Napoleon at Moscow on 2 September and the empty city in John Pott Laslett's painting

The first sight of Moscow. John Pott Laslett.

On 2 September Napoleon approached Moscow and climbed Poklonnaya Hill, expecting that at any moment, somewhere near Dragomilovo, a delegation of townspeople would present him with the keys to the city. But by that day, of the 270,000 inhabitants the ancient capital had once held, no more than ten thousand remained, along with several thousand wounded soldiers. The city was empty. And a day later a devastating fire engulfed it.

The painting shows a monastery with a rather unusual dome on its church, resembling in shape the crowning spire of the Menshikov Tower. It is hard to say whether this is a real place or the effect of the artist never having seen the city himself.