Alexander Nikolaevich Benois

There is a crease across the middle of the sheet. There is a watermark in the lower right hand corner. The pencil lines have smudged a little. Held in a dark painted wooden frame and under glass.
"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."

'In a way this performance was a sort of general rehearsal for all that was to follow. It was the first time we were appearing in a foreign city with the work we had created in Russia, the first time we had met with masses of financial difficulties and obstacles and faced all sorts of intrigue. There were moments when our performances at the Opéra seemed to us to be a very dangerous adventure which might end badly. (...) We used to return to the hotel at one o'clock, half dead with fatigue; yet we thoroughly enjoyed all this work which was so new to us, and were sad to think that it would be soon over... What a lot of experience we went through in those days! Experiences that were amusing, alarming, tragi-comic and charming!'
(A.Benois, Reminiscences of the Russian Ballet, Putnam, London, 1941, p. 269).

'We can understand the extraordinary emotion of the Parisians, accustomed as they were to the ponderous banality of their own productions, when in 1908 Diaghilev first produced "Boris Godounov" at their Opera. The effect of the stern simplicity of Pushkin's play, the virility and the dramatic intensity of Moussorgsky's music, the poetry of Golovin's setting, must have been overwhelming.' (W.A. Propert, The Russian Ballet in Western Europe, John Lane, The Bodley Head, London, 1921, p. 13)