art. The other was «Venus and Cupid»; presumably representing Lady

Hamilton .This is one of the versions of the piсture entitled «The Snake

in the Grass», owned by the National Gallery, London

Reynolds’s «Girl at a window» is a copy with slight modifications,

from Rembrandt’s canvas bearing the same title, and owned by the Dulwich

Gallery. It may be regarded as an example of Reynolds’s study of the «old

masters’» works.

A fair idea of the British artists’ achievements in the field of

portrait painting can be gained from the canvases by George Romney Thomas

Gainsborough, John Opie, Henry Rdeburn, John Hoppner and John Russell, all

marked by a vividness of expression and brilliance of execution typical of

the British School of portrait painting in the days when it had achieved a

national tradition. Highly important is Gainsborough’s superb «Portrait of

the Duchess of Beaufort» painted in a loose and most effective manner

characteristic of his art in the late 1770’s. For charm of expression and

brilliance of execution, it ranks among the masterpieces of the Museum.The

«Tron Forge» by Joseph Wright of Derby is an interesting example of a new

subject in English18th century art: the theme of labour and industry, which

merged in the days of the Industrial Revolution.

The few paintings of importance belonging to the British school of the

19th century include a landscape ascribed to John Constable; the «Boats at

a shore» by Richard Parkers Bonington; the «Portrait of an old woman» by

David Wilki, three portraits by Thomas Lawrence and portraits by George

Daive, of which the unfinished «Portrait of the Admiral Shishkov» is the

most impressive.

The collection was largely formed at the beginning of the 20th

century, a great part of it deriving from the Khitrovo collection

bequeathed to the Museum in 1916.

THE TRETYAKOV GALLERY

The Tretyakov Gallery , founded by Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov (1832-

1989), a Moscow merchant and art patron, is a national treasury of Russian

pre-revolutionary and Russian art.

The Gallery’s centenary was widely celebrated throughout Russia in

May 1956. Tretyakov spent his life collecting the works of Russian painters

which reflected the spirit and ideas of all progressive intellectual of

his day. He began his collection in 1856 with the purchase of

«Temptation» (1856) by N.Shilder and «Finnish Smugglers» (1853) by

V.Khudyakov. These paintings are on permanent exhibition. In order that

his collection better reflect the centuries-old traditions of Russian art

he acquired works of various epochs and also began a collection of antique

icons. Tretyakov was one of the few people of his time who realised the

great intrinsic value of ancient Russian art. He was on friendly terms

with many progressive , democratic Russian painters, frequenting their

studious, taking an active interest in their work, often suggesting themes

for new paintings, and helping them financially. His collection grew

rapidly; by 1872 a special building was erected to house it.

Tretyakov was aware of the national importance of his vast collection

of Russian art and presented it to the city of Moscow in 1892, thus

establishing the first museum in Russia. An excerpt from his will reads:

« Desirous of facilitating the establishment in my beloved city of useful

institutions aimed at promoting the development of art in Russia, and in

order to hand down to succeeding generations the collection I have amassed

I hereby bequeath my entire picture gallery and the works of art contained

therein, as well as my half of the house, to the Moscow City Duma. By

special decree of the Soviet Government, Issued on June 3 1918 and signed

by V.I. Lenin, the Gallery was designated one of the most important

educational establishments of the country. It was also decreed that the

name of its founder be retained in honour of Tretyakov’s great services to

Russian culture.

The Gallerie’s collection has grown considerably in the years since

the Revolution. In 1893 it consisted of 1805 works of art, but by 1956 the

number had increased to 35276.The early Russian Art department and the

collections of sculpture and drawings were considerably enlarged, and an

entirely new department- Soviet Art- was created. By a Government decision

of 1956, a new house is to be built for the Gallery within the next few

years.

At present, the more interesting and distinctive works, tracing the

development of Russian art through nearly ten centuries, are exhibit in

the Gallery’s 54 halls.

BUCKINGHAM PALACE

Buckingham palace is the official London residence of Her Majesty The

Queen and as such is one of the best known and most potent symbols of the

British monarchy. Yet it has been a royal residence for only just over two

hundred and thirty years and a palace for much less; and its name, known

the world over, is owed not to a monarch but to an English Duke.

