CODART is pleased to announce the completion of collection summaries for the three Ukrainian museums represented in the CODART museum guide: The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts in Kyiv, the Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery, and the Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art.

Despite the challenges faced by cultural institutions during the ongoing war, Ukrainian museums continue to preserve and study collections of international importance. Written in collaboration with the museums themselves, the new collection summaries on the CODART website highlight the Dutch and Flemish works in their care and make information about these holdings more accessible to an international audience.

Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts

The Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko National Museum of Arts in Kyiv houses one of the most important collections of Netherlandish art in Eastern Europe. Formed through the collecting activities of Bohdan and Varvara Khanenko, the collection comprises around 160 paintings dating from the fifteenth to the nineteenth centuries. Highlights include works associated with the workshop of Jheronimus Bosch, Pieter Brueghel the Younger, Jan Brueghel I, Peter Paul Rubens, Jacob Jordaens, and Jacob van Ruisdael. The museum also preserves an important collection of nearly 700 Netherlandish prints, as well as Flemish tapestries, stained glass, sculpture, and decorative arts from the Low Countries.

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

The Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery owes its holdings of Dutch and Flemish art largely to the collections of Galician aristocratic families. The collection includes outstanding examples of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century painting, ranging from still lifes by Jan Jansz van de Velde and Jan van Kessel to landscapes by Meindert Hobbema and mythological scenes by Jan Boeckhorst and Jacob de Backer. Among its most notable works are The Adoration of the Magi from the workshop of Pieter Coecke van Aelst and a pair of musical portraits by Gerrit van Honthorst.

Odesa Museum of Western and Eastern Art

In Odesa, the Museum of Western and Eastern Art preserves a smaller but highly significant collection of approximately 250 Dutch and Flemish works. Built largely from nineteenth-century collections in Odesa, the museum’s holdings include paintings, prints, and Delftware. The undisputed highlights are two paintings by Frans Hals, The Evangelist Luke and The Evangelist Matthew, complemented by works by artists such as Cornelis de Heem, David Vinckboons, Abraham Bloemaert, and Roelant Savery. The museum’s print collection includes works by Rembrandt, Adriaen van Ostade, and Jacob van Ruisdael.

The newly completed collection summaries form part of CODART’s ongoing effort to document collections of Dutch and Flemish art worldwide. The summaries can be found on the museums’ respective pages in the CODART museum guide.