View of Senate Square — engraving

"ST PETERSBOURG".

Technique, Material:  Steel engraving / Paper
Artist: Adolphe Rouargue, Engraver: Adolphe Rouargue
Date, Publisher: F. Chardon aine, 30, rue Hautefeuille, Paris, Furne et Cie, 1844.
Size: sheet 24x16, image 14x10 cm.

One of several steel engravings created from a drawing by D. Bydgoszoz, "ST PETERSBOURG" depicts a view of Senate Square, the St. Isaac's Floating Bridge, and the cathedral. This engraving was printed by the publishing house Furne et Cie (Paris) in 1844.

The engraving presents a winter view of Senate Square, capturing all the splendor and grandiose scale of the new, young capital of the Russian Empire. The composition is enlivened by figures of townspeople and carriages on the ice of the Neva River, as well as the famous monument to Peter the Great — the Bronze Horseman.

At the time the engraving was created, St. Isaac's Cathedral was still under construction: the central dome had not yet been completed, and the artist added it based on architectural plans. As a result, the dome in the engraving differs somewhat from how it appeared after the final completion of construction in 1858.

This is a remarkable example of how mid-19th century European publishers introduced their readers to the architectural masterpieces of distant Russia, sometimes supplementing reality with artistic imagination.