G.A. PRINTSEVA
The collection of watercolours and drawings in the Hermitage Department of Russian Culture is relatively small, numbering over 11,000 items of great artistic and historical value.
The core of the collection dates back to 1918, when a Department of History and Everyday Life was founded at the Russian Museum. It contained materials reflecting the life of Russian people of different social ranks. Like other items in this department, the watercolours were inherited from the Russian Museum's pre-revolution collection, which mostly centred on the reign of Alexander III, and then supplemented with nationalized valuables from private houses of St Petersburg aristocrats and rich merchants - the Bobrinskys, Gorchakovs, Golitsyns, Lobanov-Rostovskys, Stroganovs, Sheremetevs, Shuvalovs, Yusupovs, Paleys, Ribeaupierres, Faberges. In the 1920s, many watercolours were transferred from museum funds, the Museum of the History of St Petersburg (the Anichkov Palace), and the State Museum of Revolution. In April 1941, all these collections were transferred to the Hermitage. They were later supplemented with items from other museums and Hermitage departments, as well as private collections bequeathed to the museum (the largest among them being the G.D. Dushin collection).
Among the materials which came from the rich mansions of St Petersburg there are many views of country estates and Russian villages, genre scenes, palace and house interiors. A large number of plates were painted by the serf artists and architects belonging to the Counts Sheremetev.
The collection also has many works by outstanding masters of Russian original graphics: S.F. Shchedrin, M.M. Ivanov, A.E. Martynov, M.N. Vorobyov, V.S. Sadovnikov, N.G. Chernetsov, K.P. Beggrov, B. Patersen, P.F. Sokolov, A.P. Bryullov and others.
The watercolour views of Moscow before the fire of 1812, represented by the works by F.Ya. Alexeyev and his school, are noteworthy as remarkable examples of the development of Russian urban landscape painting.
St Petersburg also remained a favourite subject for urban landscape artists. The collection includes many classical views of the city.
A significant portion of the collection (over 200 items) has links to the Decembrist movement, including some rare portraits of Decembrists, views of places in Siberia where they were exiled and sentenced to hard labour and settlement.
The Hermitage collection has around 500 portrait miniatures (portraits of heroes of the War of 1812, statesmen and cultural figures).
Watercolour portraits also feature prominently in the collection.
An important section contains genre graphics (by A. Orlovsky, A. Venetsianov) and battle graphics (e.g. a large album by Horschelt illustrating the Caucasian campaign).
A unique set of works has links to Siberia. It is a picture of the Trans-Siberian railway from Syzran to Vladivostok. The huge railway panorama, painted in watercolours on paper and glued on canvas, consists of ten rolls. Its creator, the famous traveller, artist and educator P.Ya. Pyasetsky, spent the years 1894-1899 painstakingly working on it. In 1900, the panorama was displayed at the Exposition Universelle in Paris and was awarded a Gold Medal.
