Hermitage Masterpieces (Documentary Mini-series)
Picture: C
Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: B+
A series of special interest documentaries built around
touring museums have been dotting the home video landscape for years. On the defunct 12” LaserDisc format, you
would have frame-by-frame sections that stored the art subjects as well as the
usual motion footage. Enough VHS &
Beta tapes were issued on the subject, despite their linear nature. Though this kind of release never took off,
they still surface with some regularity and Hermitage Masterpieces
(1992) is the latest on DVD.
The series of episodes runs the gambit of art all over the
world, stored at the legendary Russian museum that itself is a work of
art. Lasting over eight hours over three
DVDs, the eighteen half-hours have been assembled and split into the following
subjects:
1) The
Museum’s Majestic Architecture
2) Highlights
Of The Masterpieces
3) Russia
In The Age Of Peter The Great
4) Decorative
Arts Of Italy, France & England
5) Art From
Mesopotamia to Ancient China
6) The Art
Of Ancient Egypt
7) The Vast
Sculpture Collection
8) The
Classical World Of Greece & Rome
9) Art Of
The Middle Ages
10) Art Of The Early Italian Renaissance
11) Raphael, DaVinci & The High Italian
Renaissance
12) Art Of The Nederlands: 15th & 16th
Centuries
13) Rubens, van Dyck & The 17th
Century Flemish Painters
14) Rembrandt & The 17th Century
Dutch Masters
15) Velazquez, El Greco, Goya & The Spanish
Masters
16) French Classical Style Of The 17th
& 18th Centuries
17) The Road To Impressionism: 19th
Century France
18) Modernism: Matisse, Picasso & More 20th
Century Painters
The early two chapters overlap the later installments, so
you might want to begin on the third and backtrack afterwards. Their collection is unbelievable and that it
survived Communism, Stalin, The Revolution, The Cuban Missile Crisis and any
post-Soviet purges is amazing, but the history that took place while the
building debuted in 1754 and endured to the time of this posting. The narrative voiceovers are very
informative and time (they had enough) is taken to really tell us something
about each work and the genre and era the work comes from. R. Parsons narrates Susan Young’s
descriptions, which are extremely scholarly and thorough.
Though the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo sound is not bad for
its age, it does not have any Pro Logic surrounds of any kind. What is saddest and worst thing is not that
all of this was shot on old analog NTSC video, but that the “digital
remastering” has added a constant haze that is too often like watching the footage
through a screen door (is this edge enhancement?) and even when the picture is
at its best, detail suffers as a result.
Video Black is a problem, but when the color comes through, it looks
great. Of course, had this all been
shot on film, this would look much better, give or take the transfer again, but
the art often overrides that consideration.
Still, someone needs to go back and do an update in HD and film
as backup. Being as literate and astute
as this set will be at least as difficult.
There are no extras, but this offers a valuable opportunity to learn and
experience the history of pre-20th Century art in a way that those
who know will enjoy, and those who do not know should go out of their way to
catch.
- Nicholas Sheffo
