Nicolas SWERTSCHKOFF (1817-1898) Return from the hunt Oil on canvas. Signed and dated 1887 lower right. 48 x 73 cm Son of the great steward of the royal stables, Nicolas Swertschkoff observed and painted horses since his childhood. As a young painter and hunting enthusiast, he spent his summers on his friends' estates hunting and and observing peasants. Swertschkoff's works - especially his "horse portraits" - have marked the Russian art Russian art by their realism and treatment of animals. In the 1860s, Swertschkoff lived in France and participated in the Parisian Salons. During an exhibition in 1863, Napoleon III bought his painting Return from the Bear Hunt. The painting presented at the auction was painted in 1887 when Nicolas Swertschkoff was recognized in Russia and worked regularly for the imperial family (he was already the author of the famous portrait of Nicholas I in a sleigh). Return from the Hunt is simple and very realistic; it represents a scene from the life of a young returning from his usual hunt for foxes and rabbits with his old horse and a greyhound of his master. his master. Each character is very detailed and representative of the art of this painter.