Portrait of Mme Mariette Gambay by Camille Carot 1869-70. (Large jpg - 37K)
Art lovers caught up in the excitement of the Hermitage's current display of German war booty can feast their eyes on other previously hidden treasures in Moscow.
A fortnight ago the Hermitage unveiled a show of French art taken from private German collections. "Twice Saved," at Moscow's Pushkin Museum, contains paintings by equally impressive names in the world of art: Manet, Corot, Degas, Renoir.
But unlike the Hermitage exhibition, which concentrates on the French Impressionists, "Twice Saved" offers a panorama of European art history from the 14th century to the early 20th.
It is easy to see why Germany wants many of these particular works, plundered from its museums and private collections, returned.
In the collection are fine examples of German painting from the Romantic period. Other standouts are George Romney's "Portrait of a Youth," Goya's "Lola Jimenez," and Tintoretto's "Portrait of a Man."
These 63 paintings taken from Germany during 1945-6 form only the tip of the iceberg. Hundreds, if not thousands, more are known to exist somewhere in the Pushkin Museum -- whose curators admit this collection will be the first "of a series" to be shown. It is not stated from which private collections the paintings were expropriated. The museum simply states, "Some of them used to be the property of German museums; others belonged to private persons; some are of unknown origin."