The State Hermitage Museum: Exhibitions

View of the New Hermitage from Millionnaya Street

1861

Luigi Premazzi

Premazzi painted his view of the New Hermitage in 1861, after all the work on the series was complete. The Imperial Museum occupies the central position in the watercolour. Its main facade overlooks Millionnaya Street and is accentuated by the portal with ten splendid atlantes that Alexander Terebenev carved from grey granite. Behind the new building we can see the Small Hermitage and the Winter Palace.
The artist has set his depiction of the New Hermitage in a real-life urban landscape created in the traditions of the Italian vedutà. He introduces into the composition city-dwellers out strolling on a fine day, carriages and carts rattling over the cobbles. They bring the liveliness of springtime to the picture of the street. The bright, resonant warm palette, founded on contrasts, fills the work with abundant sunlight.