LONDON.- On Wednesday 5th June 2013 MacDougall’s will hold sales of Russian paintings, works on paper, icons and works of art.

The sale will be led by Mikhail Nesterov’s Wayfarers. Beyond the Volga, which carries a pre-sale estimate of £1,400,000–3,000,000. This masterpiece of 1922 belongs to the artist’s mature oeuvre and represents the summation of his lifelong quest to find an image for the Russian Christ. As one of only two canvasses from his Wanderer series to remain in private hands, the appearance of this important and deeply philosophical work on the market is particularly exciting.

Another sale highlight that vividly depicts the unique beauty and majesty of the Russian landscape will be Twilight by Ivan Shishkin (£1,200,000–1,800,000). In this lyrical work, painted at Gatchina in 1896, the artist turned again to his favourite subject of the pine forest. In 1896 the painting was widely exhibited as part of the 24th Exhibition of the Society for Itinerant Art Exhibitions and in Nizhny Novgorod at the All-Russia Industrial and Art Exhibition where it was acquired by a private collector from Finland, in whose family the work remained for over a century.

Portrait of Anna Grigorievna Ermolova with Her Children (£350,000–500,000) is an extremely rare work of both cultural and historical importance by the only known Chechen artist, Petr Zakharov. The artist was found by the Russian General Ermolov as a three year old, orphaned and wounded after the invasion of his Chechen village. Ermolov took charge of his upbringing and education, sending him to study at the Imperial Academy of Arts in St Petersburg. The artist remained indebted to his benefactor all his life and produced a whole series of portraits of the various family members, of which this work is one.

In addition to masterpieces of classical Russian art, MacDougall’s is proud to present a selection of eleven avant-garde and nonconformist works from the world famous collection of George Costakis. Offered alongside works by Alexander Drevin and Solomon Nikritin will be an early, intimate painting by Mikhail Larionov, Portrait of Natalia Goncharova.

The specialised works on paper sale will comprise lots from several important private collections, with many of them coming directly from the artists’ families. The sale represents a panoramic overview of the history of Russian graphic art and includes a particularly strong selection of poster designs and book illustrations by avant-garde artists from the early Soviet period, such as Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin and Alexander Rodchenko.

The day will conclude with the sale of icons and works of art. Among the highlights is a rare late 19th century icon of the Holy Prince Vsevolod (£70,000–100,000) by the famous icon painter Vasily Guryanov which in all likelihood once belonged to Vsevolod Rudnev, a naval hero of the Russo-Japanese War. Another important icon offered has strong Imperial connections: The Pokrov with St Andrew of Crete and the Prophet Hosea (£40,000–60,000), which commemorates the Imperial family’s miraculous escape from the train derailment at Borki in 1888 and which was presented to Emperor Alexander III.