 Shchedrin returned to St. Petersburg in 1776 and became a professor of landscape painting in the Academy of Arts.One of his students at the Academy was Fyodor Matveyev.Shchedrin was assigned to draw views of the palaces and parks of Catherine the Great, which brought into existence such works as "View of the Large Pond Island in the Tsarskoselsky Gardens" (1777), "View of the Large Pond in the Tsarskoselsky Gardens" (1777), "View of the Farmyard in the Tsarskoye Selo" (1777).