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Lot Essay
Hakob Hovnatanyan was the foremost portraitist of 19th century Tiflis and one of the most distinguished Armenian artists of the Caucasus. Born in Tiflis in 1806 into the celebrated Hovnatanyan dynasty of Armenian artists, he inherited a tradition that extended back to the 17th century and is credited with founding the local school of secular portraiture, responsive to the cosmopolitan society of the 19th century Caucasus.
Working principally in Tiflis for more than half a century, Hovnatanyan portrayed the leading figures of Georgian, Armenian and Russian society - including members of the aristocracy, military officers, government officials, merchants, clergy and intellectuals. Amongst his sitters were the Russian Emperor Alexander II (r.1855-81) and the Georgian Governor E. Golovin (1782-1858). His portraits are distinguished by their controlled compositions, restrained palette, smooth handling of paint and penetrating characterization, with particular attention to the faces, eyes and hands of his sitters. His reputation was such that Shahen Khachatrian, the Armenian art historian and former director of the National Gallery of Armenia, described him as the "most talented" Armenian painter of his time, and the "Raphael of Tiflis" (Shahen Khachatrian, Hakob Hovnatanyan 1806-1881, Yerevan, 2015, p.4).
Hovnatanyan later established himself in Iran, where he became a court painter to Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar. There he painted the Shah, the heir to the throne and members of the Qajar court, as well as prominent figures from the Persian and Armenian communities. Amongst his most important royal commissions were grand equestrian portraits of Nasir al-Din Shah and his son Muzaffar al-Din Qajar (r.1896-1907) (Khachatrian, op.cit., pp.80-1 and M. Kazarian, Khudozhniki Ovnatanian, Moscow, 1968, nos.30-1) as well as a portrait of ‘Nasir al-Din Shah and a Cannon’ now in the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, which was sent as a gift by the Shah to the Austrian emperor Franz Josef I (1830-1916) (2691, Layla Diba and Maryam Ekhtiyar (eds.), Royal Persian Paintings: The Qajar Epoch: 1785-1925, New York, pp.245-7, no.76). Hovnatanyan died in 1881 and was buried in Tehran. Two depictions of him have survived, a photograph with his family and a self-portrait. On both, amongst the medals on his chest, one sees one of Nasir al-Din Shah’s highest orders, the third degree of the Order of the Lion and Sun – a sign of Royal recognition (Khachatrian, op.cit., p.78-9; Angelo M. Piemontese, ‘The Statutes of the Qājār Orders of Knighthood’, East and West, vol.19, 1969, fig.15a).
The present portrait exemplifies the qualities for which Hovnatanyan's Tiflis portraits are particularly distinguished. The sitter is presented in a compact, three-quarter-length composition against a smooth dark-green background. The deliberately restricted palette of black, white and green lends the image an austere elegance, and the precise rendering of the face, hair, clothing and jewellery is combined with a remarkably direct gaze. The understated pose—one hand concealed within the frock coat and the other held behind the back—conveys both reserve and social assurance.
The portrait is unsigned, as are the great majority of Hovnatanyan's known works. However stylistically it closely relates to his known body of work. The attribution to Hovnatanyan was made by the Georgian art historian Maia Tsitsishvili who recently published the work. It has also subsequently been studied and corroborated by Dr Irina Dzutsova, one of the leading specialists on Hovnatanyan and 19th century Georgian art (Irina Dzutsova, Akop Ovnatanian. Portrety – vospominaniya o khudozhnike, ‘Hakop Hovnatanyan. Portraits–Reminiscences about the Artist,’ Tbilisi, 2022).
Works by Hovnatanyan are preserved in major museum and royal collections across Europe, Russia, Iran and the Caucasus, including the Belvedere, Vienna; the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg; the State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow; the royal collections of Golestan Palace, Tehran; the National Art Museum of Georgia, Tbilisi; and the National Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan. His paintings remain comparatively rare in private collections.
THE SUBJECT
The subject of this painting is Prince Irakli Bagrationi-Gruzinsky, a direct descendant of King Erekle II of Georgia and heir to the Georgian royal house. He was the only son of Prince Alexander Bagrationi (1770-1844), son of King Erekle II, and Princess Maria Melik-Agamalyan (1808-82). Prince Alexander Bagrationi, was one of the most uncompromising opponents of Russian rule within the former Georgina royal family. Following the Russian annexation of Georgia in 1801, he lived in exile, eventually settling in Iran. There he married Maria Melik-Agamalyan, the daughter of the Armenian dignitary Sahak Melik-Aghamalyan. Their son Irakli was born into this politically and culturally significant Georgian-Armenian milieu.
