This work depicts the view onto Moscow from the highest point of the Kremlin Hill. The white wall and towers of the ancient citadel are depicted in close-up. The Kremlin cathedrals can be seen on the left. Although the architectural ensemble of the Kremlin was already in place by the 1330s, it was rebuilt on a number of occasions, following fires and wars. The blocks of white stone at the wall on the right show that reconstruction of the Kremlin Hill continued even in the late eighteenth century. The building in the background is the Foundling Hospital, opened by Catherine the Great under the influence of the humanitarian ideas of the Enlightenment.

De La Barthe Gerard

De La Barthe, Gerard (Circa 1730 - ?)
French painter, landscapist. Studied under Joseph-Marie Vien. Worked in Russia (1787–1810). Information on the artist is extremely sketchy. Several publications identify him with his namesake, also a painter who worked in the latter half of the eighteenth century. Painted a series of views of Moscow and its environs in oil and watercolours (1794‒1798) which are well-known thanks to the engravings done by various engravers, first published in Moscow in 1799 by Johann Walser.