Vladimir Egorovich Makovsky, 1846-1920

Acquired at auction by the grandparents of the present owner, 1920s

Possibly exhibited St. Petersburg, Moscow et al., II Wanderers' Exhibition, 26 December 1872 - 6 January 1874, No. 3-42 titled Nische and listed as belonging to the collection of N.K.Chikhachev, Odessa

This condition report has been provided by Hamish Dewar at 14 Mason's Yard, London Structural Condition The canvas is lined and this is providing a good and stable support. Paint Surface Under ultraviolet light an area of retouching can be seen which corresponds to an old tear to the canvas. This appears in the upper left quadrant of the composition in the shelves behind the children's heads. Other small spots of retouching can be seen. The varnish surface is even. Summary The painting therefore appears in stable condition, having undergone restoration work in the past.
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Vladimir Egorovich Makovsky belonged to one of Russia's most illustrious artistic families in the late nineteenth century: his brothers, sister and son were all professional artists. Trained at the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture, he worked in an impressive range of media, producing illustrations for works by Pushkin, Turgenev, Gogol and Lermontov (he ran his own lithographic studio), and frescoes for the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow. Most important were his genre paintings of Russia's lower and middle classes which, like the work of many of his fellow Peredvizhniki, document the impact of recent socio-economic change. Three Waifs, which was painted the year Makovsky joined the Peredvizhniki, shows the influence of Vasily Perov, who had focused on Russia's destitute and marginalised since his return from France in 1864. By using a muted palette of browns and greys and emphasising the eye contact between subject and viewer, Makovsky clearly intends to provoke empathy for an underclass of which the contemporary Russian viewer would have been well aware.

 

We are grateful to Dr. Rosalind Blakesley at the University of Cambridge for providing this note.