http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2014/important-russian-art-l14111/lot.14.html
IMPORTANT RUSSIAN ART
02 JUNE 2014 | 6:00 PM BST
LONDON
Nikolai Konstantinovich Roerich
ARCHANGEL MICHAEL
Estimate 80,000 — 120,000 GBP
LOT SOLD. 194,500 GBP
Nikolai Konstantinovich Roerich
1874-1947
ARCHANGEL MICHAEL
signed in Cyrillic and dated 906 l.r.
tempera over pencil on paper laid on board
50.5 by 62cm, 20 by 24 1/2 in.
EXHIBITED
Paris, Grand Palais, Salon d’automne: Exposition de l’art russe, October – November 1906, possibly no. 472, 473 or 474
LITERATURE
Exhibition catalogue Salon d’automne: Exposition de l’art russe, Paris, Grand Palais, 1906, possibly no.472, 473 or 474
M.Farmakovski, 'Khudozhestvennie zametki, M.Nesterov i N.Roerich', Obrazovanie, no.8, St Petersburg, 1908, p.43 mentioned in the text
Yu.K.Baltruchaitisa and A.Benois, Nikolai Konstantinovich Roerich, Saint-Petersburg: Svobodnoe Iskusstvo, 1916, p.70 illustrated
E.P.Matochkin, Nikolai Roerich: mozaiki, ikoni, rospisi, proekti tserkvei, Samara: Izdatelskii Dom Agni, 2005, p.14 illustrated and listed
CATALOGUE NOTE
Inspired by ancient Slavic culture Roerich travelled widely in his youth, visiting different cities and villages across Russia. In 1906 he produced the present work, a sketch for the Archangel Michael mosaic in the Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church near Shlisselburg, 35km from St Petersburg (fig.2). This church was built under the supervision of Vladimir Pokrovski, a Russian architect and art restorer, but it was V.A.Frolov who produced the mosaics following Roerich’s design. The Archangel Michael mosaic, destroyed during the Second World War, was located on the south wing. Along with a few photographs taken in 1907 this painting is all that remains of Roerich’s mosaic.
Roerich painted the archangel as a victorious warrior on horseback, killing a malicious snake. In 1908 Farmakovski described the work as 'galloping on a crimson horse Saint Michael, with his crimson wings, beats the black snake with his strong right hand.' (Obrazovanie, n°8). Roerich aligns himself with the Russian tradition of icon painting by representing Saint Michael with the iconography traditionally applied to Saint George and the Dragon. As such this work recalls a later work from the 1920s, Saint George the Victorious (fig.3).
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