The holdings of the Art Research Library at Hillwood reflect the museum's collection of imperial Russian and 18th-century French decorative arts within a broad historical and social context.

#1 & #2    ADOPTED

Demonstrating the ever evolving and fashionable style of the Sèvres manufactory, viewers may be surprised to find here modern designs for Sèvres by artists such as Louise Bourgeois, Alexander Calder, Roberto Matta, Serge Poliakoff, Ettore Sottsass, and Zao Wou-ki.  Each beautifully printed pochoir plate is a work of art, and there are many contributors to the text such as the former Director of the Factory Serge Gauthier (from 1964 to 1976) and the Director of the Archives, Tamara Préaud.  The volumes are printed in limited editions.  Volume one is number 77 out of 500, and volume two is number 130 out of 380 copies.

#3.

Alex Sandier, 1843- and Georges Lechevallier-Chevignard, 1878- . Les cartons de la manufacture nationale de Sèvres: époques Louis XVI et Empire [Designs of the Sèvres National Manufactory: the periods of Louis XVI and Empire]. Manufacture nationale de Sèvres. Paris: Ch. Massin, [19--].

$620

This luxury folio edition consists of twenty-eight plates of designs for French porcelain from the end of the eighteenth century to the beginning of the nineteenth century.  It was published under the direction of Alex Sandier, the Artistic Director of the Sèvres factory, with an Introduction by Georges Lechevallier-Chevignard, the Director of the Library and Archives of the Sèvres Manufacture Nationale in the early twentieth century.

#4.    ADOPTED

This hard-to-find catalog is for the sale of part of the collection of Prince Troubetskoi that took place May 13, 1870 in Paris.  It is annotated with handwritten names of the buyers and prices from the period.  The vast collection of Prince Troubetskoi included masterpieces by such artists as Boucher, Vigée-Lebrun, Van Eyck, Goya, and many others.

#5.    ADOPTED

This book describes the founding, history, production and marks on pottery and porcelain at the eighteenth-century porcelain manufactory in Strasbourg, France.  Amidst the great competitions to find the recipe for hard-paste porcelain in Europe, the son of the Strasbourg factory's founder Paul Antoine Hannong is said to have been the first in France to achieve this goal.  Soon, the Strasbourg factory was manufacturing a great quantity of tableware, flower-pots, and the small painted groups and statuettes which were very popular collectibles in the eighteenth century.  Eventually, it started manufacturing goods for a large commercial output rather than the making of ornamental wares.  The factory closed in 1780.

The author of this title is Hans Haug, conservator at the Strasbourg museums in the early 1900's and an author of several art books.

#6.     ADOPTED

The Bolshevik's People's Commissar of Education Anatoly Lunacharsky, considered an expert on questions of art and culture, discusses the fate of the Imperial Porcelain Factory after the revolution in this book.  The Bolsheviks felt that the Factory was serving only the needs of the wealthy aristocracy by producing “objects of décor”, far removed from the needs of the masses.  Thus arose an emphasis on how to produce utilitarian objects at the Factory, among other things, high-voltage insulators and pyroscopes.  In the end, the factory was saved and continues to produce porcelain to this day.

#7.    ADOPTED

This folio consists of 48 plates of interiors of some Parisian houses.  Artistically photographed, the images show many parts of the homes including vestibules, bedrooms, salons and dining rooms.  This book is part of a series which documents French architecture.  By assembling these views in one volume, we are provided with a snapshot of the taste of the French elite. 

#8.    ADOPTED

This is a rare catalog of the January 11, 1862 sale of part of the art collection of Prince Troubetskoi that took place in Paris.  Notice the marbled paper covers and fine cotton paper.  It has hand-written prices and annotations.  Only the Frick Art Reference Library, Getty Research Institute, Victoria & Albert Museum, and Hillwood libraries claim to own copies of it.

#9.    ADOPTED

From imaginatively decorated fans and umbrellas to lady's ice-skating outfits, this four volume set includes color illustrations and reproductions of a wide variety of fashions covering the period 1790 to 1878.  Expanded in 1929, it was first published in three volumes in 1909 by Max von Boehn.  The images were selected by Dr. Oscar Fischel, who studied art history in Germany, authored many books, and worked on the collection of the Lipperheide's Costumes Library in Berlin.  Fischel died on his way to London, fleeing the Nazi regime.

Of special note for Hillwood, in volume three there appears a color illustration of the Winterhalter painting of the Empress Eugénie, now located in Hillwood's French drawing room.  The 1929 caption says that the painting was in the collection of a Madame Gardner of Paris.  Mrs. Post bought the painting in 1952.

#10.    ADOPTED

De Villebois was one of many fearless adventurers who came to Russia seeking their fortune during the reign of Peter the Great.  While in Russia he became a naval officer and aide-de-camp to Peter, and eventually married a daughter of Pastor Gluck who had raised the future Russian Empress Catherine I, the wife of Peter the Great.  During the reign of Empress Elizabeth, Villebois became an admiral and the commandant of Kronshtadt.

These “memoirs”, published posthumously in 1853, are actually sensational accounts of the times as recorded by Villebois.  He never intended to publish them, but rather kept them for his personal satisfaction and the enjoyment of a small circle of his friends. 

