Paintings

Stepanov, Aleksej Stepanovic, Ukraine 1858 - 1923 Moscow (Sale 197, Lot 281)

Oil on canvas. Winter landscape with horse-drawn sleigh. Lower right cyrillic signed “A. Stepanov”. Craquelled, losses. 59 x 79 cm. Framed. Russian painter of Ukrainian birth. He qualified as a surveyor, but in 1880 he entered the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, studying under Illarion Pryanishnikov and Yevgraff S. Sorokin. There he became close friends with Sergey Ivanov, Sergey Korovin, Konstantin Korovin, Mikhail Nesterov and, in particular, Isaak Levitan, and he shared their enthusiasm for Realism. Stepanov began by painting small genre scenes in the style of Pryanishnikov, through whom he became interested in the hunt. He progressed from hunting scenes, which had special significance for him, to animal painting, and he became a leader in the genre.