Lot 525: General Peter Nicholas (Nikolaevich) Krasnoff

General Peter Nicholas (Nikolaevich) Krasnoff (Russian, 1869-1947) The Auberge d'Aragon, Malta signed lower right "N Krasnoff" watercolour 14 x 22cm The Church of Our Lady of Victory, Malta signed lower left "N Krasnoff" watercolour 11 x 17cm The Tip of Valletta, Malta signed lower left "Krasnoff" watercolour 9 x 14cm three (3) Provenance: Captain Rapkin, RN, who was stationed in Malta with the Royal Navy at period between 1890 and 1930; a gift to his daughter, who grew up in Malta, and by descent with the family Nicholas Krasnoff studied art at the Petersburg Academy and became President of the Moscow Chamber of Architects. Krasnoff came to Malta as a refugee in 1919. He was a watercolour artist of great accomplishment. Princess Nathalie Poutintine wrote of him: "Nicholas Krasnoff was a well-known and talented artist; he had designed the beautiful new palace for the Imperial Family in Yalta. He was asked to give me lessons so as not to interrupt the tuition I was receiving in that art in Russia and for which I had an aptitude. I did greatly enjoy his lessons, sitting under a shady arch of military buildings in open air overlooking the blue sea. He explained to me the importance of light and shade and its techniques in watercolour. He found the light on the Malta stone most effective against the deep cobalt blue of the sea and sky. Puffing his pipe he always spoke to me of the pure colours, which had to be used without hesitation on the paper, and never to be retouched again, having first well understood their mutual effects in life around us. I greatly enjoyed these hours immersed in natural loveliness I was to reproduce."