- 45
Alexei Harlamoff
Estimate
200,000 - 300,000 USD
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Description
- Alexei Harlamoff
- Portrait of a young girl
- signed Harlamoff (lower left)
- oil on canvas
- 18 1/4 by 14 3/4 in.
- 46.4 by 37.5 cm
Provenance
Private collection, United States
Literature
Condition
The following condition report was kindly provided by Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc.:
This painting is clean. It has an old glue lining. The paint layer is in lovely condition with no retouches or damages. The work 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."
"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."
Catalogue Note
During the nineteenth century, Russian artists sought to break from the establishment’s previous dependence on European art and reaffirm their national heritage. As a consequence of this national spirit, genre painting gained strength and with it an interest in peasant life, culture and traditional costumes. Though he was equally proficient in religious subjects, like his contemporary William Bouguereau, Harlamoff specialized in portraits of peasant girls.
In this charming painting, Harlamoff presents a little girl who would model for several paintings, including Girl with a Red Necklace and Girl with a Pink Bonnet. These paintings led celebrated Russian novelist and playwright, Ivan Turgenev (a close friend of the artist), to refer to her as "the lovely rose girl" in a letter dated 1875 (Olga Sugrobova-Roth and Eckart Lingenauber, Alexei Harlamoff, 1840-1925, catalogue raisonné, 2007, p. 106)
In the present work, the girl is rendered almost in profile in a white chemise with a pale green waistcoat tied with a maroon ribbon. Some of her thick, auburn hair is tied back untidily and the rest hangs in waves past her shoulders with a long fringe framing her face. Harlamoff’s skillfully smooth rendering of the child’s features and complexion is enlivened by the broader, more impressionistic style with which he depicts her hair, clothes and the light background adding vitality to the image while simultaneously creating a foil for the sitter’s luminous profile.
In this charming painting, Harlamoff presents a little girl who would model for several paintings, including Girl with a Red Necklace and Girl with a Pink Bonnet. These paintings led celebrated Russian novelist and playwright, Ivan Turgenev (a close friend of the artist), to refer to her as "the lovely rose girl" in a letter dated 1875 (Olga Sugrobova-Roth and Eckart Lingenauber, Alexei Harlamoff, 1840-1925, catalogue raisonné, 2007, p. 106)
In the present work, the girl is rendered almost in profile in a white chemise with a pale green waistcoat tied with a maroon ribbon. Some of her thick, auburn hair is tied back untidily and the rest hangs in waves past her shoulders with a long fringe framing her face. Harlamoff’s skillfully smooth rendering of the child’s features and complexion is enlivened by the broader, more impressionistic style with which he depicts her hair, clothes and the light background adding vitality to the image while simultaneously creating a foil for the sitter’s luminous profile.