Remarks
The idea of organising the royal collections, considerably enlarged by the looting of Prague, came about in the 18 C. The Royal Museum was first installed in the castle, and moved into this Italian neo-Renaissance building in 1866, where the "national" collections are now housed.
These collections are organised in several main sections. The hundred or so old Russian icons are exhibited by rotation, and is one of the finest sets of its kind outside of Russia. The section of Flemish and Dutch painting contains the Young Breughel, Van Goyen, Ruysdaël, portraits by Frans Hals, scenes in the style of Ter Brugghen, Van Ostade or De Hooch, and several masterpieces by Rembrandt (Claudius Civilis or the Oath of the Bataves, a monumental painting destined for Amsterdam City Hall) and Rubens (Offering to Venus). French 18 C painting is another focal point, with a dozen Chardins, two superb Watteaus, works by Boucher, Nattier, Vernet, and H. Robert. Visitors will also admire the St Peter and St Paul by El Greco and St Jerome penitent by La Tour. Ribera, Goya, Tiepolo, Guardi are also in the catalogue, but with works of lesser importance. As ever, French Impressionists and their successors are well represented: Manet, Renoir, Degas, Cézanne, several works by Monet, Gauguin, Lautrec, etc. Book lovers with discover a painting by Strindberg, Town, in the section of Swedish painters.