LONDON.- This November, Sotheby’s Russian Art auctions will be led by Konstantin Makovsky’s last great masterpiece: a monumental six-metre canvas celebrating the life of Russia’s legendary hero Ivan Susanin, who is credited with saving the life of the young Mikhail Romanov in 1612, founder of the Romanov dynasty.

Last exhibited publicly in 1926, the painting was recently rediscovered in the home of an American private collector who acquired the work at Sotheby’s Parke-Bernet New York in 1976 for $4,800. Now estimated at £1.5-2.5 million, Ivan Susanin shows Makovsky at his very best, proving his creativity was stronger than ever in his mature work.

Thought to have been painted in his Paris studio in 1914, the epic canvas was likely inspired by the wave of patriotism which accompanied the celebrations surrounding the 300th anniversary of the Romanov dynasty in 1913. It will be unveiled at Sotheby’s London on Friday 21st November, ahead of the auction on 24th November 2014.

THE LEGEND OF IVAN SUSANIN
A founding myth of the Russian state, the story goes that in the winter before Mikhail Romanov was crowned, a party of Polish noblemen set out to capture the young pretender at his family estate in the village of Domnino (near Kostroma). Requiring directions, they asked a local peasant, Ivan Susanin, to guide them to the village. However, to protect the fate of his motherland and the future Tsar, he deliberately led them away from Domnino and into an impenetrable and marshy forest – an act of deception for which he was murdered. Six months later in Spring 1613, the young Mikhail was triumphantly crowned Tsar of Russia thanks to Susanin’s brave act.

The story is immortalised in literature, art and music from across the region, most famously in Glinka’s opera ‘Life for a Tsar’ which premiered at the Bolshoi Theatre in 1836, and likely provided inspiration for the painting.

Just like in Act IV of the opera, the painting is set in the forest as the exhausted Poles sleep by a campfire waiting for the snowstorm to end. On waking they begin to suspect that perhaps Susanin is tricking them. He admits that he has led them astray, upon which the enemies fly into a rage and murder him. In the epilogue to the opera the final chorus sounds ‘Slavsya’, as the people of Moscow greet the Tsar in Red Square to the sound of chiming bells.

Makovsky ingeniously conflates these two scenes from the story into the canvas: showing the dramatic death of Susanin in the foreground, and the ceremonial welcoming of Mikhail Romanov for his coronation in Red Square in the top right.