Petr Petrovich Vereshchagin

Acquired directly from the artist in St Petersburg by the German Vice-Consul in the 1880s
Thence by descent

Possibly Philadelphia, World Exhibition, 1876, listed as Dvortsovaya ploshchad v Peterburge 

Structural condition The canvas is unlined on what would appear to be the original keyed wooden stretcher. There are some drips of paint on the reverse of the canvas and a slight craquelure pattern which is entirely stable and is not visually distracting. Paint surface The paint surface has an even varnish layer. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows very small scattered spots and lines of inpainting in the sky which are most concentrated in the upper right. There is also a small, horizontal area of retouching in the foreground and other very small scattered retouchings. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in very good and stable condition and no further work is required.
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This spectacular view of the landmarks around Palace Square is exhibited for the first time in over 120 years, having remained in private hands since it was acquired from the artist by the ancestor of the present owners in the 1880s during his posting as German Vice-Consul to St Petersburg.

The State Russian Museum holds three views of St Petersburg by Petr Vereshchagin, each of which is similarly signed in the lower right corner and inscribed S.Peterburg lower left: View of the Liteiny Bridge, St Petersburg (37 by 74.5cm); View of the Neva Embankment by the Academy of Arts in St Petersburg on a Summer’s Evening (35 by 71cm); View of the Neva Embankment by the Academy of Arts in St Petersburg on a Summer’s Day (42.8 by 72.2cm, fig.1). The comparable dimensions and technique suggest that the present work may have been part of this series.

The present composition depicts the northernmost point of Nevsky Prospekt with documental accuracy, the Winter Palace on the right and the Admiralty on the left. The dense line of masts beyond rival the majestic lines of the two Rostral columns on Vasilievsky Island, and remind of the city’s important naval history. This picturesque vista was a favourite with artists of the period and appeared in numerous decorative objects and lithographs (fig.2).

The Italianate feel of Vereshchagin's cityscapes is in part due to the instruction of his tutor, the landscape painter Sokrat Maksimovich Vorobev (1817-1880), who had spent several years in Italy. Inspired also by Canaletto’s works which had been purchased by Catherine the Great and were on display in the Hermitage Museum (fig.3), Vereshchagin became a master of perspective, as Fedor Bulgakov notes. His cityscapes are topographically precise, while also delving deep into the bustling life of the city, a feature of the veduta style made famous by the great Italian artist. It is these distinctively human elements that set apart Vereshchagin’s depictions of the northern capital from the more formal views of his contemporaries. In the present work for example, we see the family groupings, children and street-vendors carrying wares above their heads that feature in Nevsky Prospekt, St Petersburg (fig.4); a military figure in a carriage sweeps away from the Winter Palace; a beggar is given alms nearby; dogs run freely.

Petr and his older brother Vasily Petrovich Vereshchagin (1835-1909) were the first significant painters to emerge from the Urals. Although not native to the city, Petr Vereshchagin had a life-long fascination with St Petersburg which he vividly depicted in numerous compositions. As a student, he spent seven years in the city at the Imperial Academy of the Arts and grew to become a highly successful artist in his day. According to Bulgakov almost all his works were shown in academic exhibitions to which he became a contributing member in 1868. Although he travelled widely throughout his career, it was to St Petersburg he chose to return, where eventually he died in 1886.