Art Talk: NGA Andrew Mellon and the Hermitage Tour

For those that are just joining my blog, I highlight a tour that I made up when I lived in DC of the National Gallery of Art each month.

First week- Tour
Second week- Artist
Third week- Selected piece
Fourth week- Related Topic
Occasionally- Guest blogger

Let's start June with a National of Gallery of Art tour- Andrew Mellon and the Hermitage. While living in DC I spent many, many days in the National Gallery. It is one of my favorite places. As I learned more about the art in the gallery and looked at the pieces closer, I realized that many of the paintings were in the Andrew W. Mellon Collection. So I did a little studying and discovered:

Andrew W. Mellon, 1933
Sir Oswald Hornby Joseph Birley

This is a waiting room by the entrance of the museum. There is a coat room on the other side. I had use the coat check many times without looking at the paintings on the wall. When I was preparing for this tour I found the painting of Mellon above the fireplace and other collectors portraits. The room is called the Founders Room.

Andrew Mellon (1855-1937) was a successful banker and industrialist and politician (US Ambassador to the United Kingdom and US Secretary of the Treasury). He was also a predominate art collector. He began collecting art in the 1890s and his most spectacular purchase happened in 1930-1931 when he acquired 21 paintings from the Hermitage in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Andrew Mellon approached President Roosevelt with an offer to set up a National Gallery of Art in America like the one in London. (Cool side note: This was the first museum that I went to and it made a huge impression on me.) He donated his art collection as well as an endowment, while the federal government would pay for the institution's upkeep. In 1941 the National Gallery of Art opened.

Before we continue with this tour I would like talk a little more about the Hermitage and what was happening in Russia in the early 1900s. Russia was a part of WWI from 1914-1917 then it had a terrible civil war until 1920 and that was followed by a famine in 1921. This tragedy and hardship made Russia desperate for cash. The State Hermitage Museum sold many of it's prized paintings for this cash. It wasn't until the 1990s following the collapse of the Soviet Union that a new law was passed that prohibited the sale of Russian art treasures to foreign countries.

Fun side note: I am planning a trip to Baltic Sea in 2023 and I will get to go to St. Petersburg, Russia and to the Hermitage.

Let's start this tour in the 1400s with the oldest painting and one of my favorite paintings in the gallery-
The Annunciation by Jan van Eyck.

Jan van Eyck
The Annunciation, 1434

Jan van Eyck
Close up The Annunciation, 1434

Jan van Eyck is one of the most talented painters I have ever seen. The level of detail is astounding. I go see this painting again and again when I go to the gallery. Above, in the close up you can see the red cloth on the stool, the floor that has scenes from the Old Testament. The colors and textures of the cloth of the angel along with the beds are incredible.

van Eyck is able to paint different textures, colors in minute detail to make a magnificent whole! Oh and there is a whole lot of symbolism too.

Sandro Botticelli
The Adoration of the Magi, 1478/1482

Sandro Botticelli is one of the great Italian masters and to acquire this painting was a treasure for sure.

This adoration scene is set in a classical Roman structure instead of a stable in Jerusalem and most likely painted while Botticelli was in Rome where he was called to fresco the Sistine Chapel.

Raphael
The Alba Madonna, 1510

There are many paintings in this collection from great Italian artist including the Renaissance artist Raphael.

This tonto (round) painting is of Mary, Jesus and Jesus's cousin John the Baptist in the field. Instead of sitting on a traditional throne Mary is seated on a rock in a field. All three subjects are looking at the cross in Christ's hand as it points to his life and Mission.

In addition to coming from the Hermitage in 1937 this painting has a very interesting provenance or record of ownership.

The Alba Madona was sold to Andrew Mellon by the Soviet Government in 1931 for $1,166,400, the largest sum ever paid for a painting until that time.

Titian
Venus with a Mirror, 1555

Titian was another great Italian painter...from Venice, Italy.

