Villem II i Anna Pavlovna: Korolevskaia roskosh’ niderlandskogo dvora (Willem II and Anna Pavlovna: Royal Splendor at the Dutch Court)
St. Petersburg: Herm, 2013. sewn pb. The interest in dynastic ties in Europe grounds the first section of this catalogue of an exhibition at the Hermitage. The second section focuses on the inspired collecting of Willem II many fruits of which ended up in the Hermitage collection; approximately thirty museums and private collections contributed works to the exhibition, Dordrechts Museum and The Royal Collection of the Netherlands prominent among them. Willem II’s place in European affairs of the first half of the nineteenth century was significant: he played a part in the defeat of Napoleon, and his marriage to the daughter of Emperor Paul intertwined the Russian and Dutch courts, which had enjoyed close ties dating to an earlier sovereign, Peter the Great, whose trips to the Netherlands spurred an enthusiasm for Dutch know-how in everything from shipbuilding to landscape painting. When Willem II borrowed money from his wife’s brother Emperor Nicholas I, but died before repaying it, Nicholas saw an opportunity to acquire Willem’s collection; hence great paintings collected by Willem by such artists as Rembrandt, Rubens, Guido Reni and many others, grace the Hermitage today and are published here. 290 pp., 30 cm, approx. 300 b-&-w and color illus., Rus. with title page and summary in ENGLISH. Item #260
ISBN: 9785935725037
Medals, portraits, battle paintings, scenes of triumphs, prints of interiors at the Dutch court, and furniture illustrate the first chapter, Romanovs and the House of Orange: Tsars and Stadhouders, Emperors and Kings. Drawings and paintings depicting Willem’s museum and paintings from various European schools acquired by Willem (Rubens, Guido Reni, Rembrandt, for example) illustrate the second and third chapters, the Collections and Museum of King Willem II; Paintings from the Collection of Willem II in the Hermitage.
Price: $93.00