possible by Ford Motor Company with additional support provided by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. It will remain on view through Jan. 5. After its Yale run, the exhibition will be on view at the Toledo Museum of Art in Toledo, Ohio, and will then travel to the Saint Louis Art Museum in St. Louis, Missouri, before returning to the Hermitage for a fall 1997 exhibition.
A fully illustrated catalogue with essays by an international team of scholars from Britain in collaboration with curators at the Hermitage will provide a definitive guide to the exhibition. The catalogue, published by Yale University Press, will be available in the center's museum shop.
"We are pleased to have the opportunity to collaborate with the State Hermitage Museum, the Toledo Museum of Art, and the St. Louis Art Museum in bringing this important exhibition to the United States. And we are most grateful to the Ford Motor Company for providing the support to make this exciting exhibition and its national tour possible," says Patrick McCaughey, director of the Yale Center for British Art.
The Yale Center for British Art is open Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, noon-5 p.m. Admission is free.