Skapo Street in Vilnius

Skapo Street, with its picturesque arch, running between Pilies and Universiteto streets, is also popular in works of art. It is the narrowest street in Vilnius, with a 1.9-metre-wide road. Its name comes from Stanisław Skap, a royal secretary who lived in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the 16th century and had a house there. In this picture by Jan Gintowt-Dziewałtowski (1904–1980), the street is pictured at a very romantic time of day, late on a winter’s afternoon. The cold blue nocturnal colours are warmed by a street lamp, and by the lights in small windows in the houses, which gives the Old Town a feeling of tranquillity and warmth. As in his other canvases, the artist combined different types of brushwork: he painted the walls, the roofs and the snow-covered cobbles with fine-coloured and vibrant brushwork; and he painted the sky quite evenly, thus emphasising the playfulness of the different textures. Text author Laima Laučkaitė.