Hermitage Rooms Archive

Tancred and Erminia

Charles IX

The Judgement of Paris

Boy with a Dog

This exhibition focuses on French drawings from the Hermitage's magnificent but largely inaccessible collection of master drawings. There are more than 40,000 items overall in the Hermitage Cabinet of Drawings, the French section boasting outstanding examples by artists who dominate the history of French art from the 16th to early 20th centuries. The presentation of paintings and drawings by one and the same artist illustrates how drawing served both as a preparation for a painting and as an independent activity. Works by artists such as Clouet, Poussin, Bellange, Claude, Watteau, Boucher, Oudry, Greuze, Ingres, Degas, Manet, Matisse and Picasso gives a taste of the delights of French drawing in the Hermitage collection.

"This is an exhibition that will be greeted with great enthusiasm by everyone interested in Old Master drawings."
Brian Sewell, The Evening Standard

"…an irresistible survey of French draughtsmanship"
Richard Cork, The Times

"…pretty unmissable" Charles Darwent, The Metro