Lot 203: Franz Nikolaevich Riss, 1804-1886 , Portrait of a man said to be Orest Kiprensky oil on canvas

signed in Latin m.r. and dated 1832 oil on canvas

67.5 by 55cm., 25½ by 21½in.

Orest Kiprensky (1782-1836) was born the illegitimate son of a nobleman and was brought up as a serf. When his talent was acknowledged at an early age, he was sent to the Academy of Arts. Though trained as a history painter at the St. Petersburg Academy, Kiprensky eventually focused on portraiture. His unconventional self-portraits are remarkable illustrations of the growing awareness of self that characterized the Romantic movement.