Museum of Western and Oriental Art Kiev

50.441111111111 30.514444444444Coordinates: 50 ° 26 ′ 28 ″ N , 30 ° 30 ′ 52 ″ E

Museum building

The Museum of Western and Oriental Art ( Ukrainian Національний музей мистецтв імені Богдана та Варвари Ханенків ) in Kiev is the most important art museum in Ukraine . It has an inventory of around 17,000 art objects, starting with ancient Egypt, ancient times, through Western European art from Italy, France, Flanders, Holland, Spain, to Persia, China and Japan. And although the inventory, measured by the number of existing objects, is not one of the largest collections in the world, the quality of the existing works of art is impressive.

Location

The museum is located in the center of Kiev and is housed in the former villa of the collector couple Chanenko, built in the Italian style, at 15 Tereschenkivska Street.

Collection history

The foundation of the collection and its most valuable part is the collection of the Chanenko couple, who for more than forty years collected works of art that they acquired throughout Europe. Her main focus was on the works of old masters, antiquity and from the Orient. In doing so, they mostly relied on their own knowledge and rarely took advice from specialists. In order to give their collection a worthy home, they had a villa built in 1882 in the style of an Italian palazzo . Around 1917, Bohdan Chanenko issued a will that the collection, after his death, should become the property of the city of Kiev and should be made accessible to all. The museum was actually founded in February 1919 after the establishment of Soviet power. In the first few years the museum received significant growth, of which the state museum reserve made up the largest part. In 1925/26, the museum received a large number of Dutch, Flemish and Dutch paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries, which the Petersburg collector Wassili Stschawinsky had bequeathed to the collection, as an important foundation .

During the Second World War , large parts of the collection were relocated and many objects were hidden in cellars, where most of them survived the war unscathed. In spite of this, the museum lost around 350 pictures, almost 2000 engravings and around 500 handicrafts. The museum was able to reopen as early as November 1944 .

In 1959 and 1960, the museum received a further important foundation, a collection of more than 400 classical Chinese pictures, which the Kiev-based artist Taissija Jaspar had compiled. Part of the collection, 187 scrolls, was a gift, the rest was bought by the state.

The collection continued to grow through individual donations and purchases.

collection

The most important and well-known part of the museum is the Old Masters Picture Gallery with many excellent works. A small selection follows:

Byzantine painting

The collection begins with a small but fine collection of Byzantine icons from the 6th to 12th centuries, including two early Byzantine icons from the Monastery of St. Catherine on Sinai .

Italian painting

Barnaba da Modena : Scenes from the life of Christ ; Pietro da Urbino : Triptych - Mary with the Child and Saints Jerome and Benedict ; Master of the Osservanza : The Crucifixion of Christ ; Marco di Maestro Paolo : Maria with the child ; Pietro Francesco Fiorentino : Mary with the child and the boy John ; Gentile Bellini : Portrait of a Donor ; Giovanni Bellini : Maria with the child ; Pietro Perugino : Maria with the child ; Jacopo del Sellaio : Orpheus and Eurydice ; Marco Palmezzano : Enthroned Mary with the child and the apostles Peter and John ; Perino del Vaga : Mary with child and John boy ; Palma il Giovane : John the Baptist in the desert ; Luca Giordano : The Death of Orpheus ; Gregorio Lazzarini : Joseph and Potiphar's wife ; Giovanni Battista Tiepolo : The calling of Cincinnatus as dictator ; Giovanni Battista Ruoppoli : Still Life with Melons ; Bernardo Bellotto : church ruins ; Alessandro Magnasco : The Burial of a Monk ; Marco Antonio Franceschini : Latona with Apollo and Diana as children ; Michele Marieschi : View in Venice with bridge ; Francesco Guardi : Canal in Venice ; Francesco Tironi : Embankment in Venice

Old Dutch painting

Dierick Bouts (school): 2 altar wings - Adam and Eve weep Abel; Jacob's lamentation over Joseph's bloody coat ; Masters of Khanenko Adoration : Diptych - The Adoration of the Magi ; Barend van Orley (circle): The beheading of St. Catherine ; Pieter Bruegel the Elder Ä. (School): Coming home from the fair

Flemish painting

Cornelis Ketel : Portrait of a Young Woman ; David Vinckeboons : Funny Company ; Sebastian Vrancx : Landsknechte in the forest ; Peter Paul Rubens : The god of the Scheldt, Cybele and the goddess of the city of Antwerp ; Jacob Jordaens : Cupid and Sleeping Nymphs ; David Teniers the Elder Ä. / Franz Francken the Younger : The Cabinet of an Art Lover ; David Teniers the Elder J .: In a farmhouse ; Willem Kalf: woman washes dishes ; Gonzales Coques : equestrian portrait of the Marquis de Carassin ; Kerstiaen de Keuninck : The fall of Phaeton ; Lodewijk de Vadder : Flemish landscape ; Marten Pepyn : Trio making music

Dutch painting

Frans Hals : Portrait of Descartes ; Dirck Hals : Society making music ; Nicolas Eliasz : Portrait of a man with gloves ; Anthonie Palamedes : Portrait of a woman with a carnation ; Nikolaus Knüpfer : Semiramis ; Pieter de Grebber : Portrait of a woman ; Allaert van Everdingen : Norwegian landscape ; Michiel de Vries : country house on the river ; Jacob Izaaksoon van Ruisdael : Forest rivers ; Jan van Kessel : At the edge of the forest ; Klaes Molenaer : Small house by the river ; Jan van de Cappelle : Ships with no wind ; Leonard Bramer : The apostle Philip baptizes the eunuch ; Jan Weenix : Still life with a dead hare; Cornelis Ketel : Portrait of a Girl

Spanish painting

Luis de Morales : St. Francis ; Juan Carreño de Miranda : Portrait of Charles II ; Diego Velázquez : Portrait of the Infanta Margarita ; Juan de Zurbáran : Still life with a chocolate mill

French painting

Philippe de Champaigne : Time reveals the truth ; Pierre Subleyras : Portrait of Pope Benedict XIV. : ; Jacques Louis David : Portrait of Lazare Hoche ; Elisabeth Vigée-Lebrun : Portrait of Stanilaw August Poniatowski ; Jean Baptiste Greuze : Portrait of a girl in gray ; Alexis Grimou : Portrait of a woman with a mask ; Claude Joseph Vernet : Storm on the Sea ; François Boucher : Cupids

English painting

Joshua Reynolds : Little rascal

Sculptures

Donatello : San Giorgio; Donatello (school): Mary with the child ; Matteo di Andrea de Pasti : Portrait of Isotta Malatesta in profile ; Luca della Robbia (workshop): The Annunciation; Giovanni da Bologna : Hercules and Cerberus.