Lot 1: PIMEN NIKITICH ORLOFF

PROPERTY FORMERLY IN THE COLLECTION OF GRAND DUCHESS OLGA NIKOLAEVNA, LATER QUEEN OF WœRTTEMBERG, SECOND DAUGHTER OF TSAR NICHOLAS I 1812-1863 PORTRAIT OF AN ITALIAN SHEPHERD BOY WITH A FLUTE AND A SHEPHERD GIRL WITH A TAMBOURINE Quantity: 2 one signed in Latin, inscribed Roma, and dated 1846 l.r.; the other signed in Latin, inscribed Ischia and indistinctly dated to the 1840s t.r.; both frames bear the inventory labels of Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna: O.N. / No.225 and O.N. No.226; one also bears the inventory label of Grand Duchess Vera Konstantinovna (Herzogin Vera von Wuertemberg / Grossfuerstin von Russland): H.V.v.W. / G.v.R. / Privat-Eigentum / No.924 oil on panel both 30 by 23cm, 11 3/4 by 9 in.

Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna Romanova (1822-1892) Grand Duchess Vera Konstantinovna (1854-1912)

Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna (1822-1892) was a great beauty, who was painted by Winterhalter, and was known for her intelligence and culture. In 1846 while in Sicily she met Karl, the Prince of Württemberg, and they were married at Peterhof in the same year; they then moved to Stuttgart together. In1864 Karl and Olga became King and Queen of Wuertemberg. As their marriage remained childless they invited Grand Duchess Vera Konstantinovna, the daughter of Olga’s brother Grand Duke Konstantin (1827–1892), to live with them. When Tsar Alexander II came to Stuttgart in 1870, Olga and Karl received his permission to formally adopt the Grand Duchess. It is possible that these paintings were presented to Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna as a wedding present, as they were painted that year. The portrait of the boy was reproduced on a vase by the Imperial Porcelain Manufactory sold at Christie's London on 2nd December 2009, lot 125.