Watercolors from the collection of the Gatchina Museum-Reserve in the Museum named after Pushkin

MOSCOW. In the exhibition halls "Mezzanine" Museum. Pushkin on Prechistenka December 16 opened an exhibition of watercolors with images of the famous Gatchina Palace. The exhibition exposition included 56 watercolors by Eduard Gau, as well as 2 watercolors created by Luigi Premazzi. In addition to watercolors with images of interiors, at the exhibition you can also see authentic objects that adorned the halls of the palace and rare editions associated with the name of the emperor.

All exhibits belong to the collection of the Gatchina Reserve Museum. The Gatchina Palace acquired the status of a museum in 1918. Due to the variety of interiors created in different eras, as well as the wealth of collections collected in the palace, the museum, located 45 km from St. Petersburg, began to be called the “Suburban Hermitage”.

During the war, the palace was seriously damaged; its restoration was only begun in 1976. Now in its original form you can see only the ceremonial interiors located in the Central building. Restoration became possible only due to the fact that watercolors created by the famous artist Eduard Gau were preserved. They were evacuated on the day the war began and returned to Gatchina decades later.

Eduard Gau painted the interior of the palace for six years, starting in 1874. He created 56 sheets, on which all the details of the design of the halls and rooms of the palace were transferred with amazing accuracy and reliability. In the same years, two watercolors were painted by Luigi Premazzi.

To this day, restorers have resorted to the help of these watercolors, as they accurately convey the shades of colors, which was impossible to obtain before the era of color photographs.

You can get acquainted with the unique works of watercolor masters until the end of March.

Ludmila Trautmane © Gallerix.ru