SOVIET PICTURES

Evening Star, Issue 22574, 16 February 1937, Page 1

SOVIET PICTURES

REMBRANDT MYSTERY HAVE THEY BEEN SOLD? The absence of from 16 to 19 worldrenowned paintings by Rembrandt from, the exhibition of his works opened at the Fine Arts Museum in Moscow on November 11 has caused art expert* in the Soviet capital to wonder as to their whereabouts (says the Moscow correspondent of the ‘ Manchester Guardian’). Owing to the richness of the Rembrandt collection in the famous Hermitage Museum in Leningrad, Russia has been one of the leading owners of the Dutch master’s recognised works for more than a century, and the paintings have been catalogued on numbers of occasions so that their identity is well known to students of art. The Soviet Press insistently declared before the opening of the present show that “nil the great artist’s paintings and engravings that are in the Soviet_ Union have been collected for this exhibition,” and the statement was repeated on the day after the opening. The exhibition however, has only 29 paintings. The official catalogue explains that sis of these are from the Moscow Museum of Fine Arts, which means that 23 came from the Hermitage. As late as 1928, in the guide book to the Soviet Union, the statement is made that there are 42 Rembrandts in the Hermitage. This figure tallies with that of other authorities. For example, the Baedeker for Russia published in 1914 mentions 42 pictures by Rembrandt. declaring that 38 of these are certainly genuine. REPRODUCTIONS ALSO. A book on the Hermitage published by Hanfstangel in Germany in 1923 cites 42 Rembrandts in the preface by P. P. von Wiener, a Soviet expert on art. Tliis book has reproductions of the Hermitage paintings which include a number of Rembrandts not shown in the present exhibition. The exhibition catalogue indicates that there are only five of, the pictures usually ascribed to Rembrandt in the Hermitage which have been excluded because their authenticity is in doubt. A small number of discrepancies in the lists of the 42 masterpieces attributed to the Hermitage in the past' makes it difficult to establish definitely the identities of all the paintings which are absent from the present exhibition. A comparison of the lists and the exhibition catalogue would seem to raise a question about the whereabouts of the following:—1. An Old Warrior. (1630) 2. Youpg Woman With Flower*. (1634) 3. A Turk. (1636) 4. Portrait of an Aged' Woman (1643) 5. Pallas Athene (Titus). (1650) 6. Potiphar’s Wife Accusing Joseph,(1655) 7. Girl With a Broom. (1651) 8. Young Woman Looking in a Mirror. (1652) 9. Hannah Teaching her Son Samuel to Read. (1650) 10. Portrait of. an Aged Woman. (1654)' 11. Young Woman With a Clove Pink. (1656) 12. Portrait of Artist’s Son. Titus. (1660) 13. Portrait of an Aged Man. (1661)’ 14. Denial of St. Peter. (1656) 15. A Polish Nobleman. 16. Landscape of Castle and Ruins. NO INFORMATION. The Hermitage acquired the last’ painting, one of the master’s rare landscapes, after the Revolution from a private collection winch presumably was nationalised, but it is listed in the 1928 guide book as “ newly acquired.” Inquiries addressed to an official of the exhibition yielded no information that would explain the absence of so many paintings. That such a large number of celebrated paintings could have been disposed of abroad since 1928 without attracting notice seem* incredible to art experts here. The official of the exhibition refused to answer an inquiry as- to whether there had been any ■ sales of Rembrandts. Reports that Soviet authorities were quietly endeavouring to dispose of Rembrandts outside the U.S.S.R. in order to realise cash to meet obligations were circulated in 1930 and 1931, but met with official denials. It wa* conceded, after the fact became established abroad, that works of Velazque* and other painters had beeii sold on the ground that these painters were represented in' the 1 Hermitage by unnecessarily large numbers of their paintings. Hundreds of thousands of pounds were reported to have been paid for the paintings sold, and 7 it is believed that several went into the hands of an American millionaire.