Provenance
Sale: Sotheby’s London, June 16, 1994, Lot 19
Iosif Charlemagne’s depiction of the English Embankment of the Neva river in St.Petersburg with the dome of St. Isaac’s in the background.
The handwritten note may serve an indication that the watercolour was commissioned and comes from the collection of Baron Alexander von Stieglitz (1814-1884), a prominent Russian financier, the first governor of the State Bank of the Russian Empire. Von Stieglitz was also known for his philanthropic enterprises: in 1878 he donated funds to build a museum for the benefit of students of the Central School of Technical Drawing, which had been established by him earlier.
Von Stieglitz’s mansion on the English Embankment was designed by the architect Alexander Krakau in 1859 – 1862 years. During the construction of the new building have been partially used two walls of old houses.
