Lot 13: VASILY VASILIEVICH VERESCHAGIN

VASILY VASILIEVICH VERESCHAGIN 1842-1904 THE PORTICO OF A CHURCH signed with initial in Cyrillic l.l. oil on canvas 45.1 by 60.3cm., 17 3/4 by 23 3/4 in.

Acquired from the Art Institute of Chicago, 1902
The collection of Ambassador Charles R. Crane
Christie's New York, Property from the Collection of Ambassador Charles R. Crane, 24 April 2006, lot 20

During his lifetime Vereschagin was perhaps the most celebrated of all Russian artists, to the extent that in the mid-1880s he had to decline invitations to display his work in various European cities. Though associated with the Itinerant movement, he was not formally a member and instead exhibited his works independently all over the world, including America, where European art had grown to become the ultimate symbol of affluence and cultural attainment.

Vereschagin returned to Russia from abroad in December 1887, and in the spring of 1888 he visited the medieval cities of Yaroslavl, Rostov and Kostroma and Makaryev to make studies of the region's cultural and religious monuments and portraits of 'Russia's ordinary people'. The rich frescoes and unevenly tiled floor in the present work are thought to belong to the interior of the Church of St John the Baptist in Tolchkovo, near Yaroslavl, which Vereschagin is known to have painted in 1888 (fig.1). The warm glow in the present work, occasional illuminated details and light streaming through the window are characteristic of his finest church interiors.

Vereschagin was a great enthusiast of early Russian architecture which he felt should be a primary source of inspiration for contemporary architects, and in a letter to V.N. Tretyakova on February 29, 1896, he describes his series of paintings of wooden churches in northern Russia as some of his most successful works. According to a contemporary historian who met him in Yaroslavl, he would set up his easel in museums, churches and monasteries and paint quickly: "Once he decided to record his native art in paintings, (he) not only became well acquainted with it but devoted himself entirely to its comprehensive study" (M.Semevsky, 'Putevye ocherki, zametki i nabroski', Russkaya starina, October 1889, p.204).

Charles R. Crane was well acquainted with Vereschagin and owned several of the artist's paintings. He acquired the present lot in February 1902, along with six other works sold by the Art Institute of Chicago on the artist's behalf. The canvas is listed as No.53 Portico of church in Russian village in a letter from the Institute to Ambassador Crane (The Bakhmeteff archive, Columbia University, New York); at $1,000, it was one of the most expensive of the works he purchased.