Who Founded the Hermitage — Catherine the Great
The Hermitage was founded by Empress Catherine the Great in 1764. It was her passion for collecting that began the collection which would grow into one of the greatest museums in the world.
The Gotzkowski collection, 1764
It began almost by chance. The Berlin merchant Johann Ernst Gotzkowski had been assembling paintings for Frederick the Great of Prussia, but after the Seven Years’ War the king’s treasury was empty and the merchant owed money to the Russian crown. He offered to settle the debt with his collection of paintings — about 225 canvases (by other counts 317) by Dutch, Flemish and Italian masters.
Catherine accepted the collection in 1764, and that year is taken as the founding date of the Hermitage. For the young empress it was also a gesture of prestige: pictures gathered for the Prussian king, but never delivered to him, now adorned her palace. They were Dutch and Flemish works — a solid, “merchant’s” core, and it was with this first batch that everything began.
It is striking that the Hermitage was born almost by accident — out of a debt settlement rather than a planned museum. But this first batch of pictures awoke a genuine collector in Catherine, and from then on her collecting became deliberate and ambitious.
Why “Hermitage”
The paintings were kept in private rooms beside the Winter Palace, to which Catherine invited only a chosen few. These secluded rooms were called, in the French manner, ermitage — “a hermit’s place, a place of solitude”. The name stuck first to the rooms and then to the whole collection.
A passion for collecting
Catherine collected with zeal and on a state scale, buying whole European collections through diplomats and agents (Diderot and Prince Golitsyn helped her):
- 1769 — the collection of Count Brühl in Dresden;
- 1772 — the Paris Crozat collection, whose masterpieces included Rembrandt’s Danaë;
- 1779 — the English Walpole collection from Houghton Hall (about two hundred paintings; its sale caused a scandal in Britain);
- 1785 — the Lyde Browne collection of sculpture, with which Michelangelo’s Crouching Boy came to Russia.
She bought not only paintings but ancient sculpture, engraved gems (cameos), drawings and coins. “Only the mice and I admire all this,” the empress joked about her ever-growing collection. By the end of her reign in 1796 the Hermitage already held several thousand paintings.
Catherine the collector
For Catherine collecting was not a whim but a considered strategy. She followed the deals, corresponded with Diderot and European agents, delighted in a good purchase like a gambler, and took pride in outdoing other monarchs. Paintings were bought not one by one but in whole famous collections — so in just a few years the young museum caught up with and overtook many of Europe’s old royal galleries.
The scale astonished contemporaries: what had taken other countries centuries grew in Saint Petersburg within a single reign. Even in Catherine’s lifetime the Hermitage became one of the largest collections on the continent — and yet it remained closed, open only to a narrow circle.
Where the collection lived
To house the purchases, the Small Hermitage and then the Large (Old) Hermitage were built beside the Winter Palace. So, from a private “gallery for insiders”, a museum complex gradually took shape.
From private collection to museum
Catherine’s collection became the foundation of the future public museum, which opened to visitors in 1852. To this day the museum marks its anniversary on 7 December — St Catherine’s Day.
FAQ
Who founded the Hermitage? Empress Catherine the Great, in 1764.
When was the Hermitage founded? In 1764, with the purchase of the Berlin merchant Gotzkowski’s collection.
How did the collection begin? With about 225 paintings from Gotzkowski, handed over to settle a debt to the Russian crown.
What does the word “Hermitage” mean? From the French ermitage, “a place of solitude” — the name of the private rooms that held the pictures.
How many paintings did Catherine collect? By the end of her reign (1796) the Hermitage already held several thousand paintings.
This is an unofficial, informational website. For current details confirm them on the official museum website.