This book tells the story of two directors of the State Hermitage Museum, who (for over five decades between them) have presided over what has become one of the greatest museums of the world.Saved from the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, the Hermitage was run from 1964 until his death in 1990 by Boris Borisovich Piotrovsky. His son, Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, took over the reins in 1992; his tenure has recently been extended until at least 2020.
Geraldine Norman was born in Wales in 1940 and brought up in Oxford. She has a BA in Mathematics from the University of Oxford and joined The Times newspaper as a statistician in 1962. In 1967 she launched the Times-Sotheby index of art prices and in 1969 became the Sale Room Correspondent of The Times. She married Frank Norman, the well known author and playwright, in 1971 (d. 1980). In 1987 she left The Times to join the Independent newspaper as Art Market Correspondent, resigning in 1995 in order to write her book, The Hermitage: The Biography of a Great Museum (1997). She was director of the Hermitage Development Trust (1999-2001), editor of Hermitage Magazine (2003-2005), chief executive of the Hermitage Foundation UK (2003-2012) and director (2014-present). Geraldine's books include The Sale of Works of Art (as Geraldine Keen, 1971), Nineteenth Century Painters and Painting, A Dictionary (1977), The Fake's Progress (with Tom Keating & Frank Norman, 1977), Mrs. Harper' Niece (as Florence Place, 1982), Biedermeier Painting (1987), Top Collectors of the World (with Natsuo Miyashita, 1993), The Hermitage: The Biography of a Great Museum (1997), Bob Hecht by Bob Hecht (ed. 2014). Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky was born in Yerevan in 1944. He was brought up in St. Petersburg (Leningrad), spending many hours in the Hermitage as a child, and studying in the Museum's art history school. He graduated with honours from the Oriental Faculty of Leningrad State University, specialising in Arabic Studies, in 1967. He also attended Cairo University from 1965 to 1966. He entered the Leningrad branch of the Institute for Oriental Studies as a research assistant in 1967, obtained a doctorate in history, and worked there until 1991. Following his father's death he was invited, in 1991, to join the Hermitage staff as the First Deputy Director. In July 1992 he was appointed Director of the Museum by a decree of the Prime Minister. He is married with two children. Dr. Piotrovsky is a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Arts, a member of the President's Council on Culture and his Council on Science, and a professor of St. Petersburg State University where he is the Dean of the Oriental faculty. He has been awarded honours by many countries, including the Netherlands Order of Orange-Nassau, the Russian Order of Honour and the French Order of the Legion d'Honneur. In 1997, a minor planet was named 'Piotrovsky' by the Astronomical Union in joint honour of Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky and his father Boris Borisovich Piotrovsky.
