Russian Beauty

Konstantin Makovsky(1839-1915)
This Item has been sold

1885

oil on canvas

94 x 66 cm

signed in Latin and dated lower left: K. Makovsky, 1885 I.I.

Category:

Provenance

Private collection

Sale Sotheby’s London, December 1, 2004, lot 30

Private collection, USA

Literature

W. Salmond, R.E. Martin, W. Zeisler, Konstantin Makovsky: The Tsar’s Painter in America and Paris, Hillwood, 2016, illustrated

 

In the 1880’s, Konstantin Makovsky became interested in the opulent boyar life. In the following years, he created a number of large-scale multi-figure compositions based on this theme, including A Boyar Wedding Feast, 1883, now at the Hillwood Museum, Washington, D.C., and The Russian Bride’s Attire, 1887, the San Francisco Museum of Fine Arts, that earned him the admiration of Alexander II.

 

These ambitious works were built up from smaller portrait studies of Boyars and Boyarinas, such as the present work. Russian Beauty is an exceptionally fine example of this genre, it is particularly notable for the finely rendered details: intricately embroidered garments and pearl-encrusted kokoshnik underscore Makovsky’s virtuosity, while the young girl’s delicate features, softly modelled and slightly blurred, recall the gentle mastery of Renaissance artists.

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