886/​2005

Nikolai Petrovich Bogdanoff-Belsky (b. Smolensk 1868, d. Berlin 1945)

Summer day in Russia with a boy playing citar for the girls outside a barn. Signed and dated N. Bogdanoff-Belsky 1934. Oil on canvas. 99×112 cm.

Provenance: Christian Egild Christensen (1891–1969), who came from the village of Stenderup, south of Hor- sens in Jutland. He was originally trained as a dairyman, but in 1919 he graduated with a diploma in commerce and was subsequently hired by the English company Pollock & Co. They sold butter via Esbjerg to England. In 1922, he married Jane Christensen, b. Jensen (1895–1973). In 1923, Christian Egild Christensen was pro- moted to the position of managing director of the lan- guishing Latvian branch of Pollock & Co. He travelled to Riga to find suitable accommodation, and later in 1923 his wife joined him. The couple first lived in an apart- ment in the centre of Riga, where their two children, Niels Christian Egild Christensen (1925–1998) and Anna Magrethe Christensen (1927–1994), were born. Christian Egild Christensen strengthened Pollock & Co.'s position in Latvia, where he successfully exported the company’s Latvian butter and imported machinery for the expansion and modernization of Latvia's pro- duction facilities within the dairy sector.

In 1932, the family moved to the town of Kaiserwald (today Mezaparks), approx. 12 km outside Riga. It was a large villa, and a cook and maid were employed by the household – which shows how well Christian Egild Christensen's business was doing. The son Niels Chris- tian Egild Christensen wrote his memoirs shortly before his death in 1998. Here he mentions the villa where the present painting by Bogdanoff-Belsky hung: "I can remember the heavy black-stained oak furniture pieces with the rough, grey cover. The sofa, chairs and palm tree near the radio. On the wall above the sofa hung a large painting by Bogdanoff-Belsky – it showed children sitting in the evening sun in front of a log house out in the countryside while attentively listening to a boy playing music on a homemade string instrument. The picture was, with its rural motif and its colours, a daily joy for us to look at”.

However, the Christensen’s idyllic family life in Riga came to an abrupt halt due to the worsening political conditions in Latvia in the prelude to World War II. It became impossible for Christian Egild Christensen to run Pollock & Co., and he had to close the branch in Riga in 1936. He sent the family and their most personal possessions to Denmark, including the painting by Bogdanoff-Belsky.

Christian Egild Christensen spent the rest of his life in Denmark. For his business efforts in the Baltic countries as well as his work for the Nordisk forening (Nordic Association) in Riga, he was honoured in 1938 with the title of Commander of the Order of the Dannebrog. After Christian Egild Christensen's death, the painting was inherited by his son, Niels Christian Egild Christensen, who in 1977 gave it to his son as a gift for his confirmation. Thence in the son’s possession up until today.

Nikolai Petrovich Bogdanoff-Belsky lived in Riga from 1921. Since this painting is dated 1934, and the Chris- tensen family left Riga in 1936, the painting must have been acquired within this short span of years, possibly at an exhibition or from the artist himself.

Condition

Condition report on request. Please contact: russia@bruun-rasmussen.dk

The submission of bids on this lot number requires the prior registration of a valid debit/credit card, presentation of photo ID and the payment of a deposit of 50.000 DKK on request. Registration of debit/credit card, photo ID and deposit is due no later than the 4th of June.

Please contact Bruun Rasmussen regarding this via email: bids@bruun-rasmussen.dk or tel.: +45 8818 1013.

Additional Remarks

The submission of bids on this lot number requires the prior registration of a valid debit/credit card, presentation of photo ID and the payment of a deposit of 50.000 DKK on request. Registration of debit/credit card, photo ID and deposit is due no later than Friday 24 May.

Please contact Bruun Rasmussen regarding this via email: bids@bruun-rasmussen.dk or tel.: +45 8818 1013.

Please note: The item is subject to the Anti-Money Laundering Act. In the event of a hammer price of DKK 50,000 or more, including buyer’s premium, the buyer must submit a copy of a valid photo ID and proof of address in order to collect the item.

Auction

Russian art, 7 June 2019

Category
Estimate

250,000–300,000 DKK

Sold

Price realised

240,000 DKK