+ Expand

Dimensions: measurements 75 1/2 by 36 1/4 in. alternate measurements 192 by 92 cm

+ Expand

Notes: We would like to thank Elena Kirillina, Senior Curator and Researcher, Ilya Repin Museum (Penaty), Russia, for providing additional catalogue information.
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE COLLECTION
Cecile Hansen (1897-1989) finished the St. Petersburg State Conservatory and was a student of the famous violin player and conductor L.S. Auier (1845-1930). Cecile made her first debut at the age of 13 in 1910. At the beginning of 1920s, she performed in Estonia, Latvia and Czechoslovakia. In 1918, she traveled to the United States where her mentor Auier was residing at the time. By the end of 1922, she accompanied the famous composer and director of the Petrograd Conservatory, A.K. Glazunov, on his tour through the Baltics and Germany. A music critic once noted: "What distinguishes her from other performers is her small, yet rich and gentle tone, which she so skillfully possesses" ("Ryl' " Newspaper, 1922).

During the 1920s, Cecile's husband's brother, "Panteleimon" Zaharov, lived in a small village called Kelomiaki and was neighbors with Ilya Repin. Being a friendly neighbor, Zaharov paid many visits to Repin's "Penaty" house where they painted together. Through this relationship, Zaharov introduced Cecile and her husband to the great painter. Repin admired and deeply understood Cecile's music, which often reverberated in his home. It wasn't much of a surprise that this famous artist decided to use the young and beautiful violin player as his subject, even painting two portraits of her between 1922-1923. A photograph of the posing Cecile also exists (see fig. 1).