Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin

Sale: Beijers Auktioner, Stockholm, April 13, 1988, lot 246
Sale: Christies, London, November 29, 2006, lot 62
Private Collection

Moscow, State Tretyakov Gallery, Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin, 1948 (under different title) 

State Tretyakov Gallery Archives, materials relating to  Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin exhibition, 1948, illustrated

This painting has been fairly recently cleaned and restored. The canvas is unlined and the tacking edges have been reinforced. There is a small repair in the lower left addressing some paint loss. Under ultraviolet light there are intermittent restorations visible here and there in the lower portion of the picture, in the rocks and the stream particularly, and addressing some abrasion in the largest tree trunk on the right side. As one moves up the picture, the restorations become less noticeable and there are only a few specks in the upper right corner, on the extreme left edge, and two retouches addressing paint losses in the upper center in the foliage. The restoration has been nicely handled and the picture should be hung as is. The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com , an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

The importance of painting the national landscape in nineteenth-century Russia is almost entirely the achievement of Ivan Shishkin. Prior to Shishkin's arrival on the artistic scene, Russians had once felt that their native landscape was unworthy of the sort of romantic or picturesque paintings that recorded visions of Italy, Germany or England. But Shishkin, through his innovative mastery, was able to illustrate Russian landscapes realistically while demonstrating what was unique and interesting in Russian nature and scenery. It is not surprising that Shishkin was one of the founders of the Itinerants, a group of nineteenth-century realist artists who broke away from the Academy, declaring its strictures to be stifling. They advocated replacing the deadening influence of the Academy's dictates on style and subject matter with a new and realistic focus on Russia and Russian subjects. Shishkin's approach was almost "portrait-like" in technique. An exquisite draftsman, he even became known among his students as bukhgalter listochkov (the accountant of leaves). Ivan Kramskoi, a fellow Itinerant artist, claimed: "I think he is the only artist among us who knows nature in a scholarly way...Shishkin is a milepost in the development of Russian landscape painting; he is a whole school in one man."

Dated no later than the 1870s, The Brook is an extraordinary example of Shishkin's oeuvre at the very height of his career. The composition combines painstaking detail with a perfect balance of light and shadow, creating a scene that is at once both serene and majestic. The narrow forest stream nestled within the towering trees; the partially hidden yet vast blue sky; the glimpse of the open meadow to the right, emphasized by the focus of sunlight streaming through the branches--all these elements work together to dazzling effect, proving the extent to which Shishkin could depict detailed and realistic scenes that are anything but dull. The woman at the center, awash with sunlight, becomes the focal point of the canvas, bringing a sweet reminder of the small role of humanity within the vast greatness of nature.

Interestingly, the current work was offered at Christie's London in 2006, and at the time the image of the woman and the large tree trunk at left were not visible. The successful buyer of the painting had it examined by a restorer, who uncovered the woman and tree after a cleaning. Careful and technical examination confirms the originality of these elements.