Alexandre Benois (1870-1960)

Sergei Ernst (1894-1980) was a noted art historian, critic and author of a number of seminal monographies dedicated to the foremost artists of Russia’s Silver Age, including Valentin Serov, Konstantin Somov and Alexandre Benois. He also contributed to the major art-historical publications of the time including Starye gody and Zhar-ptitsa. Having emigrated to Paris in 1925 with his lifelong friend and artist Dimitri Bouchène (1893-1993), Ernst became a central figure in the Russian émigré circle and was respected by his peers for his knowledge and indefatigable passion for art.
The present watercolour was painted in 1917, when Benois rented a dacha near the estate of Zinkino in the region of Novgorod. Ernst is depicted with Benois’ son, Nicolas (1901-1988), who at that time was studying under Alexandre Iacovleff (1887-1938) and Vasilii Shukhaev (1887-1973). Nicolas went on to become a celebrated stage designer, known principally for his work for La Scala in Milan.