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Lot Essay
The Gatchina Palace, near St. Petersburg, was first lived in by Count Orlov (1734-1801), the favourite of the Empress Catherine the Great of Russia, under whose ownership the majority of its contents were acquired. Following his death, the Empress gave the palace and much of the contents to her son, the future Emperor Paul I (1754-1801). The Gatchina inventory number recorded by Manke, loc. cit., refers presumably either to the Gatchina inventory of circa 1801, or to the 1853 inventory of the Imperial Collections.
It is not known when the picture passed into the Stroganov collection; however, the majority of the western picture collection was formed by Count Aleksandr Stroganov (1734-1811), who was president of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts from 1800-1811. Some western pictures were subsequently acquired by Count Pavel Stroganov (1823-1911), who decorated Stroganov House, on Sergiyevskaya (now Tchaikovsky) Street. The collection in the Stroganov Palace on Nevsky Prospect was nationalized in 1919. A large part, including the present picture, was sold at auction in 1931, while other pieces are in the Hermitage and the Russian Museum.
It is not known when the picture passed into the Stroganov collection; however, the majority of the western picture collection was formed by Count Aleksandr Stroganov (1734-1811), who was president of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts from 1800-1811. Some western pictures were subsequently acquired by Count Pavel Stroganov (1823-1911), who decorated Stroganov House, on Sergiyevskaya (now Tchaikovsky) Street. The collection in the Stroganov Palace on Nevsky Prospect was nationalized in 1919. A large part, including the present picture, was sold at auction in 1931, while other pieces are in the Hermitage and the Russian Museum.