Isherwood Fine Art has dated this piece to the 19th Century.
During his childhood, Troubetzkoy was exposed to popular artists and poets of the time, who used to meet at the grandiose Villa Ada (the Troubetzkoy family residence)on Lake Maggiore. Among the personalities of the Troubetzkoy family’s circle were the sculptor Giuseppe Grandi, the composer Alfredo Catalani and the painters Tranquillo Cremona and Daniele Ranzoni, well-known in Italy at that time. With the latter, Troubetzkoy had a long-lasting friendship.
From an early age, Paul displayed an extravagant personality and a fascination with the world around him. He favored independent thinking and was intolerant to rigorous study. These personality traits consolidated during his apprenticeship in Milan in 1884, with Donato Barcaglia and Ernesto Bazzaro. After a few months, he decided to leave the apprenticeship to work for himself and joined the Milanese artistic circles. He initially focused his art on small statuettes of animal subjects such as horses, dogs and elephants.
For the first time, in 1886, he exhibited one of his works, A Horse, at the Brera Academy. Towards 1890, he participated in numerous competitions for public monuments depicting, among others, Garibaldi, Dante and Amedeo VI of Savoia. In the same period, some of his works were acquired by museums in Italy and overseas, such as the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna in Rome and the Golden Gate Museum in San Francisco.
During his years of education in Italy, Troubetzkoy exhibited in important venues including Brera in Milan and the Koenig Galerie in Berlin. Following the death of his parents in 1898 and his brother Pierre moving to England, Troubetzkoy decided to move to Russia, where he stayed until 1906, with some intervals in France and Italy. These years were a turning point for the artist.
In 1899, he met Leo Tolstoy in Yasnaya Polyana. The encounter had a lifelong impact on Troubetzkoy. The artist, struck by Tolstoy’s humanitarian spirit, dramatically changed his views on life. Not only did he decide to stop eating food of animal origin, as witnessed by his work titled Corpse Eaters (today in the Collection of the Museo del Paesaggio), but also gradually changed his circle of close friends and beliefs.
In 1900 he participated in the Exposition Universelle in Paris with his Leo Tolstoy riding “Delire” (today at the Musée d’Orsay) which won him the Grand Prix. This success gave Troubetzkoy greater visibility and a huge boost to his career, gaining him an even wider recognition among the upper classes.
After his appointment as professor of sculpture at the Academy in Moscow, where he prompted his students to sculpt from nature, he was also recognized by Russians as the leader of the New Moscow School of sculpture. In 1901 he won the project-bid for the monument of Tsar Alexander III in St. Petersburg, which was completed in 1909. He also continued travelling to European capitals for exhibitions, such as Venice, Milan, Rome, Paris and finally Stockholm, the city where he meets his future wife, Elin Sundström.
In the meantime, he made himself known to the Russian Elite, by creating numerous busts of politicians and noblemen. It was during these times, and surrounded by his own social environment, that Troubetzkoy’s production became increasingly oriented towards aristocratic portraits, such as one depicting Prince Leo Galitzin.
After the outbreak of the Russian-Japanese war in 1905, Troubetzkoy decided to stay in Milan for a while, before moving definitively to Paris with his wife
Isherwood Fine Art has dated this piece to the 19th Century.
16th to 19th century old master, british and european paintings and sculpture, specialising in period portraiture. Member BADA, LAPADA.
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A Late 19th Century Bronze Figure of a Seated Hound, After Prince Paul Troubetzkoy (1866-1938)
