The collection of pictures by Dutch artists of the XVII century is comparatively small, but precious. This was the period of the blooming of the realistic art, conditioned by the victory of the national liberation movement and the bourgeois revolution in Holland. A prominent place in the art of the first half of the XVII century belongs to the works of Gerrit van Honthorst. His two portraits, united by a common subject are splendid. One of them depicts a young man sounding a note on the violoncello, the other portrays a young woman tuning a guitar.

Scenes from everyday life attained exceptional development in Dutch painting of the XVII century. A great many pictures were painted on themes from the life of artisans and peasants, depicting whom the artists frequently resorted to coarse humour an caricature (Jan Molenaer - "In the Tavern"). Great success was attained by Dutch landscape painters, who were the first to turn to an original depiction of their native scenery. Their art can be judged by the work of one of the best pupils and continuer of the traditions of the eminent Dutch landscape painter Jacob van Ruisdeel "Meindert Hobbeme" ("Landscape with a Mill") Naturalness of portrayal and softness of the laconic spectrum of colours gladden the eye in the "Still Life with a Rabbit" by the Flemish painter Jan van Kessel. Among the best works of German art on display in the gallery is the picture "Three Saints" by an unknown artist of the Lower Rhine school of the middle of the XV century. This is a masterpiece of its time. It vividly embodies the typical features of early German Renaissance, which was closely linked with the traditions of medieval Gothic art. The picture is admirable in the astonishing harmony and grace of its forms, the clear-cut restraint of its composition, the intense appeal to its brilliant colours, the contrast of its deep tints. A new feature here is the more lifelike characterization of the subjects each of whom has been endowed with individual traits.

Early German painting is represented by exceptionally valuable and rare pieces: "Carrying a Cross" (1475) of the Hans Multscher school and an alter folding with one side piece bearing a composition "Coronation with Backthorn" painted by Florian Winkel, master of epitaph. Examples of the development of the principles of realism in German art of the XVI century are the works of Wolfgang Krodel. In the picture "Goplgotha" he portrayed contemporaneous mercenary soldiers, middle-class citizens and peasants. In the distance one sees a typically German medieval town. Anton Raffael Merys was a prominent German artist of the XVIII century. The best qualities of his talent are most vividly displayed in his portraits, particularly in the spiritualized "Portrait of the Engraver Barbolozzi" painted with penetration, with a feeling of profound respect for his fellow-artist.

The Gallery possesses an interesting collection of the works of Austrian artists. This collection is one of the most valuable among those available in this country. Decorative and monumental painting, an outstanding master of which was Paul Troger, was particularly developed in Austria during the XVIII century. Troger also did easel painting of a decorative nature, an example of which is his allegoric canvas "Innocence Punishing Cupid". Franz Anton Moulpertsch, the famous monumentalist and pupil of Troger, also worked on easel composition, refining and developing the principles of decorative painting ("Saint Thecla").