Lot 438: Piotr Sokolov (1787-1848)

Piotr Sokolov (1787-1848)
Portrait of Lazar Iakimovich Lazarev (1794-1871)
signed in Cyrillic 'Sokolov' and inscribed 'Graff Lazareff' (lower right)
watercolour, heightened with gum arabic in places, on paper laid down on card
11 x 9¼ in. (28 x 23.5 cm.)
Executed circa 1840

Moscow, Museum of Private Collections, Pushkin's Contemporaries: 100 Portraits in Watercolour from a Parisian Collection, May - July 1999.
Moscow, Pushkin Museum, 'I see myself as if in a mirror...' Contemporaries of A. C. Pushkin in the Portraits of P. F. Sokolov, 2003, no. 197.

M. Baruch & I. Sakharova, Russian Portraits in Watercolour, 1825-1855, Paris, 1994, illustrated pp. 141 and 142.
Exhibition catalogue, Piotr Feodorovich Sokolov. Russian intimate Portraits, Moscow, Pushkin Museum, 2003, illustrated p. 149, no. 197.

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Quite aside from their significant artistic contribution, it is difficult to overestimate the historical value of the works by watercolourist, lithographer and portrait artist Piotr Feodorovich Sokolov (1791-1848). The artist, who is irrevocably associated with the era of Pushkin, painted more than 500 watercolours of society beauties, military men, writers, artists, statesmen, beggars and so on in an age pre-dating photography.
Lazar Iokimovich Lazarev (1794-1871) provides the subject for this portrait. Lazarev was a member of a wealthy family of Armenian descent who entered the hussars regiment of the Imperial Guard in 1814 with whom he fought against Turkey and Persia from 1827-9. Lazar was promoted to the rank of major-general in recognition of the integral role he played in assisting over 40,000 Persian Armenians to emigrate to Russia in the years following the war. He received numerous military decorations including the Golden Sword. In 1834 he married Antoinette Biron of Kurland, the daughter of Gustav Biron.