HENRYK SIEMIRADZKI (1843-1902), attribué

Socrates surprises his pupil Alcibiades at Hetaïre Oil on canvas, signed lower right. Size : 57 x 85 cm This is probably a study for the painting done in 1873 by the artist and kept in the Stavropol Museum. However, it presents many differences compared to the final realization. Provenance: Private collection, Monte Carlo. A painter of academic style and subject of the Russian Empire born in Sloboda in Little Russia, he is particularly renowned for his representations of scenes from Greco-Roman antiquity and the New Testament. He studied under Dmitri Ivanovitch and Bespertchi before entering the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. Siemiradzki worked on the frescoes of the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow and in 1879, he offered one of his most famous works, the enormous Pochodnie Nerona (Nero's Torches), painted in 1876 in the Polish National Museum in Cracow. In 1893, he worked on two large paintings for the State Historical Museum in Moscow. Many of his paintings depict scenes from antiquity, usually sunny, utopian scenes or compositions depicting the life of early Christians. He also painted biblical and historical scenes, landscapes and portraits. Let us also recall the curtains painted for the Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Kraków and for the theatre in Lwów. Siemiradzki will remain as a major representative of late 19th century academic painting in Central and Eastern Europe.