The State Russian Museum formerly the Russian Imperial Museum of his majesty Alexander III is the largest depository of Russian fine art in Spb. It was established in 1895 by Nicolas II in commemoration of his father AIII. Its original collection consisted of art works for the Hermitage, the Alexander palace and the Imperial Academy of Arts. After the revolution of 1917 many private collections were nationalized and relocated to the Russian museum. The main building is the Michael’s palace – a splendid neo-classical residence of Grand Duke Michael Pavlovich. When Grand Duke Michael was born in … Paul I ordered to deposit a certain sum of money annually in the name of his son. After they collected 9 000 000 rubles construction of the palace started, which was after the father’s death. The project was entrusted to Carlo Rossi, who between 1819 and 1825 designed an impressive ensemble in neo-classical/empire style. Contemporaries called it the ‘Triumph of Russian architecture’. The façade of the building preserved remarkably well, while the interiors have later been changed to accommodate the collection. Only 2 surviving interiors – The White Hall and The Grand Staircase; and certain details – ceiling paintings, bas-reliefs. In 1825 Grand Duke Michael moved in with his wife Elena Pavlovna. The palace soon became famous for resplendent balls hosted by the Dukal couple. After M’s death in 1849 Elena continued living in the palace entertaining many Russian and foreign celebrities, politicians, writers, musicians, etc. That period is particularly famous for musical parties which Nicolas I regularly attended. The 1^st Russian musical society was established here which later developed into the 1^st Russian conservatory. After Elena’s death in 1873 her daughter Ekaterina inherited the palace and later bequeath it to her children. The palace was purchased for the Museum by order of Nicolas II. The State paid 4 million rubles. The owners removed all valuables from the palace including chimney pieces, door frames, and window-sills. The architect Vasily Svin’in proved to be very resourceful and economical – installed new heating and ventilation system, water supply, lights for 540 000 rubles. Some contemporaries criticized Svin’in for changing the original interiors too much. The Museum officially opened in 1898. Initially the collection consisted of paintings, sculpture, graphics and works of applied art – 1500 items in total (at that time). A collection of Christian antiquities is of approximately 5000 pieces. Today the collection consists of almost 400 000 items.

Practically all the paintings from the Hermitage gallery of Russian art, the Academy of Arts was relocated to the new museum. NII bought the collection of Lobanov-Rostovsky and one of the largest acquisitions was ….. thus the collection almost doubled in the 1^st ten years. It became a truly comprehensive National Museum of Art by 1909-1910.

In 1917 – early 1920s the museum collection rapidly grew further as many private collections were nationalized. In 1926 the museum acquired many works by Russian vanguard artists from the state institute of artistic culture. The collection was growing so fast that in early 1910s plans were made for extension to the museum. Benois designed the extension, later it was called корпус Бенуа, but because of WWI it was finished in 1919 (planned in 1910). The building started hosting temporary exhibitions, art of early … and soviet art. One more significant change – 1934 – the Museum’s Ethnographic department became an independent Museum of Ethnography. During WWII it (collection too) was not seriously damaged, though 4 bombs actually hit the palace. It was reopened in 1946.

Today the Museum includes 4 branches: 1) Michael’s castle; 2) The Marble palace; 3) The Stroganov Palace; 4) Summer garden with summer palace of Peter I.

Ancient Russian Painting

It consists of 5000 icons and over 1500 church utensils and jewelry. Many of the exhibits from this section were purchased by Nicolas II who often preferred to stay anonymous. The collection we see today was basically completed by 1916. The collection covers 700 years of icon painting. All the leading schools are represented here such as the Novgorod school, the Moscow school, the Pskov school, the Tver school, the Stroganov school; items from some most venerated monasteries – the Belozersk monastery, Alexander-Svirsky monastery, Solovetsky monastery, etc.

The use and making of icons started in Kievan Russ following its conversion to Orthodox Christianity in 988. As a rule these icons strictly followed modals and formulas of Byzantine art in the beginning but with time the number of types and styles in Russia grew larger than anywhere else in the Orthodox world. The personal and creative tradition of Western Europe remained largely unknown in Russia before the 17^th century. Russian icons are typically painted on wood to be found in churches and monasteries, though icons can also be found in homes hanging on the wall in the Red corner. The religious symbolism of icons is very rich. In Russian churches the alter is typically separated of the rest of the church by an iconostasis (a wall of icons). Russians consider icons to be the Gospel in paint and therefore much attention is paid to ensure that the Gospel is accurately conveyed. Some of the most venerated icons are known by the name of the town associated with them such as Tihvin, Smolensk, Kazan, etc. Russians often commissioned icons for private use adding figures of specific saints for whom the members of the family were named. Icons were often clad in metal covers of gilt or silvered metal which were sometimes set of artificial semi-precious or even precious stones and pearls. Icons were often given as presents (considered of great value). Because icons in the Orthodoxy must follow traditional standards and are essentially copies Orthodoxy never developed the reputation of individual artist as western Christianity did and the names of icon painters are seldom recognized. Icon painting is a conservative art and in many cases considered a craft in which the painter is essentially nearly a tool for replication. Because of that it was not deemed necessary to sign the icon. Many Russian icons were destroyed or sold abroad by the soviet government; some were hidden to avoid destruction. Since the fall of communism numbers of icon painting studios have again opened and are painting in a variety of styles for the local and international markets. In the late 19^th and early 20^th century icons started attracting collectors who valued them as examples of Russian traditional art and culture.

Painting an icon was an important task which involved the work of several people. The 1^st one is a carpenter. Usually linden or lime wood was used (less branches), but also other types of wood – pine, spruce and larch. First the panel was dried and then a carpenter smoothed the surface with an axe, after that a special rectangular depression was made, the 2^nd step – inserting strait pieces of wood in the back of the panel to prevent it from the bending or to keep several pieces of wood together. Then the artist started by the glowing a piece of canvas on the face of the icon which was later covered with grounding. The ready grounding was thick like cream and applied on top of the fabric and polished carefully. Most icons are painted using egg tempera to which natural pigments were added. When paints were ready the artist started work and a good artist was someone deeply religious and before starting a new job they fast, abstain alcohol, went to banya and wear clean shirt. When a whole set of icon was commissioned by the church the artists worked in teams where the headmaster made draft drawings with a piece of coal and then assistants painted landscapes, clothes and hallows, after that the main master would paint the main parts of the icon – face, hands. Gold leaf was frequently used for background areas. Then the image was varnished over with lin-seed oil, this varnish protected the image from dust and moisture, but unfortunately this varnish would dark after 80 years - the image would become indistinguishable and the icon would like a dark piece of wood. And at that point a different artist would paint the image over and that is why paintings by famous Andrey Rublyov couldn’t be seen in the 20^th century. When an icon became old or spoiled by conditions it was prohibited to throw it away, instead an icon would buried like a dead body or put into the river. Pre-Mongolian icons didn’t survived.

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