Voorzijde van de Kleine Hermitage in Sint- Petersburg 1898

Curator: This is a photograph titled "Voorzijde van de Kleine Hermitage in Sint-Petersburg," taken in 1898 by an anonymous artist. It's an albumen print, currently housed in the Rijksmuseum. Editor: My immediate impression is of monumentality and restraint. The monochrome tones give it a stoic presence. It almost feels staged, like a tableau vivant. Curator: Indeed. The composition relies heavily on Neoclassical principles: symmetry, proportion, and the imposing architectural form. Observe the Atlas figures supporting the portico—powerful mythological forms subjugated to architectural function. Editor: The use of albumen as the printing medium interests me. It hints at a laborious process, turning raw egg whites into the very fabric of art, reflecting domestic labour into monumental projects like this facade. Do we know what their production and printing contexts were? Curator: Unfortunately, details are sparse regarding this particular print’s creation. However, albumen prints were popular for their sharp detail and tonal range, attributes essential for conveying the architectural precision evident here. The print attempts to objectively record a prominent landmark and project civic pride and the might of Imperial Russia through carefully composed form. Editor: To consider albumen through material terms: each print depended on sourcing, preserving and preparing the egg whites—a distributed micro-economy made literally transparent here through the picture making, enabling such stately urban visions to be widely circulated. It also creates questions of labour and waste from each stage of preparation, framing Russia’s neoclassical project. Curator: A potent lens, reframing our reading of Russia’s grand architectural gesture here! Editor: Seeing how it connects those different scales from the macro of an imperial project to individual egg whites, transforms how we can consider urban spaces through photographs today. Curator: The play between architectural immutability and a more domestic origin encourages a far more reflective reading of image, indeed.