#11.    ADOPTED

Jacque-Arsene-Polycarpe-François Ancelot was a French dramatist who traveled to Russia in 1826 with the French delegation for the coronation of Nicolas I.  In this book he describes his impressions of St. Petersburg and Moscow to a novelist friend, Xavier Saintines.  This correspondence was first published a year later and, even though prohibited in Russia, it was widely read and discussed in Russian literary circles.

#12.    ADOPTED

The royal residence in Versailles always has been, and still is today, a dominating force of this wealthy suburb of Paris, but it does not occupy the whole of the city of Versailles.  During the monarchy Versailles was made up of dwellings of the French courtiers who sought relief from the oppressive regimentation of court life.  In this city, they built modest but elegant houses where they could be absolute masters and mistresses of their domestic affairs.  This book discusses the interiors, architecture, decoration and gardens of these smaller residences and gardens in Versailles.

#13.    ADOPTED

This catalog commemorates the 1891 French Exhibition of Art and Industry held in Moscow.  An important event in Franco-Russian relations, the exhibit became a symbol of new political and economic relations between two very different countries—the French parliamentary democracy and the Russian absolute monarchy.

For the first time a national exhibit of a foreign country was brought to Russia, and the Russian public had the opportunity to see up close the many displays from the recent Paris World's Fair of 1889.  Tsar Alexander III himself attended the exhibition.  

Also in 1891, negotiations were held that led to a Franco-Russian political union, and to the signing of a secret military convention in 1892, in which France and Russia promised to defend one another in case of a German attack.

#14.    ADOPTED - CONSERVATION

René Jean, 1879. L'art français à Saint-Pétersbourg: exposition centennale sous les auspices de S.A.I. le Grand-Duc Nicolas Mikhailovitch] [French art in Saint-Petersburg: a centennial exhibition under the auspices of Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich]. Paris: Goupil, 1912.

$375

This is copy number five of twenty, specially printed on Japanese paper, for the catalog of one of the most important events in the cultural life of St. Petersburg at the beginning of the twentieth century.  The exhibition “A Hundred years of French Art, 1812-1912”, was the largest exhibition of French art ever held outside of France.  Prince Youssoupoff Count Soumarkoff-Elston, (1856-1928)—father of the notorious Prince Felix Yousoupoff who was involved in the murder of Rasputin—offered his house on Liteiny Avenue for the exhibition.  The French Institute of St. Petersburg organized tours of the Youssoupoff Palace, and M. Benedite read two lectures on the history of French painting in the nineteenth century.  In the theater of the Youssoupoff Palace, a concert of French music took place.

The exhibition consisted of 979 art objects, not including the furniture and objects of decorative art also on display.  Nearly 35,000 people visited the exhibition, a huge number for that time.  All the proceeds from the ticket sales benefitted the Society for the Protection and Preservation of the Monuments of Art and Antiquity in Russia.

#15.    ADOPTED

This is the auction catalog of an art sale that took place under the direction and in the atelier of M. A. Beurdeley May 6, 7, 8, and 9, 1895.  It includes the descriptions and photographs of art objects including porcelain, clocks, candelabras, lanterns, furniture, and many others.

#16.    ADOPTED

This is a catalog of bronze art objects found in various Polish palaces dating from the eighteenth century when Poland was ruled by King Stanisław II August Poniatowski.  Polish Art at that time was strongly influenced by French court tastes, and in the nineteenth century when Poland was under Russian rule, Russian styles came into the mix.  Some of the masters included in the catalog are: Philippe Caffieri and sons, Gouthiere, Falconet, and Thomire. 

#17.    ADOPTED

The Universal Exposition held in Paris in 1889 was a highly successful exhibition.  The main attraction was the Eiffel Tower, a 300-meter high iron structure by Gustave Eiffel.  The Fair attracted exhibits from Europe, South America, the United States, and the French colonies.  These two volumes have many illustrations and contain information on the variety of pavilions and exhibitions at the Fair.  Volume one in particular, discusses the history of the Tower's construction.

#18.

Urbain Dubois, 1818-1901 and Émile Bernard, 1828-1897. La cuisine classique: études pratiques, raisonnées et démonstratives de l'école française appliquée au service à la Russe [Traditional cooking: practical, reasoned and conclusive studies of the French school applied to serving in the Russian style]. Paris: E. Dentu, 1872. Volumes I and II. $900

$400 Conservation Box for both Volumes I and II

Written by two nineteenth-century celebrity chefs, this is one of the most spectacular and monumental of all the illustrated books on gastronomy at that time.  Urbain Dubois was chef to the King of Prussia; in Russia he was chef to Prince Orloff; and in Germany he was joint chef of Wilhelm I with Émile Bernard.  Bernard had been in the service of Napoleon III.

Urbain Dubois, in particular, occupies an important place in the development of modern French cooking.  Dubois is well-known for his architectural creations, his dishes often decorated with fantastic but inedible decorations.  Dubois is also credited with promoting the service of hot food, à la Russe, the method wherein each course is brought to the table one at a time, in the order of the meal.  Breaking with a long standing tradition, food had been served à la Française since the Middle Ages.  À la Française involved large numbers of dishes from each course being brought simultaneously to the table.  From these the diner chose his meal in the manner of a modern buffet.  

