A question of perspective

A long day today, spent wandering around The Hermitage museum here in St Petersburg. It is the most immense treasure trove of artworks and historic artefacts. We barely scratched the surface. This is Madonna and Child by Leonardo da Vinci, which was very popular with all visitors.

The museum is housed in the former Winter Palace, and the building itself is worth visiting for its architecture alone. The Romanov's lived in such splendour. When I look back, I see that most of the shots I took today were of the building and its details. It's great to visit a museum that allows photography (albeit without flash).

I don't really understand why people take photos of paintings. Generally speaking better reproductions of famous paintings are available elsewhere. I saw one chap having his photo taken standing next to the full length life size portrait of a very stylish French actress by Renoir, which was an amusing idea! But the scrum to photograph a painting on a mobile? That just bemuses me :)