St Petersburg - the Hermitage (again)

And here are some more of the sights of the Hermitage in St Petersburg, one of the grand, useless rooms of which is above, gaudy and expensive, littered with pointless urns and grand and gloomy masterpieces.  But there are a lot of wonderful things elsewhere ... 

Above is Jan Mandyn's Landscape with Legend of St Christopher (the saint is at the bottom left, holding the world as an orb, with the infant Jesus astride), a Bosch like fantasy of great complexity and some horror. 

 

To the left is Kees van Dongen's Lady With a Black Hat, a distant, alluring vision of a very modern beauty.  And below is the marble statue of Michelangelo’s Crouching Boy, small but powerful.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a lot of Rembrandt at the hermitage, all of it (of course) very fine, but some exceptional, as his Portrait of an Old Man in Red,  serene and knowing, with the wisdom of old age.  And finally, a surreal marble bust, swathed in plastic during some building work.  Here, it was a practical piece of protection - but I bet at the Tate it would have been great art in its own right - subversive and unsettling!

 

Comments

[sildenafil citrate]

Tattooing has been practiced for centuries worldwide. The Ainu, the indigenous people of Japan, traditionally wore facial tattoos.

[Mr Cornflower]

Like DP I found the van Dongen fascinating, reminding me of Cadell's Lady in a Black Hat

[Dark Puss]

I love the Kees van Dongen portrait, a modern beauty indeed. Van Dongen has been quite influential on fashion and fashion photography, and it was via the latter that I first came across this artist. I note that the Autumn 2008 collection of Vera Wang is claimed to be van Dongen influenced.

I share your view of urns too!