A. De safonoff (xix), portrait of nicolas ii, important oil on canvas, signed and dated 1898, 270x165 cm
provenance: count boutourline
this spectacularly sized work represents tsar nicholas ii, emperor of russia from 1894 to 1917, posing solemnly in full length in the throne room. This portrait is based on the portrait of nicholas ii by the famous russian painter ilya repin (1844-1930). Created two years before the version painted by safonoff, in 1896 the same year of the tsar's coronation, repin's painting is in the collections of the state russian museum in st. Petersburg. Apart from a slight difference in dimensions, 251x160 cm for repin's versus 270x165 cm for safonoff's, a few elements distinguish the two compositions. Safonoff represents the tsar with his hands separated, one holding the cap and the other holding the sword, whereas his hands are joined in repin. The position of the hands chosen by safonoff is, however, found in another portrait of the tsar posing this time in his interior and also painted by repin in 1895. Safonoff also reduces the body of the chandelier to 3 parts, instead of the 5 that the original version has. A. De safonoff probably received the agreement of the tsar, as well as the painter ilya repin, to create this impressive canvas dedicated to the decoration of a palace. The tsar with his lively and penetrating gaze is imbued here with a realistic and majestic gravity. It presents itself to the viewer in all its grandeur, as the emperor wished. Date: 1898.
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