Moscow from the Neskuchny Gardens — engraving

Moscow from the Neskuchny Gardens.

Technique, Material:   Steel engraving / Paper
Artist: A. G. Vickers ,  Engraver: J. H. Kernot
Date, Publisher: "A Journey to St. Petersburg and Moscow through Courland and Livonia", London, 1835.
Size: sheet 23,8x16, image 14,5x9,7 cm.

This exquisite engraving offers a picturesque view of Moscow from the Neskuchny Gardens, looking across the Moscow River toward the city's skyline in the mid-1830s.   

About the View
The scene depicts the Moskva River as seen from the slopes of Neskuchny Garden, the oldest park in Moscow, located on the right bank of the river. With a wooden raft floating downstream in the foreground and the distant towers and domes of the ancient capital rising on the horizon. The garden's name, "Neskuchny," meaning "not boring" or "merry," derives from the estate of Prince Trubetskoy, who was renowned for hosting lavish entertainments, masquerades, and fireworks for Moscow's nobility in the 18th century.

The view is described by the author Leitch Ritchie, whose travel narrative accompanied this illustration: "the Moskva is in front, with one of the long rafts of the country floating down the stream; and in the distance, the city rises above the horizon, with the tall tower of Ivan Velikoi overtopping the whole. From this place the ground on which it stands appears to be almost flat; but as we advance towards it, from the rising and falling of the parts of the picture, we perceive that in reality, the city stands on lofty ground swelling from the water's edge, and variegated with numerous eminences".

The tower of Ivan the Great (Ivan Velikoi) in the Moscow Kremlin is clearly visible dominating the skyline, serving as a vertical anchor for the composition. This bell tower, completed in 1600 under Tsar Boris Godunov, was for centuries the tallest structure in Moscow and a symbol of the city's spiritual and political heart.

History of Neskuchny Gardens.
The Neskuchny Gardens were formed from the amalgamation of three noble estates along the Moscow River: those of the Golitsyns, the Demidovs, and the Trubetskoys. The core of the park originated with the garden created in the mid-18th century by Prokofy Demidov, a wealthy industrialist and passionate botanist. On the steep riverbank, Demidov constructed terraced gardens and planted over 2,000 species of rare plants, creating what contemporaries considered one of the finest gardens in Europe . After Demidov's death, the estate passed through various owners, including Count Alexei Orlov-Chesmensky, who added numerous pavilions and garden follies.

In the early 1830s, Tsar Nicholas I acquired all three estates and united them into a single imperial residence, which he named Neskuchnoye . The main palace, formerly the Demidov mansion, was renamed the Alexandria Palace in honor of the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna . During the imperial period, the gardens were occasionally opened to the public for festivities when the royal family was absent . This 1835 view, therefore, captures Moscow just as the gardens were transitioning from private noble estates to an imperial domain.

This engraving was created for the sumptuous illustrated travel book "Russia Illustrated" (full title likely "A Journey to St Petersburg and Moscow through Courland and Livonia"), published in London in 1835–1836.

Artist (drawing): Alfred Gomersal Vickers (1810–1837) — An English landscape painter who, at the young age of 23, was commissioned in 1833 by the publisher Charles Heath to travel to Russia and make a series of sketches.

Engraver: James Harfield Kernot (c.1802–1858) — A British line engraver specializing in landscapes and topographical views.

Publication: The engraving appeared in Leitch Ritchie, "A Journey to St Petersburg and Moscow through Courland and Livonia" (London: 1836), opposite page 187 . This was one of many lavishly illustrated travel books produced in London during the 1830s, catering to the British public's fascination with foreign lands. Ritchie's accompanying text provides the evocative description of the view quoted above.

This engraving represents a remarkable collaboration between a young English artist who traveled to Russia and a skilled London engraver who translated his watercolor into a finely detailed steel plate. It offers a rare glimpse of Moscow before the great transformations of the later 19th century, when the city's skyline was still dominated by the Kremlin towers and the riverbanks retained their natural, pastoral character. The view from Neskuchny Gardens, looking toward the ancient capital, captures a moment of transition — between the noble estates of Catherine's century and the imperial residences of Nicholas I, between the Moscow of folklore and the modernizing city of the railroad age.