Lev Samoilovitch Rosenberg, known as Léon Bakst (1866-1924) Costume study for Shariar, King of India and China in the ballet Scheherazade produced by Sergei Diaghilev Ballet Russes, 1910 Pencil, gouache, watercolour and gold highlights on paper Signed BAKST in pencil lower right 33.5 x 24.1 cm Provenance: Private collection, Italy Publication: M. Cissan, Les Etoiles des Ballets Russes, In Comoedia illustré, Paris, n°18, 15 June 1910 C. Spencer, Léon Bakst, London, 1973, P.75,n°52 A few stains and traces of notes in the top right-hand corner Born in 1866 in the Russian Empire, Léon Bakst trained in Saint Petersburg and then in Paris with the painters Albert Edelfelt and Jean-Léon Gérôme. He was a member of the avant-garde group Mir Iskusstva (The World of Art), which included Serge Diaghilev, the future impresario of the Ballets Russes, and the painter Alexandre Benois. Alongside his career as a painter and illustrator, Bakst worked for the theatre from the beginning of the 20th century, and more particularly for ballet. From the very first seasons of the Ballets Russes in Paris, he established himself as a brilliant renovator of the stage, with, among other works, the triumphs of Cleopatra (1909), Shéhérazade (1910) and Daphnis et Chloé (1912). He became a leading figure in Paris, working with Jean Cocteau, Gabriele D'Annunzio and Émile Verhaeren. He also attracted the attention of Paul Morand and Vladimir Nabokov, and received commissions from the Marquise Casati and the Rothschilds.