Show all images on one page	#007492 Title: St.Petersburg Artist: Kozlov Sergey Size: 11x12.5x3 Size (inches): 4.25x5x1.25 Price : $3950 SOLD!

This brilliant box painted by the outstanding Fedoskino artist Sergey Kozlov continues his series of works dedicated to the sights of St.-Petersburg. It shows a view of the city from the bank of Neva river in the 18th or 19th centuries. On the background we can see the St. Isaac's Cathedral that is a remarkable monument of Russian architecture. Alongside with the Peter and Paul's Cathedral and the Admiralty it became an important architectural landmark in the city outline.
The history of the construction of the St. Isaac's Cathedral began in 1710, when the first wooden church was put up in honor of St. Isaac of Dalmatia; it was on St. Isaac's day, according to the Orthodox calendar, that Peter I was born. The present Cathedral is the fourth erected on the site. In the early 19th century a contest was arranged for the best project of a new cathedral, in which the most well-known architects took part. In 1818 Alexander I approved a project submitted by A. Montferrand, a talented drawer who had just arrived from Paris; however, he had little experience in architecture. It took forty years to build the cathedral and another 16 years to paint the interior walls with icons. The Cathedral, that stands out for its grandeur, was sanctified in 1858 and became the main church in St.-Petersburg.
In this work the artist has used his favorite palette composed of various shades of gray oils mixed with aluminum powder. Mother-of-pearl fills the composition with a magic surrealistic glow. Mother-of pearl can be found in the the river and in the sky, but under the ship the artist has used aluminum paint, and he used it so masterfully, that it glows almost as mother-of pearl!
The box exterior is covered with black lacquer and decorated with metal gold and silver shapes cut out of gold and silver metal foil, and glued to the box manually(so called "scan"). Its interior is traditionally red.
The box is made out of paper-mache. It has a hinge from the left of the composition and rests on a flat bottom. Signed by Sergey Kozlov and the village of Fedoskino.