Lot 319: Karl von Hampeln (1794-1880)

Karl von Hampeln (1794-1880)
Portrait of Vasilii Petrovich Miliukov
signed and inscribed 'Hampeln/sourd:muet/à Moscou' (lower right)
watercolour, heightened with white and with gum arabic in places, on paper
10¾ x 8 7/8 in. (27.5 x 22.6 cm.)
Executed after 1838

Paris, Salle Pleyel, Exposition Pouchkine et son époque, 1937.
Moscow, Museum of Private Collections, Pushkin's Contemporaries: 100 Portraits in Watercolour from a Parisian Collection, May - July 1999.

M. Baruch & I. Sakharova, Russian Portraits in Watercolour, 1825-1855, Paris, 1994, pp. 44 and 45, illustrated.

The Collection of Alexandre Semenchenkoff; Christie's, London, 22 October 1987, lot 624.
Collection of Alexandre Polonsky, Paris.

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 15% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis.
The handsome young Miliukov was an ensign of the Horse-Artillery of the Guard. Contrary to the picture's mountainous background the work was executed in Moscow; Petrovich likely asked the artist to paint this landscape to serve as a reminder of his time in the Caucasus which had resulted in his promotion to second lieutenant in 1840.
The artist Karl von Hampeln was born in Moscow, deaf and dumb. He did not execute this work in 1828 as once thought, rather the picture dates from at least as late as 1838: along the interior rim of the round edges of Petrovich's epaulettes it is possible to detect a fourth narrow thin thread which was only introduced at the end of 1838.

We would like to thank A. M. Gorshman for identifying the sitter.