Lot 1136: The Russian imperial yacht Standart at the quayside

Nikolai Nikolaevich Gritsenko (1856-1900)
The Russian imperial yacht Standart at the quayside
signed 'N. Gritsenko' (lower right) and indistinctly inscribed (lower left)
oil on panel
17 x 12 in. (43.2 x 30.5 cm.)

The last Russian imperial yacht before the 1917 Revolution, the Standart was commissioned in 1895 and built by Burmeister & Wain in Copenhagen. A hugely impressive vessel of 4,334 tons (Thames measurement) and 450 feet in length that could steam comfortably at 18 knots was the largest royal yacht in the world for five years (until Victoria & Albert (III) was launched in 1900). The yacht proved to be a popular refuge for the imperial family as Russia's problems increased in the years leading up to the start of the Great War and the momentous events of 1917. After the Revolution the yacht became the Soviet minelayer Marti and 'survived' until the late 1960s.