12/06/08Portrait of the Gentry Exhibition (From the Collection of the State Pushkin Museum in Moscow)
 In 2007 the Moscow State Pushkin Museum celebrated its 50th anniversary. Within so short a period the Museum has formed not only a high-class collection of the poet’s personal belongings, life-time editions of his works, etc., but also a unique collection of works of art, in which portraiture – a leading genre in fine arts of the late 18th – early 19th century – occupies a special place.
 The Portrait of the Gentry exhibition which was opened in the Vladimir and Suzdal Museum-Reserve contains paintings and drawings from the collection of the State Pushkin Museum. The exhibition is a continuation of a large project, which provides those living outside Moscow with a rare opportunity to become acquainted with the museum’s collections numbering more than 200 thousand items.
 Exhibition acquaints visitors with the oil paintings, watercolors, miniatures; lithographic and engraved portraits of the Russian nobility of the 18th–19th centuries. The activity of the museum was aimed at the creation of the portrait gallery of the contemporaries of A. Pushkin, that is why they predominate.
 Next to the works of well-known Russian and foreign artists (F. Bruni, A. and K. Bryullovs, O. Kiprensky, I. Makarov, A. Molinari, N. Mylnikov, P. Sokolov, N. Tonchi and others), there are works of the unknown serf masters here.
There are more than 160 works of art all in all, including sculpture, objects of decorative and applied art and furniture. Many exhibits are memorial: they were transmitted to the museum directly from the family collections, and in this respect they are especially valuable.
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