Vasili Vasilievich Vereshchagin

American Art Galleries, New York, Vassili Verestchagin Collection sale, 17-18 November 1891, lot 98
George R. White, Boston
Mrs. Frederick T. Bradbury, Boston, 1922
Mrs. W.C. Hamilton, Malden, Massachusetts
Vose Galleries, Boston
Private Collection, Texas, 1960
Thence by descent
Private Collection, New York

Amsterdam, Geïllustreerde Catalogus der Tentoonstelling van Schilderijen van Wasili Wereschagin, 1887, no. 6
London, Grosvenor Gallery, Exhibition of the Works of Vassili Verestchagin, 1887, no. 85
New York, American Art Galleries, Exhibition of the Works of Vassili Verestchagin, 1888, no. 85 (travelling exhibition, visiting the Chicago Art Institute, January-March 1889, the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, St. Louis, Baltimore and Boston et al.)

Geïllustreerde Catalogus der Tentoonstelling van Schilderijen van Wasili Wereschagin, Amsterdam, 1887, no.6
Grosvenor Gallery, Exhibition of the Works of Vassili Verestchagin, London, 1887,
p.57, no.85
V. Verestchagin, Exhibition of the Works of Vassili Verestchagin, Illustrated Descriptive Catalogue, New York, 1888, p. 59, no.85
"The Verestchagin Sale: Livelier Bidding on the Second Evening – The Prices Realized," The New York Times, 19 November 1891
F.I. Bulgakov, V.V. Vereshchagin i ego proizvedenia, St. Petersburg, 1905, p.148

Structural Condition The canvas is unlined with staining on the reverse and has what would appear to be the original keyed wooden stretcher. The structural condition is sound and secure. Paint Surface The paint surface has an even varnish layer and inspection under ultra-violet light shows small scattered retouchings, most of which are very thin vertical lines which appear to cover the grain of the canvas. There are a number of other small scattered spots of retouching and it should be stressed that these are all of minimal size. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in very good and stable condition and no further work is required.
"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 Adjutant is one of a number of canvases that make up Vereshchagin's Balkan series depicting scenes from the Russo-Turkish War (1877-78). The young artist, inspired by the Russian cause, volunteered with the Imperial Army and was assigned to General Mikhail Skobelev's regiment. The resulting series of paintings proved to be the artist's most dramatic and controversial group of works, unsentimentally depicting the carnage of war.

The present lot depicts the military encampment between battles near the fortified town of Giurgevo. A General Adjutant of the Russian Imperial Army stands outside his headquarters, reviewing a message from the front. In Vereshchagin's own notes on the painting he writes simply, 'Si jeune et si décoré' (So young and so decorated), a comment on the officer's youth and his impressive array of medals and badges. Vereshchagin describes in his memoirs the arbitrary housing possibilities available: 'The troops were disposed of as before—partly in cottages, if there was room, if not, in tents as near as possible to the water. For ourselves, we always found some house—now a peasant's, now a landowner's....Once we lodged in a large, very roomy house belonging to a landowner' (Autobiographical Sketches, 1888, p.134). This brief period of rest provided a time of light-hearted joviality, as Vereshchagin remembers: 'After dinner, until tea was brought, there was more chatting and joking, and often songs' (Ibid., p.124). 

In the mid-1880s Vereshchagin's talent was known throughout Europe and solo exhibitions were held in cities across the continent. The Adjutant travelled from Amsterdam to London in 1887 before making its way to New York in 1888 for the landmark American Art Association exhibition of 110 of Vereshchagin's works from a variety of series, including The Spy, which depicts the arrest of an informer by Russian soldiers during the Balkan campaign (fig.1) As the first solo exhibition of any Russian artist in America, the show received extensive coverage and tens of thousands of people flocked to the Madison Square galleries, eager to see the work of the celebrated Russian artist.  Thanks to this success, The Adjutant travelled along with the rest of the exhibition to cities across the country including Philadelphia, Chicago and St. Louis. Upon returning to New York in 1891, the entire group of paintings was auctioned off by Thomas Kirby, the chief auctioneer of the American Art Association.

The Adjutant was purchased by George Robert White, the owner and president of the Potter Drug and Chemical Company in Boston, Massachusetts, for $410. Upon his death in 1922, the work was inherited by his sister, Mrs. Frederick T. Bradbury, a long-time patron and benefactor of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The painting then passed through the collection of Mrs. W.C. Hamilton of Massachusetts before being acquired by Vose Galleries in Boston and then entering a private collection in Texas in 1960.