French Art Treasures at the Hermitage Splendid Masterpieces, New Discoveries

Summary: "The book is a catalog of the collection and a history of modern-art collecting in Russia. Among its nuggets is a rather acerbic explanation of why it was Moscow rather than St. Petersburg that produced Russia's great collectors of modern art: 'In their attempts to join high society, the merchants of St. Petersburg were too slavish to its tastes and fashions,' a useful reminder that true art collecting often requires... going against the grain, not with it. [read more]