In 1833, the Russian government formally recognised Irakli with the title of Prince Gruzinsky, literally ‘Prince of Georgia’. The following year he and his mother were ordered to move to St Petersburg. He was educated at the Alexander Cadet Corps and entered the Imperial Court as a page in 1835. He subsequently pursued a military career, serving in the Caucasus and attaining the rank of colonel. Irakli and his mother eventually returned to Tiflis, where they became prominent members of the city's aristocratic society. Beyond his military career, Irakli was involved in education and philanthropy. Between 1862 and 1864 he headed the Committee for the Spread of Literacy in Tiflis, overseeing two charitable schools that became popularly known as ‘Irakli's Schools’. Contemporary accounts describe him as reserved and withdrawn, characteristics that appear remarkably consistent with the introspective dignity of Hovnatanyan's portrait.
Surviving photographs of Irakli are preserved in the Giorgi Leonidze Literary Museum and the National Library of Georgia. These photographs, dating principally from the late 1850s and 1860s, reveal the same distinctive facial structure, dark hair, moustache and penetrating expression found in the present painting. The identification is further supported by the fact that Hovnatanyan is known to have portrayed members of the Georgian elite. A portrait of Irakli's mother, Maria Melik-Agamalyan, Portrait of a Woman with Amber Rosary, is preserved in the State Museum of Art of Georgia. The present portrait is dated to circa 1865. At this time Irakli was approximately 37 and yet unmarried, while Hovnatanyan was working in Tiflis shortly before his final departure for Iran. The sitter's youthful maturity and the comparison with dated photographic material are consistent with this chronology. Irakli Alexandrovich married Princess Tamara Davidovna Chavchavadze in 1870. He died in Paris in 1882 and was buried in the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral at Mtskheta. His death was widely noted in the Georgian press, reflecting the continuing symbolic importance of the Bagrationi dynasty in 19th century Georgia.
This portrait adds an important work to the small group of known portraits of members of the Georgian and Persian ruling elites by Hovnatanyan. It is particularly significant as a portrait of a member of the Bagrationi dynasty and as a rare example of the artist's mature Tiflis portraiture still in private hands.
Working principally in Tiflis for more than half a century, Hovnatanyan portrayed the leading figures of Georgian, Armenian and Russian society - including members of the aristocracy, military officers, government officials, merchants, clergy and intellectuals. Amongst his sitters were the Russian Emperor Alexander II (r.1855-81) and the Georgian Governor E. Golovin (1782-1858). His portraits are distinguished by their controlled compositions, restrained palette, smooth handling of paint and penetrating characterization, with particular attention to the faces, eyes and hands of his sitters. His reputation was such that Shahen Khachatrian, the Armenian art historian and former director of the National Gallery of Armenia, described him as the "most talented" Armenian painter of his time, and the "Raphael of Tiflis" (Shahen Khachatrian, Hakob Hovnatanyan 1806-1881, Yerevan, 2015, p.4).
Hovnatanyan later established himself in Iran, where he became a court painter to Nasir al-Din Shah Qajar. There he painted the Shah, the heir to the throne and members of the Qajar court, as well as prominent figures from the Persian and Armenian communities. Amongst his most important royal commissions were grand equestrian portraits of Nasir al-Din Shah and his son Muzaffar al-Din Qajar (r.1896-1907) (Khachatrian, op.cit., pp.80-1 and M. Kazarian, Khudozhniki Ovnatanian, Moscow, 1968, nos.30-1) as well as a portrait of ‘Nasir al-Din Shah and a Cannon’ now in the Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Vienna, which was sent as a gift by the Shah to the Austrian emperor Franz Josef I (1830-1916) (2691, Layla Diba and Maryam Ekhtiyar (eds.), Royal Persian Paintings: The Qajar Epoch: 1785-1925, New York, pp.245-7, no.76). Hovnatanyan died in 1881 and was buried in Tehran. Two depictions of him have survived, a photograph with his family and a self-portrait. On both, amongst the medals on his chest, one sees one of Nasir al-Din Shah’s highest orders, the third degree of the Order of the Lion and Sun – a sign of Royal recognition (Khachatrian, op.cit., p.78-9; Angelo M. Piemontese, ‘The Statutes of the Qājār Orders of Knighthood’, East and West, vol.19, 1969, fig.15a).
