Spassky Gates in Moscow
1854
- Period Late 19th century
- CategoryLandscape
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Carl Wilhelm Rabus depicts the Spassky (Saviour) Gates in one of the towers guarding the entrance to the Moscow Kremlin. Built in the fifteenth century and rebuilt in the seventeenth century, the turret was named in honour of a miracle-working icon of the Saviour.
The artist paints the tower at night, when the enigmatic and romantic moonlight lends a sense of solemn majesty to the medieval citadel. Two chapels with icons of the Saviour (right) and Mother of God Hodigitria (left) stand before the gates. An icon-lamp burns above the gates, while figures genuflect in the foreground. Flask and stopper. 1830s Underglaze and overglaze designs, paste and gilding on porcelain 23 (with lid) x 7.8 x 7.8 Russian Museum: From Icons to the Modern Times. Palace Editions, St Petersburg, 2015. P. 155.