5 Masterpieces from the Hermitage

The State Hermitage Museum / Государственный Эрмитаж has been open to the public since 1852.

It was founded in 1764 when Empress Catherine the Great acquired a collection of paintings from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky.

The museum celebrates the anniversary of its founding each year on 7 December, Saint Catherine's Day.

Caravaggio | Lute-Player, 1595-1596

"The Lute-Player", painted by Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio in 1595-96, is the only work by the famous master in Russia and it is considered without any exaggeration to be one of the gems of the Hermitage Museum collection.

The Hermitage painting is known to have belonged to Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani.

The Giustiniani collection was put up for sale in Paris and came into the Hermitage in 1808 through the mediation of the director of the Louvre, Dominique Vivan Denon. | © Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Caravaggio (Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio) (1571-1610) | The Lute Player, 1596 | Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Claude Monet | Woman in the Garden, Sainte-Adresse, 1867

This is a very early Impressionist work by the group's leader, Claude Monet.

The sunlight which floods the paintings of the Impressionists - who did most of their painting out of doors, directly from nature - here plays the central role.

Monet spent his childhood in Le Havre, which he periodically visited.

The Le Coteaux estate at Sainte-Adresse near Le Havre belonged to Monet's cousin, Paul-Eugene Lecadre.

Settling here in the summer of 1867, the artist painted several landscapes in the garden of the estate, of which "Woman in the Garden" is of central importance.

Claude Monet (1840-1926) | Woman in the Garden, Sainte-Adresse France, 1867 | Source: © State Hermitage Museum

Rembrandt | Adoration of the Magi, 1632 | Hermitage Museum

The Adoration of the Magi (anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: A Magis adoratur) is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, lay before him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and worship him.

Paul Cézanne at the Ermitage

The works of Paul Cézanne (1839-1906), to whom this hall - 410, is devoted, present the oeuvre of one of the chief figures in Post-Impressionism, from paintings of 1879-80 to works from the final years of his life.

Canvases of various genres were executed in the artist's mature manner.

Henri Matisse al Museo Hermitage di San Pietroburgo

La sala 440 del Museo Statale del Hermitage a San Pietroburgo, in Russia, è dedicata ai dipinti di Henri Matisse (1869-1954).

I celebri dipinti monumentali includono la coppia di pannelli conosciuti come Dance and Music (entrambi 1910), Family Portrait (1911), Conversation (tra il 1909-1912).

Michelangelo Buonarroti | Crouching Boy, 1530

Author: Michelangelo Buonarroti (Italian High Renaissance / Mannerist Painter / Sculptor, 1475-1564)

Title: Crouching Boy

Place: Italy. Florence

Date: circa 1530-1534

Material: marble

Dimensions: height: 54 cm

Acquisition date: Entered the Hermitage in 1851; transferred from the Academy of Fine Arts

Claude Monet at the Hermitage Museum

Claude Monet (1840-1926), a leading Impressionist painter is exhibited at the The State Hermitage Museum in Room 403.

The State Hermitage Museum / Госуда́рственный Эрмита́ж is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

The second-largest art museum in the world, it was founded in 1764 when Empress Catherine the Great acquired an impressive collection of paintings from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowsky.

Antonio Canova | Hebe, 1796

Hebe is one of the most famous works of Antonio Canova (1757-1822), an outstanding Neoclassical sculptor of the late 18th - early 19th century.

According to ancient myth, Hebe was the daughter of Zeus and Hera and was the embodiment of youth.

As serving-maid to the gods on Mount Olympus, she was responsible for bringing round cups of nectar, the drink of eternal youth and immortality, during feasts.

Canova depicted the goddess flitting swiftly and easily across the clouds, hardly touching them with the toes of her bare feet.

Antonio Canova (1757-1822) | Hebe, 1800-1805 | Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Rembrandt | Danaë, 1636

Danaë is Rembrandt's painting from the collection of Pierre Crozat which since the 18th century has resided in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.

It is a life-sized depiction of the character Danaë from Greek mythology, the mother of Perseus.

She is presumably depicted as welcoming Zeus, who impregnated her in the form of a shower of gold.

Given that this is one of Rembrandt's most magnificent paintings, it is not out of the question that he cherished it, but it also may have been difficult to sell because of its eight-by-ten-foot size.

Giorgione | Judith, 1504 | Hermitage Museum

Author: Giorgione

Painting, Oil on canvas, 144x68 cm

Origin: Italy, 1504

Personage: Judith

Style: Renaissance

Source of entry: Collection of baron L.A. Crozat de Tierra, Paris, 1772

School: Venetian

Location: Hermitage, Saint Petersburg

Theme: The Bible and Christianity