Paintings from the Russian Museum/Leningrad [antikvár]

Among the visitors flocking to the Russian Museum in Leningrád are people from all walks of life and all parts of the world. There are more than 250,000 works of Russian art, dating from the eleventh century to the present day; its 9,000 paintings are displayed in more than 120 halls, to be viewed annually by nearly 1,000,000 people. A truly impressive scope, even for a museum acknowledged as one of the world's greatest. The Russian Museum was founded in 1895 as a nationwide state museum to encompass both Russia's art and her cultural treasures. It was housed mainly in the Mikhailovsky Palace, built between 1819 and 1825 under the personal supervision of the great Kari Rossi to his own design. Even now one is struck by the Empire-style grandeur of the building, the ornate pattern of the iron grille, the sculptural décor of the walls and the colonnaded portico. Unfortunately, after the palace was rebuilt between 1895 and 1898, only one hall, the White-columned (Belokolonny), preserved its originál appearance and appointments. Another building for the museum, opening onto the Griboyedov Canal, was built during 1912 and 1916, designed by L. Benois. Today it houses the Soviet Art Department. The originál stock of the museum when it opened on 7 March 1898, comprised 120 paintings from the collections of the Russian Academy of Arts, 80 paintings from the Hermitage Museum and about 200 paintings from the Anichkov, Alexandrovsky, Peterhof, and other palaces. Pride of place at that time was given to works by eighteenth and nineteenth century masters-Andrei Matveev, Anton Losenko, Vladimír Borovikovsky, Orest Kiprensky, Kari Bruillov, and other painters, mainly of the "Academic" trend. The initiative of the public and the donations of artists and collectors played a prominent role in the museum's establishment and growth. By 1914 the museum stock numbered about 1,000 paintings and 180 sculptured pieces. The Russian Museum got a new lease on life in October 1917. Its stock increased several times over, and it received somé famous works-Ilya Repin's The Volga Boatmen, Alexander Ivanov's studies and sketches for Christ Appearing before the People, Dmitry Levitsky's Smolianki series (six portraits of graduates of the exclusive Smolny school for girls), Vasily Surikov's Suvorov Crossing the Alps and Stepan Razin, Arkhip Kuinji's landscapes, and others. In 1922 a permanent display was arranged at the Russian Museum, and in the 1930s, after its historical-ethnographic collections were moved to the Hermitage and the Museum of the Ethnography of the Peoples of the USSR, the Russian Museum finally specialized in fine arts. It would be hard to overestimate the noble efforts and heroism of the museum staff, who actually saved, the unique collection at the time of World War II. Over 7,000 paintings were sent to Perm in the Urals, with the rest safeguarded in blockaded Leningrád. Research work continued even