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BP is to be the
lead sponsor of a once-in-a-lifetime exhibition which will bring masterpieces
from the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg to Britain for a unique show at one
of this country’s finest historic houses, Houghton in Norfolk, opening on 17
May 2013.
The magnificent
art collection, which originally hung at Houghton, was brought together by
Britain’s first Prime Minister, Robert Walpole (1676-1745), and following his
death was sold in 1779 to Catherine the Great of Russia and was later housed at
the State Hermitage Museum.
Peter Charow,
BP’s Vice President for Russia said: “We are pleased to bring the exhibition to
its original home. BP is a major supporter of culture in both the UK and
Russia.”
Over 70
paintings from the collection, including masterpieces by Van Dyck, Poussin,
Rubens, Rembrandt, Velazquez and Murillo are being reassembled for the first
time in over 200 years and shown in their original settings at Houghton. The exhibition
includes works on loan from the Hermitage and other Russian museums as well as
loans from the National Gallery, Washington and the Metropolitan Museum, New
York.
The exhibition
will reproduce the original hang of the Grand Rooms at Houghton, bringing them
back to their original splendor. In its scale and ambition, the exhibition will
be a fitting celebration both of 250th anniversary of Catherine the Great’s
accession to the throne, and the long and distinguished history of
Anglo-Russian cultural relations.
For over a
decade BP’s support for Russian culture includes the Mariinsky Theatre and the
Valery Gergiev Foundation. In 2011-2012 BP extended its support and has
partnered with the Moscow Tchaikovsky Conservatory, the State Hermitage,
Tretyakov Gallery, Stanislavsky and Nemirovich-Danchenko musical theatre and
annual Dyagilev musical festival in St Petersburg further demonstrating BP’s
commitment to Russian cultural life.
In the UK, BP is
a major supporter of the arts with a programme that spans over 35 years. In
2011 BP announced it is investing almost £10 million in extending its long term
partnerships with the British Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the Royal
Opera House, and Tate Britain over the next five years. Taken together, these agreements
represent one of the most significant long-term corporate investments in UK
arts and culture.
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