Window on St. Isaac's

Tall wooden shutters and glazed doors stand open beneath an arched ceiling, framing a view across a jumble of metal rooftops toward the great dome of St. Isaac's Cathedral in the distance, birds circling near its lantern. Faintly visible on one windowpane is the reflection of a bearded face looking back into the room.

Executed entirely in fine pen-like cross-hatching on toned paper, the composition builds deep tonal contrast from the dark window frames to the pale sky, rendering brick, tile, and stone with painstaking precision. The layered perspective and spectral reflection lend the print a quiet, mysterious stillness, as though the room itself is watching the city.