Portrait of an unknown (2)

Taras Shevchenko. Portrait of an unknown. [1837 – 1838. St. Petersburg].
Bristol paper, watercolour. 23,7 × 17,6 cm.
Taras Shevchenko National Museum, № g-278.

The back left beneath stamp: PM and pencil inscriptions: КП1928/14. II Рисунокъ Т. Шевченк[о]; above: Taras Shevchenko Kiev Institute of Museum inventory number 11.

Depicted person is not defined. As "Portrait of a young man" in 1917 work came to the Russian Museum in Petrograd from the collection of S.S. Botkin.

Trying to identify depicted person with V.I. Dal [Sereda E. On attributing of T.H. Shevchenko's artistic work // Visual Arts. – 1975. – № 3. – S. 30] not supported by his iconography and age.

Dated approximately 1837 – 1838's with regard to the stylistic similarities to dated Shevchenko's watercolor portraits of those years.

First mentioned in 1932 and commented by O.P. Novitsky [T. Shevchenko Complete Works. – [Kharkiv, 1932. – T 8]. – P. 35 – 36. – № 264].

Reproduced for the first time in 1941 [Skvortsov AM Artist Taras Shevchenko. – M., L., 1941. – P. 9]

Storage areas: collection of S.S. Botkin, since 1917 – the State Russian Museum (St. Petersburg) (recorded 1928); from 1929 – Taras Shevchenko Institute; from 1932 – Gallery of pictures T.H. Shevchenko (Kharkiv); from 1948 – State Museum of T.H. Shevchenko (Kyiv).

Exhibition:

2002. Minsk. Taras Shevchenko-artist [Taras Shevchenko-artist: Exhibition of works. – Kyiv, Minsk, 2002. – № 3].

I.M. Verykivska

After publication: T.H. Shevchenko Complete Works in 12 volumes. – K.: Naukova Dumka, 2003, v. 7, p. 38 – 39 (image), p. 366 (notes).