This exhibition is no longer on view at the National Gallery.

Overview: 30 old master paintings from the Hermitage and 13 18th- and 19th-century works from the State Russian Museum were on view. This was the first exhibition in the United States to include old master paintings on loan from the USSR. Negotiations between the Soviet ministry of culture and Dr. Armand Hammer resulted in the agreement to exhibit the paintings at the National Gallery and 4 other locations in the United States, in exchange for the loan of 5 paintings from the Gallery, 25 works from the other participating institutions and from the personal collection of Dr. Hammer, and 10 western paintings from the Buffalo Bill Museum in Cody, Wyoming. The exhibition was one of the officially designated American Revolution Bicentennial administration events involving foreign governments. A 32-foot photomural of Leningrad and the two palaces marked the entrance to the show, which featured Rembrandt's Saskia as Flora and Caravaggio's Lute Player.

Organization: J. Carter Brown, director, selected the works, John Hand was the coordinating curator, and Gaillard Ravenel the designer.

Attendance: 310,678

Catalog: Master Paintings from the Hermitage and the State Russian Museum, Leningrad, edited by John Richardson and Eric Zafran. New York: M. Knoedler and Co., Inc., 1975.

Brochure: Master Paintings from the Hermitage and the State Russian Museum, Leningrad: A Brief Guide to the Exhibition. Washington, DC: National Gallery of Art, 1975.

Other Venues: Knoedler and Co., Inc., New York
Detroit Institute of Arts
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston