The study is devoted to the picturesque part of the art collection of the Counts Branitsky of the Korczak Coat of Arms in Ukraine. For the first time, a systematic study was started of the composition and fate of the artistic assembly of the Branitsky Counts of the Korczak Coat of Arms; have been developed mechanisms for a comprehensive search for information about the collection, which, using as the example of the painting part, provided the identification of the names of the author’s works, the genre and stylistic composition of the artistic assembly; for the first time, the circle of authors of paintings was investigated from the Branitsky’s collection.
A list of paintings was determined, which was keeping in the Branitsky’s palaces of Bila Tserkva. Moreover, were specified the places of the modern storage of individual works. For the first time was exploring the picturesque part of the collection of the counts Branitsky, which is now in the funds of the Belotserkovsky Museum of Local Lore. For the first time, the works were professionally analyzed from this collection.
With the beginning of the stay of the counts Branitsky in Ukraine and the arrangement of their main residence - in the 90s of the 18th century in Bila Tserkva - the formation of the family’s collection has begun. Works by Polish, European, and Russian artists appear in the interiors of the Bila Tserkva palaces.
The works of famous artists of the 16th-18th centuries (Italian, French, Austrian, German, Dutch, English, Polish, Russian, and other schools of painting) acquired by the Branitsky family, were delivered to Ukraine. A portrait gallery of prominent figures created in Polish history. In the second half of the 19th century, the Branitsky’s collection began to move to residences in France (Montresor) and Poland (Suha-Bezkidska, Wilanów (a southern suburb of Warsaw), Krzeszowice (Lesser Poland Voivodeship), Krakow, Warsaw.
The exceptional role of the Branitskys in the history of art collecting in Ukraine is due to the importance and place that took place in the political history of Europe by the great crown hetman Francishek-Ksaveriy Branitsky and the position of his wife Alexandra Vasilievna Branitskaya (nee Engelhardt), maid of honor of Catherine II, and niece of Prince G. Potemkin. In addition, huge contributions included the extraordinary financial power that the family Branitsky had until the beginning of the twentieth century.
Thanks to the activity of these people who played a significant role in the artistic life of Ukraine due to the attraction of prominent European masters to fulfill the count's orders, as well as the importation of highly artistic works of Western European painting of the past centuries which were moved to Ukraine. Having huge financial resources, count Branitsky actively implemented the European traditions of aristocratic manor art collecting in Ukraine.
The competitive nature of the relationship between the then aristocratic families in Right-Bank Ukraine (Potocki, Sangushki, Moshinskaya, and others) only encouraged to the order and purchase of paintings.
Thanks to the efforts of the Branitsky, samples of high art were brought to the Bila Tserkva region. Further investigations, research work will undoubtedly reveal new and extremely important facts from the cultural life in Right-Bank Ukraine at the end of the 18th - the beginning of the 20th century for the sake of renewing (interrupted in the 20th century) the European tradition of art collecting in Ukraine.
To achieve the goal in this work was investigated the features of art collecting in the aristocratic environment in Ukraine at the end of the 18th - the beginning of the 20th century. Also explored the influence of the then socio-political situation on the culture of Right-Bank Ukraine, developed methods, and ways of searching for information about Branitsky’s collection. In general, reproduced the composition and investigated the fate of the assembly, which existed until 1917. Defined the role and significance of the Branitskys in the history of art collecting in Ukraine.
