The picture gallery constitutes the Hermitage's principal section, as also the oldest in point of time. It came into being with the acquisition, in 1764, of 225 paintings by Western European masters from the Berlin merchant Gotzkowsky. Over the next two centuries the Museum's collection increased to 8000 pictures. Practically all schools and trends that were ever in vogue in Western Europe since the beginnings of easel painting down to the middle of the twentieth century are represented in this ...