Madrid.- The Museo del Prado is proud to host “The Hermitage in the Prado”, a selection of works from the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, on view from November 8th through March 25th 2012. Jointly organised by the Museo del Prado, the State Hermitage Museum and Spanish Cultural Action, this exhibition will bring together a sizeable group of works that reveal the varied nature of the collections of the Hermitage, which range from the 5th century BC to the 20th century. It will include outstanding examples of classical art, decorative works of art, painting, sculpture and drawing. The exhibition will occupy all the Prado’s temporary exhibition galleries in the new extension, which will become a “mini- Hermitage” for the four months of the exhibition.
The Hermitage in Saint Petersburg is one of the greatest and most spectacular museums in the world. Located in a series of palatial buildings in the banks of the Neva, in particular the Winter Palace, the residence of Catherine the Great in the 18th century, the Museum’s collections encompass pharaonic Egypt, Siberian cultures, the Greco-Roman world, Renaissance art, Neo-classical sculpture and the paintings of Matisse and Picasso. The exhibition to be held at the Prado offers a unique and remarkable opportunity to see treasures from the Hermitage, in particular ancient gold objects, examples of the decorative arts, and the museum’s magnificent holdings of fine arts, paintings, sculptures and drawings. The exhibition will look at the principal figures in the creation of the palace-museum, the splendor of its interiors and the magnificent works of art and archaeology that it houses.
Paintings to be loaned to the Prado include major compositions such as “Saint Sebastian” by Titian, “The Lute Player” by Caravaggio, “Saint Sebastian” by Ribera, and “Three Men at a Table” by Velázquez. Two important works by Rembrandt, “Portrait of a Scholar” and “Haman accepts his Fate” will also be on display. Drawings on loan will include works by Dürer, Rubens, Watteau and Ingres, while sculptures include the terracotta study by Bernini for The Ecstasy of Saint Theresa and one of Antonio Canova’s masterpieces, Mary Magdalen in meditation. The exhibition will also have notable examples of the Impressionist and Post-Impressionist paintings in the Hermitage, including works by Claude Monet, Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Paul Gauguin and Henri Matisse, the latter represented by “The Game of Bowls” and “Conversation”. There will be three canvases by Pablo Picasso, including “Seated Woman” and “The Absinth Drinker”, while this section will be completed with two Russian avant-garde abstract works, “Composition VI” by Wassilly Kandinsky and Kazimir Malevich’s enigmatic “Black Painting”.
Among the highlights from the Hermitage’s archaeological collections are the Comb with Battle Scene, a Scythian work from the 4th century BC, and the pieces of Siberian jewellery that came to the Museum from Peter the Great’s collection. Among the decorative works of art to be shown in Madrid will be the sword embellished with silver, rubies and diamonds that was given to the Czar in the 18th century by the Indian Ambassador, and the Vase of Flowers in rock crystal, gold and diamonds by Carl Fabergé (1846-1920), jeweller to the Imperial family.
The Museo del Prado is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It features one of the world’s finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection, and unquestionably the best single collection of Spanish art. Founded as a museum of paintings and sculpture, it also contains important collections of other types of works. A new, recently opened wing enlarged the display area by about 400 paintings, and it is currently used mainly for temporary expositions. El Prado is one of the most visited sites in the world, and it is considered to be among the greatest museums of art. The large numbers of works by Velázquez and Francisco de Goya (the artist more extensively represented in the collection), Titian, Rubens and Bosch are among the highlights of the collection. The collection currently comprises around 7,600 paintings, 1,000 sculptures, 4,800 prints and 8,200 drawings, in addition to a large number of works of art and historic documents. By 2012 the Museum will be displaying about 1300 works in the main buildings, while around 3,100 works are on temporary loan to various museums and official institutions. The remainder are in storage. The best-known work on display at the museum is Las Meninas by Velázquez. Velázquez not only provided the Prado with his own works, but his keen eye and sensibility was also responsible for bringing much of the museum’s fine collection of Italian masters to Spain. Visit the museum’s website at … http://www.museodelprado.es