Lot 318: Nikanor Grigorievich Chernetsov , View of a Grotto in Crimea, 1872

signed in Cyrillic and dated 1872 (lower right); signed and titled in Cyrillic (on the reverse) oil on canvas

measurements 16 by 20 1/4 in. alternate measurements 40.6 by 51.4 cm

Nikanor Chernetsov was a son of an icon painter and a younger brother of the well-known artist Grigorii Chernetsov. The artist studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts under the famous landscape painter Maxim Vorobiev, graduating in 1827. Chernetsov traveled around Russia, making sketches on the basis of which he later composed his landscapes. Between 1829 and 1931, he also traveled to the Caucasus. From 1833 to 1836 he served under M. S. Vorontsov, the Governor General of Novorossiisk. Chernetsov?s paintings became so popular that one of his 1832 landscapes was hung in the office of the famous Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. In the 1840s, together with his brother, Nikanor visited Italy, Egypt, Syria, Palestine, Greece, and Turkey. Chernetsov created what was essentially a painted encyclopedia of the Russian South. Combining a picturesque view of a grotto with a careful attention to detail and a general sense of the sublime majesty of the depicted area, the present lot is a typical example of the artist?s Crimea landscapes from the mature phase of his career. Like many of his other works, it was created on the basis of both memories and numerous sketches and studies.