Buckingham House was built for John, first Duke of Buckingham, between

1702 and 1705. It was sold to the Crown in 1762. Surprisingly, since it was

a large house in a commanding position, it was never intended to be the

principal residence of the monarch.

Although King George III modernised and enlarged the house considerably

in the 1760s and 17770s, the transformations that give the building its

present palatial character were carried out for King George IY by Nash in

the 1820s, by Edward Blore for King William IY and Queen Victoria in

the 1830s and 40s, and by James Pennethoooorne in the 1850s.

In the reign of King Edward YII, much of the present white and gold

decoration was substituted for the richly coloured 19th century schemes of

Nash and Blore; and in the 1920s, Queen Mary used the firm of White Allom

to redecorate a number of rooms.

The rooms open to visitors are used principally for official

entertainment .These include Receptions and State Banquets, and it is on

such occasions, when the rooms are filled with flowers and thronged with

formally dressed guests and liveried servants, that the Palace is seen

at its most splendid and imposing. But of course the Palace is also far

more than just the London home of the Royal Family and a place of lavish

entertainment. It has become the administrative centre of the monarchy

where, among a multitude of engagements, Her Majesty receives foreign

Heads of State, Commonwealth leaders and representatives of the Diplomatic

Corps and conducts Investitures, and where the majority of the Royal

Houshold, consisting of six main Departments and a staff of about three

hundred people, have their offices.

THE QUEEN’S HOUSE

The Duke of Buckingham’s house, which George III purchased in 1762,

was designed by the architect William Winde, possibly with the advice of

John Talman, in 1702.

The new house, a handsome brick and stone mansion crowned with

statuary and joined by colonnades to outlying wings, looked eastward

down the Mall and westwards over the splendid canal and formal gardens,

laid out for the Duke by Henry Wise partly on the site of the royal

Mulberry Garden. This garden had been part of an ill-fated attempt by

James I to introduce a silk industry to rival that of France by planting

thousands of mulberry trees.

The building and its setting were well suited to the dignity of the

Duke, a former Lord Chamberlain and suitor of Princess Anne, and of his

wife, an illegitimate daughter of James II, whose eccentricity and

delusions of grandeur earned her the nickname of «Princess Buckingham».

The principal rooms, then as now, were on the first floor. They were

reached by a magnificent staircase with ironwork by Jean Tijou and

walls painted by Louis Laguerre with the story of Dido and Aeneas.

Under the architectural direction of Sir William Chambers and over

the following twelve years The Queen’s House was gradually modernised

and enlarged to provide accommodation for the King and Queen and their

children, as well as their growing collection of books, pictures and

works of art.

QUEEN VICTORIA’S PALACE

At the age of eighteen, Queen Victoria became the first Sovereign to

live at Buckingham Palace.

John Nash had rightly predicted that the Palace would prove too

small, but this was a fault capable of remedy. The absence of a chapel was

made good after the Queen’s marriage to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and

Gotha, when the south conservatory was converted in 1843.

In 1847 the architect Edward Blore added the new East Front. Along the

first floor Blore placed the Principal Corridor, a gallery 240 feet long

overlooking the Quadrangle and divided into three sections by folding

doors of mirror glass. It links the Royal Corridor on the south, and opens

into suites of semi-state rooms facing the Mall and St James’s Park. Blore

introduced into the East Front some of the finest fittings from George

IY’s Royal Pavilion at Brighton, which Queen Victoria ceased to use after

the purchase of Osborn House in 1845.

The new building rendered the Marble Arch both functionally and

ornamentally dispensable, and it was removed in 1850 to its present site

at the north-east corner of Hyde Park.

THE STATE ROOMS

Most of the principal State Rooms are located on to first floor of

Bughingham Palace. They are approached from Nash’s Grand Hall which in

its unusual low proportions echoes the original hall of Bughingham House.

The coupled columns which surround the Hall are each composed of a single

block of veined Carrara marble enriched with Corinthian capitals of gilt

bronze made by Samuel Parker.

