Lot 8: Mikhail Konstantinovich Klodt , 1832-1902 cattle watering oil on canvas

signed in Cyrillic and dated 1878 l.r. oil on canvas

48 by 81.5cm., 19 by 32in.

From 1851 Mikhail Konstantionovich Klodt studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts under Maxim Vorobiev. In 1858 he was not only awarded a Grand Gold medal for his series View of Liflandia near Zagevolt but also a travel bursary which enabled him to live and work in Germany, Switzerland and France. After his return to Russia, Klodt was one of the first artists who consciously set off in search what was peculiarly characteristic to the Russian countryside. He applied what he had learnt from European art to make the vast Russian landscape accessible in all its majestic beauty. In 1862 he became a Member of the Imperial Academy of Arts. In 1871-1872 he presided, together with Alexei Bogoliubov, over the establishment of a landscape painting class at the Academy which he headed from 1873. Klodt´s appointment as a Professor marks the official recognition of landscape painting in Russia.