The collection of French art in the Hermitage

Министерство образования Российской Федерации Санкт-Петербургский государственный инженерно-экономический университет Институт туризма и гостиничного хозяйства Курсовая работа На тему «The collection of French art in the Hermitage» по дисциплине «ИЭД» Выполнила студентка 5014 гр., 2 курса Измакова Мария Проверила Н.А. Лаковская 2002 год Introduction. The Hermitage is one of the greatest museums in the world. Put together throughout two centuries and a half, the Hermitage collections of works of art (over 3,000,000 items) present the

development of the world culture and art from the Stone Age to the 20th century. Today the Museum is creating its digital self-portrait to be displayed around the world. The collection of Western European art is regarded as one of the finest in the world, and forms the nucleus of the Hermitage display. It occupies 120 rooms in the four museum buildings, and reflects all the stages in the development of art from the Middle Ages to the present day. The collection includes numerous works by outstanding masters from Italy, Spain, Holland, Flanders, France, England, Germany, and other Western European countries. The collection of French art in the Hermitage is exceptionally rich and is the finest outside France among the museums of the world. More then forty rooms are used to house

the displays of painting, sculpture and various items of applied art. French Art: 15th-18th centuries. The Hermitage collection of the 15th-18th century French painting is rich and variable. It enables us to trace the development of different styles and schools of that time. Rooms 272 and 273. 15th-16th century art. At the end of the fifteenth century the separate feudal provinces were united into a single French state governed by the king with in the framework of this national state there developed conditions favourable to the growth of culture. In the town of Limoges the production of enamels was revived after a long interval of time, not champleve as in the Middle Ages but painted. The very rich collection in the Hermitage allows us to trace the development of the style of

fifteenth and sixteenth century French enamellers. Religious subjects were gradually replaced by mythological ones, medieval convention gave way to a realistic handling of themes, and grisaille (a painting executed entirely in monochrome, in a series of greys) superseded polychrome painting, thus making it possible to convey volume, both of figures and of space. The Renaissance artists turned from objects connected with religious worship to the creation of decorative secular articles, such as dishes, jugs and plates. Room 273. In a large cabinet there are some faiences by Bernard Palissy (1510-1589), the inventor of a colored, transparent glazing which gave pottery additional beauty and durability. At one time his decorative dishes with relief designs of fish, snakes and crayfish

were tremendously popular; this was called Palissy’s rustic pottery. In a case by the window there are exquisite sixteenth century faience vessels made in the small French town of Saint-Porchaire. They have been preserved up to the present day only as separate items, not as part of a set. Room 274. Sixteenth century French court art; the so-called Fontainebleau school, developed under the significant influence of Italian Mannerism (the Italian Mannerists Primaticcio and Rosso worked in France and painted decorative murals in the royal palace at Fontainebleau). The Venus and Cupid relief was created by one of the leading representatives of the Fontainebleau school, Jean Goujon (1510-1568). The sculptor has skillfully worked into his composition, carved on an oval medallion, the