A tapestry panel, Imperial Tapestry Manufactory, St Petersburg, mid 19th century

embroidered with the Mother and Child from Correggio's Nativity (Adoration of the Shepherds) (1530), in a giltwood frame

With some loss, some separation of fibres and some fading, minor repairs overall. The gilt wood frame with scattered surface losses.
"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."

When Peter the Great founded the Imperial Tapestry Manufactory in St Petersburg in 1716, a number of challenges stood in the factory’s path to artistic, technical and organisational success. Producing tapestries is an extremely laborious process; a weaver can easily spend a year working on a single square metre of cloth.  There were no Russians with technical knowledge of the field, which meant a number of Frenchmen were recruited to establish the manufactory and train local workers.  They were promised wages and materials which never arrived.  It took more than a decade before the necessary wool, linen, silk and hemp could be acquired from Persia, China and India.  The earliest surviving example of a tapestry produced by Russian hands at the factory dates from 1727 and is signed ‘woven by Russian student’, although it is likely a number of students worked on the project together.

The first tapestries copied still lifes and landscapes.  Once students mastered the depiction of objects and flora, they moved on to rendering human subjects, which required greater technical skill.  Copies of paintings from the Hermitage would later materialise.  Tapestry portraits became popular, though the high costs meant the finished articles were a luxury even for the Imperial household.  In 1764 Catherine the Great made a provision whereby the manufactory received extra funds and access to the best imported textiles available.  By 1841, when a copy of Antonio da Correggio’s 1530 painting Nativity (Adoration of the Shepherds, also known as The Holy Night) was produced as a tapestry measuring two by two-and-a-half meters, the factory was at its technical peak but also nearing its death throes.  It would cease to operate entirely in 1859.

Correggio’s original painting was a chiaroscuro masterpiece.  Currently on display at the Old Masters Picture Gallery in Dresden, the work depicts the birth of Jesus as if light itself were the Holy Child’s creation.  Rather than being illuminated from above, Jesus is himself the source of light in a composition engulfed by shadows. The tapestry copy reproduced by Russian craftsmen V. Yakovlev and I. Averianov, currently at St Michael’s Castle, now a branch of the Russian Museum, St Petersburg, is much lighter in its colour palette and atmosphere.  The present lot reframes that picture, reinstating some of Correggio’s shadowy textures and re-contextualising the scene from a group celebration that features witnesses, animals and angels to an intimate moment between a mother and her new-born child.