Dubois' creations are beautifully illustrated in these volumes with sixty five finely drawn plates.  They are icons in the history of grand French cuisine.  

#19.    ADOPTED

The château de Bagatelle was initially built as a small hunting lodge for the French Admiral Victor-Marie duc d'Estrees, marechal de France (1660-1737) in 1720.  In 1775 the Comte d'Artois, brother of Louis XVI, purchased the property, and engaged the neoclassical architect François-Joseph Belanger to design the building that stands today.  Upon its completion in 1777, a party was given at the château in honor of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, and in 1835 the château became the property of Lord Hertford.  It housed an extensive collection of French paintings, sculpture, and furniture, most of which went to form the Wallace Collection in London.  In 1870, the property was acquired by the city of Paris.  The famous Bagatelle Gardens, created by Jean-Claude Nicolas Forestier, is the site of the annual international competition for new varieties of roses held by the City of Paris.  This book is illustrated with many photographs of the buildings and gardens.

#20.    ADOPTED

“Vodka is the ‘business card' of Russia, like cognac for the French, whiskey for Americans, and sake for Japanese”… says Vadim Zolotarev, Vice-President of the Russian Vodka Manufacturing industry, Preface.

With such a reputation, it is no wonder that this hard-to-find edition commemorates 500 years of Russian vodka manufacturing.  It is lushly illustrated with reproductions of nearly 2,000 rare photographs, vintage posters and post-cards.  It describes the history of major alcohol manufacturers in Russia from the nineteenth to the twentieth centuries, as well as the history of drinking glasses, bottles and corks.

#21.    ADOPTED - CONSERVATION

E. Petrova. Nastoiashchii podarok molodym khoziaikam [A true gift to young housewives]. [S.l.: s.n.], 1877.

$850.

Just as The Joy of Cooking is a ubiquitous cookbook in many American kitchens today, so too was this cookbook, or a version of it, in nineteenth-century Russian homes.  It was intended “to cut the expenses of the household, confirmed from practical experience”.  Published for the first time in 1875, it became so popular that two reprints followed in 1877 and 1889.  Hillwood's second “improved” edition contains over 1,600 recipes and is beautifully illustrated with sixty wood engravings.  Retaining its original covers, this is the only known copy in a western library.  There are copies by its main competitor Elena Molokhovets and her series A Gift to Young Housewives, but none by this author and her TRUE gift.

The following four titles reflect the fine craftsmanship, quality, taste, and courtly connections in the objects Marjorie Merriweather Post so often sought as part of her collecting criteria.  The first three are examples of court ceremony; they are the only known copies in America.  The fourth title is not a one-of-a-kind text, but its binding and provenance make it one-of-a-kind. 

#22.

A. Bertani, [1812-1886]. Souvenir de France: la toilette de son altesse royale Louise Marie-Thérese de Bourbon, Duchesse de Parme [A souvenir of France: the toilette of her royal highness Louise Marie-Thérese de Bourbon, Duchess of Parma]. Parma: Imprimerie Royale, 1853.

$3,000

François-Désiré Froment-Meurice's astonishing coiffeuse in gold, silver, enamel, oxidized iron and hardstones is now in the Musée d'Orsay.  The suite comprises a table, mirror, candelabra, caskets, ewer and boxes and was an engagement gift to Louise Marie-Thérese de Bourbon on her marriage to the Duke of Parma.  The author was librarian to the Duchy of Parma and this book was most likely printed in very limited numbers; we cannot locate a copy in another library.

Signed with a dedication from the author to M. Depare, this title also has a full green morocco binding signed by Pagnant. 

#23.    ADOPTED - CONSERVATION

[Aleksei Borisovich Kurakin, Prince, 1759-1829]. Programmes du cérémonial confirmé par sa Majesté l'Empereur pour la réception du corps de feu sa Majesté l'Empereur Alexandre Ier, et pour son inhumation [Programs of the ceremony confirmed by His Majesty the Emperor to receive the body of the late His Majesty the Emperor Alexander I, and for his burial]. [S.l.: s.n., 1826].

$5,400

This rare funeral program is thoughtfully decorated with black paper covers, and the pages are trimmed with black ink, suitable decoration for the solemn occasion of a state funeral.  Perhaps printed in advance of the funeral as an instructional guide for high ranking participants, or perhaps printed after the fact as a historical document, this program offers a detailed account of the funeral procession of Tsar Alexander I (1777-1825).  Written in French, the Grand Marshal of the event, Prince Kurakin, explains who stands where and what takes place during the ceremonies.  The funeral starts in Tsarskoe Selo, then the body is moved to lay in state at the Chesme Palace on the way back to St. Petersburg.  From Chesme, the procession goes to the Our Lady of Kazan Cathedral, and finally to the Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral.  Alexander's body was interred there on March 13, 1826.

