Dmitri Semenovich Stelletsky

A gift from the artist to Countess Alexandra Ilarionovna Shuvalova (née Vorontsova-Dashkova) in the 1920s
Thence by descent

Countess Shuvalova was the eldest daughter of Count Illarion Vorontsov-Dashkov, a minister of the Imperial Court under Emperor Alexander III. Her father's high standing at the court and his close friendship with the Emperor ensured that the Countess became lady-in-waiting to Empress Maria Feodorovna, a position she held until her marriage to Count Pavel Shuvalov in 1890.

The offered pair of landscapes was presented to the Countess by Stelletsky in the 1920s. Based in France from 1914, Stelletsky befriended many of the Russian émigrés including Countess Shuvalova to whom he sent letters and illustrated cards. The courtly and bucolic motifs in the present landscapes recall the fresco cycles of Italian palaces, in particular Benozzo Gozzoli's celebrated Procession of the Magi at the Palazzo Medici Riccardi in Florence, which Stelletsky studied first-hand in 1907 with his friend and fellow student Boris Kustodiev.