I am very grateful to Lord Strathcarron, the Chairman of Unicorn Publishing, for the idea of issuing a revised edition of this book and to his staff, particularly Lucy Duckworth, for the work they have put into it. Ocky Murray, their chosen designer, is a delight to work with and I’m very grateful for the new look he has given the book.
The enthusiasm for the book of my old friend Karine Hagen, Senior Vice President of Viking Cruises, was a delight to me 10 or more years ago and I’m very grateful to her. When Viking asked for supplies of the book to give to travellers as an introduction to Russia and St. Petersburg, Lord Strathcarron’s idea suddenly looked like a good proposition. They published its own small edition in 2012 and wanted a more substantial quantity of books this time round. On a cruise to celebrate the 70th birthday of Torstein Hagen, Viking’s Chairman and Karine’s father, I found a copy of the book on my bedside table. They are a wonderful family!
The original book could not have been written without the support of three people, Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, director of the Hermitage, Tom Maschler, Publisher of Jonathan Cape, and Catherine Phillips, my research assistant. I consider it little short of miraculous that they should have come into my life simultaneously 20 years ago and cannot begin to thank them enough.
I could not have started if Tom Maschler had not warmed to the project and commissioned it and I would not have started without Mikhail Borisovich’s permission. In the event, Mikhail’s help went much further than allowing me to work in the museum. He encouraged his staff to help me and spent a most generous amount of his own time answering my questions and reading my drafts.
Catherine was much more than a research assistant. A fluent Russian speaker with a first class degree in art history and several years’ experience in publishing, she educated me about Russia, interpreted, provided intelligent synopses of books I should have read in Russian, combed libraries for useful sources, criticised what I wrote and corrected my spelling. She also made very good jokes and seldom complained. Her mind is responsible for this book along with mine.
The typescript of Hermitage Collections and Collectors by Oleg Neverov and Mikhail Piotrovsky, published by Slavia, provided an invaluable guide for me and I thank both authors for letting me see it before publication. Oleg, the curator of antique gems, has made a special study of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century St Petersburg art collections and shared his knowledge with me most generously. Lyudmila Voronikhina, the author of an excellent guide to the museum and a member of the Education Department, also gave me invaluable help on the history of the collections and the buildings.
Many people have helped me piece together the more recent history of the museum and I am particularly grateful to the former director, Vitaly Suslov, and the two deputy directors, Georgy Vilinbakhov and Vladimir Matveev. (The latter proved also to be an inspiring authority on Peter the Great.) Vadim Zuev, an archaeologist recently recruited by the Hermitage to research the museum’s history, helped me to clarify the complicated interactions of politics and personnel in the Soviet period and I extend to him and his wife Lena, who is also a curator, very special thanks.
I have received generous and friendly help from a very large number of Hermitage staff and I thank them all. I should like particularly to mention the kindness of Sergey Androsov, Boris Asvarisch, Sergey Avramenko, Asya Cantor-Gukovskaya, Albert Kostenevich, Alexandra Kostsova, Marta Kryjanovskaia, Alexey Larionov, Marina Lopato, Boris Marshak, Vsevolod Potin and Galina Smirnova.
My visit to the Hermitage excavations at Kerch was made possible and enjoyable through the kindness of Sergey Solovev and his archaeologist wife Natasha. The staff at the Hermitage Library have been particularly helpful to me, as have the staff at the Hermitage Archive, notably Lena Solomakha.
Outside the museum, I have made two particular friends in St Petersburg, Marina and Alexander Kozyrev, who have had me to stay, talked tirelessly about my problems and helped me to find solutions. I should also like to thank Ripsime Djanpolodyan Piotrovsky, the mother of the present director of the Hermitage and widow of his predecessor, for several very enjoyable conversations. Both Professor Oleg Artamonov, whose father was director of the museum in the post-war years, and his wife have been very helpful to me, as has his father’s old pupil, Professor Abram Stolyar.
I should also like to thank Professor Igor Diakonoff, Venyamin Joffe of Memorial, Professor Boris Starkov, Dr Petr Gryaznevich, Sergey Kuznetsov, Vladimir Uflyand, Mikhail Chemiakin, Natasha Smirnova, Pavel Tichtchenko, Dr Yaroslav Vasilkov, Stanislav Chemichov, the staff at the Galitzine Library, Vadim Znamenov, director of the Peterhof State Museum Reserve, and Irina Zolotinkina, archivist at the Benois Museum in Peterhof.
I have received most valuable assistance from many people outside Russia and I am particularly grateful to Larissa Haskell, Bill Clarke, Jasper Gaunt, Gocha Tsetskhladze, Peter Batkin, John Stewart, Konstantin Akinsha, Grigori Kozlov, Valery and Galina Panov, Professor Dr Irena Zerbst-Borovka, Nikita Lobanov and Tatiana Orloff.