Lot 118: Mary Eristova-Kazak (d. 1934)

Portrait of a lady holding a pink carnation
signed 'Mary KAZAK' (lower left)
coloured chalks on canvas
63 1/2 x 39 1/2 in. (161.3 x 100.2 cm.)

Princess Maria Vasil'evna Eristova, who adopted the pseudonym Mary Kazak in 1894, studied under Mikhail Zichy in St. Peterburg before moving to Paris in 1890. She painted many portraits of members of the Russian aristocracy including Princess Volkonskaia (1896) and Princess Dolgorukova (1907). She received a silver medal from the International Exhibition in Paris in 1900, and over the next ten years exhibited widely, taking part in an exhibition of Russian Art at Galerie Devambez in Paris in 1912. Examples of her work can be found in the Musée d'Orsay, Paris and the State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg ('Portrait of an unknown woman', 1899).

VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price plus buyer's premium.