The Grand Staircase, built by Nash on site of the original stairs,

divides theatrically into three flights at the first landing, two flights

curving upwards to the Guard room. The gilded balustrade was made by

Samuel Parker in 1828-30. The walls are set with full-length portraits

which include George III and Queen Charlotte by Beechey,William IY by

Lawrence and Queen Adelaide by Archer Shee. The sculptured wall panels were

designed by Thomas Stothard and the etched glass dome was made by

Wainwright and Brothers.

GALLERY

The picture Gallery, the largest room in the Palace, was formed by

Nash in the area of Queen Charlotte’s old apartments. Nash’s ceiling,

modified by Blore in the 1830s, was altered by Sir Aston Webb in 1914.

As there are many loans to exhibitions, the arrangement is subject to

periodic change. However the Gallery normally contains works by Van Dyck,

Rubens, Cuyp and Rembrandt among others. The chimneypieces are carved with

heads of artists and the marble group at the end, by Chantrey, represents

Mrs Jordan, mistress of William.

From the Suilk Tapestry Room the route leads via the East Gallery,

Cross and West Galleries to the State Dining Room. This room is used on

formal occasions and is hung with portraits of GeorgeIY, his parents,

grandparents and great-grandparents.

THE PALACE AT WORK

BUCKINNGHAM Palace is certainly one of the most famous buildings in

the world, known to millions as Queen’s home. Yet it is very much a

working building and centre of the large office complex that is required

for the administration of the modern monarchy.

Although foreign ambassadors are officially accredited to the Court of

St James’s

and some ceremonies, such as the Proclamation of a new Sovereign, still

take place at St James’s Palace, all official business now effectively

takes place at Buckingham Palace.

In some ways the Palace resembles a small town. For the 300 people who

work there, there is a Post office and a police station, staff canteens

and dinning rooms. There is a special three-man security team equipped with

a fluoroscope, which examines every piece of mail that arrives at the

Palace.

There is also a soldier who is responsible for making sure the Royal

Standard is flying whenever The Queen is in residence, and to make sure it

is taken down when she leaves. It is his job to watch for the moment when

the Royal limousine turns into the Palace gates - at the very second The

Queen enters her Palace, the Royal Standard is hoisted.

Buckingham Palace is not only the name of the Royal Family but also the

workplace of an army of secretaries, clerks and typists, telephonists,

carpenters and plumbers etc.

The business of monarchy never stops and the light is often shining

from the window of the Queen’s study late at night as she works on the

famous «boxes», the red and blue leather cases in which are delivered the

State papers, official letters and reports which follow her whenever she

is in the world.

There can hardly be a single one of 600 or so rooms in the Palace that

is not in more or less constant use.

The senior member of the Royal Household is the Lord Chamberlain. In

addition to the role of overseeing all the departments of the Household, he

has a wide variety of responsibilities, including all ceremonial duties

relating to the Sovereign, apart from the wedding, coronation and funeral

of the monarch. .These remain the responsibility of the Earl Marshal, the

Duke of Norfolk. The Lord Chamberlain’s Office has the greatest variety of

responsibilities. It looks after all incoming visits by overseas Heads of

State and the administration of the Chapels Royal. It also supervises the

appointment of Pages of Honour , the Sergeants of Arms, the Marshal of the

Diplomatic Corps, the Master of the Queen’s Music, and the Keeper of the

Queen’s Swans.

The director of the Royal Collection is responsible for one of the

finest collections of works of art in the world. The Royal Collection is a

vast assemblage of works of art of all kinds, comprising some 10,000

pictures, enamels and miniatures, 20,000 drawings, 10,000 watercolours

and 500,000 prints, and many thousands of pieces of furniture, sculpture,

glass, porcelain, arms and armour, textiles, silver, gold and jewellery.

It has largely been formed by succeeding sovereigns, consorts and

other members of the Royal Family in the three hundred years since the

Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660.

The Collection is presently housed in twelve principal locations open

to the public, which include Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, Hampton

Court Palace, Windsor Castle, The Palace of Holyroodhouse and Osborne

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