Lot 52: Portrait of the artist Nikolai Kuznetsov

Viktor Vasnetsov (1848-1926)
Portrait of the artist Nikolai Kuznetsov
signed in Cyrillic, inscribed in Russian and dated 'V. Vasnetsov/1884/[Portrait of] N. D. Kuznetsov' (upper right); signed in Cyrillic, inscribed in Russian and dated 'V. Vasnetsov 1884 Moscow/Odessa - 1914 November/6' (lower right)
oil on canvas
35 1/8 x 27½ in (89.2 x 69.9 cm.)

A private collection, Italy.

Much admired by his contemporaries, Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov (1848-1926) is an important figure in the canon of Russian art who profoundly affected its development in the 1890s. A graduate of the St Petersburg Academy of Art, Vasnetsov first became known as a genre painter, capturing everyday subjects on canvas. By the 1870s, after completing a series of illustrations of Russian fairy-tales and legends, Vasnetsov decided to dedicate himself entirely to the study of Russian folklore and epic tradition. His unconventional treatment of folklore subjects defied the tenets of realism and verisimilitude which were accepted at the time in historical painting. He emphasized the decorative and followed the verbal and pictorial traditions to develop what became known as a 'neo-Russian style'.

The present painting is an extremely rare example of Vasnetsov's portraiture. It depicts Nikolai Dmitrievich Kuznetsov (1850-1929), an artist acclaimed for his portraits of some of the most significant cultural figures of the era including: Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1893, Tretyakov Gallery), Ivan Pokhitonov (1882, Tretyakov Gallery) and his great friend and peer Viktor Vasnetsov himself (1891, Tretyakov Gallery).