Frantsuzskaia zhivopis’ v Arkhangel’skom (French Painting in Arkhangel’skoe)
Moscow: Tri kvadrata, 2011. This catalogue publishes in full for the first time the collection of French painting in the State Museum Estate of Arkhangel’skoe, the core of which was acquired by the great eighteenth-century collector and patron of the arts Nikolai Borisovich Yusupov. The collection has 101 paintings, many of the first rank, and was shaped by the collector himself, which gives it a distinct integrity. His interests were well informed: he had acquired for his library most books and catalogues about French art that had been published from the sixteenth to the eighteenth century. The authors point out the Yusupov’s peculiar acumen for recognizing artists of talent before they were sought after, such as works painted by David early in his career and those by female painters. The authors attempt to reconstruct the collection as it was before the 1917 revolution, when many paintings were dispersed, by using the so-called “drawn” catalogue completed in the 1820s in which 542 sketches were made from works of art in the collection. The large plates, many details, and generous layout of the book are conducive to study of the art. A chapter on copies and one on works with new attributions enhance the book’s value as a reference on French art. Fourteen paintings are published for the first time. 496 pp., 9 ½ x 11 ins., approx. 200 b-&-w illus., 297 color, sewn cl., Rus. Item #4106
Price: $86.00