The Wars of Louis XIV
50 hand-coloured prints. An early -18th -century set from the Hermitage collection

The set of graphic works from the State Hermitage collection comprises 45 engravings and five works in watercolour and gouache of various format, created by different artists at different times, ranging from the mid-17th century to the early 18th, but they are linked by a common theme - the victories and defeats of Louis XIV (reigned 1643 - 1715).

The homogenous nature of the subjects in these 50 works is clear evidence that the unknown compiler of the set was primarily interested in their content. It is probable that the set was acquired for the Russian imperial collection.

Louis XIV declared that conquering new territories was the most pleasant and worthy of occupations for any sovereign and sought to prove it throughout his long reign. The images in question are thematically linked with the struggle to redraw the borders between France and its northern neighbour, the Netherlands.

The creators of the engravings belong to different artistic schools - being French, German, Dutch, Flemish and English - but stylistically their works remain within the mainstream of the development of European engraving in the 17th century. All the prints were produced by burin engraving or etching with the exception of John Smith's portrait of the Duke of Marlborough.

A distinguishing feature of the prints in the present collection is the fact that they have been hand-coloured with gouache and watercolour, often with abundant use of gold paint that imparts a particularly lively note. The layer of paint has been applied so densely that the lines of the print below are not visible so that the pieces seem to be works of painting. For the most part the prints follow the usual practice of carrying the signature of the engraver or etcher who created them and of the artist who created the original on which they were based, but the identity of the painter or painters who coloured them in remains unknown. Judging by aspects of the choice of colours and the manner of working, the colouring can be dated to a period no later than the mid-18th century.

Illuminated prints from the 17th and 18th centuries are fairly rare. Sets of hand-coloured prints like the Hermitage one cannot be found in the world's largest collections of graphic art, in the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris and the Albertina Museum in Vienna, although those institutions do possess black-and-white prints of the works included in the Hermitage set. The specialist literature dealing with European prints of the late 17th and early 18th centuries contains no allusion to the existence of such sets in museums or in private hands; there are only mentions of individual coloured prints.

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Deputy director Georgi Vilinbakhov at the opening ceremony of the exhibition

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