Lost treasures: how the Bolsheviks sold off the priceless works of art from the Hermitage and the Kremlin

Фото: Depositphotos

Raphael, Faberge and the jeweled imperial crowns are now in American and European museums thanks to the Bolsheviks who sold them.

In the second half of 1920, the Soviet government flooded the international art market with treasures from the country's museums. Such a large-scale sale in the history of art has never been.

Suffering from the consequences of the devastating civil war, the young socialist state needed money to create a new society, and therefore it decided to raise funds from the sale of the priceless masterpieces that had been accumulated by the old regime.

Treasures from the Diamond Fund, the Kremlin, the Hermitage and the Tretyakov Gallery were sold directly to millionaires from the United States and Europe.

“There were different people. Armand Hammer was a diabolical figure. I was told that it was scary to be in the same room with him. He organized the sale of Russian antiques (for which the Soviet government gave him a 10 percent commission), organizing the sale of the Romanov Treasures (which actually had nothing to do with the imperial family) in the largest department store in New York,” said Natalya Semenova, historian and author "Treasures of Russia".

Royal crowns and diamonds, icons and other religious objects, rare paintings and sculptures were sold en masse to US Treasury Andrew Mellon, oil magnate Kalusta Gulbenkyan, as well as US Ambassador Joseph Davis and his wife Marjorie Post.

Many works of art later became the pride of museums around the world - from Metropolitan in New York and Hillwood in Washington, DC, to the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon.

Edition Russia Beyond compiled a list of some of the most important treasures that Russia has lost.

The imperial wedding crown. 1890's

This is one of the most modest crowns sold by the Bolsheviks. The novelty of the last Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna on the occasion of her wedding in 1894, the crown was sold in 1926 by Gokhran (State depository of precious metals and stones) to Norman Weiss, who sold it in 1966 in the year Sotheby's в Marjorie Post. Today it is part of the collection. Hillwood in Washington DC.

Faberge: Imperial Coronation Easter Egg. 1897 year

Emperor Nicholas II presented this Faberge egg from platinum with diamonds, rubies and an unexpected translation inside his wife Alexandra Feodorovna. The gunsmith of the Moscow Kremlin sold it in 1927 to the Wartsky Gallery in London, and in 1970's it became part of the collection. Malcolm Forbes in New York. Today it is set to Faberge Museum in St. Petersburg as part of the collection of Russian billionaire Viktor Vekselberg.

Peter Paul Rubens. Portrait of Elena Forment. 1630-1632 years

Catherine the Great bought a painting for the Hermitage, but in 1929, the Soviets sold it to Kalusta Gulbenkian. Today he is in the Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon.

Raphael. Madonna Alba. 1510 year

This picture was the greatest work of the Renaissance genius in the Hermitage. In 1931, it was sold to Andrew Mellon for a record price of almost $ 1,2 million at that time. Today, the painting is in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

Titian. Venus with a mirror. Approximately 1555 year

Photo: Wikipedia

This Titian masterpiece entered the Hermitage collection at 1850, but was sold to Andrew Mellon in 1931. In the end, the painting became part of the collection of the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

Jan Van Eyck. Two triptych panels: Crucifixion and the Last Judgment. Approximately 1430 year

Photo: Wikipedia

These panels from the so-called “Tatishchev folding icons” (they were bought by the Russian Ambassador to Spain Dmitry Tatishchev) are fragments of a triptych, the central part of which was lost. In 1933 they were sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. After the sale of these panels, as well as "Annunciation"which went to Mellon several years ago, the Hermitage was deprived of all the works of Van Aix.

Nicolas Poussin. The birth of Venus (the Triumph of Neptune and Amphitrite). 1638-1640 years

Photo: Wikipedia

One of the four “triumphs” that Poussin wrote for the legendary Cardinal Richelieu, this painting was bought by Catherine the Great. In 1932, it was sold to the Elkins Foundation, and today it can be found in the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Rembrandt. Renunciation of St. Peter. 1660 year

Photo: Wikipedia

Selling this work in Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in 1933, it was a real tragedy for the staff of the Hermitage. The museum director at the time, Boris Legrand, wrote: "... this is our only work in which Rembrand uses the effect of artificial lighting."

Vincent Van Gogh. Night cafe. 1888 year

Photo: Wikipedia

This is one of the few impressionist works that Russia has lost, and only because in the 1920-ies they did not have much value. The Museum of New Western Art in Moscow (now the Pushkin State Museum) sold the work of Van Gogh in 1933 to Stephen Clarke, who bequeathed it to the Art Museum of Yale University.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Who and why it was profitable to sell Alaska to the Americans 

How Russians seek their ancestors of the era of Ivan the Terrible and find relatives

How the revolution changed the lives of the ten largest businessmen of Tsarist Russia

Do you want more important and interesting news about life in the USA and immigration to America? — support us donate! Also subscribe to our page Facebook. Select the “Priority in display” option and read us first. Also, don't forget to subscribe to our РєР ° РЅР ° Р »РІ Telegram  and Instagram- there is a lot of interesting things there. And join thousands of readers ForumDaily New York — there you will find a lot of interesting and positive information about life in the metropolis.