Dynastic Rule

Published to coincide with the centenary of the Russian Revolution in 1917, Dynastic Rule celebrates one of the great success stories of a stormy period of Russian history. This book tells the story of two directors of the State Hermitage Museum, who (for over five decades between them) have presided over what has become one of the greatest museums of the world. Saved from the Bolshevik revolution in 1917, the Hermitage was run from 1964 until his death in 1990 by Boris Borisovich Piotrovsky. His son, Mikhail Borisovich Piotrovsky, took over the reins in 1992; his tenure has recently been extended until at least 2020.

Geraldine Norman was born in 1940. Having read mathematics at Oxford University, she joined The Times newspaper as a statistician in 1962. In 1967 she launched the Times-Sotheby index of art prices and in 1969 became the sale room correspondent of The Times. In 1987 she moved to The Independent newspaper, leaving in 1995 to write her book The Hermitage: The Biography of a Great Museum (1997). She subsequently became director of the Hermitage Development Trust (1999-2001) and editor of the Hermitage Magazine (2003-2005). She remains a trustee of the Hermitage Foundation UK which she founded in 2003.