Lot 98: KOUZNETSOV, NIKOLAI (1850-1929) Portrait of Misha

KOUZNETSOV, NIKOLAI (1850-1929) Portrait of Misha and Portrait of Marusya, two works, each signed with initials, titled in Cyrillic and dated 1891. Each oil on canvasboard, measuring 31.5 by 22.5 cm and 25.5 by 19.5 cm respectively.
Two works presented here are the portraits of the artist’s children Mikhail and Maria. Maria Kouznetsova-Benois was a renowned opera singer and a star of the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg. She was one of the most prominent women of Russia’s Silver Age, working with Sergei Diaghilev, Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and Richard Strauss, and singing with the famous Feodor Chaliapin. Her first husband was Albert Benois, a son of the artist Albert Nikolaevich Benois.

Provenance: Collection of the artist.
Thence by descent to Mikhail Tolstoy, the artist’s grandson.
Thence by descent.
Private collection, Slovenia.

Authenticity of the work has been confirmed by the expert V. Petrov.