“Tsars & Knights. The Romanovs’ Love Affair with the Middle Ages” Hermitage–Amsterdam Exhibition Centre

The large-scale display presents some splendid works of mediaeval art from the collection of the State Hermitage and tells about the interest that 18th- and 19th-century Russian rulers took in the world of the Middle Ages.

“At one time it was customary, citing no less a figure than Petrarch, to call the European Middle Ages a ‘dark’ period, sometimes even ‘gloomy’. Today they are appreciated and at times exalted as an era of especial spiritual illumination, of impressive ecclesiastical art, of a distinctive reworking of Antiquity inspired by elevated and everyday Christian theology,” Mikhail Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage, writes in his foreword to the exhibition catalogue.

Paintings and works of graphic art, knightly armour and Western European weaponry, pieces of mediaeval applied art, manuscripts, stained glass, and also items of furniture, pottery and glassware, porcelain, tapestries and fabrics – more than 300 exhibits from the stocks of the State Hermitage – tell about the Middle Ages, combining images of the era itself with conceptions of it that prevailed in the late 18th century and on through the 19th.

The Middle Ages are the historical period that followed Classical Antiquity and preceded the Modern Era. In Renaissance times, works of mediaeval art were considered unworthy of attention, and it was only in the late 1700s and early 1800s. when Romanticism spread across Europe, that the Middle Ages with their noble knights, beautiful ladies, knightly tournaments and antiquated castles came into fashion.

The interest that Russian Emperor Paul I and his son Nicholas I took in the historical period of the Middle Ages resulted in the establishment in Russia of modes of behaviour, chivalrous morality and knightly etiquette. The rules of mediaeval tournaments shaped the scenarios for court festivities, while concepts of chivalry influenced the acts of major statemen. The fascination with the Middle Ages also led to the formation of superb collections of arms and armour.

More than 200 years ago, Russia became directly acquainted with the traditions of a notable phenomenon of European culture – the knightly spiritual order. Items in the exhibition put visitors in touch with the past of one of the most ancient knightly orders – the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of Saint John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta, commonly known as the Knights of Malta – and allow them to learn about a special chapter in the history of its relations with Russia that occurred in the reign of Emperor Paul I. In 1797, a (Roman Catholic) Grand Priory of the Order was established in Russia. Paul I was proclaimed the Protector of the Order, then in 1798 its Grand Master. This was followed by the widespread introduction of the Order of Malta into state organizations, the life of the capital and Russian heraldry: the eight-pointed Maltese cross being incorporated into the coat-of-arms of the Empire. Alongside the Russo-Catholic Grand Priory, a Russian one was also created, providing entry into the Order for the Orthodox Christian nobility. This era that still retained the romantic spirit of knighthood is represented by exhibits in Amsterdam: portraits of Emperor Paul I (1797, by A. Mitrokhin) and of Count Giulio Renato de Litta (Yuly Pompeyevich Litta), the Order’s Ambassador Plenipotentiary to Russia, watercolours by Giacomo Quarenghi showing the Maltese Chapel constructed in 1798–1800 to that architect’s design, items of clothing that belonged to Russian members of the Order of Malta, and the Triple Throne of the Grand Master of the Order that was made for Paul I, again to Quarenghi’s design.

In the first quarter of the 19th century, Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich (the future Emperor Nicholas I) laid the foundations of the Hermitage’s collection of arms and armour. He was passionately fond of and sought to acquire old weaponry that had strong historical associations or high artistic value. His collection grew quickly thanks to trophies of war and numerous purchases at Western European auctions, as well as gifts from heads of state, diplomats, collectors of antiquities and weaponsmiths who knew of the Russian monarch’s passion for such articles. By the early 1830s, a special building had been constructed at Tsarskoye Selo to house the collection. Then in 1885, under Alexander III, it was relocated to the Hermitage, where it remains to this day.

The exhibition includes splendid examples of mediaeval arms – swords, daggers, halberds and early pistols made by Western European master weaponsmiths. Visitors can also see examples of tournament and parade armour made by some of the finest craftsmen in Germany and Italy across a period of several centuries. Such protective equipment includes a burgonet helmet that belonged to the famous Venetian military commander Ascanio Sforza Pallavicino (1522–1577), who was in the service of Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. The helmet was finished to a very high artistic standard and is adorned by exquisite plant ornament executed in the damascening technique (gold inlaid into the steel). Of undoubted interest is the suit of Maximilian armour that was created by the craftsmen of Nuremberg between 1500 and 1535 and was specially altered for Nicholas I to wear in the “Tsarskoye Selo Carousel” – a celebration with a mediaeval theme to mark the 25th anniversary of the Emperor’s wedding to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. The practice of holding such events was a continuation of the knightly tournaments held at leading European courts. In his painting The Tsarskoye Selo Carousel, the celebrated French artist Horace Vernet (1789–1863) recorded the bright, colourful festive procession and its exalted participants. The knights are wearing authentic mediaeval armour from the imperial collection, while the ladies’ dresses were sewn specially for the occasion and modelled on examples of mediaeval costume. Vernet’s painting, which is kept in the Tsarskoye Selo Museum-Preserve, is a guest at the Hermitage exhibition in the Netherlands.

