THE STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM ANNUAL REPORT n 2018 CONTENTS General Editor 4 The Year of Piero della Francesca Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage Museum, 6 State Hermitage Museum. General Information Full Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, 16 Awards Full Member of the Russian Academy of Arts, Professor of St Petersburg State University, 22 Composition of the Museum’s Collection Doctor of History 38 Permanent Displays 44 Temporary Exhibitions 90 Restoration and Conservation EDITORIAL BOARD: 98 Publications Mikhail Piotrovsky, 115 Electronic Editions and Multimedia Projects General Director of the State Hermitage Museum 118 Conferences Georgy Vilinbakhov, 127 Dissertations Defended Deputy Director for Research 130 Research Trips Svetlana Adaksina, Deputy Director, Chief Curator 134 Archaeological Expeditions Marina Antipova, 156 Restoration and Reconstruction of Museum Buildings Deputy Director for Finance and Planning 164 Structure of Visits to the State Hermitage in 2018 Alexey Bogdanov, Deputy Director for Maintenance 165 Educational Events Mariam Dandamaeva, 180 Special Events Academic Secretary 187 Agreements Signed Elena Zvyagintseva, 190 The State Hermitage Museum International Advisory Board Head of the Publishing Department 194 Guests of the Hermitage Larissa Korabelnikova, Deputy Head of the History and Information Service 202 Hermitage Friends’ Organisations Ekaterina Sirakanian, 216 Hermitage Friends’ Club Head of the Development Service 218 Financial Statements of the State Hermitage Museum 220 Principal Patrons and Sponsors of the State Hermitage Museum in 2018 224 Staff Members of the State Hermitage Museum EXECUTIVE GROUP: Alexander Butyagin, Vera Chudinova, Irina Dalekaya, Mariam Dandamaeva, Ekaterina Danilina, Ludmila Ershova, Victor Faybisovich, Larissa Korabelnikova, Elena Kuzminykh, Regina Mamedova, Anna Matyukhina, Svetlana Philippova, Natalia Polevaya, Marina Stepanova, Elena Zvyagintseva © The State Hermitage Museum, 2020 THE YEAR OF PIERO DELLA FRANCESCA This year culminated in a unique exhibition of works by Piera della Francesca, which be- and a retrospective display of works by Hungary’s pride and joy, Mihály Munkácsy, were came a pinnacle of many years of cooperation with the Hermitage • Italy Centre. Such exhibi- all fantastic celebrations in their own right. tions only happen once every few decades. A unique selection of rarities from many museums Kazan, Vyborg, Sidney, Paris, the Hermitage centres and friendly museums took over some and an elegant design conjured up a mood of extraordinary purity suggested by those radi- of our exhibitions and showed them to at least a million people. This has long been business ant paintings, some of them finally side by side after many years apart. This exhibition was as usual, but we have been modest enough not to include this million in our museum statis- the Hermitage’s own special way to launch the Year of Leonardo da Vinci, and it was followed tics. The statistics also demonstrate that the Hermitage is earning over half of its budget. by a whole range of events focusing on the image of Leonardo, reminding us how many This looks good, but based on the practices of other museums, we believe that state subsidies remarkable masters Italy produced beyond the once-standard list of names. ought to account for at least 60%, otherwise the museum can be tempted to deviate from We have seen the completion of many other initiatives this year. The Hermitage was presented its humanitarian mission and veer into commerce. with a Field-Marshal’s baton made for Alexander II. The decision to use the endowment to buy Books published by the Hermitage often become works of art worthy of inclusion in muse- exhibits resulted in the purchase of Aurora by Anselm Kiefer (an echo of a Hermitage exhibi- um collections. The Hermitage field expeditions are multiplying and expanding; the scope tion) and The Silent Sea by Bill Viola (which was also on display in the Hermitage). Reflections of current field research challenges ranges from the Scythians to the origins of the European on new themes to be added to the collections prompted the decision to focus on purchasing Neolithic. The new tradition of celebrating Hermitage Days outside St Petersburg has also relics of the Mahdist Revolt in Sudan, which has typological affinities with Shamil’s uprising. proved a success. The Days of the Hermitage in the Sultanate of Oman and the Days of Oman The unveiling of the permanent exhibition of Turkish art provided the finishing touch to the in the Hermitage had a special ring to them. This new form of interaction between museums suite of rooms dedicated to the medieval Near East: Byzantium, the Caliphate, the Mamluks, makes it possible to show to the world both