F. Matveev. Cascades near Rome. 1806

The core of the collection was formed during the post-revolutionary years. At that time dozens of wonderful works of art were taken from deserted estates and abandoned villas of the nobility, brought to the museum and restored. Among them stand out such works as "Portrait of a Lady in a Cap with Blue Ribbons" by Fyodor Rokotov and "A Boy with a Dog" by Orest Kiprensky. Later the collection was further enriched by Borovikovsky's "Portrait of Paul I", Kramskoy's "Portrait of Prince Vassilchikov" and the "Arakcheev" portrait series.

During the years of World War II part of the collection perished or was stolen. The surviving paintings were returned to Novgorod at the end of the 1940s. Later the stocks were supplemented with portraits received from the State Hermitage Museum and other central museums in exchange for objects from the Novgorod Museum.

After the war the collection of Russian Fine Art was formed, for the most part, by centralized contributions from stocks belonging to the RF Ministry of Culture and the Artistic Foundation, as well as by acquisition from private individuals. This is how the museum got works by P. Konchalovsky, L. Turzhanovsky and Pavel Kuznetsov. In the 1970s Novgorod artists presented the museum with several pictures by Robert Falk.

I. Vinberg. Portrait of Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna, Queen of the Netherlands. Early 19th century

At the present time the collection of Russian Fine Art numbers over 6000 items. The major part of the collection consists of drawings while the smaller part contains sculptural works by prominent Russian sculptors such as F. Shubin, M. Antokolsky and M. Vrubel.

The collection's originality lies in the fact that it incorporates works of all artistic styles and trends used in Russian art, belonging both to the hand of well-known artists (G. Levitsky, F. Rokotov, K. Briullov, I. Repin, V. Serov, A. Benois) and a large group of unknown artists from provincial towns and villages.

The pride of the collection is an impressive set of miniature portraits, most of which (104 articles) were acquired by the museum in 1979 from a Moscow collector.

The main part of the museum's stocks consists of works by Soviet artists of the second part of the 20th century including artists D. Zhuravlev, B. Nepomnyashchy and A. Varentsov.

A. Ryabushkin. "Instant Attraction" (Sunday in a Village). 1889

The main part of the museum's stocks consists of works by Soviet artists of the second part of the 20th century including artists D. Zhuravlev, B. Nepomnyashchy and A. Varentsov.

The collection is displayed at the exposition  Russian Painting of the 18th -20th Centuries" located in the building of the former Public Offices on the Kremlin territory in Novgorod.

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