ART Collection / Alamy Stock Photo
This autumn a selection of 63 masterpieces by world-famous Dutch Golden Age painters will be shipped by KLM from St. Petersburg to their temporary home at the Hermitage Amsterdam.
The exhibit ‘Dutch Masters from the Hermitage. Treasures of the Tsars’ will showcase masterpieces by Rembrandt, Frans Hals, Jan Steen, and many others. The collection will be on display at the Hermitage Amsterdam as of October. Landscapes, portraits, seascapes and still life paintings will fill the rooms of this impressive museum for almost eight months.
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6 x Rembrandt
“The biggest draw will be the works by Rembrandt van Rijn. Six of his paintings will be exhibited in Amsterdam.”
State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
By boat to Russia
How did such a large collection of Dutch art end up in 18th-century Russia? During the second half of that century, art collectors gained a growing admiration for Dutch paintings. This was no different in Russia. In fact, Russians became the biggest buyers of Dutch Golden Age paintings. The artworks purchased by the tsars were transported to Russia via Amsterdam by boat, but unfortunately not always made it to their destination. In 1771 a complete collection of paintings destined for Catherine the Great was lost when the ship foundered at sea. The paintings were never recovered.
State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg
Travelling back home with KLM
A selection of the 63 paintings that will be on display later this year will be flown to the Netherlands by KLM in September. The works, including Rembrandt’s ‘Young Woman with Earrings’, can expect a warm welcome upon their return to the country where they were created many centuries ago.
