This fine bronze study of a bloodhound by Pavel Petrovich Troubetzkoy (1866-1938) features in our April 2018 auction. Bearing medium brown patination, the dog sits on a shaped rectangular base signed Paolo Troubetzkoy.
Troubetzkoy was the son of a Russian diplomat, Pyotr Petrovich Troubetzkoy, who from 1865 was based in Florence where he was responsible for the supervision of the Russian church there. Whilst in Florence he met Ada Winans, an American lyric singer, who would eventually become his second wife and with whom he had three sons, one of whom was Pavel Petrovich.
Pavel was self taught as an artist however he was tutored in sculpture by Giuseppe Grandi, the Italian sculptor known for replicating the luministic effects seen in paintings in his three dimensional works. Pavel’s own output would be associated with impressionism given his ability to capture sketchy and fluid movements in bronze.
Troubetzkoy is renowned for his portaits in bronze of the rich and famous of Belle Époque society however his love of animals is equally well known and documented. Troubetzkoy’s fellow vegetarian, George Bernard Shaw, noted that he was ‘…a gigantic and terrifying humanitarian who can do anything with an animal except eat it’. Whilst the daughter of Leo Tolstoy, Alexandra, recalled that Troubetzkoy’s studio in St Petersburg was akin to a zoo, with ‘…a bear, a fox, a horse, and a vegetarian wolf’.
Troubetzkoy’s sculptures don’t often appear at auction and this sensitive work charmingly captures his bond with animals. Our April sale hound could very well be the same dog in his work Friends (1901), showing right, which is to be found in the collection of The State Russian Museum, St Petersburg.