Although the history of the Hermitage is quite interesting in itself, it is also important to focus on how the Hermitage acquired its entire collection. Peter the Great was the first big collector of Russia. On his many trips outside of the country, Peter learned a lot about the different cultures of Europe and brought many ideas back with him to St. Petersburg. On some of his trips, Peter would also bring back paintings that had caught his eye. Peter’s most important purchase is considered to be Rembrandt's "David and Jonathan," which is presently on display in the Hermitage (Turner 729).
His private collection also contained the works of Jean-Baptiste Oudry, Jean-Marc Nattier, Jan Steen, and Adriaen Van Ostade. Most of his private collection is currently on display in the Hermitage which includes many paintings, gold buckles and ornaments, as well as other miscellaneous objects. Some of these include the teeth of various individuals who made the mistake of telling Peter that they had a toothache. During his lifetime Peter was fascinated with dentistry and medicine. He even believed himself to be an excellent surgeon and carried with him different tools that would allow him to remove an aggravating tooth. Eventually Peter's guests learned to say no whenever Peter inquired (Norman 13-15).
Peter the Great may have been the first czar to collect art from around Europe, but his collection is nothing in comparison to Catherine's. During her reign, Catherine did more to further the development of the Hermitage than any czar before or after her time. Of all the paintings she acquired in her lifetime, her most famous purchase included the deal she made with Johann Gotzkowski for 225 Old Master paintings in 1764. The paintings had originally been accumulated by Gotzkowski for Frederick the Great of Prussia. Frederick however could not afford them due to lack of funds caused by the Seven Years War and Gotzkowski turned to Catherine who accepted his offer (Norman 29).
In 1766, Catherine made another famous purchase with the help of Prince Dmitry Golitsyn who was her ambassador to France. It was in that year that Golitsyn helped Catherine buy Rembrandt's "Return of the Prodigal Son" from a man by the name of M. d' Amezun. Later on that same year, Catherine once again turned to Golitsyn when she needed a sculptor who was capable of creating a life like statue of Peter the Great. The sculptor chosen for the job was Falconet and his finished work is none other than the famous Bronze Horseman that is situated in front of St. Isaac's Cathedral located on the banks of the Neva River (Norman 29, 30). Over the years, Catherine's collection continued to grow as she took various works from collections all over Europe. In 1768 for example, Golitsyn was able to find her two small collections that contained Dutch and Flemish paintings. These collections were those of Charles-Joseph, Prince de Ligne and Johann-Phillip, Count Cobenzl, the Austrian emperor's minister at the Belgian court. Cobenzl's collection was a very important purchase in that it contained nearly 4,000 Old Master drawings and had made up a substantial amount of Catherine’s collection. In 1769, Catherine stumbled onto yet another collection. The collection was that of Count Heinrich von Bruhl. Bruhl's collection included the works of Rembrandt, Rubens, Jacob van Ruisdael, and Wouwermans. In all, Catherine paid 180,000 Dutch guilders for the assortment that included nearly 600 paintings and 1,076 drawings (Norman31, 32). Over the years, Catherine's collections steadily grew and eventually accumulated to well over 2,500 canvases as well as "tens of thousands of other works, from sculptures, tapestries, coins and medals to cameos, enamels, silver and porcelain" (Morris). In 1790, Catherine wrote a letter to her agent and dear friend Friedrich Melchior Grimm. The letter referred to her enormous collection and how it was far superior to all the other monarchs of her day. In her letter she stated, "'Besides the paintings and the Raphael Loggia,' she wrote referring to her 4,000 Old Masters and the copies she had commissioned of frescoes Raphael painted for the Vatican Palace in Rome, 'my museum in the Hermitage contains 38,000 books; there are four rooms filled with books and prints, 10,000 engraved gems, roughly 10,000 drawings and a natural history collection that fills two large galleries.'" In her letter, Catherine failed to mention her extensive collection of medals and coins which contained close to 16,000 pieces (Norman 23).
One of Catherine's many snuff boxes 
Painting of Catherine the Great 
One of Catherine's clocks
When comparing the collections of all of the czars of Russia, Catherine is in a league of her own. No other collection can even come close to rivaling hers. So when one looks at Nicholas the First's collection, it is not fair to merely compare numbers. Nicholas' collection was much different than that of Catherine’s. He did however have his fair share of paintings. His entire collection consisted of 666 paintings, "of which 650 were military scenes." Besides paintings, Nicholas also chose to focus on the medieval and antique weapons of different European countries. His collection includes "medieval torture instruments, Mannerist helmets from Milan, Russian hatchets, their blades patterned with inlaid gold, and jeweled Indian daggers." In all, Nicholas' set includes "6,000 European arms, 2,000 items of Russian manufacture and another 7,000 or so pieces from the Orient, principally Turkey, Persia and India" (Norman 83). Another big part of the Hermitage collection are the Faberge eggs that were handed out as an Easter tradition by Alexander III and Nicholas II. This tradition was started in 1884 when Alexander presented one of these eggs to his wife, Marie. After Alexander died, his son Nicholas II continued this tradition by ordering two eggs every year. One egg was for his mother while the other was for his wife, Alexandra. Faberge had absolute power when it came to design and choice of materials. He even came up with the idea of using the egg as only a shell that when opened would reveal a hidden treasure within (Massie 175-76). Today, there are nearly 100 objects in the Hermitage that were made by Faberge. These collections can be seen in the exhibit entitled "Great Faberge in the Hermitage" by either going online or by taking an actual tour of the museum (Great Faberge in the Hermitage).
From 1852 until the October Revolution of 1917, the Hermitage entered a period of stagnation. One of the main causes for this was that the control of the museum started to fall out of the hands of the Imperial family and it was placed into those of professional administrators. In 1863, Stepan Gedeonov became the first director of the museum. From this time on, the administrator's taste and preferences led the way as he was the one who persuaded the emperor to buy certain works of art. Also, under the reign of Alexander III, the emperor decided that he wanted to create a museum of Russian painting. The museum was opened after his death by his son Nicholas II and is known today as the Russian Museum. Because of this new establishment, only part of Alexander's collection ever made it into the halls of the Hermitage. The part of Alexander’s collection that did make it into the Hermitage included a 750-piece assortment that was owned by Alexander Basilewski. The collection cost 2.2 million gold roubles and was paid for by the emperor in person in the year 1885. After Alexander died in 1894, Nicholas II took over and his collections included a variety of objects including the famous Faberge eggs. The next major acquisitions made by the Hermitage would not be made until the Revolution of 1917 during which the museum was able to confiscate numerous private collections from all over St. Petersburg (Norman 86, 93-94). Today, the State Hermitage Museum is considered to be one of the most popular tourist attractions in all of Russia and one of the best art museums in the world. Today the Hermitage is home to the collections of various Russian czars as well as pieces of art from all across Europe and Asia. Since it was first built, the Hermitage has gone through its share of hardships. There was the fire of 1837, the siege of Leningrad, as well as the general wear and tear that starts to appear after a couple hundred years. But even through all of this adversity, the State Hermitage Museum still survives and is able to bring joy to people from around the world.