dark brown patina, inscribed in Russian 'sculpted by Lansere', with Chopin Foundry mark

Excellent condition. All elements present. Good casting. Good patina.
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Yevgeny Alexandrovich Lansere (1848-1886) chose horses as the focus of his art. Aged eleven, he made his first wax model of a troika and gave it to the future Emperor Alexander III. So exemplary was Lansere’s aesthetic dedication to the equine race that a discerning eye can detect the breed of horse depicted in his sculptures. In the present lot, the director of the Moscow Museum of Horse-Breeding identified the captured horse to be a pure breed argamak—a powerful animal with a svelte physique from meridional Russia. The Cossack’s horse, with its heavy head, short mane and long tail, appears to be a stepniak, typical of the Ukrainian steppe; a breed which disappeared along with the dispersion of the Cossacks. Aside from the violence inherent in the scene, Zaporozhian Cossack After the Fight tells the story of conquest as it extends to the animal kingdom, for Cossacks were known to capture Turkish horses to improve their own local breeds.

After moving to St Petersburg 🃏in 1861, Lancere’s father intrꦓoduced his son to the painter Ivan Aivazovsky and the sculptor Peter Clodt, who approved of the young man’s artistic production and praised his wax models. Upon their recommendation, Lansere did not receive an education in the arts (he studied Law), but instead sculpted on his own and from nature. He visited sculptors’ studios and became the unofficial student of Nikolai Lieberich, helping to develop the sculptural genre that reflects a multi-ethnic, labour-intensive Russia. He made extensive trips to Central Asia and North Africa, accumulating a myriad of sketches, impressions and objects from the diverse regions he visited. This helped him to render the different nationalities he depicted with detailed precision, down to the military paraphernalia captured in the present lot.

Zaporozhian Cossack After the Fight was sculpted in 1874. It was cast by the Chopin foundry, which purchased seventeen of Lanser𝔍e’s models for production. As is the case with his most compelling sculptures, the present lot thrills with its deep, dynamic storytelling.

The Cossack is lean, with a drooping moustache on his face and an astrakhan hat on his head. He is calmly cleaning his sabre wit𒊎h his horse’s mane. His horse is rubbing its cheek on the inside of its leg. There is a synergy of gesture between the Cossack and his horse: both are attending to themselves after the fight. The Cossack is cleaning his weapon; his horse is scratching an itch. After the adrenaline rush of battle, there is time for man and steed to compose themselves. The remnants of blood, death and destruction are ubiquitous. Natural and mechanical debris litters the ground.

The captured horse is in an agitated 🌳state, traumatised by the loss of its owner, neighing and arching its head in distress to where his body must lay. That the dead man’s rugs, satchels and weapons can be glimpsed on the horse’s back intensifies his presence through absence in the composition. These items include a saddle carpet, a sword still in its sheath, a bow, a musket, and a drinking horn. The captured horse’s bridle and gear are clearly more intricate and luxurious than those of the Cossack’s, and there is a sense in which culture and class make their way into the story via the dead man’s belongings; the gods and devils of the arts residing in the detail.

The present lot was exhibited in St Petersburg (1874, 1878, 1886, 1985), Philadelphia (1876), Paris (1878), Moscow (1882, 1939, 19✅49, 1998), and Minsk (1973). Copies can be found at the Russian and Artillery Museums in St Petersburg, at the Tretyakov Gallery and the Museum of Horse-Breeding in Moscow, at the Benois Family Museum in Peterhof, at the Kharkov Historical Museum, at the Belarusian National Arts Muse🗹um in Minsk, and at the Frederic Remington Art Museum in the State of New York.

It is curious to note that the sculptor’s son, E.E. Lansere (an artist in his own right who illustrated Tolstoy’s Caucasus novel Hadji Murat), confessed to inheriting the following from his father: “the quest to find truth in ordinary gesture and movement, an interest in ethnographic characterisation and the depiction of individuals, and a deep attraction to Caucasia.” From his telling, Lansere fils saw in rur𓄧al men and women the heroism and romanticism that his father subverted so successfully in his sculptures.