Today will be a presentation at the Pushkin Museum paintings by Frans Hals the Elder (1582-1666) "Mark the Evangelist" who came into the permanent collection of the museum. This is the most significant entry in the Pushkin Museum in 80 years

Frans Hals SENIOR Evangelist Mark Source : artsmuseum.ru

Today at the State Museum of Fine Arts named after A. S.Pushkina the presentation of paintings by Frans Hals the Elder " Mark the Evangelist " acquired by the museum. According to the director of the Pushkin Museum Lochak Marina , is the most impressive entry to the museum for the last 80 years , since the time of the fundamental redistribution of the State Museum Fund in the 1920s and early 1930s .

" Mark the Evangelist " is a series of four portraits of the Evangelists brush Frans Hals the Elder. This cycle in 1773 was wholly acquired by Catherine II for the collection of the Imperial Hermitage . However, in 1812, by decree of Alexander I « Evangelists " among other works were transferred to the Tauride province for decorating churches. There traces of paintings lost. Until the beginning of the XX century paintings were considered lost .

In 1959, two other paintings cycle - " St. Luke " and " St. Matthew " - were found in the funds in the Odessa Museum of Western and Eastern Art at the State Hermitage Museum Irina Linnik . Based on a thorough study of stylistic analysis and information from the archives of the Hermitage , auction catalogs XVIII century researchers have shown that images of the Evangelists are not anonymous works of Russian artist of the XIX century , as was recorded in museum documentation , and the creations of the great Dutch painter XVII century. Establishing ownership of these paintings by Khalsa can be attributed to the most outstanding achievements of the science of art of XX century. These legendary paintings have been exhibited in the Pushkin Museum . Pushkin, the last time in the summer of 2012 in the exhibition " Return" of St. Luke . " Western European paintings VI - XVIII centuries from Ukrainian museums ».

Two other paintings in this series were considered lost until 1972 , when a German art historian, author of a monograph on the work of Frans Hals , Dr. Klaus Grimm published acquired shortly before and refurbished canvas " Mark the Evangelist ", which matches the size and style of execution of the works of Odessa. Finally, in 1997 at Sotheby's in London was put fourth , missing a picture of this series - "St. John the Evangelist , "which was purchased for the J. Paul Getty Museum in Malibu (California, USA ).

history paintings" Mark the Evangelist "compared with the stories of three other paintings in this series the most dramatic. At a London auction in October 1972 for sale was exhibited "Portrait of a Bearded Man ," which was attributed to the hand of the Italian artist Luca Giordano . Was presented on the canvas of an old man with a beard , dressed in the fashion of the middle of XVII century in a dark suit with a white collar and wide cuffs . Dr. Klaus Grimm discover undeniable resemblance manners images of the head and hands with this character published by the time of the paintings Odessa , did a chemical analysis of colorful pigments. Samples were collected from ten different locations of the picture. The results clearly showed that all the pigments used in writing the face, arms , background and costume (besides the collar and cuffs ) , consistent with materials used by painters of the XVII century . However, analysis of the pigments from the image collar and cuffs showed that they began to be used only in the XIX century . Were different binders and in one case it was flaxseed oil , in another - the egg yolk . Restoration showed that suit appropriate fashion of the 1640s , was written over a rough cloak , and left open the image of the head of a lion - an attribute of Mark the Evangelist . Perhaps the picture is not typical for the artist on the subject, subsequent owners wanted to do more " halsovskoy ", turning it into a portrait .

After " Mark the Evangelist " by Frans Hals was identified and restored , brought him to an exhibition in Moscow in the fair Russian Antiques and Fine Arts Fair at the Center for Fine Arts on Volhonka . And then this work brought to the exhibition in the Pushkin Museum London gallery Johonny Van Haeften, specializing in the Dutch XVII century. Now, with the mediation of the fund Alisher Usmanov , " Mark the Evangelist " by Frans Hals the Elder entered the permanent collection of the Pushkin Museum .

Source : artsmuseum.ru