Lot 14: Petr Petrovich Vereshchagin (Russian, 1836-1886) View of the Kremlin from the Moskvoretsky Bridge

View of the Kremlin from the Moskvoretsky Bridge
signed in Cyrillic (lower left)
oil on canvas
39.4 x 95.5cm (15 1/2 x 37 5/8in).

Sold with a certificate from the State Tretyakov Gallery, 30 March, 2005.

Petr Petrovich Vereshchagin is classed among the remarkable Russian landscape painters of the second half of the XIX century. Within the landscape genre, he specialized in architectural and panoramic views of Russian cities, and in View of the Kremlin from the Moskvoretsky Bridge, he portrays one of the most stunning architectural landscapes of Moscow. This panoramic view of the Moscow Kremlin was painted from one of the corner watchtowers, Beklemishev, which was erected in the middle of the XV century for defence purposes. The palaces and temple buildings tower over the Kremlin wall and a succession of fortresses and among them are the Grand Kremlin Palace, Blagoveshensky, Archangelskij and Uspensky Cathedrals as well as the slender bell tower of Ivan the Great.

The monumental austerity of the architecture exists happily alongside the daily routine of city life. Along the Moskvoretsky Bridge and its embankments people hurry in carts, ladies are busy with their shopping, and young couples are strolling leisurely, while hawkers of all sorts are in a rush to deliver their goods to customers. Essentially, the artist portrays the bustling reality of city life. Vereshchagin had successfully mastered the depiction of such urban scenes and landscapes, especially as they were much sought after by art lovers at the time. The artist repeatedly painted views of the Moscow Kremlin, each time selecting a new visual angle, altering the composition as well as rearranging the locations of the figures. In each instance, the painting remained true to the solemn beauty of the mighty fortress of Moscow.

Vereshchagin was part of a group of artists know as the 'vidopistsii' and it was common for artists of this genre to depict urban scenes and panoramas. Apart from Moscow landscapes, Vereshchagin's canon consists of numerous paintings of St. Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Pskov, as well as Caucasian landscapes and cities. In the mid-1870s, Vereshchagin painted a series of landscapes of the Chusovaia River, in the Urals, depicting almost every turn of its peculiar movement between mountain gorges and forests.

The meticulousness of his work as well his affection for the views he painted enable Vereshchagin's paintings to retain their wide appeal today.

Galina Churak