Bartolomäus Vigh

The canvas has been relined. There are frame abrasions with associated paint loss along the edges. There are stable cracks throughout. The surface is covered in a layer of dirt. Inspection under UV light reveals infilling to the cracks, retouching to the sky and along the edges as well as scattered retouching throughout. Held in a gilt wooden frame. Unexamined out of frame.
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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."

Bartolomäus Vigh was born in the Slovakian town of Rimavská Sobota. In his youth he won a scholarship to the Budapest Academy of Art and began studying there under Laszlo Hegedus and Carlo Ferenczy. With the advent of the First World War he was enlisted into the Austro-Hungarian army, captured by the Russians and detained in Turkestan, then part of Imperial Russia. Despite his capture, this period inside the Russian Empire became one of great creativity for the artist as he painted both sights of the Russian military and the Turkestan landscape.

Presentation in Samarkand is one such work painted directly from life by Vigh while in Turkestan. The piece depicts the festivities of the traditional Tamasha spectacle in Registan Square at the heart of Turkestan’s then capital, Samarkand. Vigh conveys the celebratory mood with his dynamic layers of paint showing the movement of the dancing figures, acrobats and musicians. He captures the Eastern setting with his use of vibrant colours and the backdrop of the Tilya-Kori Madrasah architecture. This painting shows the joy of a festival but also has historical importance with the depiction of several high ranking military officials; General Governor Major Likoshin sits under the canopy with his wife while Colonel Kornilov helps his wife onto the podium in the centre. On his return to Hungary, Vigh mainly painted portraits of high society women. The present lot is both a historically significant work and an important painting in Vigh's oeuvre.