Baron Mikhail Konstantinovich Klodt Von Jurgensburg

Mikhail Klodt (1832-1902) A riverside farm signed 'Klodt' (lower left); further signed 'M. Klodt' (lowerright); with inscription in Russian and date 'view/from theneighbourhood/of Zegevald/53 versts from the city ofRiga/1858/painted en plein air /Baron M. Klodt' (on thereverse) oil on canvas 41¾ x 60½ in. (106 x 153.7 cm.) Pre-Lot Text PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR Provenance Anonymous sale, Sotheby's, London, 20 February 1985, lot 225 asA riverside farmstead. Literature F. I. Bulgakov, Nashi khudozhniki na akademicheskikh vystavkakhposlednovo 25-letiia, St Petersburg, 1980, p. 189. Probably, State Tretyakov Gallery: Catalogue of the Collection:Painting of the Second Half of the 19th Century, Moscow, 2001, vol.4, book 1, p. 266. Probably, A. Shestimirov, Zabytye Imena Russkaia Zhivopis' XIXVeka, Moscow, 2001, illustrated p. 129, probably mis-titled 'Vid naostrove Valaam' (View of Valaam Island). Lot Notes Painted by Baron Mikhail Klodt in 1858, a Riverside Farm, is arare masterpiece from one of Russia's greatest landscape artists.As is evident in works such as Oak-wood (fig. 1, 1863, StateTretyakov Gallery, Moscow) and On the Volga, (1880, State RussianMuseum, St Petersburg), Klodt was fundamentally motivated toaccurately capture the eternal beauty of the Russian land. Indeed,after three years of travelling in Europe he chose to cut hissojourn short and applied for permission to return to hishomeland. A founding member of the Peredvizhniki ('Wanderers') group, Klodt'snatural alliance with this movement derived less from the desire tounderline the ills of society through their faithful depiction butrather to portray Russia as she was: consider the hyper-realisticrendering of the cows and trees in the present lot. The leading artcritic of the time, Vladimir Stasov (1824-1906), wrote that thepainter '...was attempting simply to seize Russian nature in allits simplicity and discretion, without any pretension orpomposity...' (quoted in A. Shestinikov, Zabytye Imena RusskaiaZhivopis' XIX Veka, Moscow, p. 125). Fittingly for a member of oneof Russia's oldest artistic dynasties, Klodt was passionatelytraditional in his mindset and abhorred the increasing trend heobserved amongst his countrymen for visual special effects andincompletion. He made strenuous attempts to reform the manner inwhich landscape painting was taught at the Academy, presiding overa dedicated class he established with Alexei Bogoliubov in 1871.His refusal to resign his post as professor at the Academy, thenatural enemy of the Peredvizhniki and his impassioned criticism ofArkhip Kuindzhi led to his resignation from the group in1880. Reproduced and discussed in Bulgakov's 1890 volume 'Nashikhudozhniki', the author appears to have mis-titled the work,incorrectly labelling the illustration A view of Valaam Island,Klodt's earlier 1857 work for which he received a silver medal.Alexander Shestinikov compounds this error in his 2001 volume inwhich the work is illustrated but not discussed. The correct titleof the painting is likely View of Zegevald, a region in Livonia,now part of modern Latvia: in addition to the painting'sinscription on the reverse, possibly by the artist which reads'view from the neighbourhood of Zegevald, 53 versts from the cityof Riga, 1858, painted en plein air Baron M. Klodt', Klodt, who wasmemorably criticised by Stasov for being too slavishly faithful tonature, has clearly painted deciduous trees unknown on the Karelianisland of Valaam and appears to have captured the ruins of the13th-century Sigulda castle in the upper left corner of thepicture. The physical characteristics of the land are notablysimilar to those depicted in Klodt's 1862 view of the Aa-rivervalley in Livonia (State Russian Museum, St Petersburg). It is likely that Klodt, confident that this singular work was ofsufficient calibre to showcase his talent, selected the paintingfor submission as his graduation piece from the St PetersburgAcademy of Arts for which he was awarded a gold medal of the firstclass and a significant travel bursary allowing him to spend thenext three years studying and working in France, Germany andSwitzerland.