Alexander I served as Emperor of Russia from 1801 to 1825.  The favorite grandson of Catherine the Great, Alexander I ascended the Russian throne after the murder of his father, Paul.  He is perhaps best-known for his victory over Napoleon in the War of 1812.  In the autumn of 1825 the Emperor undertook a voyage to the south of Russia upon doctor's orders in order to provide a change in climate for his ailing wife.  During the trip he caught a cold that developed into typhus from which he died in Taganrog.  His wife died a few months later, as the Emperor's body was being transported to St. Petersburg for the funeral.  His unexpected death, far from the capital, caused persistent rumors that the Emperor had gone into secret retirement to live a monastic life as a “starets” (an old man, usually a hermit monk, who is revered almost as a saint).  The rumors, however, have never been substantiated.

#24.

Programme du cérémonial confirmé par sa Majesté l'Empereur Nicolas Premier, autocrate de toutes les Russies, pour son entrée solemnelle dans la capitale de Moscou et son couronnement [Program of the ceremony confirmed by His Majesty the Emperor Nicholas the First, Autocrat of all the Russias, for his solemn entry into the capital of Moscow and his crowning]. Moscow: Auguste Semen, [1826].

$3,175

This is the official Program for the August 22, 1826 entrance into Moscow and coronation ceremony of His Imperial Majesty Nicholas I (1796-1855).  Starting from the Petrovsky Palace outside of Moscow, the procession moves to the Cathedral of the Assumption, also known as the Uspenskii Sobor, in the Moscow Kremlin.  The pamphlet describes the decorations in the Cathedral and explains that the procession next goes to the Faceted Palace. 

All of the major world powers were invited to participate in these grand and festive coronations.  They were truly spectacular events from the firing of the canons, ceaseless tolling of the bells, endless church services, and society balls, to the granting of amnesties, distribution of commemorative souvenirs, and printing of albums.

While Nicholas' large coronation album was printed in 1828, we are aware of only this copy of a portable program, perhaps printed for use on the coronation day itself.  This pamphlet is not only one of the few surviving programs, but it was also the personal copy of King Karl of Prussia, Nicholas' brother-in-law.  With blue silk covers, it complements Hillwood's collection of coronation albums; our library has all but one—Anna Ioannovna's.

#25.

Alfred de Courtois, 1828-1869. Organisation Sociale de la Russie: la noblesse, la bourgeoisie, le peuple [The social organization of Russia: the nobility, middle-class, the people]. Paris: E. Dentu, 1864.

$12,000

The most significant part of this title is its exceptional Tsar Alexander II imperial binding that is in mint condition.  It has an inscription from the author to His Majesty Alexander II, and also the ex-libris of the Tsar.  Written in pencil on the ex-libris is “B.A.” for the Tsar's son Grand Duke Vladimir Aleksandrovich (1847-1909), who would have received this book from his father.

Alexander II is perhaps best known as The Liberator Tsar for freeing the serfs in 1861.  After several attempts on his life, he was eventually murdered by Russian revolutionaries in 1881.  His second son, Grand Duke Vladimir was the Chief Commander of the Guards Regiment in St. Petersburg.  It was Vladimir who gave the command to shoot into a peaceful demonstration in 1905, the event that became known as “Bloody Sunday”.

#26.

Denis Roche, b. 1868. Le mobilier français en Russie, meubles des XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles et du commencement du XIXe, conservés dans les palais et les musées impériaux et dans les collections privées [French furniture in Russia, furniture of the 17^th, 18^th and the beginning of the 19^th centuries, preserved in the palaces and imperial museums, as well as in private collections]. Paris: E. Lévy, [1913]. Volumes I and II.

$6,290

These two volumes contain 100 photogravures of seventeenth, eighteenth and early nineteenth century French furniture in Russia.  There are photographs of commodes, chairs, clocks, beds, and chests, all taken in imperial palaces such as Pavlovsk, Oranienbaum, Gatchina, and the Hermitage, as well as the private homes of Counts Beloselsky-Belozelsky, Tolstoy, Shuvalov , Sheremetiev, and Yousupoff.  There are also objects from the Alexander Stieglitz Museum and from his apartment in Paris.

The compiler of this important collection and the author of the historical introduction is Denis Roche, a member of the Academy of Fine Arts of St. Petersburg.  These volumes were printed in Paris in 1913, not long before the Russian revolution began.  Thus, the books' time of publication makes it an incredibly important historical document as, shortly after the revolution, many valuables from these and other private homes were moved to warehouses or different museums, and often the valuables were sold or destroyed.

#27.

V. Bozhovskii. Vysochaishe utverzhdennyi osobyi komitet po postroikie v Moskvie muzeia 1812 g.: Vystavka 1812 goda: illiustrirovannoe izdanie [Imperial declaration for a special committee on building in Moscow a Museum of 1812: The exhibition of 1812. illustrated edition]. Moscow: [s.n.], 1913.

$800

$350 Conservation

Such was the importance of the Russian victory over the French in the War of 1812, that the success was to be honored one hundred years later in 1912.  Therefore in 1908 Tsar Nicolas II approved the establishment of a Special Committee to create a Museum of the War of 1812.  This huge volume is a catalog of the works that the Committee finally selected.  They concentrated mainly on paintings and objects from private collections, lesser known to the general public.  The opening of the museum never came to be, however, as World War I and the Russian revolution changed the path of history.

