The Existence of Cabinet Wax Sculpture in the Second Half of the 19th Century: Eugene Lanceray, Vasily Grachev

This article draws attention to the use of wax sculptures not only as models for subsequent metal casting but also as independent, finished works with their own artistic value. They were exhibited at art exhibitions, found in the collections of lovers of chamber sculpture, could be given as gifts, and had their own market turnover. In this regard, the prices of some works by sculptors E.A. Lanceray and M.F. Shokhin, who presented their works at Annual Art Exhibitions at the Imperial Academy of Arts, are presented.

Information on a number of wax sculptures by E.A. Lanceray from private collections, as well as on some of their owners, is contained in the archive of N.P. Sobko, the memoirs of the artist M.L. Zhemchuzhnikov, the publisher of the journal Pictorial Review P.N. Polevoy, and the Indexes for Art Exhibitions at the Imperial Academy of Arts.

Wax sculptures could be presented as gifts to both the monarch and members of the imperial family. This article provides historical information clarifying M.A. Ber’s recollection of the presentation of E.A. Lanceray’s sculpture Troika with a Broken Cart Wheel, executed in white wax (1866, State Tretyakov Gallery), to the future Emperor Alexander III.

Documents preserved in the archives reveal the circumstances of the presentation of the wax composition At the Watering Place (sculptor V.Ya. Grachev) to Emperor Alexander III on May 2, 1885, during his visit to the Crafts Exhibition in St. Petersburg. It is believed that V.Ya. Grachev participated in the exhibition of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of ArtArts with this wax sculpture (but entitled Kakhetian Women at the Watering Place) the previous year, in 1884. The author of this article also believes that the work has a double borrowing: the theme of “mountain women with horses by a pond” was borrowed by V.Ya. Grachev from the artist N.P. Karazin (a drawing of Turkmen Women Bathing Horses, 1876), and the compositional structure was borrowed from the sculptor E.A. Lanceray (a bronze group of Don Cossack Foragers, 1878, State Russian Museum).

1. Sudbury G.W. et al. Evgueni Alexandrovitch Lanceray, 1848—1886: Le Sculpteur Russe du Cheval. Lausanne, FAVRE Publ., 2006, 209 p.

2. Dementyeva L.A. Evgenii Lansere. Al’bom skul’pturnykh modelei [Eugene Lanseray. Sculpture Portfolio]. Moscow, Gosudarstvennyi Istoricheskii Muzei Publ., 2011, 342 p.

3. N.P. Sobko’s Archive: E.A. Lanseray, Otdel rukopisei Rossiiskoi natsional’noi biblioteki [Manuscripts Department of the Russian National Library], coll. 708, fol. 454, 27 p. (in Russ.).

4. Doronina T.V. Sculptor E.A. Lanseray. Materials from the Archive of N.P. Sobko, Molodye ob iskusstve: sbornik statei [Young People on Art: collected articles]. Moscow, 2011, issue 2, pp. 93—103 (in Russ.).

5. Ukazatel’ Vystavki khudozhestvennykh proizvedenii v Akademii khudozhestv v 1872 godu [Index for the Art Exhibition at the Academy of Arts in 1872]. St. Petersburg, 1872, 31 p.

6. Doronina T.V. The Hawker or Falconer? Russkoe iskusstvo [Russian Art], 2007, no. 1, pp. 48—53 (in Russ.).

7. Doronina T.V. Eugene Lanceray’s Equestrian Statues: The Royal Falconer of the 16th Century and Kyrgyz with a Golden Eagle, Dom Burganova. Prostranstvo kul’tury [Burghanov House. Space of Culture], 2023, no. 2, pp. 53—69. DOI: 10.36340/2071-6818-2023-19-2-53-69 (in Russ.).

8. Zhemchuzhnikov L.M. Moi vospominaniya iz proshlogo [My Memories from the Past]. Moscow, Izdatel’stvo im. Sabashnikovykh, 2009, 655 p.

9. Ukazatel’ vystavki khudozhestvennykh proizvedenii v Akademii khudozhestv v 1869 godu [Index for the Art Exhibition at the Academy of Arts in 1869]. St. Petersburg, 1869, 45 p.

10. Kalugina O.V. August Customers of Easel Plastics in Russia in the Second Half of 19th — Early 20th Century, Artikul’t [Articult], 2018, no. 29 (1), pp. 60—66. DOI: 10.28995/2227-6165-2017-27-3-60-66 (in Russ.).

11. Polevoi P.N. E.A. Lanseray, Zhivopisnoe obozrenie [Pictorial Review]. St. Petersburg, 1886, no. 13, p. 207 (in Russ.).

