Catherine [the Great] began buying for her museum in 1764. By 1769 she had bought two of the greatest collections of drawings in Western Europe. One of them belonged to Count Cobenzl, then living in Brussels, who was minister plenipotentiary to Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and a leading figure in the administration of what was then the Austrian Netherlands.
With this single stroke, Catherine the Great acquired more than 4,000 master drawings by Western European artists. Sheets from the Cobenzl collection in the present show include examples of Poussin, Rubens, van Dyck, Primaticcio, Hans Holbein the Elder, Jacob Jordaens, Hendrick Goltzius, Guercino and Greuze. Every one of them is a touchstone of quality. In the Poussin ''Baptism'' -- a sketch for the painting of that name that is a part of Poussin's ''Seven Sacraments'' -- rigor and awe work as equal partners.
Catherine went on to buy 1,020 drawings from the collection of Count Heinrich Bruhl, who was at the time a minister at the court of Saxony in Dresden. Virtually on her own doorstep she also acquired the drawings -- almost 2,000 -- that had been collected by Count Butskoy, the president of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg.
With this single stroke, Catherine the Great acquired more than 4,000 master drawings by Western European artists. Sheets from the Cobenzl collection in the present show include examples of Poussin, Rubens, van Dyck, Primaticcio, Hans Holbein the Elder, Jacob Jordaens, Hendrick Goltzius, Guercino and Greuze. Every one of them is a touchstone of quality. In the Poussin ''Baptism'' -- a sketch for the painting of that name that is a part of Poussin's ''Seven Sacraments'' -- rigor and awe work as equal partners.
Catherine went on to buy 1,020 drawings from the collection of Count Heinrich Bruhl, who was at the time a minister at the court of Saxony in Dresden. Virtually on her own doorstep she also acquired the drawings -- almost 2,000 -- that had been collected by Count Butskoy, the president of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg.
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