ROERICH, NICHOLAS. Pechory – Entrance to the Monastery - photo 1
ROERICH, NICHOLAS. Pechory – Entrance to the Monastery - photo 2
ROERICH, NICHOLAS. Pechory – Entrance to the Monastery - photo 3
ROERICH, NICHOLAS. Pechory – Entrance to the Monastery - photo 4
ROERICH, NICHOLAS. Pechory – Entrance to the Monastery - photo 1

Pechory – Entrance to the Monastery

Lot 36
15.10.2020 14:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 400 000
AuctioneerMacDougall Arts Ltd.
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premium27 %
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 412528
Lot 36 | Pechory – Entrance to the Monastery
Estimate value
£ 400 000 – 600 000
Oil on canvas, 69.5 by 89 cm.Executed in 1903.

Provenance: Private collection, Europe.

Authenticity of the work has been confirmed by the expert E. Yakovleva.
Authenticity of the work has also been confirmed by the expert O. Glebova.

Exhibited: Etyudy Russkoy Stariny, Imperatorskoe obshchestvo pooshchreniia khudozhestv, St Petersburg, 1903.
World's Fair, Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St Louis, 30 April–1 December 1904 (label on the reverse).

Literature: S. Makovsky, Svyatyni nashei stariny (Po povodu etudov N. Rerikha), Zhurnal dlya vsekh, No. 6, June 1904, p. 355, illustrated.
Exhibition catalogue, World's Fair, Louisiana Purchase Exposition, St. Louis, Little & Becker printing Co., 1904, p. 290, listed under No. 456.
Roseau, Nicolas Constantinovitch Roerich, L'Art Decoratif, No. 86, November 1905, p. 175, illustrated.

Nicholas Roerich’s Pechory. Entrance to the Monastery belongs to his celebrated “Architectural Series” (also known inter alia as “Sketches of Russian Antiquity”). The artist painted it during one of his summer study trips to the ancient Russian cities of central and north-western Russia in 1903–1904 – more precisely, during his stay in July 1903 at the Pskov-Pechory Monastery of the Dormition, one of the largest in Russia. The monastery has never been closed since its foundation in 1473, and survived intact during the 20th century. The artist found these places to be amazingly homely and tranquil and not to be compared with any place in the whole of central Russia.

Roerich undertook the 1903–1904 trip on behalf of several institutions simultaneously – the Committee of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, the Imperial Archaeological Society and the St Petersburg Trustee Committee for the Sisters of the Red Cross. During those years he developed a keen interest in the study of “Russian Antiquity” and was engrossed in the question of how to preserve historical and cultural monuments. Roerich saw the main purpose of his trips as producing sketches that could convey a vivid, fresh artistic impression of the places he visited, and to help record the archaeological features of any particular area. The sketches were mostly produced as oil paintings on plywood or canvas.

During his summer trip in 1903, the artist visited a total of 40 towns and cities, stretching from Kazan to Lithuania. Throughout the journey, he was accompanied by his wife, Helena, whose task it was to photograph buildings of architectural interest and the surrounding area. She took 500 photographs, while the artist himself made 71 painted sketches, nine of them views of the Pechory Monastery, including the picture now presented for auction. Compositional comparison of the work with the photographs that Helena Roerich took of the part of the monastery shown suggests that the sketch was created both from life and from the photographs taken on the spot.

Following the Roerichs’ 1903 summer trip, the Committee of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts decided to mount an exhibition of the sketches at its headquarters to introduce the public to the buildings inherited from Russia’s past. The work now offered for auction also formed part of that display. At the beginning of 1904, the exhibition was visited by Emperor Nicholas II, who even wished to see the collection of Nicholas Roerich’s sketches placed in the Russian Museum. Unfortunately, the works were never transferred to the museum because of the war with Japan, which began shortly afterwards.

Having successfully staged the exhibition for the Committee of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, Roerich planned to move it to Paris and London, but these plans were never realised because, in Spring 1904, he took part in a larger project: the St. Louis World’s Fair. Roerich sent more than seventy works to the USA, including Pechory – Entrance to the Monastery. The outcome of the exhibition was that most of the works, including the one now presented at the auction, were sold and remained in the United States. The return and appearance at auction of one of the best pictures in the “Architectural Series” – a painting that was acclaimed immediately after its creation – is an undeniably important cultural event.



The present lot as illustrated in Zhurnal dlya vsekh
The present lot as listed in the exhibition catalogue
Address of auction MacDougall Arts Ltd.
33 St James’s Square
SW1Y 4JS London
United Kingdom
Preview
15.10.2020 – 15.10.2020
Phone +44 20 7389 8160
Phone +7 495 799 4683
Fax +44 (0) 20 7389 8170
Email
4FQ.3FGKQHSRRSIHFPQS4@3SGAAHL@
Buyer Premium 27 %
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase
Business hoursBusiness hours
Mo 10:00 – 18:00   
Tu 10:00 – 18:00   
We 10:00 – 18:00   
Th 10:00 – 18:00   
Fr 10:00 – 18:00   
Sa closed
Su closed

More from Creator

Clouds
Clouds
£60 000

Related terms

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.
?>