COLLECTIONS OF MIKHAIL AND SERGEI BOTKIN. From the "Not for personal gain:" series. "Collections and Collectors from the Russian Museum"

The exhibition consists of two independent parts that sufficiently fully present the gatherings of Mikhail Botkin (1839-1914) and Sergey Botkin (1859-1910) who were the greatest collectors of art works in Russia in the second half of the 19^th - beginning of the 20^th century.

The collection of Mikhail Botkin, who was the representative of the old merchant family, on the border of the 19^th and 20^th centuries was regarded as the best one in Europe. The greatest part of his gathering that was received by the Russian Museum in 1917 is exhibited for the first time. The exposition shows the most significant examples of this collection - over 350 monuments of the Old Russian art (exhibits from the hidden treasures of the pre-Mongolian period, unique encolpion crosses, holy pictures, articles of the church and secular mode of life and the others), and the monuments of the foreign culture that were found on the territory of Russia (the examples of the prehistory time art, the adornments of the epoch of the Great transmigration of peoples and Byzantine time, jewelry works from  Volga Bulgaria, Turkey, Bulgaria, North and Western Europe). This section includes also the paintings by Mikhail Botkin and the archive materials connected with his biography and gathering activity.

The drawings by the Russian artists were the object of gathering of the famous doctor-therapeutist Sergey Botkin. The exposition includes about 150 best examples of his collection - the works by the artists of the first half of the 19^th century devoted to St. Petersburg and its suburbs, the unique sketches of the artist's models by K.Brullov, A.Egorov, O.Kiprensky and the water color portraits that are the most valuable part of Sergey Botkin's collection. P.Fedotov, I.Shishkin, F.Vasiliev, I.Repin, V.Surikov together with the greatest artists of the beginning of the 20^th century (V.Serov, M.Vrubel, A.Benois, K.Somov, L.Bakst and the others) are presented by the most significant examples of their graphic art heritage. The exposition is supplemented with the engravings with the views of St. Petersburg together with paintings and sculptures from the famous Museum-House of Sergey Botkin.