Konstantin Fedorovich Yuon

Sotheby's London, Icons, Russian Pictures and Works of Art, 24 November 1992, Lot 73

Moscow, Union of Russian Artists ,1913

Yu. Osmolovskii, Konstantin Fedorovich Yuon, Moscow, 1982, p. 227, listed under works for 1914

Structural Condition The original canvas is unlined on a wooden keyed stretcher and is ensuring a stable and secure structural support. The vertical and horizontal stretcher bar lines are just visible but are stable and not visually distracting. Paint Surface The painting has an even varnish layer and only a few scattered spots of inpainting are visible under ultra-violet light. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in excellent and stable condition and no further work is required. Held in a gold painted frame and unexamined out of frame.
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Painted in 1913, the present work relates closely to Yuon's set design in tempera (now in the Russian Museum) showing the coronation scene for Diaghilev's ballet, Boris Godunov (fig.1). Yuon was clearly influenced by the tercentenary celebrations of the Romanov dynasty in 1913 and felt compelled to record one of the most decisive moments in Russian history, the birth of autocracy.

History painting had long dominated Russian art and the constraints of method and subject were fairly rigid. However, previous pictures - whilst depicting classical or Old Russian events or figures - did not seek to portray accurately the past but rather to convey a socio-political or moral message. Yuon, like other members of the World of Art group, was more concerned with capturing the essence and feel of bygone days, neither submitting moral messages nor striving to recreate the past as it had really been. His overall ability lay in depicting large-scale events whilst still focussing on detail and he continued to depict important historical events until late in his career, painting the powerful Parade in Red Square in Moscow on the 7^th of November 1941 at the age of seventy-four in 1949.

The present grand historical landscape, dominated by the majestic structures of the Kremlin with its golden-topped cathedrals, mighty walls and towers, depicts the coronation of Tsar Mikhail following the 'Time of Troubles' that had ensued after the death of Tsar Boris Godunov in 1603 and which had lasted until the establishment of Tsar Mikhail Romanov on the throne in 1613. This event was the beginning of the Romanov dynasty and was brought to life by Pushkin in his historical drama, Boris Godunov (1825), which in turn was set to music by Mussorgsky in 1869. Pushkin drew heavily on Karamzin's monumental History of the Russian State in his treatment of the events in his drama and, in turn, Yuon adopted and adapted the essence of these earlier artistic interpretations of this pivotal moment in Russian history in the present work.

A Moscow native, Yuon often looked to his place of birth for inspiration and could be characterised as the visual poet of that incomparable cityscape. Indeed, at one point he wrote: "Moscow has played a very important part in my artistic career. It was in Moscow that I started to paint: Moscow nurtured my basic interest and preferences" (quoted in: Yu. Osmolovskii, Konstantin Fedorovich Yuon, Moscow, 1982, p. 243).

Yuon recorded in a series of works that form a core part of his oeuvre the topography of Moscow in vigorous architectural detail, making precise and ordered pencil studies from life before beginning his paintings. In the present work, each structure is accurately represented and the sequence forms, from left to right, the Cathedral of the Archangel Michael, the Palace Church of the Annunciation, the Kremlin Palace with two stairways leading to a terrace, the Palace of Facets, and the Coronation Cathedral of the Dormition. Yet in Yuon's choice of palette here, pure topography gives way to a joyous and vibrant vision of the scene more reminiscent of Russian folk art. Although he was of course concerned with the overall effect of the composition, Yuon lavished great attention on each individual figure whether on foot or on horseback. The noise of the crowd is almost tangible.