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Alexei Harlamov was a Russian painter, who was born close to Saratov on the Volga River, and enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in Saint Petersburg at the age of 14. He won a gold medal in 1868 for his painting entitled The Return of the Prodigal Son. This enabled him to study in Paris at the école des Beaux Arts under the great portrait painter and teacher Leon Bonnat. Harlamoffs talent in this area soon became clear as Emile Zola rated his portrait of Ivan Turgenev as amongst the best works of the Paris Salon of 1876. He regularly exhibited at the Paris Salon and won a second-class medal at the 1878 Paris Universal Exhibition.

Harlamoff learned his skills copying old master paintings such as Rembrandt’s Anatomy Lessons. He painted many military scene’s and covered religious subjects in his early years. When his career evolved he became a repected portrait painter with important sitters as Tsar Alexander II, Prince Demidoff-San Domato and Ivan Tourgueneff. Harlamoff is however best known for his informal portraits of sitters who he painted for their beauty and innocence. Harlamoff often used flowers to symbolize the short-lived innocence of youth. He preserved the Russsian ambience in the details of for example a dress or facial features.

Queen Victoria greatly admired his painting of children playing with flowers that was exhibited at the Glasgow International Exhibition of 1888.Harlamoff came to the attention of wealthy American and European collectors who appreciated his idealized portraits of young women and girls.

The question about the time and the place for death of Alexei Harlamoff remains open. In literature it is most frequently indicated he died in Paris in 1922. Claims he died in Saratov are not likely to be true. Books with the records about death in 1922 from the Civil Registry Office Saratov were preserved completely, but his name is not mentioned. In 2005 a painting signed by Harlamoff and dated 1923 was discovered in a private collection.

Work of Alexei Harlamoff is displayed in many musea around the world. For example: J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles (Sweet Thoughts, 1890), The Athenaeum (The Young Model, 1883), Chi-Mei Museum, Taiwan (Blowing Bubbles), Alexander III Museum in St Petersburg, the Tretiakov Gallery in Moscow and in the Brobinksi Collection.

Still wondering about a late 19th century Russian painting in your family collection? Contact us…it could be by Alexei Harlamov.