A virtual version of the exhibition "Beyond Academic Art. Provincial Portraits in the Hermitage Collection"

On June 1, 2026, the exhibition “Beyond Academic Art. Provincial Portraits in the Hermitage Collection” has reopened – now in the space of the “Celestial Hermitage”.

From this day on, you can get acquainted with the exhibition of the Russian provincial portraiture from the first half of the 19th century in the format of a virtual visit. The exhibition includes both acknowledged masterpieces and pictures that have never been exhibited before. Among them are portraits of men, women, children and families – works both by unknown painters and by artists whose names have been preserved. The exhibition also features works by Fyodor Andreyevich Tulov, Grigory Vasilyevich Vasilyev (Soroka [Magpie]), Fyodor Ivanovich Bratsky, Ivan Vladimirovich Shevtsov, Ivan Vasilyevich Tarkhanov, Luka Yushanov, Hakob Hovnatanyan, and others.

The main objectives of the exhibition are to reveal original work previously concealed beneath later overpainting and to draw attention to the artistic merits of such pictures. This has been made possible through the painstaking work of conservators from the State Hermitage Museum and the Saint Petersburg Repin Academy of Arts.

The virtual tour consists of five spherical panoramas with a text description. One of them includes a virtual cinema that allows you to watch a film made for the exhibition. The visit is also accompanied by an audio guide and a digital label.

The virtual visit can be accessed by this direct link or through the Virtual Visit section of the museum website.