Lot 461: Alexander Briullov (1798-1877)

Alexander Briullov (1798-1877)
Portrait of Princess Elisaveta Nikolaievna Chernyshev (1809-1879)
signed 'A. Brulloff' (centre right)
watercolour, heightened with white and with gum arabic in places, on paper
9¾ x 8 in. (24.9 x 20.2 cm.)
Executed circa 1830

London, Belgrave Square, Exhibition of Russian Art, June - July 1935, no. 339.
Moscow, Museum of Private Collections, Pushkin's Contemporaries: 100 Portraits in Watercolour from a Parisian Collection, May - July 1999. Moscow, Pushkin Museum, Alexander Pavlovich Briullov. Russian intimate Portraits, 2008, no. 25.

M. Baruch & I. Sakharova, Russian Portraits in Watercolour (1825-1855), Paris, 1994, pp. 26 and 27, illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, Alexander Pavlovich Briullov. Russian intimate Portraits, Moscow, Pushkin Museum, 2008, p. 39 , no. 25.

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As well as his more famous brother Karl Briullov, Alexander's great- grandfather, grandfather and father were all artists of varying ability. After studying architecture at the Imperial Academy of Arts, Alexander was sent with Karl to study architecture and art in Italy, Germany and France. On his return to Russia in 1830, Alexander was appointed Professor of Architecture at the St Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts. Having executed a large number of watercolours in the years spent abroad, once home, Alexander turned his attention primarily to architecture and was involved in the reconstruction of the Winter Palace following the fire of 1837.

In this work Briullov masterfully conveys the elegant bearing of the mother and her tender affection for her children. Princess Elisaveta Nikolaevna Chernyshev (1809-79), seated with two of her four children, was the daughter of Count Nikolai Ivanovich Zotov, councillor of State, and Princess Elena Alekseevna Kurakin. In 1825 Elisaveta became the third wife of Alexander Ivanovich Chernyshev, defence minister to Nicholas I on whom were bestowed the titles of Count in 1826, Prince in 1841 and Serene Highness in 1849. A sophisticated and highly educated woman, the Princess was an established member of St Petersburg society.