The Hermitage collection of drawings and watercolours is the largest not only in Russia but in the whole of Europe. It includes works of various European schools, created using a wide variety of techniques: pencil, pen and ink, gouache, silverpoint, bistre, pastel, sepia, sanguine and watercolour.

The collection of the 15th and 16th centuries includes rare and unique works such as Group Portrait: Members of the Este Family, attributed to an artist of the Ferrara School, Ercole de' Roberti, and Head of an Elderly Man by the Florentine Piero di Cosimo.

The majority of the drawings date from the mid-16th to late 18th centuries. The works of the Italian, Flemish and French schools are of equal artistic quality. Although works of the German and Dutch schools are less numerous, they are nonetheless of great importance.

The pride of the collection are rare drawings by Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens, studies by Paolo Veronese, sketches by Nicolas Poussin and Antoine Watteau, while works by Jacques Callot and Jean-Baptiste Greuze represent an unrivalled ensemble of French graphic art.

The group of 19th-century drawings is not large but contains works by such celebrated artists as Pierre-Paul Proudhon, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Gustave Dore and Edgar Degas.

The Portrait of Madame Jules Guillement by Edouard Manet is regarded as an outstanding element of this collection.

Amongst the 20th-century drawings are works by many celebrated masters such as Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso and others.

Moonrise Caspar David Friedrich Full description

Triumphal Arch on the Embankment Francesco Guardi Full description

If you enjoyed this collection, you might want to also visit the other collections at the State Hermitage Museum.

Italian Painting: 13th - 18th c