#28.    ADOPTED

Modeste Hofmann, the Curator of the Pushkin Museum of the Russian Academy of Sciences, wrote the catalog of this private collection which includes photographs of silver kovshi, tankards, goblets and plates.  It also includes a brief description of their history and use.  Hofmann unfortunately gave us no information regarding the collector.  Only 150 copies were printed in Paris in 1932, and Hillwood's copy is number 55.

#29.

Andrei Shirinskii-Shikhmatov, Prince and Aleksei Stepanovich Stepanov, 1858-1923. Album of Northern dogs—Laïkas. Moscow: [s.n.], 1896.

$2,000

This album was created to raise funds for a Leper colony in Yakutsk, northeastern Siberia.  The plates are a graphic combination of photographs of the dogs and original complementary watercolors printed together to form the illustrations for the book.  The different varieties of northern dogs appear in their natural habitat, looking at their prey, or on the hunt.  There are descriptions of characteristic marks of parts of their bodies, as well as skulls and contours.  Prince Shirinskii-Shikhmatov was very interested in the “natural sagacity and hunting capacity of laikas”.  He “applied himself seriously to their study and breeding”.

The illustrator, Aleksei Stepanov, a student of Vasily Polenov, was not as well known as some of his contemporaries, but was revered as a landscape artist.  Educated at the Moscow Art School, Stepanov took an active part in the “Wanderers” movement and later taught in his Alma Mater.  He travelled throughout Russia, especially in the Volga river regions, and his paintings depict the Russian landscape and its peoples.

#30.

Sofiia Aleksandrovna Davydova, 1842-1915. La dentelle russe; histoire technique statistique [Russian lace: history technique statistic]. Leipzig: K.W. Hiersemann, 1895.

$665

Sofiia Davydova, an important champion of the art of lace, founded the first lace making school in Russia, in St. Petersburg in 1883.  She wrote several books on Russian lace, but La dentelle russe is her most significant work and is illustrated with over 80 plates.  Traveling from one province to another, she personally met the women lace makers, listened to their stories, studied their customs and, as she says in the book, “lived their lives with them”.  The first edition of this book was printed in the Russian language in 1892, in St. Petersburg, and translated later into French under the supervision of the author.  The book is dedicated to the Empress Maria Feodorovna, mother of Nicolas II.

#31.    ADOPTED - CONSERVATION

Katalog vystavki kartin staroi shkoly iz sobrania G. A. Brokar [Catalogue of the exhibition of Old School paintings from the collection of G. A. Brokar]. Moscow, 1897.

$1,000

This is the only known copy of this book in a library in Russia or the West.  A catalog of the now dispersed paintings collection of perfume magnate Henri A. Brokar (Brocard) (1836-1900), it is an important document for provenance research.

Founder and director of the perfume manufacturing company Brocard & Co., Brocard was a collector of Russian and European paintings, and by 1890 he had assembled over 8,000 art objects by Russian and European masters.  Living in Russia from 1861, yet still retaining his French citizenship, he invented a new method of creating concentrated perfume, developed many new scents, and studied the effect of scents on human emotions. A master of advertising, in 1896 he built a perfume fountain for the use of the public at the Trade and Manufacturing Exhibition in Novgorod. 

After his death his widow, Charlotte Brocard, opened the Brocard Museum in their Moscow mansion.  Following the 1917 revolution it became the Museum of Antiquities until 1924.  The collection was then dispersed among various museums, and partially sold.  Most of the collection is now located in the Tretyakov gallery.

#32, 33, 34.    ADOPTED

If you have ever wondered while looking at your grandmother's silver “how was this fork used?” or “what is this knife?”, then these trade catalogs are for you.  They are filled with images of the spoons, knives and forks a manufacturer had to offer for sale, as well as descriptions for their use. 

Trade catalogs, or manufacturer's or commercial catalogs, are a very important primary source of information on decorative elements and industrial trends that were prevalent during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.  Ephemeral in nature, they can be very rare and hard to find.  Number 32, in fact, still has the merchant's onion-skin paper with typed columns listing the model number and weight of the products.  One of the volumes for number 34 has the business card of the seller Ernest Eschwege stapled inside.

#35.    ADOPTED

The Administrator of the Mobilier Nationale Ernest Dumonthier created this beautiful and informative portfolio.  Including a collection of fifty-four images, it illustrates the wide variety of clocks owned by the Mobilier Nationale.  Hillwood's copy is number 148 out of 400. 

The Mobilier Nationale is the former Garde-Meuble de la Couronne (Furniture Repository of the Crown), created in 1663 to preserve the furnishings of the royal residences.  This state owned depository of ancient furniture, decorative arts, and textiles conserves and commissions furniture to this day for public buildings in France and abroad.  The Gobelins, Savonnerie and Beauvais tapestry works, and Alençon and Lodève lace workshops are all part of this umbrella organization.

#36.    ADOPTED

This book is a register of an 1854 art auction of 1,219 paintings from the Hermitage, sold upon the order of Nicholas I.  It also includes an analysis of Nicholas' reaction to, and treatment of, art during his regime.  According to the author, the important art historian Nikolai Vrangel' who cofounded the journal Starye Gody in 1907, the Tsar maintained the view that anything contrary to his tastes did not have the right to exist.  One anecdote from the book is that while walking along the corridors of the Hermitage, Nicholas I looked upon Houdon's sculpture of Voltaire and then issued an order “to destroy this monkey”.  (The curator did not destroy the sculpture, but rather put it in storage and you can view it today in the Hermitage). 

