Boris Legran

His goal was to turn objets d'art (for instance, the Fabergé jewelry) into a kind of "evidence to the oppression of peoples under the Tsarist regime".

Legran's three years in office are remembered for the scandalous sale of the highlights of the museum's collection to the West, primarily to Andrew W. Mellon.

With his connivance, clandestine auctions were held abroad, so as to raise additional money for the ongoing industrialization of the Soviet Union.

Legran believed that antique furniture, magnificent jewelry, and paintings on religious subjects were of little interest to the Soviet people.

Of these, 250 were seen as being major works, and 50 are now recognised as priceless masterpieces (e.g., Raphael's Madonna Alba and Jan van Eyck's Annunciation).

Boris Legran
The Alba Madonna by Raphael
The Annunciation , c. 1434, now National Gallery of Art , Washington, DC, 93 x 37 cm
Saint George and the Dragon , by Raphael, was purchased for the Hermitage by Catherine the Great in 1772, and later hung in the gallery of portraits of the generals who had defeated Napoleon. It was sold to Andrew Mellon in 1931.