Lot 111: RUSSIAN SCHOOL

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE EUROPEAN COLLECTION 19TH CENTURY VIEW OF THE LOBANOV-ROSTOVSKY PALACE, ST PETERSBURG watercolour and ink on paper laid on board 40.2 by 60cm, 15 3/4 by 23 1/2 in.

Christie's London, Galerie Popoff, 12-13 October 2009, lot 451

The palace was built between 1817-1820 for the Prince A.Y. Lobanov-Rostovsky, Alexander I's aide-de-camp, by the French architect Auguste de Montferrand (1786–1858). The main entrance with its eight-column portico faces the Admiralty building and the expanse of St Isaac's Square and can be admired in the offered lot. The building's most celebrated feature are the two marble lion statues guarding the facade, immortalised in Pushkin's poem The Bronze Horseman.