“Educational House in Moscow”, Fedor Yakovlevich Alekseev – overview of the painting 
- Author: Fedor Yakovlevich Alekseev
- Museum: Hermitage
- Year: 1800-1802
Overview of the painting :
Educational house in Moscow – Fedor Yakovlevich Alekseev. Watercolor on paper, 30.2 x 46.5 cm
At the beginning of the 19th century, the famous master of the urban landscape F. I AM. Alekseev, on the instructions of Paul I, went to Moscow in order to capture its views. The artist lived in Moscow for a year and a half with two students. He brought paintings and many watercolors with images of Moscow landscapes to St. Petersburg. These works were a great success in the capital society, the artist had no end to orders. For us, this series of paintings by Alekseev is interesting in that Moscow is shown on it until the Napoleonic fire of 1812
Landscape with the Educational House belongs to watercolors. Now it is stored in the storerooms of the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg.
The central part of the drawing is occupied by Moscow River. Boats and ships sail on calm water – the movement is rather lively. Off the coast there are mooring ships. In the lower right corner of the drawing, one of the sailors spread a fire on a raft – we see clubs of smoke. In front of the Educational House there is a floating pier.
The Kremlin is visible on the horizon. The sky, which occupies a half-draw, clear with rare cirrus clouds, it is pierced by the rays of the rising sun.
On the left side, the artist depicted the Raush embankment, then it was called Zayaitsky in honor of the church of Nikola Zayaitsky, built in the middle of the 18th century. His towers are visible on the left side of the drawing.
The Imperial Educational House is visible on the Moskvoretsky embankment. It was built in the XVIII century on the initiative of the famous enlightener, I. AND. Betsky. It was a closed educational institution for orphans, street children and tossed children, where they received shelter and were trained in crafts. It also housed a children’s hospital with a maternity hospital. The educational house was one of the largest buildings in Moscow at that time. He survived the fire of 1812 and survived to the present day.