Lot 103: IOSEF IOSEFOVICH CHARLEMAGNE

1824-1870 VIEW OF THE ANICHKOV BRIDGE, ST PETERSBURG signed in Latin, inscribed St. Petersburg and dated 1859 l.r. watercolour, gouache and pencil on paper 30 by 42cm, 12 by 16 1/2 in.

Acquired from a private European collection in the 1980s

Iosef Charlemagne, whose family came from Rouen to join the court of Catherine II, grew up in Russia and studied at the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. The offered lot is a charming example of his work, depicting the celebrated Anichkov Bridge and Baron Klodt’s sculptures, The Horse Tamers. The second version of the bridge, more suited to the growing traffic on Nevsky Prospekt, was finished in 1842, during Charlemagne’s youth.