The organizers of the event told The Day that the bigger part of the museum’s collection, which numbers about 12,000 items, is being kept in the storerooms. Only a few hundred pieces are permanently displayed. The goal of the Hidden Treasures exhibit is to take interesting, but not well known or even forgotten works into the exhibition halls.
The museum press service announced that it would be the first time two masterpieces of Old Rus’ art of the late 16th – early 17th century were going to be presented after restoration: icons The Savior ‘Bright Eye’ and Our Lady of Tykhvyn with Selected Saints and Scenes.
A number of presented works do not correspond to the exposition’s general high standard, but they were picked due to interesting plots, typical of the epoch when they were created, and related to certain artistic processes of the late 18th – first half of the 19th century. Among them are paintings Still Life.
Flowers and Vegetables by Aleksey Antropov’s student Nikitin, Eros and Psyche by Fyodor Tulov, pair portraits of Ivan and Kateryna Khanenko by Pellegrini, son of a Frenchman from Piedmont, and many others.
The exhibit also has the examples of the so-called “provincial portrait,” which were usually created by talented serfs or amateur artists, and form up a significant part of Russian culture.
There is no doubt that visitors’ attention will be attracted to works by famous artists who belong to the academic genre of Russian painting of the second half of the 19th century. Among them are Wilhelm Kotarbinski and Pavel Svedomsky.
In particular, paintings Sunset in the Winter. Fishermen’s Village by Yuri Klever and On the Black River in Borjomi. Caucasus by Arseny Meshchersky will be presented among the landscapes at the exhibit.
These brilliantly created paintings were absent from the museum for more than 20 years, being taken to the Mariinsky Palace. The large and rare canvas Volga near Zhiguli by the outstanding Russian marine painter Ivan Aivazovsky is one of the best pieces presented at the exhibit.
In general, about 30 paintings are presented at the exhibit, which will be open till December 2.
