18 OCTOBER 1997, page 68

A Realist In Russia

Martin Gayford talks to the director of the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg M aybe one day we'll be rich enough to buy them back, and they'll be poor enough to sell them. But......

Arts

Retreat into decadence Are we living in a decadent era like the last fin de siècle? Philip Hoare investigates Oscar Wilde by Napoleon Sarony (1882), courtesy of the National......