The Hermitage Museum and a Case of the Dead Russian

The Hermitage Amsterdam Museum is housed in a building on the east bank of the River Amstel in what was historically known as the Jewish quarter of the city.

Diaconie Oude Vrouwen Huys,
etching 1693
photo courtesy of Amsterdam Municipal Department
for the Preservation and Restoration of Historic
Buildings and Sites

The building dates to 1682 when it was originally known as Diaconie Oude Vrouwen Huys (Deanery Home for Old Women). Generally, a poor house such as this is known as a hofje.

For nearly two hundred years this hofje was one of the largest buildings in Amsterdam. As a poor house it was supported by the city through a fund first established in 1680 by a wealthy merchant named Barent Helleman.

The building was originally constructed by the architect Hans Jansz. van Petersom, and it housed hundreds of elderly women. In 1817, a new wing was added to include male residents. 

Hermitage Amsterdam entrance
photo courtesy of Fentener van Vlissigen

After walking through the lower red door in the modern entrance, the visitor enters a courtyard.

This courtyard was originally designed as a bleaching field to allow the women residents to lay out their linen, work which provided the hofje income to support the women.

Hermitage Amsterdam courtyard
photo courtesy of Ben ter Mull

In 2009, after a series of renovations, the building and grounds were transformed into a museum complex.

Its mission is to show the connections between the Dutch people and the Romanov family of Russia, including the trade relations between the cities of Amsterdam and St. Petersburg.

The current exhibit is called Dutch Masters of the Hermitage: Treasures of the Tzars which runs through May 2018. 

Some of the paintings in this exhibit were purchased, through agents, by Peter the Great and Catherine the Great of Russia in the 18th century. These include portraits by Rembrandt, Gerard van Honthorst and Thomas de Keyser. 

Since their purchase nearly three hundred years ago these images have never been displayed outside of Russia, thus making this exhibit a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the curators and its visitors.

Thomas de Keyser,
Portrait of Loef Vredericx as a Standard Bearer
1626
92 x 70 cm
Oil on panel, Mauritshuis

One of the images not held in Russia but included in this show was painted by Thomas de Keyser is a portrait of Loef Vredericx, an ensign bearing the banner of an Amsterdam shooting company. In other words, he was a member of a local militia in the 17th century.

Interestingly enough, this portrait was in the bedroom of Czar Paul I when he was assassinated on 23 March 1801. 

Apparently the portrait of Loef Vredericx was the only witness to the crime, which appears to have been a botched attempt at forcing Paul I's abdication. 

This attempt to force Paul I out of power was brought on by Russian aristocrats who felt threatened by Paul's policies which enabled the serfs. 

It would seem that Russian oligarchs have been meddling with political power for a very long time.