Count Mihaly von Zichy

The paper has been laid down onto canvas. The sheet is slightly discoloured and there are some water staining to the extreme edges. There are repaired tears and minor losses along the edges and a few spots of paint abrasion t.l.. The colours have faded a bit. Held in a gold painted wooden frame and under glass. Unexamined out of frame.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Mihaly Zichy demonstrated great talent across the graphic arts, and was equally skilled at erotic drawing and documentary painting. He was also the first artist to illustrate the Slovo o polku Igoreve, a classic of Old Russian literature. His passion, however, lay in Romanticism in its full fantastical, and occasionally gruesome, scope. Born in Zala, Hungary, Zichy attended the Italian master Marastoni's school in Pest as a diversion from his legal studies.  In 1844 he moved to Vienna, where he studied under Waldmüller at the Academy of Fine Arts, and then in 1847 he travelled to Russia, where he began teaching drawing and painting in aristocratic homes.

After a brief hiatus, Zichy rose further within the establishment with a number of watercolour sketches of Alexander II's coronation. Between 1859 and 1873 he was painter to the Imperial court, and has a whole chapter of Theophile Gautier's Voyage en Russie (1867) dedicated to him. In 1874 he moved to Paris, where he spent six years, although he regularly travelled to Russia to fulfil court commissions. During this last period, Zichy is better known for his illustrations, particularly for Hungarian Romantic literary works. He also produced a well-known work based on Lermontov's Demon. The offered lot is part documentary, and part tribute to the Romantic tradition. The sitters are all in various, traditional Caucasus dress, chiefly Georgian and Circassian: their long polonaise coats with cartridge pouches and sashes bristling with daggers and pistols combine with their noble, weathered faces to hint at a more extreme way of life. Russian orders gleam on their chests, testimony to the recent conquest of the region in which Lermontov was involved, and which provided him with much of his literary inspiration. One can only guess why some figures in the background are only sketched in: perhaps it is Zichy's memorial to those who did not survive to be portrayed.