PETR PETROVICH VERESHCHAGIN (1836-1886) Lot n° 14

View of the Kremlin from the Moskvoretsky Bridge Oil on canvas. Signed in Russian lower left. H_39.4 cm L_95.5 cm Provenance: Bonhams Sale London, 08/06/2011, lot no. 14. The painting will be accompanied by a certificate from the Tretyakov Gallery dated 30 March 2005. Piotr Petrovich Verechtchaguin is an outstanding Russian artist, member of the Imperial Academy of Fine Arts in St. St. Petersburg. He went down in history as a major cityscape painter. Views of Moscow and the Kremlin were among the most frequent representations of Verechaghin's cityscapes. He painted the Kremlin from different points of view, each time slightly changing the composition, making major changes and variations in the arrangement of figures, crews, boats and bridges over the Moskova River, while maintaining the precision of the image. This makes his paintings of the Kremlin not absolute repetitions, but rather different versions of the artist's preferred view. The lot shown essentially represents the view of the Kremlin from the Moskova River before the start of its construction in 1893, located on the slope of the Borovitsky Hill where the monument dedicated to Alexander II, Tsar-Reformer and Liberator, who abolished serfdom in 1861, is situated.