Lot 8: Sergei Ivanovich Vasil'kovsky (Ukrainian, 1854-1917) 'Portrait of V.S. Zakharchenko'

'Portrait of V.S. Zakharchenko'
stamped with artist's stamp, inscribed in Cyrillic 'Vasil Samoilovich Zakharchenko, from Balakleya. Trumpeter of His Imperial Majesty', numbered '96', with later inscription in German (on verso)
oil on artist's board
34 x 23.8cm (13 3/8 x 9 3/8in).

Sergei Vasil’kovsky, the famous Ukrainian painter, began his artistic career as a pupil of the artist D. I. Bezperchi in Kharkiv, followed by enrolling at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg where he studied under Orlovsky and Klodt. After graduating from the Academy, he received a scholarship to travel to Europe and North Africa, which journeys resulted in many works depicting places in Spain, Germany and Egypt. While in Paris, the artist was influenced by the Barbizon painters and their panoramic and atmospheric depictions of space and the sky, which Vasil'kovsky used in his Ukrainian landscapes. The artist fostered a particular passion for painting Cossacks, for example, an armed horse-mounted Cossack in the steppes or a group of Cossacks on patrol, travelling or resting. He repeatedly returned to this subject, creating numerous portraits, sketches, studies and drawings as well as large-scale oils.