The enthusiasm for the Middle Ages revived European and Russian collectors’ interest in acquiring relics of long bygone days. One of those enchanted by mediaeval art was Alexander Bazilevsky (1829–1899), a member of an old Russian noble family who lived in Paris, He devoted himself to accumulating works of applied art and assembled a collection that included early Christian, Byzantine and eastern items, as well as Western European mediaeval artefacts. Among the gems of his collection are treasures from St Trudpert’s Abbey in the Black Forest and the Basle cathedral sacristy, as well as the famed Fortuny Vase. Emperor Alexander III’s acquisition of this phenomenal collection was a sensation at the time.

The items in the exhibition were created in various periods within the Middle Ages, in various techniques and materials, including ivory, wood and metal. Visitors can see works of art created for churches: reliquaries, chalices, a monstrance in the form of a Gothic turret on a stem, and more. Ivory-carving, an art form that flourished in the 13th and 14th centuries, is represented by a selection of pieces: plaques bearing a depiction of Christ’s Passion (France, first quarter of the 14th century) and others with scenes from the story of Tristan and Isolde (France, first quarter of the 14th century), a statuette of the Virgin and Child (France, second quarter of the 14th century), and more. The halls of the exhibition centre are also adorned by astonishingly beautiful and exquisite Limoges and Cologne champlevé enamels on copper – reliquary caskets, plaques depicting saints and scenes from Scripture, the creations of virtuoso mediaeval craftspeople.

A special place in the display is taken by an outstanding work of mediaeval secular literature – The Romance of the Rose, one of the most popular long allegorical poems. It was composed in the 13th century by Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun. Exhibition-goers can see one of the finest surviving illuminated manuscripts of the Romance, dating from the 15th century.

Among the paintings featured in the exhibition are some that have been recently restored: the triptych Adoration of the Magi by Hugo van der Goes (1435/40–1482) and The Garden of Earthly Delights, a picture painted by a follower of Hieronymus Bosch (1450–1516). Visitors will also see Landscape with the Legend of St Christopher by Jan Mandijn (1500–1560), a Portrait of a Woman by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553), watercolours (Tournament in Berlin; Tournament in Magdeburg; Entrance of the Knights with Naked Swords, and others) by Adolf Menzel (1815–1905); works of graphic art, including Knight, Death and the Devil by Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528) and Genre Scene. Tournament by Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553), as well as prints from the mid-19th century.

Stained glass developed into an independent form of decorative and applied art in the Middle Ages. The exhibition features a variety of works created in Germany, the Low Countries and Switzerland, including depictions of St George Slaying the Dragon (Germany, first half of the 15th century) and An Angel with a Fragment of an Annunciation Scene (Germany, ca. 1500), and a Round Stained-Glass Panel with a Painted Depiction of a Tent and Figures of People (circle of Hugo van der Goes, Netherlands, late 15th century).

The objects in the exhibition create an altogether special world of Gothic cathedrals, monasteries and castles, tournaments and single combat that is attractive in its romantic mysteriousness. A special installation devoted to knightly tourneys has been organized in the central hall of the exhibition centre and serves to further enhance the atmosphere of mediaeval times.

The authors of the exhibition concept are, from the State Hermitage, Georgy Vilinbakhov, Deputy General Director of the State Hermitage for Research, and the museum researchers Nadezhda Biskup, Ivan Garmanov, Tatiana Kosourova, Yekaterina Nekrasova and Nikolai Zykov, and, from the Hermitage–Amsterdam, Pieter Eckhardt, the curator of the exhibition centre.

The curator of the exhibition “Tsars & Knights. The Romanovs’ Love Affair with the Middle Ages” is Yury Georgiyevich Yefimov, head of the Weapons Sector in the State Hermitage’s “Arsenal” Department.

The exhibition is accompanied by an illustrated catalogue in Dutch and English published by the Hermitage-Amsterdam exhibition centre.

The catalogue has forewords by Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, General Director of the State Hermitage (entitled “Two Middle Ages”), and Paul Mosterd, Deputy Director of the Hermitage-Amsterdam exhibition centre.

The texts in the catalogue are written by Georgy Vilinbakhov, Deputy General Director of the State Hermitage for Research – “Paul I and the Maltese Order”; Yury Yefimov, head of the Weapons Sector in the State Hermitage’s “Arsenal” Department – “Mediaeval Western European Arms”; Madina Zaichenko, Chief Curator of the “Arsenal” Department – “Nicholas I and His Collection of Arms and Armour”; Andrei Bogdanov, keeper of the collection of defensive equipment in the “Arsenal” Department – “The Traditions of European Knightly Tournaments. From the Origins of Knighthood to the 19th Century”; Yekaterina Nekrasova. researcher in the Department of Western European Applied Art – “Craftsmanship in the Middle Ages” and “Alexander Vazilevsky’s Collection”; Yelena Solomakha, deputy head of the State Hermitage’s Department of Manuscripts and Documents – “The Romance of the Rose” and the Dutch author Thera Coppens “William II’s Gothic Style. The Dutch King Passionately in Love with the Middle Ages”.