Lot 24 : VIKTOR MIKHAILOVICH VASNETSOV (1848-1926)

Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov - 1848-1926

Auction Location: United States of America - 2003
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Description:

Menu of the Coronation Banquet of the Emperor Nicholas II Alexandrovich and his consort Alexandra Feodorovna signed in Cyrillic and dated 'Victor Vasnetsov 1896' (lower right) in pencil and again in pen (lower left) pencil, ink, watercolor, gold and silver paint on paper laid on soft cardboard 37 7/16x101/2in. (95x26.7cm.) PROVENANCE Private Collection, Paris Sotheby's London, 29 April 1999, lot 208 LITERATURE COMPARATIVE LITERATURE: The Twilight of the Tsarism, South Bank Centre, March 1991, p. 172 n. 488 and Kirichenko, E. Russian Design and the Fine Arts, London, 1991, p. 152, pl. 138. Copenhagen, The Royal Silver Room, Maria Feodorovna Empress of Russia, (1997) menu illustrated p. 461 NOTES "Glory to God in Heaven, glory! To our Sovereign in this land, glory! Glory to all the Russian people! Glory to their faithful servants! Glory to their distinguished guests! "May truth in Russia be more glorious than the sun, radiant glory! And we sing this praise to our bread, to our bread we sing, to our bread we pay honor, glory! For old people to be comforted, for all good people to hear, glory! Glory for ever and ever, glory!" To emphasive the sanctity of the event, the 17th Century was evoked, an idealised time before secularisation eroded on a concensus of what is sacred. Vasnetsov was foremost amongst the artists rediscovering the old Russian traditions and he was accorded a central place among artists commissioned to celebrate the coronation. In the top part of the menu, in an intricate frame formed by a foliate ornament intertwined with the monograms of Their Majesties, "N II" and "A", a scene of the coronation of Michael Feodorovich Romanov based on a depiction from a book published in 1673. Beneath it, a scene of the offering of bread and salt. Below, two peacocks borrowed from Prince Sviatoslav's Izbornik [Miscellany] from 1073. The banquet was held in the Granovitaya Palata in the Kremlin, the menu capturing the public imagination more than any other souvenir of the coronation and was widely reproduced and distributed. A copy of the menu, rolled up and tied with gold cord adorned with gold tassels, lay at each place setting. It occupied a central position in Vasnetsov's oeuvre, and in the contemporary Slavophile movement for the rediscovery of ancient Russian forms. It is reproduced in the two volume Coronation Album, both as detail and also as a whole plate. SALESROOM NOTICE The title should read 'Original Design for the Menu of the Coronation Banquet of the Emperor Nicholas II Alexandrovich and his consort Alexandra Feodorovna'.