Ilya Efimovich Repin

The board is sound. There is a alyer of light surface dirt. UV light reveals no apparent retouching. Held in a carved wooden frame. Unexamined out of frame.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

This expressive little sketch is emblematic of a warm relationship Repin had with Venice during his long career, and illustrative of the manner in which his artistic practices became freer and more aesthetically-based when travelling outside of Russia. On his first visit in 1873 he wrote rapturously of the Piazza of San Marco, the Doge's Palace and of the works of Veronese and Titian, and again Venice was part of his itinerary when in 1893-94 he travelled through Europe to study artistic teaching methods, writing en route his Letters on Art, which caused a sensation for their avocation of an art for art's sake direction in Russian visual culture, eschewing the meticulous social narratives and of his mature period. Away from Russia and expectations that he would maintain his role as the key figure of the realist movement, Repin gave himself more easily to the pursuit of inconsequential but captivating fleeting moments, rendered in an impromptu fashion that displayed, as with this sketch, the dexterity of his formidable talent; capable of seizing the quintessence a city with a few deft strokes. Reception of Repin's work had always been good in Italy and he was drawn back over the years. In 1897 he exhibited at the Seconda esposizione internationale d'arte della citta di Venezia, and again at the 'Settima' such show in 1907. Writing in 1897 on the success of the Italian exhibition of his 1896 painting The Duel, Repin was delighted that the Italian critics had rightly assessed it from an aesthetic rather than dramatic perspective, praising its rendition of open air and morning light, and in particular a characteristic shared by the deceptively simple but virtuoso sketch offered here; what one critic called "il luce di Repin."

(Letter to E. P. Antokolskaya, 2 June, 1897, in I.E.Repin. Izbrannye pis'ma, v dvukh tomakh, Moscow, 1969, II: 129.)

We are grateful to David Jackson, Professor of Russian and Scandinavian Art Histories at the University of Leeds, for providing this note.