Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art

Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art
Музей західного і східного мистецтва
Established	1923
Location	Italiiska Street, Odesa
Coordinates	46°28′58″N 30°44′36″E / 46.48269°N 30.74346°E
Collection size	10 000

Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art (Ukrainian: Одеський музей західного і східного мистецтва) is a museum of Fine Arts on Italiiska street in Odesa, Ukraine.^[1]^[2]

Description

The museum was founded in 1923 and it is housed in a palace that was constructed between 1856 and 1858 to a design by the architect L.Otton. The museum's collection was created from previously private collections that were augmented by artefacts from the City Museum of Fine Arts and University of Odesa.^[3]

The museum has a large collection, not all of which is on show, including works by Caravaggio, Gerard David, Jan van Scorel, Rubens, Abraham Bloemaert, Frans Hals, and others. Its storerooms became known when two tronies by the painter Frans Hals were discovered languishing there in 1958 by Irina Linnik, who recognized them as the lost paintings by Hals of the evangelists Luke and Matthew.^[4] These two were once part of a foursome described in 18th-century auction documents. She traced their history back to the 17th century, and after her work was published in 1959, the other two of John and Mark were also rediscovered. Art of China, Japan, India, Iran and Tibet is represented in the Eastern halls of the museum. The collection includes silk paintings, porcelain, amazing embroideries, ancient weaponry, statuettes and other items from the XVI-XVII centuries.^[5]

On July 20, 2023, at night, the building of the Odesa Museum of Western and Oriental Art was damaged as a result of an enemy rocket attack on Odesa during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Minister of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine Oleksandr Tkachenko said that the ministry is holding talks with international partners on the priority conservation of the affected museums. The Ministry of Culture also calls on UNESCO "to name the aggressor and rethink its role in the organization's governing bodies."^[6]