Live Auction 8003Russian Art
Alexandre Benois (1870-1960)
Lot 56

Alexandre Benois (1870-1960)

View of the Bolshoi Theatre in 1885

Closed28 November 2011

Price Realised

GBP 133,250

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Alexandre Benois (1870-1960)
View of the Bolshoi Theatre in 1885
signed, inscribed and dated 'Alexandre Benois/Le Grand Theatre à St Petersbourg/tel qu'il fait vers 1885' (lower right)
watercolour, gouache and pencil on paper mounted on board
13½ x 20½ in. (34.3 x 52.1 cm.)

The Benois family.
The Herenroth collection, New York, 1940s.
Acquired by the present owner in New York in the 1990s.

Specialist note

The Bolshoi Theatre held special significance for Benois, an artist well-known for his love of the stage. The theatre was redesigned by his maternal grandfather Alberto Cavos, a project that took ten years to complete. Benois chose to illustrate this particular image on the frontispiece of his book Reminiscences of the Russian Ballet (London, 1941).