‘France In Russia’ Opens June 28

At Hermitage Rooms At Somerset

 

photo by e-m 6-7; typeset copy

2col 6hi portrait…

Francois Gérard (1770–1837), “Portrait of Josephine,” 1801, oil on canvas.

FOR 6-22

‘FRANCE IN RUSSIA’ OPENS JUNE 28 AT HERMITAGE ROOMS AT SOMERSET w/1 cut

avv/gs set 6-8 #702646

LONDON — “France in Russia: Empress Josephine’s Malmaison Collection,” on view at the Hermitage Rooms, Somerset House, from June 28 to November 4, will celebrate one of France’s greatest heroines, Napoleon’s consort Josephine (1763–1814).

The exhibition focuses on her role as a collector and patron of the arts and brings together some of the finest paintings, sculpture and decorative arts that she acquired for her chateau of Malmaison, now housed in The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg. The exhibition also tells the story of this part of her collection’s journey from Paris to Russia in the wake of Napoleon’s defeat.

Rather than accept the standard view of Josephine as a frivolous lover of luxury, the exhibition puts her famed extravagance in context. She said of herself that she “was not born for such grandeur,” but imperial requirements forced upon her a lifestyle of great pomp and glamour.

The first room of the exhibition tells the story of Josephine’s collection, its development and display, as well as the dramatic circumstances surrounding some of her most notable acquisitions. Antonio Canova’s life-size marble sculpture, “Dancer,” circa 1806–12, is a focal point of the display.

Toward the end of 1806, Josephine received a fine collection of paintings from the famous gallery of the Landgraves (Electors) of Hesse-Cassel. The Cassel pictures formed the heart of Josephine’s collection and several important examples feature in the exhibition, including Claude Lorrain’s magisterial “Landscape with Tobias and the Angel” from the four-part “Times of Day” series, and Gabriel Metsu’s cabinet picture, “Breakfast.”

Josephine also actively collected paintings, for example purchasing Paulus Potter’s imposing “Wolfhound” in 1811. By then she had built a top-lit gallery at Malmaison to house her ever-growing collection: estimated at more than 250 paintings in 1811 and 350 at the time of her death three years later.

The second room in the exhibition concentrates on the woman behind the collection. The central image is Francois Gerard’s celebrated portrait of her, which was originally on display at Malmaison.

Josephine’s great love was porcelain, and the highlight of the third room is the porcelain dessert service that she commissioned to replace the old-fashioned service Napoleon had made for her at Sevres (the Egyptian service, which is now at Apsley House).

This was the most expensive of all her porcelain commissions, comprising a staggering 213 pieces. Twenty-two pieces are on display including a series of “picture plates (assiettes a tableaux)” which reproduce paintings from her collection.

All the objects in this room can be identified in the inventory of Malmaison made after Josephine’s death. An example is the clock base in the form of a triumphal arch by Florentine mosaicist Giacomo Raffaelli. The arch was placed on the mantelpiece in the Salon dore and opposite it, in the same room, was the console table with sphinx legs and seabed mosaic top by Jacob Desmalter, 1809, which was a diplomatic gift to Napoleon and also features in the exhibition.

Among the objects shown in the final room of the exhibition are pieces from the Egyptian dessert service offered by Napoleon to Alexander 1804 (which Josephine so admired at the time), and a woven portrait of Alexander I made by the Manufacture des Gobelins.

The exhibition is a collaboration between the Courtauld Institute of Art and The State Hermitage Museum, with additional loans from the Musee du Chateau de Malmaison.

For additional information, www.hermitagerooms.org.uk or 020 7845 4631.