Work on the interior decoration of St Isaac’s Cathedral triggered the resurgence of mosaic art in Russia in the 19th century. There are 62 mosaic pieces here totaling an area of 500 sq.m. Work on mosaics began in 1851 and continued up to 1941.
Based on the sketches by T.A. Neff, the mosaics in the bottom tier of the main iconostasis were the first to be made. Among them are St Catherine by A.N. Frolov, E. Lindblat and F. Gartung, as well as St. Nicholas of Myra in Lycia by I.C. Shapovalov, M.P. Muravyov and M.I. Shchetinin.
The icons in the second tier of the main iconostasis were transferred to mosaics, as well as the images of The Passions of Christ and the four evangelists in pendentives.
A brilliant example of the mosaic replacement is the icon The Last Supper, executed from S. Zhivago’s sketches by mosaic artists I.P. Kudrin, I.A. Laveretsky, M.P. Muravyov, I.A. Pelevin and N.Yu. Silivanovich. This work reflects an influence of the famous fresco by Leonardo da Vinci. In making The Last Supper the optical technique of colour mixing was used. To achieve a proper colour shade, coloured pieces of smalt were assembled to merge in such a way as to produce the right colour when viewed from a distance.
The mosaics beautifully render the cold glittering of metal, satin clothes, and warmth of human hands. To convey wealth of colours of a painting, mosaic makers made use of smalt pieces of over 12,000 tones.
The mosaics in St Isaac’s Cathedral are distinguished for their perfect craftsmanship. At the 1862 World Exhibition held in London they received the highest praise. The experts noted that the Russians “reached perfection in the making of smalt unmatched elsewhere in Europe”.
