Headlining Heritage Auction Galleries inaugural Russian auction was the sale of Mikhail Klodt’s 1858 masterpiece painting Riverside Farmstead which sold for $1,314,500 (including buyer’s premium).

Painted in 1858 by the master of 19th century Russian landscapes, Riverside Farmstead won Klodt the prestigious gold medal at the Imperial Academy at Saint Petersburg in 1858. The picture depicts a pastoral scene from Klodt’s birthplace in Sigulda , Latvia and is a remarkably realist canvas at 41 x 60 inches. Sales of Klodt’s works are rare, especially one as important and ground-breaking as this. Klodt would enjoy much popularity in his day and started a revolutionary movement among Russian artists called the ‘Wanderers’, itinerant painters who travelled Russia completing works that depicted everyday Russian life.

Mikhail Klodt (Russian, 1832-1902)
Riverside Farmstead, 1858
Oil on canvas
41-3/4 x 60-1/2 inches (106.0 x 153.7 cm)
Signed lower right: M. Clodt also signed lower left: Clodt
Realized: $1,314,500

Auction info www.HA.com

Posted: 06|14|08 at 10:20 am. Filed under: US News.