(Saint Petersburg 1833–1902)
In the forest, signed in Cyrillic script, dated 1868, oil on canvas, 37.5 x 31.5 cm, framed (GG)

Provenance:
Galleria Geri, Milan 1927;
There acquired by the grandfather of the current owner in 1931;
By inheritance to the current owner;
Private Collection, Italy.

Listed and reproduced in:
Francesca Dini, I Macchiaioli, le collezioni svelate, Skira, Milan 2016, no. 117.

Exhibited:
Chiostro del Bramante, I Macchiaioli, le collezioni svelate, Rome, 16 March-4 September 2016, no. 117.

We are grateful to Dr Olga Sugrobova-Roth for her scientific assistance.

Mikhail Konstantinovici Klodt von Jürgensburg is considered a major figure in Russian landscape art.

Like Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin (1832-1898), he was fascinated by depicting forests. Both artists spent much of their careers focusing on the depiction of trees and in the accurate rendering of the Russian landscape. Klodt was a founding member of the Peredvizhniki group with Shiskin and Ilya Repin. The commitment of the group was to depict Russia truthfully. In the case of Klodt, he attempted to render Russian nature in all its simplicity, such as in the present lot.

Klodt was born in St Petersburg into a family of artists.

He studied under Maxim Vorobiov at the St Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts from 1851 to 1858. A scholarship enabled him to travel to France and Italy, but he returned to Russia after several months, saying that the foreign landscapes were inferior to the Russian ones.

The present lot depicts a pinewood forest with figures walking on a path that emphasis the depth of the scene. The trees instead give the impression of height and immensity, which is typical of Russian Realism. The work is typical of the artist’s use of light, with soft pink between the trees and soft yellow and blue for the sky. The present lot is a very good example of the accurate depiction of the Russian landscape.

Михаил Константинович Клодт фон Юргенсбург
(Зегевольд Курляндской губ., 1832 – 1902, С.-Петербург)
В лесу
Подпись и дата справа внизу: М. К. Клодтъ 1868
Холст, масло. 37,5 x 31,5 см. Рама

Происхождение: 1927 Рим, Galleria Geri; приобретена в галерее дедом нынешнего владельца; частное собрание Италия
Выставка: Рим, Chiostro del Bramante, I Macchiaioli, le collezioni svelate, 16 марта – 4 сентября 2016, C. 185, № 117.

Мы благодарим Ольгу Сугробову-Рот за поддержку.