Vladimir Donatovich Orlovskii

Vladimir Donatovitch Orlovsky (Russian, 1842-1914) 'River Gnilitsa', 1885 signed in Cyrillic and dated '1885' (lower left) oil on canvas 95 x 155cm (37 3/8 x 61in). PROVENANCE: Listed in the Album of Russian painting. Paintings by V.D. Orlovsky (Saint-Petersburg, 1888) as being in the collection of Mr. Kuznetsov of Moscow, very possibly Alexander Gregorevich Kuznetsov Archival material states that the offered lot was in the present European corporate collection by 1934 LITERATURE: F.I. Bulgakov, Album of Russian Painting. Paintings by V.D. Orlovsky; In commemoration of 25 years of his painting , St. Petersburg, 1888, no. 20, illustrated Vladimir Donatovich Orlovsky (1842-1914) was one of the most prominent landscape painters in the Russian academy of the last third of the 19th-early 20th century. He travelled widely during his lifetime but his works mostly express his adoration and love for Russian nature and his native Ukraine. Born into the family of a landlord, Orlovsky received his early artistic education in Kiev and he was heavily influenced by the famous Ukrainian poet and artist Taras Shevchenko. In 1868, Orlovsky graduated from the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in Saint-Petersburg where he studied under another great Russian landscape painter, A. Bogoliubov. After graduating with a gold medal, Orlovsky received a scholarship to Europe which allowed him to travel to France, Switzerland and finally Italy. In 1874 he was awarded the rank of academician at the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg and in 1876 he became a professor of landscape painting. From 1870–1880 Orlovsky regularly took part in every major national exhibition at the academy. Already a well-known and popular artist in Russia, Orlovsky devoted his energies to landscapes. His works were carefully executed, highly decorative and at the same time naturalistic. Orlovsky produced numerous studies while spending the summer of 1883 in the area of Podolsk. These studies were later used to accomplish his landscapes. Some of these landscapes appeared in the Album of Russian painting. Paintings by V.D. Orlovsky (Saint-Petersburg, 1888), which was published to commemorate 25 years of the artist's work. Among them are Dried up riverbed (1884), In the thickets of the meadow (1886) and River Gnilitsa (1885), the latter being the offered lot. It states in the album that the owner was a 'Muscovite Kuznetsov', most probably Alexander Gregorevich Kuznetsov, who was a successful industrialist, tea-dealer and also an art collector, very well-known for his social and charitable activities. According to the black-and-white reproductions in the album, the paintings River Gnilitsa and In the thickets of the meadow depict a very similar view, as though the artist simply changed the angle of his vision and depicted the beauty of the landscape from both sides of the river. In both paintings it seems that one is observing the tranquility of the same river, the same clumps of trees and high meadow grass in a similar floodplain, with the figure of the hunter replaced by the fisherman. In the thickets of the meadow was shown at an exhibition held at the Academy in 1886. In a published review of this exhibition the description of the work, which also applies to the other landscape, River Gnilitsa , outlines the details of the depicted scene: 'Orlovsky should be placed at the forefront of this new direction in realistic Russian landscape painting. This year he is exhibiting two paintings depicting the same landscape, one in summertime and the other at the dawn of autumn. These thickets that take the form of islands are typical at the mouths of Pripyat and the Dnieper, where the meadows are flooded by the tributaries as well as by the small lakes formed by the remaining water. For fishermen this area is a pure treasure. The summer landscape depicts that unique moment before the storm when the sun has not yet disappeared. (...) In the other landscape, the autumnal scene... one can see the moment of transition from day to evening. ... The air, the clouds and the general composition of these paintings leaves one in envy of Orlovsky's skills.' (F.I.Bulgakov. Illustrated survey of exhibition of the Academy of Arts , 1886, pp.32-34). The offered lot was conceived during a period of artistic maturity and high popularity of the painter. He conveys accurately the signs of early autumn and the state of transition from day to dusk. The complex lighting, which the artist excels at depicting, is achieved by a thorough combination of undertones and contrasts between the shaded and sunlit areas, and the overall harmony of colour makes this painting both elegant and decorative. Orlovsky masterly depicted the freshness of the autumn air, emphasizing that unique transparency of the day as it merges into the radiance of the evening. The depth of composition achieved by the high sky and powerful trees emphasizes the monumental aspect of the painting. The painting River Gnilitsa epitomises the artistic quest to represent landscape during the mid-1880s. The size of the painting and its realistic depiction of this landscape ensure that it demonstrates perfectly the particularities of Orlovsky's style as well as establishing him as a master of a landscape painting. We are grateful to Yelena Nesterova for her assistance in cataloguing this lot.

