Lot 17: SAMONOV, PYOTR

PYOTR ALEKSANDROVICH SAMONOV (RUSSIAN B1863), "Cossack Officer on Horseback", bronze with medium brown patina, height: 34.5 cm (13 5/8 in.), length: 38 cm (15 in.), width: 13.5 cm (5 3/8 in.), signed in Cyrillic in the base, inscribed in Cyrillic with Woerffel St. Petersburg foundry mark. Pyotr Aleksandrovich Samonov was a highly noted sculptor in bronze whose works were cast by the Woerffel foundry. His most famous work was a large-scale monument to General Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobolev, the hero of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877-78, which was erected on Tverskaya Street in Moscow in 1912 (see figure 1 below). Unfortunately, the monument was short-lived, as it was taken down in 1918 by the Communist government. Today, the monument to Yuriy Dolgorukiy, erected in 1954, stands in its place. Web: This is a very rare bronze by an important sculptor in turn-of-the-century Russia, Pyotr Aleksandrovich Samonov. Samonov's best known-work was a large-scale monument to General Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobolev, which was erected on Tverskaya Street in Moscow in 1912. The monument was one of the most important in Moscow, but unfortunately it was short-lived - it was taken down in 1918 by the Communist government. Today, the monument to Yuriy Dolgorukiy, erected in 1954, stands in its place., , Samonov was born on February 2, 1863 to a Russian Orthodox family from the nobility in the St. Petersburg province. Having received an artistic training, he nevertheless enlisted in the Russian army in 1889. Repeatedly promoted in the army, he eventually reached the rank of Podpolkovnik (Lieutenant-Colonel) before retiring to the Reserves in 1908. After leaving the army, Samonov devoted himself fully to his sculpture. Around 1912, Samonov, beating many contenders, was chosen as the winner of a project for a memorial monument to General Skobolev, hero of the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-78 and conqueror of numerous Russian territories in Central Asia. After the Revolution, the last traces of Pyotr Aleksandrovich were detected in Serbia, where he died in exile sometime around the 1930s. This position as an enemy of the state, along with the removal of his monument, account for the relative rarity of Samonov's works. This is a shame, as Samonov's existing works, such as "Cossack Officer on Horseback", demonstrate not only his empirical knowledge of subject-matter, but an extremely refined and rarely seen talent for capturing movement and presence in sculptural form