The present portrait exemplifies the qualities for which Hovnatanyan's Tiflis portraits are particularly distinguished. The sitter is presented in a compact, three-quarter-length composition against a smooth dark-green background. The deliberately restricted palette of black, white and green lends the image an austere elegance, and the precise rendering of the face, hair, clothing and jewellery is combined with a remarkably direct gaze. The understated pose—one hand concealed within the frock coat and the other held behind the back—conveys both reserve and social assurance.
The portrait is unsigned, as are the great majority of Hovnatanyan's known works. However stylistically it closely relates to his known body of work. The attribution to Hovnatanyan was made by the Georgian art historian Maia Tsitsishvili who recently published the work. It has also subsequently been studied and corroborated by Dr Irina Dzutsova, one of the leading specialists on Hovnatanyan and 19th century Georgian art (Irina Dzutsova, Akop Ovnatanian. Portrety – vospominaniya o khudozhnike, ‘Hakop Hovnatanyan. Portraits–Reminiscences about the Artist,’ Tbilisi, 2022).
Works by Hovnatanyan are preserved in major museum and royal collections across Europe, Russia, Iran and the Caucasus, including the Belvedere, Vienna; the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg; the State Museum of Oriental Art, Moscow; the royal collections of Golestan Palace, Tehran; the National Art Museum of Georgia, Tbilisi; and the National Gallery of Armenia, Yerevan. His paintings remain comparatively rare in private collections.
THE SUBJECT
The subject of this painting is Prince Irakli Bagrationi-Gruzinsky, a direct descendant of King Erekle II of Georgia and heir to the Georgian royal house. He was the only son of Prince Alexander Bagrationi (1770-1844), son of King Erekle II, and Princess Maria Melik-Agamalyan (1808-82). Prince Alexander Bagrationi, was one of the most uncompromising opponents of Russian rule within the former Georgina royal family. Following the Russian annexation of Georgia in 1801, he lived in exile, eventually settling in Iran. There he married Maria Melik-Agamalyan, the daughter of the Armenian dignitary Sahak Melik-Aghamalyan. Their son Irakli was born into this politically and culturally significant Georgian-Armenian milieu.
In 1833, the Russian government formally recognised Irakli with the title of Prince Gruzinsky, literally ‘Prince of Georgia’. The following year he and his mother were ordered to move to St Petersburg. He was educated at the Alexander Cadet Corps and entered the Imperial Court as a page in 1835. He subsequently pursued a military career, serving in the Caucasus and attaining the rank of colonel. Irakli and his mother eventually returned to Tiflis, where they became prominent members of the city's aristocratic society. Beyond his military career, Irakli was involved in education and philanthropy. Between 1862 and 1864 he headed the Committee for the Spread of Literacy in Tiflis, overseeing two charitable schools that became popularly known as ‘Irakli's Schools’. Contemporary accounts describe him as reserved and withdrawn, characteristics that appear remarkably consistent with the introspective dignity of Hovnatanyan's portrait.
Surviving photographs of Irakli are preserved in the Giorgi Leonidze Literary Museum and the National Library of Georgia. These photographs, dating principally from the late 1850s and 1860s, reveal the same distinctive facial structure, dark hair, moustache and penetrating expression found in the present painting. The identification is further supported by the fact that Hovnatanyan is known to have portrayed members of the Georgian elite. A portrait of Irakli's mother, Maria Melik-Agamalyan, Portrait of a Woman with Amber Rosary, is preserved in the State Museum of Art of Georgia. The present portrait is dated to circa 1865. At this time Irakli was approximately 37 and yet unmarried, while Hovnatanyan was working in Tiflis shortly before his final departure for Iran. The sitter's youthful maturity and the comparison with dated photographic material are consistent with this chronology. Irakli Alexandrovich married Princess Tamara Davidovna Chavchavadze in 1870. He died in Paris in 1882 and was buried in the Svetitskhoveli Cathedral at Mtskheta. His death was widely noted in the Georgian press, reflecting the continuing symbolic importance of the Bagrationi dynasty in 19th century Georgia.
This portrait adds an important work to the small group of known portraits of members of the Georgian and Persian ruling elites by Hovnatanyan. It is particularly significant as a portrait of a member of the Bagrationi dynasty and as a rare example of the artist's mature Tiflis portraiture still in private hands.