Apollinari Mikhailovich Vasnetsov

Fedor Stepanovich Rojankovsky circa 1950
Thence by descent

Henri Antoville Galleries, New York

Original canvas which is loose in the stretcher. There are pinholes in the top left corner and a faint stretcher mark running down the right edge. The surface is dirty and there are lines of craquelure in places throughout and a few flecks of paintloss in places. The varnish has slightly discoloured. UV light reveals spots of retouching in the sky and in a few places elsewhere. Held in a moulded plaster frame. Unexamined out of frame.
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Executed in the 1900s, the offered landscape is from Apollinary Vasnetsov's 'Demyanovo cycle'. They were painted in Demyanovo, the estate of the famous sociologist and philosopher Vladimir Taneev, brother of the composer Sergei Taneev, where the artist and his family rented a dacha in a wing of the house every summer between 1903 and 1917. Vasnetsov always talked with gratitude about the time he had spent there. 'How nice it was in Demyanovo!' he wrote in one of his letters. 'Sketches in the morning, then you go and have a bit of lunch, relax, and then sketches again, right there at hand, close by – it's so nice!' (Apollinary Vasnetsov, Russian Painters from "A" to "Z", Moscow, 1996, p. 36)

The ensemble of buildings on the Demyanovo estate near the river Sestra was built in the 1770s. They included the Main House, domestic buildings, residential wings and extensive gardens, divided into a formal section, with a floral parterre and avenues of lime trees, and a landscaped section planted with deciduous and evergreen trees. The estate was located on the busy route between Moscow and St. Petersburg, near the town of Klin (and a kilometre away from Tchaikovsky's house in Klin); it had fallen into disrepair by 1883, when it was purchased by Vladimir Taneev. Demyanovo was then transformed into a unique sort of cultural centre for the Klin District. Academics, writers and musicians from Moscow and St. Petersburg rented dachas for the summer in the wings of the manor house.

The famous scientist Kliment Timiryazev, with whom Apollinary Vasnetsov became particularly close, also rented a dacha, in a pavilion in the gardens. Vsevolod, Vasnetsov's son, wrote in his memoirs that '... father was always very friendly with Timiryazev. In Demyanovo they often went wandering through the woods and fields; they both loved the Russian countryside. They frequently admired the marvellous summer sunsets from Timiryazev's terrace. To the accompaniment of the endless chatter of the evening samovar they had intimate conversations about art, beauty and the diversity of the world of plants. Vladimir Taneev also often joined these conversations (E. Yadokhina, L. Kudryavtseva, The Memorial Apartment Museum of A.M. Vasnetsov. Moscow, 2004, p. 97). It was probably on one of these evenings that the artist had the idea of capturing the view from the terrace.

Vasnetsov's rendering of the landscape which so captivated him displays the same masterful skill, evident in the free, broad brushstrokes and the vividness and freshness of the colouring, and the same joyous, peaceful mood which unites all the works in the Demyanovo cycle – Tsar's Pond. Demyanovo (A.M. Vasnetsov Museum, 1915), Landscape at Demyanovo. Bench under a tree (State Tretyakov Gallery), Pond. Demyanovo, near Klin (State Tretyakov Gallery, 1917, fig.1), At the Churchyard. Demyanovo (A.M. Vasnetsov Museum, 1917). All these landscapes express the warmth and comfort of this old estate outside Moscow, surrounded as it was by the picturesque countryside typical of central Russia.

Fedor Stepanovich Rojankovsky (1891-1970) had been a student of landscape painting under Apollinary Vasnetsov at the Moscow School of Fine Art, Sculpture and Architecture, although his studies were briefly interrupted by the outbreak of World War I. Following his military service, he left for France where he found fame as an illustrator of children's books using the nom de plume Rojan. In 1941, shortly after the Nazi occupation of Paris, Rojankovsky left for the United States where he continued to forge a successful career for himself as an illustrator until his death.

We are grateful to Eleonora Paston from the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow for writing this note.