https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot_details2.aspx?intObjectID=4618338
SALE 7167
RUSSIAN PICTURES
London
30 November 2005
LOT 193
Nikolai Konstantinovich Rerikh [Roerich]
Linnasaari, Lake Ladoga; and the Forest
Price realised
GBP 38,400
Estimate
GBP 15,000 - GBP 20,000
one signed, inscribed and dated in pencil 'A mon ami Aksel Gallen-Kallela/N. Roerich/31.III.191?/Helsinki' (lower left) and with inscription 'Luutnantti Gallen Kallela/valtionhoitajan adjutantii' (on a label on the reverse) and stamped 1434 (on the reverse); one signed in Cyrillic 'N. Rerikh' (lower left)
tempera and coloured chalks, one with pencil, on textured paper laid on board
18 5/8 x 18¼ in. (47.3 x 46.4 cm.); 18½ x 18 5/8 in. (47 x 47.3 cm.) (2)
Please note the estimate for this lot is £15-20,000 and not £10-15,000 as stated in the catalogue.
Lot Notes
Nikolai Roerich visited Finland for the first time with his family in 1907, returning to Lake Ladoga in 1916 following illness. During this time he painted some 20-30 works of similar size depicting the Finnish landscape, including 'Gray Finland', 'Imatra' and 'Lavola'. Onni Okkonen, the Finnish critic observed: 'It's interesting...how strangely alienated our own Karelian landscapes have become under his [Roerich's] treatment.'
We are grateful to Barbro Schauman for her assistance in cataloguing the present lot.