Among some of Nicholas' acts noted in the book are that he destroyed documents from Catherine the Great's archives, and melted down much of her jewelry and rare silver from that period.  He banned from the Hermitage all portraits of the heroes of the War of 1812 who took part in the Decembrist revolt.  In 1834 a huge collection of art objects in 37 crates arrived in St. Petersburg from Warsaw.  Everything from this collection that reminded Nicolas I of Poland, which recently revolted against Russian rule in 1830-1831, was burned upon his order.  This included works by Rubens, Tintoretto, Poussin, Titian, Veronese, Breughel, and Caravaggio.

Yet, in spite of all this, Nicholas I spent huge sums of money on the Hermitage, enlarged its collections, and added a new building to the old Hermitage. 

Vrangel' first published the text of this book as an article in Starye Gody.  It was considered so important that it was reprinted as a monograph, which only Hillwood and two other libraries appear to own.

#37.    ADOPTED

Pierre Roussel, the French writer and historian, assembled this collection of letters to preserve the history of the times.  Since the book was printed in 1802, just three years after the end of the French Revolution, and it included letters by contemporary individuals, he felt that it was important to change the names of the authors.  Among the correspondence were letters of Marie-Antoinette, Louis XVI,  and Mme de Polignac.  Also included is a letter and a portrait of Armand Louis de Gontaut, Duc de Biron (1747-1793), who fought for the Americans in the American Revolution under the name of the Duc de Lauzan. 

#38.    ADOPTED

Vasilii Vereshchagin, one of the major Russian realist painters, was considered a master of the military battle-scene genre.  Born into a family of well-to-do landowners, he was sent to a military school at the age of eight; but by the age of nineteen, against the wishes of his parents, he abandoned his military career for the true passion of his life—painting.  Many of his paintings were his response to the horrors of war.

From 1887 to the end of his life, the artist worked on a monumental project which involved a series of paintings depicting the Russian war with Napoleon. The Russian contemporary public viewed this series as a great patriotic deed by Vereshchagin.  In 1902 the Russian government purchased the entire collection and sent it to Moscow.  In the process of painting this series, Vereshchagin studied the history of the 1812 war, and subsequently wrote this book which is charmingly illustrated throughout with his sketches in the margins.

#39.    ADOPTED

This sumptuous portfolio has 54 plates illustrating bronze candelabras, sconces, chandeliers, torches, and andirons.  The Introduction is by Ernest Dumonthier, Administrator of the Mobilier Nationale.  There were only 400 copies published; this is copy number 171.

The Mobilier Nationale is the former Garde-Meuble de la Couronne (Furniture Repository of the Crown), created in 1663 to preserve the furnishings of the royal residences.  This state owned depository of ancient furniture, decorative arts, and textiles conserves and commissions furniture to this day for public buildings in France and abroad.  The Gobelins, Savonnerie and Beauvais tapestry works, and Alençon and Lodève lace workshops are all part of this umbrella organization.

#40 .    ADOPTED

This is the catalog of an important sale that took place in Berlin in 1929 at the Rudolph Lepke auction house.  This document highlights part of the history of the early Soviet state in which works of art, confiscated from museums and the summer palaces, were sold by the Soviet government at international auction houses.  Also sold at Lepke's in the late 1920's and early 1930's were works specifically identified as coming from the Hermitage, Gatchina and Mikhailov palaces, and Stroganov collections.

#41.

Alliance des Arts. Bulletin des arts. [Arts bulletin]. Paris, 1842-1848.

$300

$275 Conservation

The Alliance des Arts was a private agency founded by Théophile Thoré (1807-1869) and Paul Lacroix (1806-1884) in 1842 to sell and promote art.  Part of their work included publishing this Bulletin.  Perhaps not surprisingly, the Bulletin is in the form of a pattern book, which served the role of disseminating styles.  Hillwood's set has numbers 1-100, incomplete, from 1842. 

Thoré was a scholar, collector, and French Salon critic.  He was forced into exile in 1849 because of his support of some of the radicals in the 1848 revolution.  He returned to France in 1859 and continued to write during the Second Empire, focusing on northern European art.  An active archival researcher and connoisseur, he is credited with the rediscovery of Johannes Vermeer and significant reevaluations of other seventeenth century Dutch artists, including Frans Hals.  

Paul Lacroix was a French writer and journalist, better known under his pseudonym, Bibliophile Jacob.  He wrote over twenty historical romances and a variety of serious historical works, including a history of Napoleon III and the life and times of Tsar Nicholas I.

#42.    ADOPTED

This is another stunning folio of 54 plates, created by Ernest Dumonthier.  This volume illustrates the different styles of antique chairs held by the Mobilier Nationale, of which Ernest Dumontihier was the Administrator.

The Mobilier Nationale is the former Garde-Meuble de la Couronne (Furniture Repository of the Crown), created in 1663 to preserve the furnishings of the royal residences.  This state owned depository of ancient furniture and textiles conserves and commissions furniture to this day for public buildings in France and abroad.  The Gobelins, Savonnerie and Beauvais tapestry works, and Alençon and Lodève lace workshops are all part of this umbrella organization.

