Exhibition "Painting from the Hermitage. Peter Hess" The Battle of Maloyaroslavets on October 12, 1812 "

December 16, 2016 at 14:00 in the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts will open the exhibition "Painting from the Hermitage. Peter Hess “The Battle of Maloyaroslavets on October 12, 1812”. The exhibition was organized within the framework of the Agreement on Cooperation between the Kaluga Region and the State Hermitage, concluded in 2015.

Before the opening day at 12:00 a public lecture “The Great Hermitage: past, present, future” will be held by Svetlana Borisovna Adaksina, deputy director and chief curator of the State Hermitage.

For the first time in the history of Kaluga, the exhibition features an exhibit from the collection of the State Hermitage Museum, the richest treasury of Russian and foreign art. The large-scale composition “The Battle of Maloyaroslavets”, created by the outstanding master of battle painting Peter von Hess (1792-1871), is of great interest both as a historical document and as a monument of the era, reflecting the artistic tastes of his time, and as a wonderful example of the battle genre.

In 1839, at the invitation of Emperor Nicholas I, P. Hess visited Russia and received an order to write a series of paintings about the most important battles of 1812 for the Winter Palace. The artist performed a series of 12 monumental canvases depicting the main battles of 1812 (Battles at Smolensk, Borodino, Berezin, Vyazma, Krasnoye, Tarutino, Polotsk, Maloyaroslavets, Klyastitsy, etc.). In the course of work on the cycle, Peter Hess visited the battlefields, collected valuable documentary material, made sketches of the area for all the paintings. According to the testimony of his son, accompanying the artist on trips, P. Hess found and questioned eyewitnesses and participants in the battles, bought samples of weapons and ammunition. For 17 years, the artist worked on the execution of a grand order, which required incredible efforts from him.

The painting by Peter Hess “The Battle of Maloyaroslavets on October 12, 1812”, which was included in the 1812 series, depicts one of the dramatic episodes of the bloody battle taking place on Kaluga land. The main acting force in the artist’s work was the Russian army, unparalleled exploits and courage of ordinary soldiers.

The exhibition exposition is supplemented by 23 engravings provided from the funds of the Kaluga United Museum-Reserve. Among the engravings - the most interesting portraits of the Russian and French emperors, major military leaders, examples of battle scenes, popular print, caricatures.

A special program “Hermitage Days” has been prepared for the exhibition, the most important points of which are the speeches of specialists from the State Hermitage, the presentation of the Maloyaroslavets Military History Museum in 1812 (more detailed information can be obtained on the museum website).

The exhibition will offer excursion services for audiences of different ages, thematic classes for children.

Lecture and opening day of the exhibition will be held in the "Information, educational and exhibition center" of the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts at the address: Kaluga, st. Lenin, d.103.

For visitors, the exhibition will run from December 16, 2016 to January 31, 2017.

Museum opening hours: daily from 10:00 to 18:00, except Mondays, Saturdays from 11:00 to 19:00. Address: Kaluga, st. Lenin, d. 103, the building of the Information, educational and exhibition center of the Kaluga Museum of Fine Arts. Phone for inquiries: 56-28-30, 56-38-20.