Lot 108: ALEXANDER BOGDANOVICH VILLEVALDE

ALEXANDER BOGDANOVICH VILLEVALDE 1857-AFTER 1906 A COSSACK AND A TOWNSGIRL signed in Cyrillic and dated 1899 l.l. oil on canvas 49 by 40.4cm, 19 1/4 by 16in.

A Don Cossack makes conversation with young woman in a scene from the Russian army's 1813-14 Northern European campaigns. References found in contemporary literature to an as yet unidentifed composition by Alexander Villevalde from 1899 entitled An Exchange of Pleasantries have led the art historian Sergei Podstanitsky to believe they may refer to the offered lot.