The State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg houses a relatively small but choice collection of 16th- to 19th-century British paintings, among them Thomas Gainsborough's vibrant Portrait of a Lady in Blue (c. 1770) and his rival Sir Joshua Reynolds' vast Infant Hercules Strangling the Serpents (c. 1786), commissioned by the Russian Empress Catherine II and symbolizing a young Russia's growing strength. 135 paintings—works by artists from England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales—are presented in this comprehensive catalogue. Also included are portraits from the famed War Gallery created by English painter George Dawe, who was awarded a prestigious commission to produce more than 300 images of Russian generals for the Gallery of 1812 in the historic Winter Palace, now part of the museum complex.

Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press and the State Hermitage Museum