Rubens and his age : treasures from the Hermitage Museum, Russia / edited by Christina Corsiglia.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Corsiglia, Christina S.

Art Gallery of Ontario.

Gosudarstvennyĭ Ėrmitazh (Russia)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Rubens, Peter Paul, 1577-1640--Exhibitions.

Rubens, Peter Paul.

Rubens, Peter Paul, 1577-1640.

Gosudarstvennyĭ Ėrmitazh (Russia).

Art, Flemish--Belgium--Flanders--17th century--Exhibitions.

Art, Flemish.

Art--Russia (Federation)--Saint Petersburg--Exhibitions.

Art.

Russia (Federation)--Saint Petersburg.

Gosudarstvennyĭ Ėrmitazh (Russia)--Exhibitions.

Belgium--Flanders.

Genre:

Exhibition catalogs.

Physical Description:

256 pages : illustrations (chiefly color), portraits ; 28 cm

Place of Publication:

London [England] : Merrell Publishers ; Toronto : Art Gallery of Ontario ; New York : Distributed in the USA by Rizzoli International Publications, 2001.

Summary:

Rubens was the most important and creative Flemish artist of the seventeenth century, attaining wealth, property, rank and international acclaim, not only in the arts but also as an active participant in the world of politics and diplomacy. Painting was just one expression of his genius: he was also a highly respected scholar, connoisseur and collector, and designed prints, books, tapestries, sculpture and some of Antwerp's famed ceremonial architecture. As political and cultural barriers fell, he and his contemporaries, including Anthony van Dyck and Jan Brueghel, travelled throughout Europe when a new demand for Flemish painting arose. As a result, they produced works of art specifically for a wide variety of foreign patrons that included the different European courts, the Church and the most prominent private collectors of the age.

Catherine the Great of Russia sent her advisers throughout Europe in search of prestigious art collections, and they procured nearly everything on the market that caught their eyes. Her acquisitions were considerably more than the expression of her personal tastes: they were a vita component of official Russian policy. Catherine's sensational, nearly annual purchases were intended to demonstrate Russia's wealth and prosperity to the world. The result is that the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg owns one of the world's most comprehensive collections of seventeenth-century paintings and drawings from Antwerp, where Rubens and his circle, including van Dyck, Jan Brueghel, Jacob Jordaens and Frans Snyders, formed a close-knit artistic community, the hub of a network of influence that spanned the Continent.

Presented here are the jewels of the Hermitage's collection of Flemish Baroque paintings and drawings, including Rubens's monumental allegory The Union of Earth and Water, as well as a remarkable selection of objets d'art, some of which were either owned, designed or commissioned by Rubens himself. Lavishly illustrated in full colour throughout, Rubens and his Age represents an unprecedented opportunity to explore one of the world's finest collections of European art.

Contents:

Art and Visual Culture in Seventeenth-Century Flanders / Christine Gottler 11

Flemish Paintings from the Age of Rubens in the Hermitage Museum / Natalya Gritsay 27

Paintings in the Exhibition

Rubens and his Followers / Natalya Gritsay 34

Flemish Masters outside the Circle of Rubens / Natalya Babina 36

Seventeenth-Century Flemish Drawings in the Hermitage: Eighteenth-Century Taste and Collecting / Alexey Larionov 141

Seventeenth-Century Decorative Arts in Flanders and Russia / Tatyana Kossourova 183.

Notes:

Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Art Gallery of Ontario, May 5-Aug. 12, 2001.

Includes bibliographical references: pages 251-256.

ISBN:

1858941628

185894127X

OCLC:

46617215