#43.    ADOPTED

This is the catalog for the first sale of Fabergé objets d'art at Christie's auction house in London.  Held on March 15, 1934, it included the First Imperial Egg, sold for 85 pounds, and the Resurrection egg which brought 110 pounds.  Even contemporary news accounts remarked on the low prices the objects realized. 

The firm of Fabergé is perhaps best known for the Easter eggs it created for the last two Romanov tsars.  Empress Maria Fedorovna received the first of these eggs in 1885 from Tsar Alexander III.  A seemingly simple white porcelain egg,

it contained delightful surprises of a ruby hanging inside a golden hen, housed within a golden yolk.  After Alexander's death Tsar Nicholas II continued his father's tradition, but now ordered two Easter eggs at a time from Fabergé: one for his mother and one for his wife, Alexandra Fedorovna. 

In 1911 Fabergé became a court jeweler.  His firm was prolific and successful not just in late imperial Russia but also in Europe, selling a wide variety of objets from small cane handles, miniature Easter eggs, boxes, and picture frames, to large military desk sets and vitrines.  Widely collected today, contrary to the first Christie's London sale in 1934, a Fabergé piece, the 1905 Rothschild Clock in the shape of an egg, sold for $18.5 million in November 2007.

#44.

Anatolii Nikolaevich Demidov, principe di San Donato, 1812-1870. Objects d'art: ordre des ventes: exposition générale [Objects of art: order of sale: general exhibition]. [Paris]: C. Pillet; C. Mannheim, 1870.

$385

This is the catalog of six auctions held in Paris March 15-17, 1870.  The sales dispersed the bulk of the collection of Russian Prince Anatole Demidov, which came from his estate San Donato in Florence, Italy.  The auctions took place shortly before his death.  They contained 1,965 lots of French and Italian furniture, ceramics, bronzes, weapons, and other magnificent objects of art.  The catalogue is illustrated with sixteen mounted Woodburytype prints. 

Demidov was a Russian diplomat, entrepreneur, explorer, philanthropist, and art collector.  He was married briefly to Princess Matilde Bonaparte, the Emperor Napoleon's niece.  He collected Old Master paintings and contemporary French art such as Paul Delaroche's Execution of Lady Jane Grey which he purchased directly from the Paris Salon of 1834.

# 45.    ADOPTED

This book is splendidly illustrated with many photographs and lithographs of Russia and its inhabitants.  The first section—Velikorossia (Grand Russia)—includes chapters on the Volga river, Velikii Novgorad, Moscow, and St. Petersburg.  It also tells the story of military life in Russia. The second part—Malorossia (Small Russia)—describes Dnepr, Kiev, Odessa, Bessarabia and Crimea, as well as the life of the Cossacks and various religions.

Born in Odessa, Michael Ashkenazi moved to Paris in 1887 where he dedicated his life to enlightening Europeans about Russian literature and culture.  He translated the works of Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Vsevolod Garshin and others.  Under his own name and his pen name of Michel Delines, he wrote articles about Russian writers.  In the preface to this book, the author states, “ I wanted the French to see the true face of Russia, as she had been described by those who had drawn their strength from the Motherland, source both of their joys and their suffering, and who had been permeated by its beauties and steeped in its struggles.”

#46.

Kukryniksy and Aleksandr Arkhangelskii, 1889-1938. Pochti portrety: druzheskie sharzhi i epigrammy [Almost portraits: friendly caricatures and epigrams. [Moscow]: Federatsiia, 1932.

$1,000

This book contains forty-three “Kukryniksy” caricature drawings of famous writers of the 1930's; under each portrait is an epigram by Aleksandr Arkhangelskii.  Famous for his literary parody, Arkhangelskii's work often was featured in the Soviet satirical journal Krocodil in the 1920's-1930's.  “Kukryniksy” was a collective name derived from the combined names of three caricaturists: Kuprianov, Krylov, and Sokolov.  They became nationally famous in the 1930's after the rise of fascism, and received international recognition for their attacks on Hitler, Mussolini, Franco, and others.  All three received many awards, among them the honorary title of the People's Artist of the USSR.  They also illustrated books by authors such as Chekhov, Gorky, and Gogol.

While political satire flourished in the early years of the Soviet period, this book was on a list of forbidden books in the Soviet Union as it contained some portraits of writers who perished under Stalin's regime. Pochti portrety was only returned to legitimacy in 1989.

#47.

Russkoe iskusstvo [Russian art]. Moscow: Tvorchestvo, [1923]. Volumes I-II (in one), and III.

$650

Only three volumes of this important art magazine were published.  After turbulent years of war and revolution, life in Russia was beginning to return to some degree of normalcy in 1923.  This journal arose in an effort to restore and reevaluate Russian arts as varied as painting, architecture and sculpture, literature, theater, and folk art.  It was meant to popularize Russian art in Europe and the United States, and thus was published also in German, French and English.  Among the many luminaries of the field who worked on the journal were Alexander Benois, Igor Grabar, Evgeny Zamiatin, and Osip Mandelshtam.  However, Stalin's reign of terror forced many in this group to emigrate from the Soviet Union; many others perished in the purges. 

