*KUSTODIEV, BORIS (1878-1927) The Merchant's Wife signed and dated 1914 Charcoal, pastel, and chalk on cardboard, 54.5 by 40.5 cm. Accompanied by a copy of Stolitsa i Usad'ba, No. 72, 1916, where the present lot is illustrated. Provenance: Collection of N.M. Makarenko, Leningrad, until 1937. Collection of V.V. Egerev, Kazan, 1937 to 1990. Private collection, Europe, since 1990. Exhibited: Mir Iskusstva, Petrograd, 1916. Literature: Exhibition catalogue, Mir Iskusstva, Petrograd, 1916. Stolitsa i Usad'ba, No. 72, Petrograd, 1916, p. 23, illustrated. The image of the Russian beauty is central to the oeuvre of Boris Kustodiev, probably Russia's most joyful artist. The ideal of female beauty formed in the artist's consciousness and transferred to his canvases was not only admired by ordinary folk, but also by the nobility and the intelligentsia, who considered him to be “the true poet of the Russian soul”. Kustodiev's success was confirmed by the numerous commissions he constantly received. Kustodiev's women have likable faces with clear, regular features, and a splendid fullness of figure combined with a dignity of stature. Clothed in long, intricately embroidered silk dresses, with semi-precious stones and expensive printed cotton and woollen shawls, his Russian matrons captivated Russian and foreign viewers at the most prestigious vernissages from Samara to Pittsburgh. It is striking that for all the emphasis in his work on colour and folklore detail, Kustodiev was able to remain on the level of fine art. The Merchant's Wife presented here for auction dates from 1914 and is one of the preparatory sketches for the painting of the same name. The present work was shown in 1916 at the World of Art exhibition. It is quite possible that a particular individual posed for Kustodiev. However, the young woman in the finished work is almost certainly a composite image formed in the artist's mind over many years. Such imaginary beauties became a standard element of Kustodiev's work and form an integral part of his artistic legacy. Although being a preparatory sketch, The Merchant's Wife constitutes a finished intermediate work, a rare and valuable example of a ""Russian work on paper from the early XX century."