Lev Feliksovich Lagorio

Commissioned by the Empress Alexandra Fedorovna in 1857
Acquired by the grandfather of the present owners from Galerie Neupert, Zurich, in February 1935

Galerie Neupert, Zurich

F.Bulgakov, Nashi khudozhniki,  St. Petersburg, 1890 (reprinted 2002), vol.2, p.7

Structural condition: The canvas has been lined onto a keyed wooden stretcher. This is providing an even and stable structural support. There are some old labels on the reverse of the upper horizontal stretcher-bar. Paint surface: The paint surface has a thick and glossy varnish layer. There is an extensive pattern of fine craquelure most notably within the trees and the dark pigments, and within a small area in the sky in the background of the composition. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows scattered spots and lines of inpainting within the foliage in the upper third of the composition, and some later parallel, intermittent lines of retouching within the lower part of the trees, and some retouchings in the upper right and lower right corners, and an area of fluorescence in the lower centre of the composition. It should be noted that due to the thick and opaque nature of the varnish layers it is impossible to ascertain the extent of any previous restoration work. Summary: The painting would therefore appear to be in fairly good and stable condition and would benefit from cleaning, restoration and revarnishing.
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From the haziness of the Villa at Castel Gandolfo,
The mind is elevated to contemplate the beauties of eternity.
(From a sonnet by Pope Urban VIII, published in 1635) 

After the death of Nicholas I in 1855, the Dowager Empress Alexandra Fedorovna spent the late 1850s in the warmer climates of Switzerland, Nice and Italy on account of ill health. Her commission View of the Alban avenue with lake is the single work listed by Fedor Bulgakov under 1857 in his entry for Lagorio. An Imperial commission, this magnificent landscape has remained in a private collection for over 75 years and is the first example of Lagorio’s early Italian period ever to appear at auction.

Lagorio lived in Italy between 1852 to 1860, the birthplace of his father. Lake Albano and the distinctive outline of Castel Gandolfo, the papal summer residence, inspired artists throughout the 18^th and 19^th centuries. When Turner travelled to Italy in 1819-20 he dedicated several sketchbooks to Lake Albano now held in the Tate’s collection. He in turn was inspired by the great French landscapist Claude Lorrain who captured the area in his 1639 work Pastoral Landscape with Lake Albano and Castel Gandolfo (Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge).

Lagorio would have been aware of his illustrious forerunners, including Silvestr Schedrin, the father of Russian Italianate landscape painting whose 1825 painting Lake Albano (fig.1) marked a new step towards less formal compositions and more natural colouring in Russian landscape painting. Inspired by this work, Lagorio brought his own refined technique to the vista, confidently capturing the contrast between the shadowy path and the hazy light of the bay. On his return to Russia in 1860 Lagorio exhibited his Italian landscapes to great acclaim, including a view of Roca di Pappa now in the State Tretyakov Gallery.