RAPHAEL IN THE NATIONAL GALLERY OF ART (THANKS TO JOSEPH STALIN)

Now I know that Joseph Stalin was not the most likable person in world history. However lovers of the National Gallery of Art should give thanks to him for ordering the sale of over 250 masterpieces from the Hermitage Museum in 1930 and 1931. The Russians needed American currency to finance their industrialization, so Stalin ordered the Hermitage to sell some of the museum's most important paintings, some of which had belonged to both Czar Nicholas I and Catherine II, empress of Russia.  Andrew Mellon took advantage of this amazing opportunity to purchase 21 of the world's greatest masterpieces for nearly $7,000,000. These paintings became part of the collection that Mellon donated to the museum as his founding gift. How ironic that Andrew Mellon, the archcapitalist, would purchase paintings from the archcommunist, Joseph Stalin.

In the early 19th century Raphael was the most highly-esteemed artist that rich Americans were buying. By purchasing these two Raphael paintings, the Alba Madonna for $1,700,000 and the St. George and the Dragon for $745,000, Mellon became the only American to have purchased three Raphael paintings, having purchased his first Raphael painting three years earlier.

The Alba Madonna (1510) by Raphael

St. George and the Dragon (1510) by Raphael

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Photos in this blog post were taken by me during my visit in September, 2013.