Room of British Art

The former Small Study of the First Reserve Apartment (architect Alexander Briullov, 1840s) continues the display of British art. It contains paintings by Joshua Reynolds, one of the 18th-century's outstanding artists: The Infant Hercules Strangling Serpents The Forbearance of Scipio Africanus and Cupid Untying the Girdle of Venus. The replicas of portraits of the British royal family (artists Nathaniel Dance and Benjamin West) were intended for rooms in the Chesme Palace. It was for that same complex that Catherine II ordered the unique Green Frog service (Wedgwood factory). The display-cases contain examples of black basaltes and jasper wares made by this firm.