Lot: 215 MIKHAIL KONSTANTINOVICH KLODT (Russian 1832-1902) Summer Landscape with Barn Oil on canvas laid down on card Signed in Cyrillic lower left M.K. Klodt 12.25 inches x 9.75 inches (31 x 24.5 cm) Estimate: $5,000.00 - $7,500.00 € 3,400 - 5,100 Provenance: Private Collection, Miami, Florida

LOT 201 PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE COLLECTION, GERMANY MIKHAIL KONSTANTINOVICH KLODT 1832-1902 TWILIGHT 60,000—80,000 GBP measurements 27.5 by 47.5cm, 10 3/4 by 18 3/4 in. Description signed in Cyrillic and dated 1872 l.r. oil on canvas Acquired by the mother of the present owner in Bremen, circa 1930

* KLODT (VON JURGENSBURG), MIKHAIL 1832-1902 View of Kiev from the Muraviev Gardens signed and dated 1871 Oil on canvas, 80 by 142 cm. Provenance : Originally from the collection of the Russian patron of the arts, Ivan Lesnikov, St. Petersburg,1871-1872. Private collection, Europe. Authenticity has been confirmed by Vladimir Petrov. Authenticity certificate from the State Institute of Grabar, experts A. Kiseleva and T. Goryacheva. Exhibited : 1st Exhibition of the Itinerants , St. Petersburg-Moscow-Kiev-Kharkov, 1871-1872, plate 1-35. Literature : Index of the 1st Exhibition of the Itinerants , St. Petersburg, 1871, p. 3, No. 23. G. Romanov, Encyclopedia of the Itinerants' Exhibitions 1871-1923 , St. Petersburg, 2003, p. 8, 1-35. View of Kiev from the Muraviev Gardens presented here for the auction is one of the finest works ever painted by Klodt. Created specifically for the First Exhibition of the Society of the Itinerants, of which Klodt was one of the five founding members, it was particularly dear and important for the artist. A leading landscape painter of the second half of the nineteenth century, Klodt was one of the first Russian artists to combine genre pictures with epic landscapes. He was born into the Klodt family, which was famous for its artistic talents, and received an excellent education (initially from Ivan Khrutsky at the Mining Cadet Corps, and then at the Academy of Arts in the landscape painting class of Maksim Vorobiev). He spent time in France and Switzerland as a pensioner, but after only one year abroad he asked permission to return home in order to ‘employ the remainder of my time as a “pensioner” painting scenes from life throughout Russia'. The Board of the Academy heeded the artist's request, and Klodt returned to his homeland in 1861. He travelled a great deal over the next ten years, preferring to work on subdued views of central Russia and steadily strengthening the authenticity of life and national colour in his initially somewhat idyllic compositions. In 1870 Klodt became one of the most active organisers of the Society of the Itinerants (or Travelling) Exhibitions. He was not only one of the artists who signed the request to the Minister of Internal Affairs to permit the Society to be set up, but also one of the five people, along with Kramskoy, Perov, Miasoyedov and Ge, who formed its administration. It was during this period that he created his finest canvases. Having become a life-long genuine and consistent adherent to the ideas of the Society, Klodt naturally prepared thoroughly for the first exhibition. This took place in 1871 and Klodt was represented at it by two works, Midday and View of Kiev from the Muraviev Gardens . Critics of the time commented: “The best landscapes at the Itinerants (or Travellers', Peredvizhniki) Exhibition are by Professor Baron Mikhail Klodt and Mr Savrasov', who was showing his painting The Rooks Have Returned at the exhibition. The view that Klodt depicted in his painting, Andreyevsky Hill with its five-domed baroque Church of St Andrew, built between 1749 and 1754 to a commission from Empress Elizabeth and designed by the great architect Rastrelli, was indeed one of the most picturesque in Kiev. It is seen from the garden of Andrey Nikolayevich Muraviev, a well-known church historian and religious writer. In 1854 Muraviev decided to move permanently from St Petersburg to Kiev and he purchased a hilly wasteland near the Church of St Andrew; he ordered it to be cleared, a garden to be laid out and a wooden cottage to be built initially. However, the writer only moved in when he retired in 1866, and by this time a sturdy house had already been built in his garden in Kiev. Empress Maria Alexandrovna visited the Ukraine in 1869, and Muraviev accompanied her to the “holy places of Kiev”. The empress's entourage included the poet Fyodor Ivanovich Tyutchev, and soon after his departure he wrote the famous lines dedicated to Muraviev s beautiful garden and its owner; they accurately describe the romanticised panorama that Klodt depicted. “There, high on a precipice, the ethereal, shining church rears up and amazes the eyes as it seems to float towards the heavens. This is where St Andrew's cross shines even to this day, glistening in Kiev's sky, a holy guardian of this place. Your dwelling place bows reverentially at its feet, and now you live there, no idle inhabitant, in the evening of your days.” P

- Baron Mikhail Konstantinovich Klodt von Iurgensburg 1832-1902 Under the Birch Trees Signed, oil on canvas 40,5 x 30 cm. Born into a highly artistic noble family, Mikhail was the nephew of the famous sculptor of the horsemen on the Anichkov bridge. He made his studies under Vorobiov at the Imperial Academy, spent his scholarship years in Switzerland and France and settled in St. Petersburg on his return. From 1864 he became a Professor at the Academy and also exhibited with the Wanderers. (EUR 32 000-43 000)