Lot 6: VASILY VASILIEVICH VERESCHAGIN

VASILY VASILIEVICH VERESCHAGIN 1842-1904 THE TAJ MAHAL, EVENING stamped with Vereschagin Exhibition American Art Association stamp on the reverse oil on canvas 46.5 by 61cm, 18 1/4 by 24 in.

London, Grosvenor Gallery, Exhibition of the Works of Vassili Verestchagin, 1887, p. 42, no. 61
New York, American Art Galleries, Exhibition of the Works of Vassili Verestchagin, 1888, p. 44, no. 60
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Exhibition of the Works of Vassili Verestchagin, 1888, p. 40, no. 60
Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, Exhibition of the Works of Vassili Verestchagin, 1889

'Vassili Verestchagin, the Russian Painter at the Grosvenor Gallery, London', The American Architect and Building News, Boston, 26 November 1887, p. 257
'Verestchagins at Auction', The New York Times, 18 November 1891

American Art Galleries, New York, Vassili Verestchagin Collection sale, 17 November 1891, Lot 47, sold for $1,000
Acquired by Mr. A.L. Barber at the above sale
Private Collection, Virginia, until 1974
Private Collection, Virginia, 1974 (gift from the above)

'In my opinion there is nothing even in Europe which can surpass the Taj', wrote Vereschagin, 'this quiet, solemn, wonderful place of the last rest of a charming woman, who died giving birth to her first child, the future emperor. Built of white marble, it is decked from top to bottom with ornaments of lapis-lazuli, malachite, cornelians, and other precious stones. It is difficult to form an idea of the splendour of this building without seeing it... the Taj can be compared to a beautiful woman whom you make bold to criticise when she is absent, but in whose presence you can only say: Charming, charming, charming...' (the artist's annotation to Taj in Evening, no.60 in his 1888 New York exhibition catalogue).

The offered lot is one of the most important works to have come from Vereschagin's trip to India from 1874-1876. He often approached the same monument or landscape at different times of day and from varying perspectives, trying to catch the particularities of the changing light, and he is known to have painted few versions of the Taj Mahal. A smaller view from the river in bright daylight is a highlight of the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow (fig 2). Two additional views of the Taj from the garden, in the morning and the evening, were included in the sale at the American Art Galleries in New York in 1891. The present work was picked out by a Boston reviewer in 1887, '..."The Taj, at Evening", with the sunset glow upon it, and the same rising from the morning mists, are both excellent studies' (The American Architect and Building News, Boston, 26 November 1887).

In his monograph on the artist, Lebedev considered Vereschagin's painting of the Taj Mahal his most poetic work as it 'allows us to view the whole ensemble of the mausoleum more fully, it expresses the harmony of its proportions, the lightness and gracefulness of its forms, the play of the golden sun on its white surfaces and the great blue expanse above.' The reflection of the monument in the water is a characteristic feature of his most successful architectural views (fig. x). 'The river below further emphasises the ethereal dimension of the great building and its relationship to nature, and as a compositional technique, allows him to repeat the image in the shimmering water below. The glistening, sparkling repetition of the shape of the Taj in the water sets off its momentous beauty, and at the same time creates a rich colour harmony throughout the canvas'. (A.Lebedev, Vasily Vasilievich Vereschagin, 1972, p.152).

The intensity of colour in Vereschagin's Indian paintings surpassed that of his earlier works, including the Turkestan series, and astonished critics at home and abroad. 'Our astonishment and delight knows no bounds', wrote Stasov on seeing the Indian series (idem, p.156). 'Vereschagin has gone to school in the very home of colour. He has learned to see it on the Ganges, the Nile, and in the Steppes of Turkestan'. (art critic for Fremdenblatt newspaper in in The Vereschagin Collection Catalogue, Waldorf Astoria, 1902, p.11).