Vasilij Vasil'evic Verescagin Sold at Auction Prices

Battle painter, Painter, b. 1842 - d. 1904

Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin (October 26, 1842 – April 13, 1904), was one of the most famous Russian war artists and one of the first Russian artists to be widely recognised abroad. The graphic nature of his realist scenes led to many of them never being printed or exhibited.

Vereshchagin was born at Cherepovets, Novgorod Governorate, Russia, in 1842 as the middle of three brothers. His father was a landowner of noble birth, while his mother was of common origin and had Tatar roots.[2][3][4] When he was eight years old, he was sent to Tsarskoe Selo to enter the Alexander Cadet Corps. Three years later, he entered the Sea Cadet Corps at St Petersburg, making his first voyage in 1858.[5] He served on the frigate Kamchatka, which sailed to Denmark, France and Egypt.

Vereshchagin graduated first in his list at the naval school, but left the service immediately to begin the study of drawing in earnest. Two years later, in 1863, he won a medal from the St Petersburg Academy for his Ulysses Slaying the Suitors. In 1864, he proceeded to Paris, where he studied under Jean-Léon Gérôme, though he dissented widely from his master's methods.

Vereshchagin was in the Far East during the First Sino-Japanese War of 1894–1895, and was with the Russian troops in Manchuria during the Boxer Rebellion of 1900.[2] In 1901, he visited the Philippines, in 1902 the United States and Cuba, and in 1903, Japan.
Letter to mother (1901) from the series dedicated to the Philippine–American War in 1898-1899

During the Russo-Japanese War, he was invited by Admiral Stepan Makarov to join him aboard Makarov's, Petropavlovsk. On April 13, 1904, Petropavlovsk struck two mines while returning to Port Arthur and sank, taking with it most of the crew, including both Admiral Makarov and Vereshchagin. Vereshchagin's last work, a picture of a council of war presided over by Admiral Makarov, was recovered almost undamaged.