He was a master artist and this is an amazing painting of textures. The red velvet cloth on her lap, the braids in her hair, her jewels and most impressive her skin that looks like you can touch it.

Venus is the goodness of love and beauty and this it the ideal beauty in 1555 according to Titan. It is interesting to me to see beauty created by great masters that have survived the ages.

Titan kept this painting in his possession for more than 20 years and until his death.

We are now moving into the 1600s and up to the north country with some great Flemish and Dutch painters.

Anthony van Dyck
Isabella Brant, 1621

Anthony van Dyck
Philip, Lord Wharton

Anthony van Dyck was born in 1599 in Antwerp, Belguim to a wealthy family and began studying painting as early at 10 years old. He became a predominate court painter in England. In addition to his portraiture which he is so well known for he also painted He also painted mythological and biblical subjects.

Isabella Brant was the first wife of Peter Paul Rubens. van Dyck was Ruben's protegee and gave this painting of his wife to his master. In 1772, Empress Catherine II of Russia (1729–1796) purchased the portrait as a work by Rubens for her Imperial Hermitage Gallery in Saint Petersburg. It has since been correctly attributed to van Dyck.

Philip, Lord Wharton became the 4th Baron of Wharton. He studied at Oxford and traveled extensively. He is the first Englishman other than the King to commission his portrait to be done by van Dyck.

Frans Hals
Portrait of a Member of the Haarlem Civic Guard, 1636/1638

Frans Hals
Portrait of a Young Man, 1646/1648

Frans Hals was born in 1582 in the Spanish Netherlands during the time of the Eighty Years War when the Dutch were fighting for their independence from Spain. He was part of the voluntary civic guard. The painting Portrait of a Member of the Haarlem Civic Guard is one of two paintings of an individual guard is thought to be a self portrait of Hals.

He a is a Dutch Golden Age painter and contemporaries with Rembrandt. Interesting to note in the Portrait of a Young Man Frans Hals put his initials twice FHFH above the young man's hand. There is speculation that this may be for Frans Hals the Younger as he would have been the right age at the time of the painting. An interesting idea.

Rembrandt van Rijn
A Polish Nobleman, 1637

Rembrandt van Rijn
Close up, A Polish Nobleman, 1637

The final painting on this tour is by Rembrandt. He was born in 1606 in Leiden, Netherlands the 9th child in his family. Unlike his contemporaries he did not travel abroad. He opened a studio in began accepting students. His influence in the world of art is immense. He was a innovative and prolific draughtsman, painter, and print maker and painted in many different styles including, portraits, self-portraits, landscapes, genre scenes, allegorical and historical scenes, and biblical and mythological themes as well as animal studies.

In A Polish Nobleman, is thought to not be a portrait of a specific person, rather a portrait called a "tronie".

(16/17th-century Dutch for "face") is a common type, or group of types, of works common in Dutch Golden Age painting and Flemish Baroque painting that shows an exaggerated facial expression or a stock character in costume. It is related to the French word “trogne” which is slang for “mug” or head."

This allowed Rembrandt to explore his artistic skill.

Thank you for joining me on this tour of 9 of the 21 paintings that Andrew Mellon purchased from the Hermitage in the 1930s and later gifted to the United States through the creation of the National Gallery of Art.

Sources:
Wikipedia: Andrew Mellon
Wikipedia: List of Paintings in the National Gallery of Art, Washington Dc, formerly in the Hermitage Museum
Wikipedia: Soviet Sale of Hermitage Paintings
Vox: Russia's national income in war and revolution
Wikipedia-Anthony van Dyck
NGA-Isabella Brant
NGA-Philip, Lord Wharton
Wikipedia- Frans Hals
NGA-Portrait of a Member of the Haarlem Civic Guard
NGA-Portrait of a Young Man
Wikipedia-Rembrandt
NGA-A Polish Nobleman
Wikipedia-Tronie