Apsley house & the Hermitage

In the center of London, just behind Buckingham palace you can find the square of the last title granted by the Windsor, Arthur Wellesley, more known as his grace Lord Wellington, His residence is called Apsley House, in Hyde Park Corner number 1.

Lord Wellington on the campaign against the Napoleonic forces, gained the prestige and the heart of the Spaniards. The Historical anecdote goes as followed: In 1813, Jose Bonaparte, more known by the Madrilenians as Pepe Botella or Pepe Plazuelas (squares), was installed King of the Spanish throne by his brother Napoleón. At the advance of Wellington´s army, the French forces started to run away towards France, as we know not only the troops were allowed to plunder but also the commanders, so when the British forces defeated the French near Vitoria (north of spain) they found all this carriages filled up with the robbed art works of the Spanish Royal Collection, hidden by José Bonaparte. So two hundred paintings, where sent to Wellington´s brother, Marlborough, the paintings were examined by members of the National Gallery and catalogued. When Fernando VII was reinstate king, Wellington ordered to return the paintings,  as a reward for recovering the valued treasure, Fernando VII gave him eighty three paintings like: the Last Supper of Juan de Flandes; Sagrada Family of Giulio Romano; Orfeo enchanting to the animals of Padovanino; the Oration in the orchard of Correggio and other masterpieces as the Water carrier of Seville and the portrait of Quevedo painted by Velazquez. Now days most of them are exhibited in Apsley House museum, the home address of the Wellingtons and the museum which is part of the English heritage a semi-autonomous public agency founded in the 80´s, with the mission to grant the historic English environments

I remember another portrait of Wellington in the room of portraits made by the Russian Zar Alexander I, this waiting room to the throne room of the winter palace of Saint Petersburg, was made in memory of all the participants against Napoleon army.

Last Tuesday there has been at the Christies auction of old masters, an art work that belonged to the hermitage collection, but came to Europe after the massive Russian sale of the 30´s.

In my opinion when we talk about the hermitage art works we have to divide them from its provenance, the part that comes from the zar´s collection, mostly bought by Catherine II and his grandson Alexander I, which bought to all sorts of European collectors like the count Heinrich von Brülh, the baron Pierre Crozat, Sir Robert Walpole, count baudouin, Sir John Lyde-Brown, Cristoforo Barbarigo and of course Napoleon private collection sold by the empress Josefina. From the collections nationalized after the revolution (aristocrats and industrial bourgeois) like Ivan Morozov or Sergei Shchukin. It’s impressive to see how these muscovite collectors went to Paris to buy avant-garde artist like Matisse, Picasso or Zuloaga, this last one is one of the first international spanish painters who opened the field to the next generation of spanish artists. Zuloaga was a quite close friend to Lautrec and the rest of European artists. Against Sorolla, he represented the tragic and dark line of the Spanish vision; he made landscapes as popular, religious and everyday scenes. Totally influenced by Greco and Velazquez. His painting is dramatic, realistic and wonderful.
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Ivan Morozov