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Lot Essay
In early September 1883, historian Alexander Fedorovich Onegin informed his close friend Pavel Vasilevich Zhukovsky, 'Harlamoff is travelling to Florence to paint the Demidoffs' (Ed. M.P. Alekseev, I. S. Turgenev: Questions of biography and work, Leningrad, 1982, p. 165). Portraits of Paul Pavlovich, 2nd Prince of San Donato (1839-1885) and of the Prince's four children from his second marriage to Princess Hélène Petrovna Troubetzkoy (1853-1917) were duly completed and subsequently exhibited at the Peredvizhniki ('Wanderers') exhibition of 1884-1885. Recorded in Bulgakov's volume of 1890 Nashi khudozhniki na akademicheskikh vystavkakh poslednogo 25-letiia, both paintings were subsequently believed to be lost; although the whereabouts of the Prince's portrait still remain unknown, the appearance of Harlamoff's second portrait is a major discovery.
The significance of this delightful commission lies in part in the fortuitous combination of subject and artist: the grand nieces and nephews of Anatole Nikolaevich, 1st Prince of San Donato (1813-1870) captured by the wildly successful Alexei Harlamoff, who Turgenev branded the 'greatest contemporary painter' of the 19th century. Anatole Demidoff's importance as both collector and patron of the arts can scarcely be exaggerated. The tremendous wealth accumulated by his ancestors as iron masters and suppliers of weaponry to the Imperial armies (to which the crossed hammers visible in the background of this portrait and at the top of the Demidoff coat of arms allude) was supplemented in the 19th century by the family's silver mines in the Urals and the discovery of malachite on the Demidoff estates. In addition to commissioning masterpieces from the leading artists of the day, including Delaroche and Delacroix, Demidoff also commissioned Karl Briullov to paint the Last Days of Pompeii, arguably the most famous Russian painting in history. As one Moscow poet put it, 'The last day of Pompeii was the first day of Russian painting' (quoted in F. Haskell, Anatole Demidoff, Prince of San Donato (1812-70), London, 1994, p. 18). Prince Anatole's notoriously turbulent marriage to Napoleon's niece, Princess Mathilde, was without issue. As such, it was Paul, the son of Anatole's older brother who inherited his Italian title. Himself a fanatical collector, 'the most indefatigable since the days of Lord Hertford' (ibid p. 28), Prince Paul's second marriage resulted in five children, four of whom: Avrora (1873-1904), Anatoli (1874-1943), Maria (1876-1955) and Pavel (1879-1909) provide the subject of this charming painting.
Famed for his immense ability to capture the beauty and innocence of his preponderantly young sitters, the Demidoff portrait is executed with Harlamoff's characteristic handling. Having graduated from the St Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts, Harlamoff was sent to Europe to complete his apprenticeship before settling in Paris. Turgenev's support and the artist's primary concern with aesthetic composition over any underlying social message positioned Harlamoff as the natural alternative to Stasov's protégé Repin. While Repin, likely spurred on by professional jealousy at Harlamoff's commercial success, was quick to dismiss Harlamoff as cosmopolitan and pro-Western, Repin's champion, academic David Jackson, cannot but admire Harlamoff's 'innate concern for the harmonies of colour and a delicate refinement of drawing' (D. Jackson, The Russian Vision: The Art of Ilya Repin (1844-1930), 2006, p. 274).
The significance of this delightful commission lies in part in the fortuitous combination of subject and artist: the grand nieces and nephews of Anatole Nikolaevich, 1st Prince of San Donato (1813-1870) captured by the wildly successful Alexei Harlamoff, who Turgenev branded the 'greatest contemporary painter' of the 19th century. Anatole Demidoff's importance as both collector and patron of the arts can scarcely be exaggerated. The tremendous wealth accumulated by his ancestors as iron masters and suppliers of weaponry to the Imperial armies (to which the crossed hammers visible in the background of this portrait and at the top of the Demidoff coat of arms allude) was supplemented in the 19th century by the family's silver mines in the Urals and the discovery of malachite on the Demidoff estates. In addition to commissioning masterpieces from the leading artists of the day, including Delaroche and Delacroix, Demidoff also commissioned Karl Briullov to paint the Last Days of Pompeii, arguably the most famous Russian painting in history. As one Moscow poet put it, 'The last day of Pompeii was the first day of Russian painting' (quoted in F. Haskell, Anatole Demidoff, Prince of San Donato (1812-70), London, 1994, p. 18). Prince Anatole's notoriously turbulent marriage to Napoleon's niece, Princess Mathilde, was without issue. As such, it was Paul, the son of Anatole's older brother who inherited his Italian title. Himself a fanatical collector, 'the most indefatigable since the days of Lord Hertford' (ibid p. 28), Prince Paul's second marriage resulted in five children, four of whom: Avrora (1873-1904), Anatoli (1874-1943), Maria (1876-1955) and Pavel (1879-1909) provide the subject of this charming painting.
Famed for his immense ability to capture the beauty and innocence of his preponderantly young sitters, the Demidoff portrait is executed with Harlamoff's characteristic handling. Having graduated from the St Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts, Harlamoff was sent to Europe to complete his apprenticeship before settling in Paris. Turgenev's support and the artist's primary concern with aesthetic composition over any underlying social message positioned Harlamoff as the natural alternative to Stasov's protégé Repin. While Repin, likely spurred on by professional jealousy at Harlamoff's commercial success, was quick to dismiss Harlamoff as cosmopolitan and pro-Western, Repin's champion, academic David Jackson, cannot but admire Harlamoff's 'innate concern for the harmonies of colour and a delicate refinement of drawing' (D. Jackson, The Russian Vision: The Art of Ilya Repin (1844-1930), 2006, p. 274).