Portrait d’une Jeune Femme by Alexei Harlamoff

Alexei Alexeievich Harlamoff
1840-1925 | Russian

Portrait d'une Jeune Femme

Signed “Harlamoff” (lower right)
Charcoal on paper

One of Russia's most important portrait painters, Alexei Harlamoff’s is perhaps best known for his romanticized images of Bohemian children and young girls. He painted his subjects with enormous sensitivity, and by the 1880s, he gained international fame and recognition for his work. As is evident in the present drawing, Harlamoff was particularly skilled at using very subtle and natural lines when composing faces - the soft lines of the charcoal clearly reveal Harlamoff’s extraordinary level of draftsmanship. His technical skill is evident in each and every inch, from his modeling of light to his delicate depiction of his subject's features.

The viewer is instantly drawn to the subject's face thanks to Harlamoff's masterful composition. The somewhat coy and withdrawn air of the sitter is a staple of his portraiture, along with the informality of his execution. His ultimate talent lay in his ability to evoke the natural beauty of his models, engaging the viewer with his unparalleled aesthetic impact. 

Born in Saratoff in 1848, Harlamoff first attended the Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg, where he won a gold medal and a travel scholarship in 1868. He used this scholarship to travel to Paris, where he attended the École des Beaux-Arts and worked with Leon Bonnat. He was particularly inspired by Rembrandt and frequently emulated the work of the Dutch master. During his early career, Harlamoff painted many genre and religious themes and also became an established portrait painter. He exhibited one of his masterpiece, Young Flower Girls, at the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1888, where it was greatly admired by Queen Victoria - thereafter he was recognized as "a favorite of Queen Victoria." He painted cultural giants such as writer Yvan Tourgueniev and singer-composer Pauline Viardot-Garcia, and soon counted many distinguished members of Russian aristocracy as subjects. Two of his more important works were of the Tsar Alexander II and Prince Demidoff-San Donato.

Paper: 18 3/4” high x 14” wide
Frame: 30 1/2" high x 25 1/8" wide