Lot 424: - Mikhail Petrovich Klodt , 1835-1914 The Joker oil on canvas

signed in Cyrillic and dated 1897 l.l. oil on canvas

63 by 85.4cm., 24 3/4 by 33 1/2 in.

St. Petersburg, Moscow et al., The XXV Itinerant Exhibition, 1897, no.3-111

S.Goldshtein et al., Tovarischestvo peredvizhnikh vystavok 1869-1899: pis'ma, dokumenty, Moscow: Iskusstvo, 1987, vol.2, p.515 No.86 (illustrated)
G.B.Romanov, Tovarischestvo peredvizhnikh khudozhestvennykh vystavok: 1871-1923, St. Petersburg: Sankt-Peterburg Orkestr , 2003, p.185 (illustrated)

A gift from Armand Hammer to the father of the present owner, late 1960s

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, CALIFORNIA
Baron Mikhail Klodt was the son of sculptor Petr Jakob Klodt, and a member of one of Russia's most famous artistic dynasties which enjoyed an elevated position in the Imperial Court. Mikhail was able to travel to France and Germany where he studied under some of the great history painters of the time before he returned to Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts to take up the post of Academician and then Professor. It was at this time that his style shifted towards Realism and he joined the Society of Itinerant exhibitions, or Peredvizhniki. In all, 122 of his paintings, including the offered lot, were featured in their exhibitions between 1871 and 1915, and are distinguished by their close attention to historical detail honed during his studies. The Joker's history of ownership serves to illustrate the link which existed between business and art even in the early twentieth century, and its crucial importance in safeguarding Russia's cultural legacy. After several years' successful trade with the newly formed Soviet Union, the flamboyant business tycoon Armand Hammer (1898-1990) moved to Moscow in 1921 to oversee operations. He took advantage of the Bolsheviks' sales of vast quantities of Imperial treasures to build up his own art collection, and gained access to some of the finest nineteenth century paintings by way of compensation for the Soviet government's expropriation of his pencil factory. A large part of his abundant collection was disseminated following his return to the United States in 1930.