Erik Bulatov was one of the earliest of his generation to achieve recognition on the internatio🐈nal art market, with several of his large-scale oils having sold for over £1m. The oil version of the present lot was sold at Sotheby’s London in 2007 for £198,000. He was honoured with a major retrospective at the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow in 2006.

Bulatov's preparatory drawings for major paintings are often meticulously worked and are finished pictures in themselves. T🐎hese drawings would be transferred onto the canvas before being reworked in paint. 'I feel pleasure and a certain sense of pride that I am using the same means as artists did 5000 years ago. I feel a close connection to these artists and this gives me a feeling of freedom and the necessary distance in relation to the social material with which I am working'.