.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Ivan Pokhitonov was a self-taught artist who became an active member of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts and a member of the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions or Peredvizhniki. He spent most of his life in France and Belgium and was greatly respected by art lovers as an unrivalled master of miniature painting and a favourite of the famous collector, Pavel Tretyakov (1832-1898).
Pokhitonov had many different interests as a young man. He first went to study at the Cadet School with dreams of having a career as an officer, following family tradition. Later, having chosen to study natural history, he moved to the Moscow Academy of Agriculture, then to the Zoology Faculty in Odessa. In 1876 Pokhitonov travelled to Italy for further study before moving to Paris, where his natural talent developed significantly under the guidance of the artist Aleksei Bogoliubov (1824-1896).
With a keen focus on rural scenes, Pokhitonov was seduced by the Barbizon school, their focus on painting en plein air and in particular the work of Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier (1815-1891) who painted simple scenes of nature and ordinary people. Meissonier was instrumental in Pokhitonov’s decision to concentrate on miniature painting and to primarily use wood as a support. In 1878 Georges Petit (1856-1920) became Pokhitonov’s dealer, creating a contract stipulating that the artist’s works were exclusively handled by his gallery. Thanks to Petit’s relations with the French and American market, Pokhitonov subsequently enjoyed significant commercial success and was singled out for praise in 1882 by the famous French art critic Alfred de Lostalot (1837-1909) (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1882, p. 607).
An avid hunter himself, Pokhitonov included hunting scenes in several of his works. In the present work, the hunter is depicted in a suspended moment, his rifle focused on a flock of birds in his line of sight. The hunter is portrayed without dramatic effect, a simple element of the composition, which serves to heighten the opulence of nature’s bounty.
Pokhitonov had many different interests as a young man. He first went to study at the Cadet School with dreams of having a career as an officer, following family tradition. Later, having chosen to study natural history, he moved to the Moscow Academy of Agriculture, then to the Zoology Faculty in Odessa. In 1876 Pokhitonov travelled to Italy for further study before moving to Paris, where his natural talent developed significantly under the guidance of the artist Aleksei Bogoliubov (1824-1896).
With a keen focus on rural scenes, Pokhitonov was seduced by the Barbizon school, their focus on painting en plein air and in particular the work of Jean-Louis-Ernest Meissonier (1815-1891) who painted simple scenes of nature and ordinary people. Meissonier was instrumental in Pokhitonov’s decision to concentrate on miniature painting and to primarily use wood as a support. In 1878 Georges Petit (1856-1920) became Pokhitonov’s dealer, creating a contract stipulating that the artist’s works were exclusively handled by his gallery. Thanks to Petit’s relations with the French and American market, Pokhitonov subsequently enjoyed significant commercial success and was singled out for praise in 1882 by the famous French art critic Alfred de Lostalot (1837-1909) (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, Paris, 1882, p. 607).
An avid hunter himself, Pokhitonov included hunting scenes in several of his works. In the present work, the hunter is depicted in a suspended moment, his rifle focused on a flock of birds in his line of sight. The hunter is portrayed without dramatic effect, a simple element of the composition, which serves to heighten the opulence of nature’s bounty.