At the time of creating this work Benoit was already known as an author of historical pictures - the famous "Parade under Paul I» (1907, State Russian Museum), "Output of Catherine II in the Tsarskoe Selo palace" (1909, National Gallery of Armenia) and Walking the Empress Elizabeth "(1906, private collection - was sold at auction," Christie's »in New York in April 2006 for 441,600 dollars).
Subsequently, Benoit wrote about himself: "Much of the past seems to me good and long familiar, perhaps even more familiar than the present ... I have the attitude to the past more tender, more loving than the present. I have a better understanding of those days thought those days ideals, dreams, passions, and even the most faces and fads .... "
The painting depicted the current Alexander Benois Moscow district Lefortovo how it looked three hundred years ago. The young Tsar Peter often came here to relax and learn from their friends, foreigners, looking into their lives. It is here that many were born Peter's reforms, which have become crucial for Russia. The artist captures the end of one of these "assemblies" - the moment when Tsar Peter the Great, early in the morning, leaving the Foreign Quarter.
In total sale will feature approximately 150 lots, including paintings by Alexander Kiselev, Konstantin Kryzhitsky, Stanislav Zhukovsky, Nikolai Krymov, as well as graphics Boris Kustodiev Zinaida Serebryakova and Vladimir Makovsky.
Auction
Saturday February 12 2011, 15:00
Hotel Radisson Royal, Moscow "(" Ukraine ")
Hall "Veranda 2"
Kutuzov Prospekt 2 /1, p. 1
Pre-auction exhibition
5 - February 11, 2011
daily 12:00 - 20:00
20:00-22:00 by appointment
Hotel Radisson Royal, Moscow, 2 nd floor, room "Leonid Shishkin Gallery"
Site Leonid Shishkin Gallery ..
http://www.shishkin-gallery.ru/