Throughout its history humanity has lost thousands of masterpieces. Artists' canvases were destroyed in wars, burned in fires, stolen from museums, illegally sold on black markets, or ended up in the private collections of the powerful. Sometimes the artists themselves destroyed their paintings. In this piece we tell the story of lost masterpieces of Russian painting.
Olga Rozanova is a well-known representative of the Russian avant-garde. Fifty-eight of Rozanova's works have been lost—about a third of all the canvases she painted. The painting 'Chervonnaya Dama' is a self-portrait by Rozanova and the most important of the lost works. The painting was part of a famous playing-card series in which the subjects were her contemporaries. The canvas disappeared under unknown circumstances—only a lithograph in one of the books remains. The painting's whereabouts are unknown, so an artwork from the playing-card series, 'Jack of Hearts', is used as an illustration.
A painting from the playing-card series. O. V. Rozanova. Jack of Hearts. 1915.
Apollinary Vasnetsov's painting 'Old Moscow. The Quay at the Spasskiye Water Gates of Kitai-gorod' disappeared 80 years ago; only a black-and-white reproduction remains. 'Old Moscow' was part of a traveling exhibition of the Russian Museum that had been temporarily sent to the Alupka Museum-Palace. It was caught up there by the Great Patriotic War. The Alupka Palace was looted and many paintings, including 'Old Moscow', were lost.
Vasily Vereshchagin's painting 'Buddhist Temple in Nikko' also disappeared in Alupka during the occupation of Crimea in 1941. 'Buddhist Temple in Nikko' is part of the artist's Japanese series. The main works of this series are held in the collection of the Russian Museum. Since the painting's whereabouts are unknown, an artwork from the Japanese series, 'Entrance to the Nikko Temple', is used as an illustration. Vereshchagin's Japanese series introduced Russian audiences to Japanese culture. Dozens of Vasily Vereshchagin's works were lost—some he destroyed himself, some were attacked by mentally ill visitors, and some were lost during the war years. Some works, including Cuban studies and American sketches, ended up in private collections in the United States.
A painting from the Japanese series. V. Vereshchagin. Entrance to the Nikko Temple. Circa 1881. State Russian Museum.
In the 1990s the fighting in Grozny struck the cultural heritage of the region and the country. The national museum of the Chechen Republic was destroyed. Among the missing paintings were Arkhip Kuindzhi's study 'Rainbow' and Ivan Aivazovsky's 'Italian Landscape'. Nothing is known about the fate of these canvases to this day.
I. Aivazovsky. Italian Landscape. 1843.
In 2013 a major theft took place at the Historical and Art Museum in Vyazniki. The criminals entered the museum before closing, hid inside, and after dark carried off three paintings: 'The Fisherman' by Konstantin Korovin, 'First Snow' by Stanislav Zhukovsky, and 'Forest. Firs' by Ivan Shishkin. In 2017 the robbers were detained at Minsk customs with drugs and Shishkin's painting, which they were apparently transporting for a potential sale to a buyer in Europe. The other paintings have not yet been found.
I. Shishkin. Forest. Firs. 1897.
Of course, one article is not enough to tell the story of all lost masterpieces. The subject of lost masterpieces is painful not only for connoisseurs and art professionals, but for everyone who understands the value of cultural heritage in terms of a country's history and its contribution to world culture. For now the only thing that is clear is that works of art are very vulnerable and need constant protection. Will we ever see these paintings again? Time will tell.
