Alexander Nikolaevich Benois

Paris, Hôtel Jean Charpentier, Exposition des œuvres d'Alexandre Benois, 1926, no. 133

Paris, Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Œuvres d'Alexandre Benois, 1953

Como, Villa communale dell Olmo, Mostra Benois, 1955, no. 78

Paris, Musée Galliera, Paris 09-29, 1957, no. 12

Strasbourg, L'Ancienne Douane, Les Ballets Russes de Serge de Diaghilev 1909-1929, May-September 1969, no. 284

A. Benois, Reminiscences of the Russian Ballet, London, Putnam, 1945, illustrated facing p. 364

Exhibition catalogue Les Ballets Russes de Serge de Diaghilev 1909-1929, Strasbourg, 1969, listed p. 163 no. 284, illustrated plate 53

M.Pozharskaya et al,L'art des ballets russes à Paris: Projets de décors et de costumes 1908-1929, Paris: Gallimard, 1990, illustrated p.131 

The sheet is composed of 4 separate pieces of paper which has discoloured a little. The central sheet is bordered with two pieces either side and one along the top. The paper is undulated. There are some pin holes to the corners and edges. There is some light wear to the paint surface and surface scratches in places. The colours are a little faded. 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."

The offered lot depicts the Emperor's palace.

Le Rossignol, with a libretto based on Hans Christian Anderson's The Nightingale and set to music by Igor Stravinsky, was first performed on 26 May 1914. Stravinsky had begun work on the opera in 1908, but put it aside for several years after he had received the commission for The Firebird from Sergei Diaghilev,completing it in 1914, after he had finished work on two other major ballets for Diaghilev, Petrushka and The Rite of Spring.

The opera's first performance was on 26 May 1914 in the Théâtre National de l'Opéra in Paris, in a production by Diaghilev, with the singers in the pit and their roles mimed and danced on stage. Stravinsky later prepared a symphonic poem, Le chant du rossignol (The Song of the Nightingale), using music from the opera, in 1917, as a separate concert work.

'The sea and landscape of the first act, the throne-room and the golden bedroom in the Emperor's palace, gave me an opportunity to express all my infatuation with Chinese art. (...) The final result was a Chinoiserie de ma façon, far from accurate by pedantic standards and even, in a sense, hybrid, but undoubtedly appropriate to Stravinsky's music.(...) On the whole, I consider Le Rossignol one of my most successful productions.' (A.Benois, Reminiscences of the Russian Ballet, London, Putnam, 1945, p. 269).

Half of Benois' sets and costumes designs stored in London's Drury Lane Theatre were destroyed during the first World War .