18 June – 31 August, the Gatchina Palace
One Piece Exhibition
Strolling with Pavel Petrovich. "The Atlas of the Gatchina Palace…"
On 18th June the Gatchina Museum-Preserve inaugurates a one piece exhibition presenting the album of architectural drawings "Atlas of Gatchina Palace with its gardens, menageries and other structures, including the town and fields.” The Atlas includes 50 sheets dpeicting design drawings for the palace and park structures as well as watercolor landscapes.
The Album was compiled in 1798 as instructed by Paul I and is a valuable iconographic document that allows for the tracing of alterations done to the Gatchina Palace to make it eventually a unique whole. Efforts to compile the album were led by architect V. Bazhenov and admiral G. Kushelev who was head of His Imperial Highness's Mapping Agency (hence the second title of the Atlas - Kushelev's album).
It is unknown who created the design drawings in the Atlas, while the watercolors are signed with the name of Gavriil Sergeevich Sergeev (1765-1816), whose work has been recently of particular interest to researchers. G. Sergeev had no artistic training and learned how to draw while charting maps. He served as a mapmaker at the Mapping Agency and was involved in capturing moments of numerous military campaigns waged in Bessarabia and Finland. Together with M. Kutuzov, he participated in the diplomatic mission in Turkey, where he mapped Constantinople in great detail.
The watercolors depicting the palace are meticulously painted and recapture the views from Paul's time with a document-like precision. Viewing the Gatchina palace, Venus Pavilion, Grand Terrace, Eagle Pavilion, Chesma Obelisk, the Dutch Gardens and the Karp Pond is like joining Pavel Petrovich for a stroll over two hundred years ago.
Some of the design drawings in the Atlas are virtually identical to the drawings from the architectural album that contains designs for structures and parks from the estate of Chantilly in France that Grand Duke Pavel and his wife Maria Feodorovna visited while touring Europe in 1781-1782 under the pseudonym of the Counts Severny. (The similarity is evident, particularly between the design for the Silvia park with surrounding areas and the design for Petit Parc). As is known, the couple was greatly impressed with Chantilly and its owner Louis Joseph Condé, Louis XVI's cousin, presented Paul with the album "Collection of designs for castles, parks and gardens at Chantilly completed in 1784" (also known as the Count Severny's Album), which served as the basis for the remodeling of the Gatchina park.
The regrettable death of the Emperor in 1801 brought construction to a halt. Some of the structures in the album failed to attain their intended appearance with most lacking their sculptural decoration, but even in their incomplete state they provide visitors with a sense of historical continuity and an elusive link between the past and the present which are so difficult to capture.