VLADIMIR IVANOVICH HAU | PORTRAIT OF GRAND DUKE NIKOLAI ALEXANDROVICH

The present lot relates to an album commissioned by Nicholas I in 1846 following the celebrations marking his 50th anniversary as commander of the Horse Guards Regiment, which contains portraits by Vladimir Hau as well as genre scenes by Karl Piratsky. Executed between 1846 and 1851, the Imperial copy is now in the Pushkin House in St Petersburg. Copies of the album were presented to the most distinguished members of the regiment, and there are also single copies of portraits from the album made by Hau himself as well as by other artists.

The album includes portraits of the Emperor’s sons Konstantin and Alexander, as well as of his grandson Nikolai Alexandrovich. In its execution, the present work strongly resembles the portrait of Nikolai Alexandrovich in the Pushkin House copy (fig.1) and is of identical size, which allows us to confidently attribute it to Hau. The different positioning of the sitter in the two portraits means this is a variation by the artist rather than a copy by another hand. It was likely part of a now lost edition of the Horse Guards album. Hau left the majority of his portraits unsigned, the erroneous signature A.Brullof was added at a later date.