Robert N. Oddy is a Stained Glass artist in Syracuse, New York. He has developed a distinctive range of styles and techniques in response to the needs of his clients, one of whom was the Symphoria (later renamed the Syracuse Orchestra).
The orchestra performed Modest Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ as part of their 2024-2024 season, and Oddy created this work to raise money for them.
Oddy’s work was based on the painting by Viktor Hartmann, whose exhibition inspired Mussorgsky. Hartmann entered his painting into a competition for a gateway to be erected at Kiev in commemoration of what Russian writers of the period, working under the watchful eye of the Imperial censor, refer to circumspectly as “the event of April 4, 1866”. This was the date on which the Emperor, Alexander II, escaped assassination at Kiev. Hartmann’s drawing represented his project for a gate in the city of Kiev in the massive, old Russian style.
The archway rests on granite pillars, and is decorated with a huge headpiece of Russian carved designs, with the Russian state eagle above the peak. To the right is a belfry in three stories with a cupola in the shape of a Slav helmet. Hartmann’s design for the Great Gate of Kiev caused a sensation and he himself regarded it as his finest work. It has been reproduced more often than any of his designs and it inspired Mussorgsky to write one of his most magnificent pieces. But, the competition was called off and Hartmann’s Kiev gate was never erected.
Originally intended by Oddy to be one of three panels representing Hartmann’s works, the Symphoria’s performance was unfortunately postponed and so only this panel of the Great Gate was completed.