Lot 5: VASILY VASILIEVICH VERESCHAGIN

VASILY VASILIEVICH VERESCHAGIN 1842-1904 ON CAMPAIGN with hand-written authentication in Cyrillic by the artist's widow dated 15 October 1904 and further inscribed B380 / KIZ-OZZZ B.Avantso / Moskva by another hand on the reverse, and with P.P.Okhurov exhibition stamp on the stretcher oil on canvas 100.5 by 76cm, 39 1/2 by 30in.

Stockholm: Swedish Art Association, Exhibition of Russian Art, 21 February - 9 March 1919, No.72

Exhibition Catalogue Exhibition of Russian Art, Stockholm: Swedish Art Association, 1919, No.72, listed p.20

In late December 1877, Vereschagin was posted with General Skobelev near Sheinovo, south of the Shipka Pass, where he observed the difficult passage of Russian troops over the snow-covered mountains, prior to the decisive battle. Vereschagin's Balkan series is more natural and fluent in execution that the Turkestan collection, but even so, the present composition is extraordinarily complex and perhaps the most artistically ambitious of the entire series: a brittle web of branches weaves through the sharp blue shadows and angled rifles, man and nature locked in a beautiful, symbiotic pattern of life and death. 'His landscapes have been acclaimed by the most advanced impressionists as illustrating the best achievements of that school' (The Vereschagin Collection Catalogue, Waldorf Astoria, 1902).

The perceptive comment of a critic at his 1882 Berlin exhibition is apt: 'when one glances at Vereschagin's striking paintings, it comes involuntarily to mind that here before us are juxtaposes something higher of which human creativity is capable - art, and something lower to which we descend - the bloody business of Cain' (quoted in V.Barooshian, V.V.Vereshchagin: Artist at War, University Press Florida, 1993, p.92). Pavel Tretyakov's daughter, Vera Ziloty, recalled the impression that the Balkan paintings made on her in a Moscow exhibition. 'Against a black background, under electric lights, it felt as though the paintings were actually alive. I was startled, moved, terrified, overwhelmed... from behind the paintings carried the sounds of a harmonium, lilting, soft and plaintive. I can hear even now how Mendelssohn's Song Without Words tugged at my heartstrings. There was hardly a soul without tears in their eyes; I hid in a dark corner of the room and wept' (V.Zilioti, In Tretyakov's House, New York, 1954, p.238).

The unsold paintings from the 1891 auction in New York were returned to Russia and some remained in the collection of the artist's family. After Vereschagin's death in 1904, his widow was forced to sell almost all the remaining works to pay off debts. The authentication written by her on the reverse of the offered canvas indicates that she was asked to confirm its authenticity when the painting changed ownership. It is thought to have hung in Okhurov's boutique on Tverskoy Boulevard and to have later been sold at Avantso's famous shop on Kuznetsky Most.

Alexandre Dumas fils pronounced Vereschagin's scenes of the Russian war equal 'only to certain pages of Tolstoy', and indeed, the present image of anonymous and dutiful soldiers recalls the following passage by the great writer:

'The spirit of the Russian soldier is unlike the bravery of the Southern nations, for quickly kindled and cooling enthusiasm. It is as difficult to set him on fire as it is to compel him to lose courage. (...) In the Russian, the real Russian soldier, you will never observe boastfulness, bravado, the tendency to get demoralised or excited in the face of danger. On the contrary, modesty, simplicity, and the capacity to see in danger something quite different from danger – these are the distinctive traits of his character' (L.Tolstoy, The Wood-Felling, 1856).