Lot 6: PETR PETROVICH VERESHCHAGIN

PETR PETROVICH VERESHCHAGIN 1836-1886 VIEW OF ST. PETERSBURG signed in Cyrillic (lower right) and inscribed in Cyrillic (lower left); bears inscription in Cyrillic and numbers 1041 and 477 (on the stretcher) oil on canvas 16 by 28 1/2 in., 41 by 72.5 cm

Private Collection, Russia
Mikhail Kogan Gallery, Finland
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner, circa 1978

By the early 1800s, the St. Petersburg Academy was a world-renowned institution with an increasingly impressive roster of students, graduates and professors including some of the most accomplished masters of their fields, and the majestic skyline and bustling streets of the metropolis became a favorite subject for them all. Petr Petrovich Vereshchagin, an Academy graduate and Academician, traveled widely throughout Russia in the mid-1800s, developing a portfolio of images of the country's oldest cities and towns; most of these works were exhibited at the Academy in the late 1800s. Vereshchagin was particularly compelled by the Russian capital, which he rendered from numerous perspectives and in every condition, and a substantial number of these variations now hang in the collection of the State Russian Museum. The present, panoramic and dazzling View of St. Petersburg is one of the artist's most accomplished canvases of the period; it showcases his ability to capture painstaking detail and render atmospheric depth through perspective, following in the venerable tradition of veduta painting.

View of St. Petersburg comes to auction directly from the collection of Mikhail Baryshnikov.