Masterpieces of the Hermitage | British Art (Episode 5)

The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg houses a relatively small but choice collection of 15th- to 19th-century British paintings, among them Thomas Gainsborough's vibrant Portrait of a Lady in Blue (c. 1770) and his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds' vast Infant Hercules Strangling the Serpents (c. 1786), commissioned by the Russian Empress Catherine II.

The Hermitage collection features over 450 items, including very rare works by masters of the English school. Including portraits from the famed War Gallery created by English painter George Dawe, who was awarded a prestigious commission to produce more than 300 images of Russian generals for the Gallery of 1812 in the historic Winter Palace, now part of the museum complex.

The 17th/18th century portraitist, Sir Godfrey Kneller, is represented by Portrait of Grinling Gibbons, and Portrait of John Locke. Sir Joshua Reynolds, the first president of the Royal Academy of Arts, is represented by The Infant Hercules Strangling the Serpents (1786-1788) (a work commissioned by Russian Czarina Catherine II to symbolise young Russia's growing strength), The Continence of Scipio (1788-1789) and Cupid Untying the Zone of Venus (1788). Other English paintings include: Venus Comforting Cupid, Stung by a Bee, and Portrait of George, Prince of Wales, and Prince Frederick, Duke of York (1778) by Benjamin West, the second President of the Royal Academy; Portrait of a Lady in Blue (1780) by Thomas Gainsborough; The Iron Forge (1773) and Firework Display at the Castel Sant Angelo (The Girandola) (1778-1779) by Joseph Wright of Derby, to name but a few.