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Lot Essay
Prince Paul Troubetzkoy (1866-1938), celebrated sculptor of Russian and American parentage and Italian upbringing, moved to Russia in 1898. He set up a studio in Moscow, where he swiftly established himself as a fashionable portraitist and took up the post of professor at the Art Academy in Moscow. Troubetzkoy had arrived in Russia at an opportune time in the world of sculpture, and his innovative verve and elegance revitalised the uniform realism of the existing style. He became much sought after for his bronze portrait statuettes, was particularly favoured by the Imperial family, and depicted among others Lev Tolstoy, the Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna, the Prime Minister Count Sergei Witte, Prince Gagarin and Prince Lev Golitsyn.
As early as 1893, the sculptor Mark Antokol'skii was asked to work on a monument project commemorating the late Emperor Alexander II, but the project was later abandoned. The project was reactivated in 1910 with a national competition where no less than sixty models, including one by Troubetzkoy, were presented and exhibited all together for one week at the Marble Palace Manege; but again the project was abandoned. Troubetzkoy's projected model was sufficiently evolved to be published in a local magazine, as it was extremely popular with many of his artist friends and admirers.
Emperor Alexander II reigned from 1855 to 1881 and was known as a reformer. As soon as he acceded to the throne, he set about making educational reforms, reducing police surveillance, creating the first national bank, and is most celebrated for his 1861 emancipation of the serfs and consequent reformation of the feudal agricultural system. His reign introduced considerable progress in the Russian socio-economic system. In 1881, he was tragically assassinated by a Nihilist bomb.
Troubetzkoy chose to create an idealistic image of the progressive emperor, whose life and reign were cut short. His original maquette for the monument, re-exhibited in New York in 1911 at the Hispanic Society, reveals an elegant image, more vertical and animated than his earlier Alexander III. The swishing of the horse's tail and the lively turn of the horses head contrast effectively with the upright regal figure of the emperor, thus creating an image both of realism and ideology. The emperor sits on his mount over a steep precipice, symbolic both of his isolated idealism and of the sudden assassination; he nevertheless holds his cap in a gesture of accessibility to all his people. The monument to Alexander II was a more subtle and cerebral image than Troubetzkoy’s earlier Alexander III, its poetry and delicate modelling successfully translating into the small bronze format, as in the present lot. This rare and fine cast bronze reveals Troubetzkoy's mastery of technique in the sure swift strokes of the modelling, his imagination and his sensitivity to the subject.
As early as 1893, the sculptor Mark Antokol'skii was asked to work on a monument project commemorating the late Emperor Alexander II, but the project was later abandoned. The project was reactivated in 1910 with a national competition where no less than sixty models, including one by Troubetzkoy, were presented and exhibited all together for one week at the Marble Palace Manege; but again the project was abandoned. Troubetzkoy's projected model was sufficiently evolved to be published in a local magazine, as it was extremely popular with many of his artist friends and admirers.
Emperor Alexander II reigned from 1855 to 1881 and was known as a reformer. As soon as he acceded to the throne, he set about making educational reforms, reducing police surveillance, creating the first national bank, and is most celebrated for his 1861 emancipation of the serfs and consequent reformation of the feudal agricultural system. His reign introduced considerable progress in the Russian socio-economic system. In 1881, he was tragically assassinated by a Nihilist bomb.
Troubetzkoy chose to create an idealistic image of the progressive emperor, whose life and reign were cut short. His original maquette for the monument, re-exhibited in New York in 1911 at the Hispanic Society, reveals an elegant image, more vertical and animated than his earlier Alexander III. The swishing of the horse's tail and the lively turn of the horses head contrast effectively with the upright regal figure of the emperor, thus creating an image both of realism and ideology. The emperor sits on his mount over a steep precipice, symbolic both of his isolated idealism and of the sudden assassination; he nevertheless holds his cap in a gesture of accessibility to all his people. The monument to Alexander II was a more subtle and cerebral image than Troubetzkoy’s earlier Alexander III, its poetry and delicate modelling successfully translating into the small bronze format, as in the present lot. This rare and fine cast bronze reveals Troubetzkoy's mastery of technique in the sure swift strokes of the modelling, his imagination and his sensitivity to the subject.