12. Gautier P.J.T. Puteshestvie v Rossiyu [Journey to Russia]. Moscow, Mysl’ Publ., 1988, 396 p.

13. Bruk Ya.V. (ed.) Gosudarstvennaya Tret’yakovskaya galereya (Moskva): katalog sobraniya [State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow): catalogue of the collection]. Moscow, Krasnaya Ploshchad’ Publ., 2000, vol. 1, 351 p.

14. Goncharova L.N. Russkaya khudozhestvennaya bronza XIX veka [Russian Artistic Bronze of the 19th Century]. Moscow, Kasatkina Publ., 2001, 345 p.

15. Ukazatel’ vystavki khudozhestvennykh proizvedenii v Akademii khudozhestv v 1873 godu [Index for the Art Exhibition at the Academy of Arts in 1873]. St. Petersburg, 1873, 57 p.

16. Stasov V.V. Art Exhibition over 25 Years, Sobranie sochinenii [Collected Works]. St. Petersburg, Tipografiya M.M. Stasyulevicha Publ., 1894, vol. 1, 768 p. (in Russ.).

17. Pavlinov-Lanceray P. Biographie. Lanceray: Nomade et Sédentaire, Evgueni Alexandrovich Lanceray: Le Sculpteure Russe du Cheval / G.W. Sudbury et Autres. Paris, FAVRE Publ., 2006, pp. 19—26.

18. Otchet o S.-Peterburgskoi Remeslennoi vystavke 1885 g. [Report on the St. Petersburg Crafts Exhibition 1885]. St. Petersburg, Tipografiya Brat. Panteleevykh Publ., 1885, 109 p.

19. Case of the Chancellery of the Imperial Court on the Issuance, by Imperial Order, of 500 rubles to Sculptor Vasily Grachev for the Wax Group He Presented, Depicting Women at a Watering Place, Rossiiskii gosudarstvennyi istoricheskii arkhiv [Russian State Historical Archive], coll. 472, aids 38, int. aids 415/1935, fol. 46, 8 p. (in Russ.).

20. Novosti i birzhevaya gazeta: pervoe izdanie [News and Stock Exchange Gazette: first edition]. 1886, no. 51, February 20.

21. Ukazatel’ S.-Peterburgskoi Remeslennoi vystavki 1885 g. [Report on the St. Petersburg Crafts Exhibition 1885]. St. Petersburg, Tipografiya Brat. Panteleevykh Publ., 1885, 56 p.

22. Zimin I.V. Aleksandrovskii dvorets v Tsarskom sele. Lyudi i steny, 1796—1917. Povsednevnaya zhizn’ rossiiskogo imperatorskogo Dvora [The Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo. People and Walls, 1796—1917. Everyday Life at the Russian Imperial Court]. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Tsentrpoligraf Publ., Russkaya Troika SPb. Publ., 2015, 635 p.

23. Elkova E.Yu., Yukhimenko E.M. Sculptor Vasily Yakovlevich Grachev, Skul’ptor Vasilii Yakovlevich Grachev i russkaya kabinetnaya bronza [Sculptor Vasily Yakovlevich Grachev and Russian Cabinet Bronze]. Moscow, 2019, pp. 8—22 (in Russ.).

24. Elkova E.Yu. Skul’ptor V.Ya. Grachev i russkaya kabinetnaya bronza: sobranie B.R. Rotenberga: katalog [Sculptor V.Ya. Grachev and Russian Cabinet Bronze: B.R. Rotenberg’s Collection: catalogue]. Moscow, 2019, 522 p.

25. Kakhetian Women at the Watering Place, Vsemirnaya illyustratsiya: ezhenedel’nyi illyustrirovannyi zhurnal [World Illustration: weekly illustrated magazine], 1884, vol. 32, no. 8 (814), p. 133, 146 (in Russ.).

26. Karazin N.N. Turkmen Women Bathing Horses, Niva, 1876, no. 17, pp. 299—300 (in Russ.).

27. Doronina T.V. To the Question of Prototypes and Copies-Variations in Small Plastic of the Second Half of the 19th Century. Sculptor V.Ya. Grachev, Artikul’t [Articult], 2019, no. 36 (4), pp. 57—73. DOI: 10.28995/2227-6165-2019-4-57-73 (in Russ.).

28. Gosudarstvennyi Russkii muzei: Skul’ptura: XVIII — nachalo XX veka: Katalog [State Russian Museum. Sculpture: 18th — Early 20th Century: catalogue]. Leningrad, Iskusstvo: Leningradskoe Otdelenie Publ., 1988, 318 p.

29. Doronina T.V. On the Problem of Copying and Borrowing of Plots in the Cabinet Plastics of the Second Half of 19th Century. Sculptors E. Lanceray and V. Grachev, Dom Burganova. Prostranstvo kul’tury [Burghanov House. Space of Culture], 2014, no. 3, pp. 183—195 (in Russ.).

30. Sculptor-Artist V.Ya. Grachev, Remeslennaya Gazeta. St. Petersburg, 1886, no. 33 (in Russ.).