HERMITAGE MUSEUM

European, French, early Netherlandish, Flemish, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, German and British painting are wonderfully represented in this lavish art gallery of a book without ever having to leave our armchairs or to travel to Russia. Beautifully reproduced are such masterworks as Casper David Friedrich's Moonrise by the Sea, Schönfeld's The Rape of the Sabines in all its drama and horror, Christ and the Adulterous Woman by Lucas Cranach with the most intriguing faces crowded into the painting, many religious paintings by Tintoretto and Veronese, landscapes, portraits, still life, mythological masterpieces like Rubens' The Union of Fire and Water or the simple almost monochrome lines of Cézanne's Girls at the Piano or Corot's Landscape with Lake opposite the colour and pageantry of the Heraldic Hall in the Winter Palace and portraits of nobility. There is also a look at archaeology and the applied arts, and a history of the Hermitage complex and the influence of Catherine the Great. The precious collection of paintings has established the Hermitage's reputation in St. Petersburg as one of the most important museums in the world, but the architectural ensemble on the banks of the Neva is also a masterpiece of world architecture. Softback, 320 pages. 21 x 24cm or 8½" x 9½". Hundreds of colour illustrations. Multi language edition from Könemann.