Lot 3: VASILY VASILIEVICH VERESCHAGIN

VASILY VASILIEVICH VERESCHAGIN 1842-1904 MONASTERY TOWER oil on canvas laid on panel 30 by 18cm, 11 3/4 by 7in.

Stockholm: Swedish Art Association, Exhibition of Russian Art, 21 February - 9 March 1919, No.74

Exhibition Catalogue Exhibition of Russian Art, Stockholm: Swedish Art Association, 1919, No.74, listed p.20

The present depiction of the Melnichnaya tower of Vologda's Spaso-Prilutsky monastery forms part of a series of sketches of Russia's ancient cities and their inhabitants which Vereschagin began in the 1880s after a period of extensive travel abroad. He visited Yaroslav, Rostov, Kostroma and Makarev where, in addition to his painting in situ, the artist collected local artefacts and costumes which he would later exhibit alongside his paintings. Although he was never an ardent or idealistic Slavophile, Vereschagin did publish several articles at this time calling for the preservation of Russia's ancient architecture.

The art historian Mikhail Semevsky recalled the enthusiasm with which Vereschagin worked on this series, and his great affection for the ancient monuments: 'His easel, canvas and paints would appear in museums, places of worship, monasteries, on the street or in a church portico in sight of some distinctive entrance.... He works with remarkable speed, sketching everything he considers worth recording with astonishing accuracy'.

Characterised by well-defined under-drawing and a delicate, simple palette in harmony with the landscape, these sketches differ dramatically from the richly-worked treatment of his earlier oeuvre. Executed predominantly in half-tones and with a lightly-loaded brush, these mature studies underpin Vereschagin's respect for the purity and simplicity of life in provincial Russia. They complement perfectly his cycle of portraits of the local inhabitants, which imbues the weather-worn faces of 'unremarkable people', as the artist described them, with great substance and inner worth.