On 9 June, as part of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the outstanding museum figure and collector A.M. Kuchumov, held at the State Museum Sanctuary of Pavlovsk, the Auction House of the Russian Federation officially gave the museum sanctuary one of the lots from the auction of artworks and antiques held on 2 June.

The State museum sanctuary of Pavlovsk has significant art collections of world renown. The basis of the collection is items of decorative and applied art and painting from the late 18th-19th centuries, collected by the owners of the palace. The museum collection was severely damaged as a result of confiscations in the 1920s-1930s. The palace and park ensemble also suffered serious losses in the Second World War, during the occupation of Pavlovsk in 1941-1944. In Pavlovsk Park, which has an area of 600 hectares, and is a monument of garden and park art, around 70,000 trees were felled, and the park landscape was devastated by numerous craters from bombs and shells, dug-outs and other defensive and fortification structures.
In the war, Pavlovsk lost 8,715 of the existing 22,133 museum items.

At present the museum staff, headed by Vera Anatolevna Dementieva, are restoring the collection piece by piece, including the unique collection of Russian graphic art of the 18th-19th centuries.
The Auction House of the Russian Federation has maintained close partner relations with the Pavlovsk Museum since it was founded. In the collection of the auction for artworks and antiques, there was a lot of great interest for the museum collection of graphic art. Before the auction, the management of the Pavlovsk museum sanctuary contacted the Auction House of the Russian Federation, with the request to remove one of the lots from auction – three etchings by Yemelyan Korneev. Yemelyan Mikhailovich Korneev (1780-1839) was a Russian artist and professor, who in his lifetime was very popular and valued highly by his contemporary, but later was unjustly forgotten. He belonged to the leading representatives of the view genre of graphic art, one of the most interesting phenomena in Russian art of the late 18th – first quarter of the 19th century.
The lot that was of interest to the museum consists of three watercolor etchings: “The Horse Stadium of the Kazan Tatars”, “Russian Dance”, “Ice Mountains on the Irtysh Near Tobolsk”. The lot was estimated at 105,000 -120,000 rubles. According to museum director Vera Anatolievna Dementieva, these works are vital for Pavlovsk to restore the losses that the collection of graphic art suffered in the period of the sales of the 1920s-30s and during the Great Patriotic War.
Taking into account the social importance of restoring the lost museum collections, the management of the Auction House of the Russian Federation decided to purchase the lot and give it as a gift to the Pavlovsk State Museum Sanctuary.

Andrei Stepanenko, general director of the Auction House of the Russian Federation:
“The fact that works of art available at our auctions constantly draw the interest of museums proves that we are on the right track in selecting lots for auctions. It is a great honor for the Auction House of the Russian Federation to have such world-famous museums as the State Hermitage and the Tsarskoe Selo museum sanctuary among our clients. And we have already established true partner relations with the Pavlovsk museum sanctuary: in December 2010, Pavlovsk essentially became our first client at antique auctions. Then, at the request of the museum, we removed a set of 1 dozen glasses of the Imperial glass factory from auction. Before the second auction in June 2011, the Auction House of the Russian Federation and the Pavlovsk Museum Sanctuary signed an agreement to give the museum the decorative tray “Hunting Scene” of the Imperial Porcelain Factory. From the beginning, we stated our fundamental position, that the priority right to works of art should be held by museums. This will make it possible to augment museum collections with the most valuable items on the antique market.”

For reference:
On 2 June in Moscow, the Auction House of the Russian Federation held the Fourth auction of artworks and antiques. The above-mentioned lot – the three etchings by Ye.M. Korneev – were put up for auction under №166, and removed by the request of the management of the museum sanctuary.