Lot 2567 D α

This painting is a variation of a composition known in two other versions (cf. Lingenauber/Sugrobova 2012, op. cit., nos. 358 & 359). These are two large-format works measuring 147 x 95.5 cm (The V. V. Vereshchagin Art Museum, Nikolaev/Ukraine), and 199 x 133 cm (formerly Neue Pinakothek Munich, current whereabouts unknown).
Franz Roubaud was born in Odessa in 1856 as the son of French emigrants. He learnt to paint at the Munich Academy under Karl Theodor von Piloty and Wilhelm von Diez, among others. He was highly acclaimed for his images of Caucasian horsemen and large battle panoramas, such as his “Defence of Sebastopol 1854/55”, which measures 100 meters in length. His patrons included the Tsars Alexander III and Nicholas II as well as Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria, who raised Roubaud to nobility.
We would like to thank Dr. Olga Sugrobova-Roth for examining this work first-hand and confirming it to be an original piece by Franz Aleksejewitsch Roubaud.