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Dimensions: 213 by 285cm., 83 by 111in.
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Provenance: The Collection of Mr. Ivashev ,1890
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Literature: F.I.Bulgakov, Nashi khudozhniki, St. Petersburg: Tipografiya A.S.Suvorina, 1890, vol II, p.153
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Notes: PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTION, RUSSIA
Henri Semiradsky is one of Russia's finest 19υth century Academic painters who epitomised the traditional values of the Imperial Academy of Arts when many artists were rebelling against them. He also gained recognition outside Russia and his paintings were shown frequently at the Salons of Europe. He excelled at huge compositions based on episodes from early church history and genre paintings celebrating the life of the Ancients. Semiradsky won a seven year scholarship from the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts in 1872 to study abroad and settled in Rome. One of his first compositions painted in Italy, Christ and the Sinner (1873) was acquired by Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich and now hangs in the Museum of Alexander III, St. Petersburg (Marble Palace). Later he painted what was to be his most celebrated work, The Christian Martyrs depicting Christian crucifixions in the time of Emperor Nero. This painting gained him a professorship at the Imperial Academy and was exhibited at the Paris International Exhibition to wide acclaim. The offered work depicts Roman soldiers arriving at the entrance to the catacombs. The early Christians used the catacombs as meeting places in which to worship as well as tombs to bury their dead, a tradition opposed to the Roman rites of cremation. It was not until the reign of Emperor Constantine in 313AD that Christians were able to erect churches and assemble in public without fear of persecution. Late 19υth century academic religious painting in Russia often focussed on subjects promoting the ideals of self-sacrifice and suffering. Other Russian artists to paint such themes were notably Konstantin Flavitsky (1830-66) for his Christian Martyrs in the Coliseum and Vasili Polenov (1844-1927) Caesar's Entertainment, 1879.
