Eduard Hau (Russian: Эдуа́рд Петро́вич Га́у; 28 July 1807 – 3 January 1888) was a Baltic German painter, draughtsman, and graphic artist, best known for his meticulously detailed watercolour interior portraits of the Russian imperial residences.
Life
Hau was born in Reval (now Tallinn, Estonia) in the Russian Empire, the son of the painter Johannes Hau, who had emigrated from Northern Germany in 1795. His half-brother was the portrait painter Woldemar Hau. From 1830 to 1832, he studied at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts. He was married to Nelly Strieker, from Altenburg.
From 1836 to 1839, he lived in Dorpat (now Tartu, Estonia), where he also spent the last years of his life. In between, he lived primarily in Saint Petersburg. He was listed as a member of the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1854 and remained in Russia until approximately 1880.
Work
Hau is celebrated for his precise, jewel-like watercolours documenting the lavish interiors of Russian imperial residences, including the Winter Palace, the Hermitage, the Peterhof Palace, the Great Gatchina Palace, the Grand Kremlin Palace, the Mikhailovsky Castle, and the Cottage Palace in Alexandria village near Peterhof.
His major works include:
- The Main Staircase in the Hermitage (1853)
- Perspective View of the Hall of the Russian School in the Imperial Hermitage (1855)
- Cabinet of the Italian Schools (1860)
- Hall of the Coat of Arms (1863)
- Hall of the Field Marshal (1866)
Notably, the Great Gatchina Palace was burned by retreating German troops during World War II in 1944. When it was rebuilt, the interior was restored using Hau's 59 paintings from the 1870s–1880s as a guide.
Outside Russia, he is primarily known for his lithographic portraits of professors at the Imperial University of Dorpat, published from 1837 to 1839 in a series of six issues. Subjects included Friedrich Karl Hermann Kruse, Nikolay Pirogov, Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Struve, Friedrich Robert Faehlmann, and Johann Carl Simon Morgenstern.
Legacy
Hau's works are characterized by extraordinary precision in depicting the smallest architectural and decorative details—a quality difficult to achieve in watercolour painting. His extensive visual documentation of 19th-century Russian court interiors remains an invaluable historical and artistic record. His works are held in the collections of the Estonian Art Museum, the Hermitage Museum, and other major institutions.
