Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Rooms 1-4: Religious Icons
The first four rooms of the museum encapsulate a succinct but brilliant history of
Russian icon painting, including work from the three major schools of Russian icon
painting: Novgorod, and Pskov. Room 2 has St Nicholas and Scenes of His Life, while
Room 3 features Russian master Andrei Rublev's massive Peter and Paul as well as
his Presentation of Christ in the Temple. Room 4 is notable in its departure from
earlier styles. Compare Old Testament Trinity with Scenes from Genesis with the
completely atypical Our Father (1669).
Rooms 5-7: Petrine & Post-Petrine Art
Peter was a great patron of the arts and almost single-handedly brought the Western
eye to Russian painting, as witnessed by the massive jump in style from ecclesiastical
to secular subjects between Rooms 4 and 5. The room includes three busts of Peter
and two portraits.
Room 6 includes some charmingly odd canvases in very strange shapes as well as
mosaic portraits of both Peter and Catherine the Great, as well as of Elizabeth I,
Peter's daughter. The centre of the room is taken up by a huge portrait of the ill-fated
Peter III, although look out for the impressive bust of Prince Menshikov. Room 7 has
an amazingly ornate ceiling. The room houses a sculpture of Empress Anna with an
Arab Boy and a few impressive tapestries, including one that depicts Peter the Great at
the Battle of Poltava, his greatest military victory.
Rooms 8-11: The Rise of the Academy
These rooms display the early works of the St Petersburg Academy of Arts. These
artists borrowed the European classical aesthetic for their work. Look for portraits in
Rooms 8 and 10 (including two portraits and a full-sized sculpture of Catherine the
Great) and biblical themes in Room 9.
Room 11 is the Rossi-designed White Hall, which was Grand Duke Mikhail's
drawing room. Here, the interior is the art - in this case representing the Empire
epoch. It's wonderfully ornate and shiny - a perfect place to host musical greats like
Strauss and Berlioz, who performed here.
THE PALACES OF THE RUSSIAN MUSEUM
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