Alexei Harlamoff

Olga Sugrobova-Roth and Eckart Ligenauber, Alexei Harlamoff: catalogue raisonné, Düsseldorf, 2007, no. 63, illustrated in color, p. 138, pl. 54

The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.: This painting has recently been lined with glue, cleaned and varnished. It seems more than likely that there are no retouches of any note, although there may be a spot or two in the hair. The condition is extremely good throughout the picture and it should be hung as is.
"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."

Alexei Harlamoff was born in the village of Dyachevka near Saratov on the Volga. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, and won both a gold medal and a scholarship in 1868. The scholarship enabled him to travel to Paris, where he continued training under portrait painter Léon Bonnat, and by 1874 he was visited by Russian marine painter Alexei Bogoliubov, who reported back to Russia on the young artist's notable success. In 1875, Harlamoff exhibited his portraits of author Louis Viardot and his wife, the celebrated mezzo-soprano Pauline, to great acclaim, marking a turning point in his career. Émile Zola found these portraits particularly engaging, and he predicted the debut of a great talent.  Writer Ivan Turgenev was enchanted with the "little portrait-heads," so much that he openly called Harlamoff his favorite painter. By 1883, the artist had garnered international acclaim, and a writer for Novoe Vremia wrote of the extraordinary demand for the Russian's work from private collectors and art dealers in both London and Paris, many who visited his impressive studio on the Place Pigalle.  His fame soon reached the United States, and by 1890 the wealthy New York banker George Ingraham Seney included a "Flower Girl" by Harlamoff in his collection which also boasted a work by William Bouguereau.  The two artists were both represented by the powerful dealer Goupil, who began selling Harlamoff's paintings in the early 1870s.  

Many connoisseurs of Harlamoff's work sought his anonymous portrait busts set against neutral backgrounds, such as the present work. In this characteristically compelling work, Harlamoff captures a lovely peasant girl, her thick, auburn hair pulled back and falling across her shoulders, bangs framing her heart-shaped face, with her long eyelashes and full, pink lips.  The artist employs brushy, impressionistic strokes of paint to construct the tied lace shawl around her neck, while finer touches create her soft skin texture and wispy strands of hair. Harlamoff's use of light is particularly effective in the present work, as the youthful beauty's pale skin is illuminated, nearly luminescent, while her eyes appear pearlescent.