#48.    ADOPTED

In October 1928, the first International Congress of Folk Art took place in Prague. Organized by the International Institute of Intellectual Cooperation of the League of Nations, its goal was to coordinate an effort on preservation and the protection of folk art worldwide.  These two volumes include documents and papers from the Prague Congress; there are also multiple illustrations and photographs documenting the folk art objects.

#49.    ADOPTED

This book tells the history of Kiev, the “mother of all Russian cities”, and discusses its many churches and monasteries with their mosaics, frescoes, and art objects.  A woodblock illustration printed on the cover sets the tone for the book, which is richly illustrated with old photographs and watercolors.

The author is the important and well-known art-historian and painter Georgii Lukomskii.  He strove to resurrect the glorious past of the Russian churches, cathedrals, and estates, carefully preserving history for future generations.  After the February revolution he collaborated with Alexander Benois on transforming the royal palaces of Tsarskoe Selo into museums.  Upon his emigration to France in 1924, he worked to familiarize the European public with Russian culture, writing and publishing many books on the subject.

#50.    ADOPTED

This is a rare set of eight colorful lithograph plates, the designs of which had been used in ancient Russian needlework.  The dedication and text explanations are each printed in two languages, one in French and one in Russian, with two prices as well.  For the Russian readers the cost was one ruble, fifty kopecks; while for French readers the price was twice as much at three rubles.  The unique needlepoint sampler design on the cover spells out in Russian the title of the book.

ON THE CONSERVATOR'S TABLE

#51.

Aleksandr Vasil'evich Viskovatov, 1804-1858. Istoricheskoe opisanie odezhdy i vooruzheniia rossiiskikh voisk, sostavlennoe po Vysochaishemu povelieniiu [Historical description of clothing and arms of the Russian troops, compiled by order of His Majesty]. St. Petersburg: V Voennoi tip., 1841-1862.

3 each at $150

or

$450 total

Please see the Conservator's proposal on the following page for a full description of the treatments.

The portfolio covers presented for this special conservation treatment are from a very rare and important historical book.  A large set of lithographed plates with hand coloring, this title documents the history of the uniforms, equipment, arms, and armor of the Russian army.  In its entirety, the set contains thirty volumes of approximately 3,943 plates, each with a description.  Hillwood's portion of the set is consistent with what most institutions own: three volumes and one hundred eighty five plates.

Not only is this a significant book, but its provenance is important to the Hillwood library.  It was acquired by Mrs. Post's curator Marvin Ross from Prince Sergei Belossel'skii-Belozerskii (1895-1978) of New York City in 1968.  It is one of the treasures which formed the nucleus of the library's rare book holdings. 

#52.

Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin, 1888-1938, Aleksei Ivanovich Rykov, 1881-1938, and Genrikh Iagoda, 1891-1938.  Report of court proceedings in the case of the Anti-Soviet “Bloc of Rights and Trotskyites”. Moscow: The People's Commissariat of Justice of the U.S.S.R., 1938.

$200 Conservation Box

$150 Conservation

This is Joseph Davies' personal copy of the proceedings of the show trials he and Marjorie Post witnessed while in Moscow in 1938.  One of the tools used by Joseph Stalin during his purges, show trials were carefully orchestrated and the defendant's guilt was predetermined.  In this instance, twenty-one people were on trial.

This book and a note Davies wrote in which he comments on the unfairness of the trials is a gift to the Art Research Library from Margaret Nalle.  Tamara Ohanyan already stabilized the book, cleaned, and re-backed it.  She made a protective box to house the title, and placed the letter in a Mylar sleeve.

CONSERVATION PROPOSAL

Submitted by Tamara Ohanyan

For the Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens

Art Research Library

Adopt-a-Book Night

May 15, 2008

Green Leather Four Flap Boards Portfolios

Condition description and treatment proposal

Description:

These three, four flap portfolios have green goat skin leather covers decorated in gold stamps.  The dimensions for each are 15 x 13 x 5 in.  Each portfolio has previous restoration. The green color stiff book cloth was used to cover warn edges and missing leather corners.

Treatment proposal:

1. Remove mechanical green color old cloth repairs.

2. Clean the edges.

3. Tone medium weight Japanese paper and adhere to damaged edges and corners.

4. Consolidate warn leather.

Materials:

1. Usui Usu-Mino, kozo tissue  Product of Japan            

2. Acrylic color                         Product of LIQUITEX and WINSOR & NEWTON  

3. Starch paste                          Product of Japan

4. Leather Fiebing's Dye           Product of England

Estimated time and cost for treatment:

4 to 5 hours labor for each portfolio = $150

3 folios x $150 = $450

Grand Total for repairs = $450

Catalogue prepared by Marina Meehan; Kristen Regina; and Pat Lynagh

Adoption display and mounts: Elizabeth Glennon; Kristen Regina; Pat Lynagh

Conservation Demonstration:  Tamara Ohanyan

Exhibition in the Mansion: Kristen Regina

Cover Design and Invitations: Jason Hendricks

Save the Date Card: Ed Vreeland