the Hermitage collections and the Hermitage itself the Ottomans. The opening of a grand hall of vases marked the return of exhibits to all the as a single holistic body. Classical rooms. It is this unity of challenges and actions that our annual report is called upon to demonstrate. The Piero della Francesca exhibition was exceptional even when viewed alongside a whole It grows in volume every year, so its production is inevitably delayed. But we strive to present constellation of “star” exhibitions. The large-scale exhibition of the Kabakovs titled “Not everything that we are proud of. The museum calendar is designed to be noted for centuries. Everyone will be Taken into the Future” arrived from the Tate Gallery and then moved to the Tretyakov Gallery. A splendid display from the private American Leiden Collection containing rare masterpieces of the Golden Age of Dutch art served as a forerunner of the Year of Rem- brandt and reminded us that private collectors are not daunted by the ban on exhibition ex- changes that affects official US museums. Italian art made itself heard with “The Lombards” Mikhail Piotrovsky and a major exhibition on Arte Povera, one of the key artistic trends in 20th-century Italy. General Director, the State Hermitage Museum Philosophical reflections about today’s virtual world and its art were suggested by the Hermit- age exhibition on trompe l’oeil and a joint exhibition exploring the use of technical innovation as a source of artistic inspiration. A dialogue of two museums, the Hermitage and the Vien- nese Kunsthistorisches Museum, attracted the leaders of Russia and Austria as well as ordi- nary museum-goers. Different exhibitions showcasing Russian furniture, Oriental manuscripts 4 5 STATE HERMITAGE MUSEUM. GENERAL INFORMATION FOUNDING OF THE MUSEUM MUSEUM BUILDINGS The foundation date of the museum is considered to be 1764, when Empress Catherine the Great acquired an impressive collection of paintings from the Berlin merchant Johann Ernest Gotzkowsky. Winter Palace. 1754–1762 The museum celebrates the anniversary of its founding each year on 7 December, Architect, Francesco Bartolommeo Rastrelli. St Catherine’s Day. Reconstructed by Vasily Stasov after a fire in 1837 Small Hermitage. 1763–1775 STATUS OF THE HERMITAGE Architects, Yury Velten and Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe In a Decree by the President of the Russian Federation dated 18 December 1991 the State Hermitage Museum was included into a list of the most valuable objects of national heritage. Old (Large) Hermitage. 1771–1787 In a Decree by the President of the Russian Federation dated 12 June 1996 the State Hermitage Architect, Yury Velten Museum was placed under personal patronage of the President of the Russian Federation. Hermitage Theatre. 1783–1787 In a Decree (No. 984) dated 29 November 2011 the new Statutes of the State Hermitage Museum, Architect, Giacomo Quarenghi as a federal government funded institution, were approved. According to the Statutes the Government of the Russian Federation is to act as the museum founder. New Hermitage. 1842–1851 Designed by architect Leo von Klenze; constructed under supervision of architects Vasily Stasov and Nikolay Efimov OFFICIAL NAMES The State Hermitage Museum Federal Government Funded Cultural Institution; The State Hermitage Reserve (Storage) House of the Winter Palace. 1726–1742, 1830, 1878 Museum; The Hermitage Architects, Domenico Trezzini (?), Carlo Giuseppe Trezzini and Nikolay Bekker In honour of the State Hermitage Museum, according to the Official Certificate of the International Menshikov Palace. 1710–1727 Astronomic Association and the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy of the Russian Academy Architects, Giovanni Mario Fontana and Georg Schedel of Sciences dated 11 April 1997, a minor planet registered in the International Catalogue of Minor Planets under No. 4758 was named Hermitage. General Staff Building (former Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Finance Building). 1819–1829 LEGAL ADDRESS Architect, Carlo Rossi 34 Dvortsovaya Naberezhnaya (Dvortsovaya Embankment), 190000 St Petersburg, “Staraya Derevnya” Centre for Restoration, Conservation and Storage Russian Federation Completion of the first phase – 2003, completion of the second phase – 2012 ARCHITECTURAL COMPLEX OF THE MUSEUM Stock Exchange. 1805–1810 The museum complex consists of the Winter Palace, Small Hermitage, Old Hermitage, Architect, Jean-François Thomas de Thomon Hermitage Theatre, New Hermitage and Reserve (Storage) House (30–38 Dvortsovaya Embankment); Eastern Wing and the Arch of the General Staff Building (6–8 Palace Square); Menshikov Palace (15 Universitetskaya Embankment); “Staraya Derevnya” Centre for Restoration, Conservation and Storage (37 Zausadebnaya Street); Imperial