On May 22nd 1888 in the 3rd
Spare's former ‘Ship’ room on the 2nd floor facing the large inner
courtyard, a display was arranged for Alexander III to choose a color to
repaint the Winter Palace. It included models of different color tones, old
paint samples and old paintings of the palace. Archival documents reveal
his decision was a denser shade of ocher than the previous decades.
In 1901, Nicholas II ordered the palace and the
surrounding buildings including the General Staff on Palace Square painted red like
the new fencing around the private garden. The controversial color among court
officials and the public did not sway Nicholas to change his choice until 1911
when Baron Fredericks proposed a more realistic lighter pink to match the
fence. It was never completed.
Samples (below) of the color scheme of the Winter
Palace from the 1760s to 1950s (note the colors for the columns and the changes to the palace gates)
1770s-1790s
1790s-1830s
1840s-1850s
1860s-1870s
1880s-1890s
1900s-1930s
1940s-1950s
Thank you! So interesting.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why it was painted green in the Forties if the palace had never looked like that in previous centuries. Or was it the colour chosen by Rastrelli?
In the late 1940s they were experimenting on the types of paint due to oils etc deteriorating faster with the cold temps. Different versions of ocher were prior then the dark red. Green/Blue was probably influenced by other buildings in St. Petersburg when the decision was made. In the 1920s-30s they did try various colors on sections of the palace.
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