Western Painting Art Palace: The Omitsahi Museum (Full 3 Volumes)

Author: Colin Eisler
Publisher:
Publication Date: 1998-05-01
Features: In 1765, Catherine the Great of Russia began collecting exquisite and outstanding paintings from various countries for political and aesthetic purposes. Her collection, like a seed, gradually grew into a world-renowned great museum. Before this, no one had organized and compiled such a large and magnificent collection into a book. In The Hermitage Museum, it includes over 630 outstanding works, encompassing the essence of the museum's collection. Among them are works from 18th to 20th-century France, featuring many renowned painters such as Boucher, Fragonard, Watteau, Claude Lorrain, Hubert Robert, Ingres, and Corot. These works are among the most outstanding pieces in the vast collection of the world. Equally impressive are the Baroque paintings from the Netherlands and Flanders, which represent the diverse styles of the period. These include Rubens' exaggerated depiction of Perseus Rescuing Andromeda and the bold beauties portrayed by van Dyck in Family Portrait, as well as important works by Salomon van Ruisdael and others. Many art enthusiasts may be more familiar with the works of the late 19th and early 20th centuries: the famous works of Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cézanne, Picasso, and Matisse, as well as their works and those of their contemporaries, which are astonishing yet not as widely known. Works from other periods and regions are equally astonishing, including works from the Italian Renaissance (such as the great works of Fra Angelico, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, and Titian), Spanish paintings from El Greco to Goya, Murillo, Velázquez, and Zurbarán, as well as exquisite paintings from the United Kingdom, Sweden, Switzerland, Belgium, and even the United States. Cover: Maria of Austria by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1857, oil on canvas, 120×95 cm. Renowned art historian Colin Eisler has selected and compiled some of these works, organizing them by theme. He introduces the works in a categorized manner, including "The Golden Age" (themes such as mythology and ancient history), religious subjects, landscapes, interior paintings, portraits, genre paintings, and still lifes—as Eisler professor mentions in his preface: "Through the images and texts on these pages, readers are presented with a new gallery tour, and the inner world that can only be observed through juxtaposition is brought to life before their eyes." This book presents a wide gallery filled with masterpieces, including many famous works that even those who have had the privilege of visiting the museum have not been able to see. Its versatility, high quality, and diverse production make it the most exquisite, comprehensive, modern, and unprecedented published work. Colin Eisler is a professor of art history at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. He holds degrees from universities such as Harvard, Yale, and Cambridge. His numerous books and articles, including Visible Ink: Masterpieces of the Great Painters and the recent Giacomo Bellini's Talent and Dürer's Animals, are well-known and highly respected works.