Somov Drawings for Le Livre de la Marquise

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

MacDougall's Russian Art Auctions is an auction house working exclusively with Russian art, operating in London. I do not miss quoting at least one painting before each of their sales in my preview.

Today a Google alert has brought to my attention a lot out of the ordinary, mentioned in The Wall Street Journal of Nov. 21.

In intellectual matters, the eighteenth-century in Europe was philosophical and courtly. Erotic writings and poems joined at that time into the higher literature. Later anthologies have been made, and of course they were illustrated.

"Le Livre de la Marquise" is one of such anthologies, published in 1907 in Munich by Hans von Weber from an idea by Franz Blei. It contains excerpts from works of fifty authors, including Voltaire, Parny, Laclos, Casanova.

The illustration was left to Konstantin Somov. The artist, who considered that there was no art without eroticism, is perfectly at ease in his subject. His detailed and realistic drawings represent parks and interiors where to meet and love.

Lot 6 of November 25 sale is a collection of 122 drawings in ink, sometimes enhanced with white, made by Somov for Le Livre de la Marquise. This lot is estimated £ 1.5 million. Some drawings are subsequent to the original issue because the artist continued to work to it until the final edition of 1919.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

The sale of the lot at £ 1.2 million charge included is a success. Forget the estimate because it was too optimistic. It is particularly difficult to predict in advance what price such a set may reach.