Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

TASTE OF CATHERINE II.25

national monument which they possess. The Kremlin is the work of the Russian genius;. but that irregular, picturesque marvel is at length condemned to pass under the yoke of modern art : it is the taste of Catherine II., which still reigns in Russia.

That woman, who, notwithstanding the grasp of her mind, knew nothing of the arts or of poetry, not content with having covered the empire with shapeless monuments copied from the models of antiquity, left behind her a plan for rendering the facade of the Kremlin more regular ; and here behold her grandson, in part executing the monstrous project : flat white surfaces, stiff lines, and right angles replace the recesses and projections, the slopes and terraces, where lights and shadows formerly played; where the eye was agreeably bewildered, and the imagination excited by external staircases, walls encrusted with coloured arabesques, and palaees of painted Delft ware. Let them be demolished, let them be concealed; —are they not going to be replaced by smooth white walls, well-squared windows, and ceremonious portals? Xo ! Peter the Great is not dead: the Asiatics whom he enrolled and drilled, travellers and imitators, like him, of the Europe which, while continuing to copy, they affect to disdain, pursue their work of barbarism, miscalled civilisation, deceived by the maxims of a master who adopted uniformity for his motto, and the uniform for his standard.

There are, then, neither artists nor architects in Russia: all who preserve any sentiment of the beautiful 0u<2;ht to throw themselves at the feet of the emperor, and implore him to spare his Kremlin.

VOL, III.С