15 masterpieces of the Pushkin Museum that you must see (PHOTOS)

Ivan Tsvetaev, the founder of the museum, believed that the educational museum at Moscow University should introduce the development of art from ancient times to the Renaissance. Each hall was decorated in accordance with the era whose works were presented in it. And among the first exhibits were casts of Roman and Greek sculptures.   

Today, the collection of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts has about 700,000 works of art. Below, we draw your attention to the most famous of them, all of which are presented in the main building of the museum.

1 Sarcophagus of Mahu, a farmer of the temple of Amun, circa 1550 - 1290 BC. 

The museum's extensive Egyptian collection is based on the collection of orientalist Vladimir Golenishchev, which was acquired in 1909. Many items have been exhibited since the museum's opening in 1912. Sarcophaguses, papyri, jewelry, clay vessels, reliefs, statuettes – the hall always has a special atmosphere. This is also because it is decorated in the style of an ancient Egyptian temple. 

2 Fayum portraits, 1st half - middle of the 2nd century

The oldest portraits that have survived to this day were created in the Fayum Oasis in the 1st-4th centuries. They were kind of masks: they were painted on cypress boards and then, with the help of linen bandages, were attached to the shroud, which was wrapped around the mummy. In total, there are 22 such rare portraits in the museum's collection. A total of 16 can be seen in the exhibition.

3 A large diadem from Hoard ‘A’, 2400 - 2200 BC.

In 1945, the treasures found at the excavations of Troy by adventurous archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann were brought to the USSR from Berlin. In total, 259 items were brought to the Pushkin Museum. However, the public saw them only in the mid-1990s: for a long time, the treasures were in special storage. Among them is a large gold diadem from the so-called Priam’s Treasure (or Treasure ‘A’) with many pendants. Scientists assume that it belonged to a queen or priestess.

4 Titian Vecellio ‘Portrait of Cardinal Antonio Pallavicini’, 1540s

In the 17th century, this painting of Venetian genius found its way into the collection of Flemish painter Antonis van Dyck. In 1772, the portrait was acquired for the Hermitage collection. And, since 1928, it has been in the collection of the Pushkin Museum.

5 Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio ‘Portrait of a Young Man in the Image of St. Sebastian’ late 1490s

This portrait of the handsome young man was long attributed to Leonardo Da Vinci himself. Especially since the Italian artist had a drawing that depicts a very similar young man. However, researchers are inclined to believe that the portrait was written by Leonardo's pupil, Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio.

6 Rembrandt's ‘Artaxerxes, Haman & Esther’, 1660

The Pushkin collection has an impressive collection of graphics, etchings and paintings by the great Dutchman, which can be used to trace the development of the artist's style. For example, the painting ‘Artaxerxes, Aman & Esther’ Rembrandt created at an advanced age, when he was already 54 years old.

7 Peter Paul Rubens ‘Bacchanalia’, circa 1615 

The artist painted this painting not for any client, but for himself and without involving apprentices to work on it. The source of inspiration for it was an ancient sarcophagus with images of Bacchic scenes – the so-called Uvarov sarcophagus. By the way, it is also in the museum’s collection. However, Rubens did not part with this canvas until the end of his days.

8 Antonis Van Dyck's ‘Lady d'Aubigny and the Countess of Portland’, late 1638 - early 1639

A pupil of Rubens, Van Dyck was court painter to King Charles I of England. He painted this double portrait in several stages. First, he portrayed Lady d'Aubigny – Earl George Stuart then secretly married her. A year later, when his family had come to terms with this brazen act, Van Dyck completed the painting with the Countess of Portland, George's sister. 

9 Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin, ‘Still Life with Attributes of Art’, circa 1724-1728

One of Chardin's first dessus-de-porte – still lifes that were used as interior inserts above doors and decorated the interior. Almost the entire space of the canvas is occupied by the artist's table with a variety of tools and, in the center, there is a sculptural cast of Mercury's head.

10 Giulio Romano ‘Lady at the Toilet’, early 1520s

For a long time, it was believed that this female portrait was painted by Raphael himself. But, in reality, the painting was created by his student. Who exactly the artist depicted is unknown. Perhaps, it was Beatrice d'Este, Duchess of Ferrara, wife of the Milanese Duke Lodovico Sforza. Or Margaret Palaeologus, wife of Duke Federico II Gonzaga. But, most were inclined to believe that the canvas depicted Fornarina, Raphael’s lover and muse. 

11 Paris Bordone ‘Madonna with Child, John the Baptist and St. George (Holy Conversation)’, early 1530s

Before the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, the painting by the Italian master was in the collection of the Dukes of Leuchtenberg, where it was considered to be a work by Titian. After the nationalization of the collection, it ended up in the Russian Museum and then in the Pushkin Museum, where it acquired its current attribution. 

12 Sandro Botticelli ‘Annunciation’, 1495 - 1498

It is believed that the artist painted the ‘Annunciation’ for the wings of a small portable altar. Its two other parts, depicting St. Dominic and St. Jerome, are preserved in the Hermitage. 

13 François Boucher ‘Madonna with Child & Little John the Baptist’, 1758

The artist painted this painting commissioned by the Marquise of Pompadour, King Louis XV's favorite. The public first saw it at the Salon in 1759 – at that time, it was called ‘Christmas’. Philosopher Denis Diderot, although he criticized the artist for excessively bright colors, admitted: “Our Lady is unspeakably beautiful, touching and full of love…”

14 Lucas Cranach the Elder ‘Madonna and Child (Madonna in a Vineyard)’, circa 1520 

The image of the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus sitting in a gazebo covered with grapes has not reached us in its entirety. The lower and right sides of the painting were probably cut off. This is one of the most famous works by Cranach the Elder, a masterpiece of Northern Renaissance art. It is not by chance that he chose a grapevine as a background – it reminds us of the human incarnation of the Savior and symbolizes the Church.

15 Nicola Poussin ‘The Magnanimity of Scipio’, 1640

The artist based his work on a plot from ancient history, described by Titus Livius in ‘History of Rome from the Founding of the City’. In 209 BC, Roman commander Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus conquered New Carthage. One of the captives turned out to be a beautiful girl named Lucretia. Learning that her heart was given to Allucius, Scipio was generous. He did not take the girl as his concubine and returned her to her fiancé, along with the ransom her parents gave for her and even joined the hands of the lovers himself. The easy-to-read composition of the painting and the plot, which glorifies the nobility of the Roman commander's actions, made Poussin’s painting one of the most striking examples of classicism.