Dva veka frant͡suzskoĭ elegantnosti
Subtitle: dekorativnoe iskusstvo XVII-XVIII vekov iz sobranii͡a Gosudarstvennogo Ėrmitazha : katalog vystavki = Two centuries of French elegance : decorative art of the 17th and 18th centuries from the State Hermitage Museum collection : exhibition catalogue
Contributors: Gosudarstvennyĭ Ėrmitazh (Russia)
Publisher: "Slavii͡a"
Published: 2012
Place of publication: Sankt-Peterburg
Language: rus
Number of pages: 151
ISBN-13: 9785950102059
Subjects: Exhibitions; Decorative arts; History; Collectors and collecting; Gosudarstvennyĭ Ėrmitazh (Russia)
Other titles: Two centuries of French elegance : decorative art of the 17th and 18th centuries from the State Hermitage Museum collection : exhibition catalogue
Description: This catalogue of a exhibition displays French decorative art from collections of the imperial family, the Stroganovs, the Sheremetovs, and the Shtiglits Institute of Technical Drawing, which all ended up in the Hermitage after the 1917 revolution. Russian collectors were especially interested in works made from the middle of the seventeenth century, when France took the lead in European decorative arts, through the eighteenth century. In the introduction to the catalogue the curator of the Hermitage{u2019}s collection follows the changing styles of French art and explores how it reflected a way of life, especially that of the court at Versailles. Entries on each work point out its distinct traits and note analogous works in other museums. Many of the works published here are not on permanent display in the Hermitage: hence the significance of the catalogue. Besides many items used to furnish palace interiors, the catalogue also publishes examples of French embroidery, lace, and arms and armor. The format facilitates study reproducing details of many works, nicely reproduced, many on two-page spreads. -- Summary written by John W. Emerich, Bronze Horseman Literary Agency.
Notes: Catalog of an exhibition held at State Hermitage, St. Petersburg, Apr. 10-Oct. 14, 2012.

Essay by T. V. Rappe.

In Russian with a summary in English.