“Fontanka”

A wide river recedes into thick fog, its embankments lined with grand stone buildings that fade into ghostly outlines toward the horizon. Small boats and barges sit moored along the near bank, and the pale disc of the sun or moon hangs low in the milky sky, its reflection catching faintly on the water.

Everything is painted in close, greyed tones of lilac, blue-grey and soft ochre, with edges softened almost to invisibility to suggest damp, heavy air. The muted, even light and near-total loss of detail create a hushed, mysterious calm over the cityscape.