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Lot Essay
A related chair with similar winged arm supports by the designer Andrei Voronikhin is illustrated in A. Chenevière, Russian Furniture: The Golden Age 1780-1840, New York, 1988, p. 157. Another Russian armchair with identical wing-form armrests attributed to Voronikhin based on a similar chair in the Pavlovsk Palace Museum (illustrated in H. Molesworth, Three Centuries of Furniture in Color, Milan, 1969, p. 236, fig. 389) was sold Christie’s, New York, 27 September 2000, lot 281.
Voronikhin, who was first discovered by Count A. S. Stroganov, was one of the most important neoclassical designers during the reigns of Paul I and Alexander I in the early nineteenth century. Born a serf to Count Stroganov and thought to be his illegitimate son, his artistic talent was recognized by Stroganov who sent him to study in Moscow. Liberated in 1785, Voronikhin was soon under Stroganov’s patronage and was sent by him for further study through to Paris. There, Voronikhin gained firsthand knowledge of the work of the most popular bronziers, silversmiths and sculptors. On his return to St. Petersburg in 1790, Stroganov commissioned him to design the interior schemes for his palace on the Nevsky Prospect in the center of Saint Petersburg not far from the Imperial Winter Palace, testifying to the prominence of the Stroganov family. Voronikhin's work within the newly-decorated building included the interiors of the mineral study, the library, and Count Stroganov's physics cabinet, among others. Voronikhin also worked extensively with the architect Vincenzo Brenna for Tsar Paul I at the Palace of Pavlovsk, and created designs for furniture, bronzes d'ameublement and mounted hardstones to provide a distinctively Russian interpretation of the prevailing neoclassical style of the Empire period.
Voronikhin, who was first discovered by Count A. S. Stroganov, was one of the most important neoclassical designers during the reigns of Paul I and Alexander I in the early nineteenth century. Born a serf to Count Stroganov and thought to be his illegitimate son, his artistic talent was recognized by Stroganov who sent him to study in Moscow. Liberated in 1785, Voronikhin was soon under Stroganov’s patronage and was sent by him for further study through to Paris. There, Voronikhin gained firsthand knowledge of the work of the most popular bronziers, silversmiths and sculptors. On his return to St. Petersburg in 1790, Stroganov commissioned him to design the interior schemes for his palace on the Nevsky Prospect in the center of Saint Petersburg not far from the Imperial Winter Palace, testifying to the prominence of the Stroganov family. Voronikhin's work within the newly-decorated building included the interiors of the mineral study, the library, and Count Stroganov's physics cabinet, among others. Voronikhin also worked extensively with the architect Vincenzo Brenna for Tsar Paul I at the Palace of Pavlovsk, and created designs for furniture, bronzes d'ameublement and mounted hardstones to provide a distinctively Russian interpretation of the prevailing neoclassical style of the Empire period.