Vladimir Orlovsky (1842-1914) Harvest in the Ukraine signed in Cyrillic 'V. Orlovskii.' (lower left), dated '1880.' (lower right) oil on canvas 32 x 67 3/8 in. (80.6 x 171 cm.) Acquired by Anton Lessing (1840-1912), the great-grandfather of the present owner in Russia before World War I. PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE GERMAN COLLECTOR This evocative and charming landscape was acquired by Anton Lessing, great-grandfather of the present owner, and has remained in his family until now. Lessing was one of the great Russian industrialists of his time; together with the engineers Gustav and Amand Struwe he acquired a license for developing diesel engines, an action instrumental in Russia's subsequent status as the world's foremost producer of diesel motors. Awarded the order of St Stanislas (2nd Class) by Nicholas II, Lessing received a Red Cross medal in 1907 for his actions during the Russo-Japanese War (1904-1905). It was in St Petersburg that Lessing met his wife, née de Kryper, the widow of Jean Baptiste Victor Cappelmans, owner and editor of the magazine Journal de Saint-Pétersbourg. At the end of World War I Anton's son, Gottfried Lessing (1877-1950), brought his family to the Schlachtensee in Berlin. Here the Orlovsky hung in the Villa Lessing, serving as a treasured reminder of the family's connection to Russia. Gottfired's daughter, Irene Gysi subequently took the painting to Berlin-Johannisthal where it has remained in the family home for the last sixty years.

Vladimir Donatovitch Orlovsky (Russian, 1842-1914) A view of the surroundings of Vilno signed in Cyrillic and dated '1876' (lower left) oil on canvas 40 x 82.5cm (15 3/4 x 32 1/2in). Footnotes A similar view of the river in the vicinity of Vil'no is presently in the collection of Saratov Art Museum (see Russian paintings XVIII-beginning XX century , Saratov Art Museum, ill. 389

Author : ORLOVSKY, VLADIMIR artwork_date : (1842-1914) title : Mill in the Forest Clearing, signed : signed and dated 1887 . measures : Oil on canvas, 92.5 by 142.5 cm. details : Provenance: Private collection, Czech Republic. Authenticity of the work has been confirmed by the expert V. Petrov Literature: V. Fiala, Russian Art in Czechoslovakian Collections , Leningrad, Khudozhnik RSFSR, 1974,

LOT 11 - VLADIMIR DONATOVICH ORLOVSKY 1842-1914 STEPPE signed in Cyrillic l.l. oil on canvas 120,000—180,000 GBP 95 by 183cm., 37 1/2 by 72in. CATALOGUE NOTE "The sun-baked hills, brownish-green and lilac in thedistance, with their quiet shadowy tones, the plain with the mistydistance and, arched above them, the sky, which seems terribly deepand transparent in the steppes, where there are no woods or highhills, seemed now endless..." Anton Chekhov's hymn to the Ukrainian countryside in TheSteppe (1888) originated from a common urge shared by Russianwriters and artists alike in the late nineteenth century todescribe the majesty of the landscape. Like Chekhov, Orlovsky'sskill as an artist lay in his profound engagement with thelandscape of his youth: in a single canvas he captures both thewealth and the emptiness of the immense expanse, telling us as muchabout its coarseness as well as its more poetic qualities(fig.1). Typically his paintings depict land under cultivation; thedomesticity of the cattle in the offered painting recalls ArkhipKuindzhi's famous Midday in the Steppe (1890-5, StateRussian Museum, St. Petersburg) yet Orlovsky's Steppe offersno sense of comfort that nature's forces have been harnessed. Aswith his paintings Sowing and Ukrainian Landscape withWindmill (both State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow), the manmadestructures appear feeble, the telegraph poles "very small thinsticks like pencils stuck into the ground" (Chekhov, TheSteppe); the solitary figure is scarcely visible and even therailway barely impacts the vista, creating the impression that eventhe latest technological advances cannot conquer the immenseexpanse. Nature itself offers the only respite from the otherwiseunbroken line of the horizon in the form of two trees. The viewer'sreaction is that of Chekhov's young protagonist: "Who needed allthat space?". Orlovsky was born to a noble Kievan family and trained at theImperial Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg under AlexeiBogoliubov, where he was awarded a gold medal. View on theOutskirts of Vilnius (The Radischev State Art Museum, Saratov) is asmaller depiction by Orlovsky of the same view.