Evgraf Semenovich Sorokin

EVGRAF SEMENOVICH SOROKIN 1821-1892 Portrait of Friherre Carl Gustaf Wrede af Elimä Signed and dated 1843. Oil on canvas, 30,5 x 25,5 cm. One of the difficulties presented by the Russian art market is the result of the turbulent twentieth century endured by Russia; revolution, civil war, foreign invasion and emigration, not to mention willful destruction and the Bolshevik attitude to personal property, have so often separated paintings from their histories. Conversely, one of the great pleasures of searching for Russian antiques in Scandinavia and Finland is that the relative stability there frequently brings to our days stories that have roots in the Russia of another age, depicts Friherre Carl Gustaf Wrede af Elimä (circa 1824- circa 1868), the brother of the present owner's great grandfather. As often happened at the time with children of the nobility, the young Carl Gustaf was sent to St. Petersburg to join the Alexander regiment at a very young age. While there, he must have commissioned a portrait of himself by the painter Evgraf Sorokin (1821-1892), probably to send back to his family far away. The portrait brilliantly captures the slightly frightened face of a young man - hardly more than a boy - in his impressive uniform. Sorokin was also a young man when he painted it, and the picture brings to life the St. Petersburg of Nicholas I. He went on to have a long and glorious career, and was later to become famous as the director of the team who painted the wall paintings of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, the one blown up by Stalin, and rebuilt by Yeltsin.

Evgraf Semenovich Sorokin (Bojschije Soli 1821-1892 Moscow) Laughing Girl in Southern Italian Folk Costume, signedin Cyrillic script and dated 1857, oil on canvas, 89.9 x 75.9 cm, probably the original frame withgrapes and leaf tendrils, (W) Sorokin began his studies at the Petersburg Academy in1841. After graduating, and as an academic at theAcademy, he set out on his travels, taking himthrough Germany, Belgium and France. From 1851 to 1853 helived and worked in Madrid, Toledo and Granada where hepractised painting copies of works by Jusepe de Ribera. In March1854 Sorokin settled in Rome and during the following years hededicated himself to painting it genre scenes in which he capturedthe carefree and natural beauty of Italian country life. From themiddle of the 1850’’’’’’’’s onwards, Sorokin’’’’’’’’s talentaroused increasing interest amongst patrons and his artistcolleagues. Prince Volkonsky, patron to the Russianartists in Rome, praised Sorokin’’’’’’’’s artistic talent in areport to the Academy. During the spring of 1858, severalof his paintings were exhibited in Rome by Grand Duchess ElenaPavlovna. This painting of the Italian girl laughing, longbelieved lost, is certainly one of Sorokin’’’’’’’’s mostimportant works, painted at the zenith of his career. Itis first recorded in letters from Mikhail Scotti, one ofSorokin’’’’’’’’s colleagues at the Academy, to the sculptorNikolai Ramazanov in May 1858. Sorokin was fascinated by the heatand light of the midday sun, which is demonstrated by theway in which he diverts the observer’’’’’’’’s attention to the effectof the sunlight falling through the vine leaves. The girl’’’’’’’’sdress is depicted right down to the finest detail, fromthe folds in the material to the pattern on the sash. There arevery clear stylistic similarities with the painting "The Meeting"dated 1858 in the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. Weare grateful to Dr. Ludmila Markina, director of theDepartment for 18th and 19th century Russian art at the TretyakovGallery, Moscow, for confirming the authenticityof this work. Provenance: Private Belgian property, Sotheby's London, June 9, 2008.

90 by 76cm., 35 3/4 by 30in. DESCRIPTION signed in Cyrillic and dated 1857 l.l. oil on canvas PROVENANCE Private European collection from the late 19th century Thence by decent to the previous owner LITERATURE AND REFERENCES Reka Vremen: Kniga Istorii i kultury, book 3 Trudy. Tvoreniya. Khudozhestva: Moscow 1995, p.32 CATALOGUE NOTE Painted at the height of Sorokin's career Laughing Italian Girl is a recently discovered masterwork whose fate has long remained unknown. First recorded in the correspondence of fellow Academician, Mikhail Scotti, with the sculptor Nikolai Ramazanov in May 1858, the picture of "the laughing Italian girl who offers a bunch of grapes", was intended "I believe for Naryshkin" (Reka Vremen: Kniga Istorii i kultury, book 3; Trudy. Tvoreniya. Khudozhestva: Moscow 1995, p.32). Sorokin studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts and in 1850 he began his travels overseas as a scholar of the Academy, visiting Germany, Belgium and France. From 1851-1853 Sorokin lived and worked in Madrid, Toledo and Granada, where he copied the work of Jusepe de Ribera and, in March 1854, he arrived in Rome. In January 1856, Sorokin succeeded in extending his stay in Italy for another two years, where he painted a number of idyllic genre scenes which capture the carefree and natural beauty of Italian country life. When compared with The Meeting from 1858 in the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery, the stylistic similarities are evident (fig.1). Sorokin was fascinated by the idea of trying to convey the heat of the midday sun and therefore draws the viewer's attention to the effects of dappled sunlight filtered through the vine leaves. Each detail of the girl's attire is delicately depicted, from the folds of the material to the characteristic pattern on her sash. By the mid 1850's, Sorokin's talent had come to the attention of patrons and artists alike. In his 1854-5 report to the Imperial Academy of Arts. Prince Volkonsky, guardian of Russian artists studying in Rome, described Sorokin's compositions as 'marvellous exemplars of correct draughtsmanship and painting" (A.A.Pogodin "Notes" by Prince G.P.Volkonsky. Scholars of the St Petersburg Academy of Arts in Rome 1854-1855; Russkoe Iskusstvo novogo vremeni: Research and Materials: Collected Articles, Moscow 2006, No.8, p.190). In the spring of 1858, several of Sorokin's paintings were shown in Rome as part of an exhibition for Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, which may have also included the offered lot. We are grateful to Dr. Ludmila Markina, head of the Department of Russian Painting, eighteenth to first half nineteenth century art at the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, for providing additional cataloguing information.