Viktor Mikhaylovich Vasnetsov (1848-1926)
On completing the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Warsaw. 1911
Autograph letter signed (‘V. Vasnetsov’) to General Georg Karl de Scallon, n.p., n.d. [c. September 1911].

In Russian. 3½ pages, 254 x 196mm, a few pencil emendations, perhaps a retained draft, on a bifolium. Provenance: Signature House, California, 27 October 2008, lot 685.

Urging the completion of the decorative scheme in the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, Warsaw. Writing to the military governor of Warsaw, Vasnetsov communicates 'my thoughts and considerations that involuntarily arise' in considering the newly-constructed Alexander Nevsky Cathedral in Warsaw as 'a complete artistic whole'. He praises the execution of mosaics by V.A. Frolov (after designs by Vasnetsov) as 'quite impeccable', although some parts are regrettably still incomplete, especially areas around the altar where gaps between the mosaics and the marble have been in-filled with paint. He therefore makes a numbered series of suggestions to improve matters by the addition of further marble and mosaics: '3. Cover the space from the panel to the kneeling angels with mosaics and place the images of angels ... on the level of the image of the eucharist ... 5. The embrasures of the arches of the upper tier extending to the side altars should also be covered with mosaics'. He concludes this list with the pointed note 'It would be very regrettable if such .. necessary additions to the altar could not be completed. The altar of the Warsaw Cathedral should be recognised as one of the finest monuments of artistic mosaic in Russia'.

The magnificent Orthodox cathedral in Warsaw's Saxon Square was constructed between 1893 and 1900, with work on the interior continuing until 1912: Warsaw was at that time part of the Russian Empire, with an Orthodox population (primarily the Russian garrison) of more than 40,000. The cathedral was always unpopular with the Polish population, not least because much of it had been funded by obligatory taxes imposed on a non-Orthodox population, and it was destroyed in 1924-26, in the wake of Polish independence. Vasnetsov was a major contributor to the decorative scheme, painting the frescoes and designing the mosaics with Andrei Ryubashkin. The present letter is likely to date from his visit to inspect the works in September 1911. The recipient, General Georg Karl de Scallon (1847-1914) was the military governor of Warsaw from 1905 until his death.

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