Lot 412A: Vasily Petrovich Vereschagin , 1835-1909 Prison Visit oil on canvas

signed and inscribed in Cyrillic Rome 1866 on reverse oil on canvas

33.8 by 45.6cm., 13 1/2 by 18in.

Acquired by the grandparents of the current owner in Mosow in 1947

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, SCANDINAVIA
The offered painting is a study for one of Vasily Vereshagin's most famous paintings, Prison Visit, 1868, which was exhibited in Rome (1868), London (1872) and Paris (1878) and is currently in the collection of The State Tretyakov Gallery. The finished version is mentioned in a letter written by Alexander Rizzoni to Pavel Tretyakov from Rome in 1868: 'We have just had an exhibition at the Piazzo del Populo where the a prize of 500 franks was awarded for the best work. The winner was none other than our friend Vereshagin for his painting 'A young woman visits her incarcerated husband with her child' (Pis'ma khudozhnikov Tretyakovu 1856-1869. p.205). The subject of the painting was drawn from the repressive period in Italy that followed the movement led by Garibaldi during the 1840-60s. The Kiev Museum of Russian Art owns several sketches for the work.