21 May 2016 Photography Auctions

21 May 2016

Artist Index / Full Catalogue


Serbian Woman

8. MITREITER, TORVALD (19TH CENTURY)

Serbian Woman, titled twice, once in Cyrillic, and numbered “No 253” on the reverse.

Albumen print, hand-coloured with watercolour and oil, laid on cardboard, 22.5 by 17 cm.
1,500-2,000 GBP


Executed c. 1867.

Provenance: With the B. Avanzo Art Shop, Moscow, c. 1890s–1900s (stamp on the reverse).
Private collection, Europe.

Exhibited: Possibly, Ethnographic Exhibition, Moscow, 1867.

Torvald Mitreiter was a Danish photographer active in Russia in the late 19th century, working for the Imperial Court. Between 1879 and 1897, Mitreiter was affiliated with the Rumyantsev Museum, Moscow’s first public museum, which commissioned a photographic album from him. In 1867 he participated in the Moscow Ethnographic Exhibition, with a series of photographs of mannequins wearing Russian folk costumes. Four works from the offered here Mitreiter collection were possibly included in this exhibition. He owned a salon in Moscow, Viennese Photography. Some of his photographs are in the collection of the Russian Ethnographic Museum in St Petersburg.


Notes on symbols:
* Indicates 5% Import Duty Charge applies.
Ω Indicates 20% Import Duty Charge applies.
§ Indicates Artist's Resale Right applies.
† Indicates Standard VAT scheme applies, and the rate of 20% VAT will be charged on both hammer price and premium.