Jan Chelminski (1851 Brzustow - 1925 New York), Cossack Camp, pre- or 1892 (other titles: "The Night Bivouac,", "The Bivouac")

oil board, 30 × 40.5 cm
Signed p. d.: "Jan V. Chelminski"

On the reverse a label of a London company offering painting materials "WINSOR & NEWTON Ltd: PREPARED PANEL/ WINSOR & NEWTON (Limited)/ARTISTS' COLOURMEN/To Her Majesty/AND TO/T. R. H. THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES/38, RATHBONE PLACE, W./AND/ NORTH LONDON COLOUR WORKS, KENTISH TOWN, N.W.", on the label the oval mark of the company producing the subpainting: Adrian
Brugger/MUNCHEN/Theatinerstrasse No.2 and remnants of two paper (exhibition?) tags, besides, inscription "ELISABETH RAMSEY (?)".

Provenance:
- M. Knoedler & Co Gallery, New York, April 1893
- private collection of San Diego, Calif.
- Bonhams, Los Angeles, auction 18.04.2023, item 313
- private collection, Poland

Exhibited and described:
- Catalogue modern paintings belonging to M. Knoedler & CO. Successors to GOUPIL & CO. to be sold by absolute auction, April 11-14, 1893, New York, CHECKERING HALL 1893, item 61.


"Cossack Camp" is an extremely atmospheric composition muted in both color and sound, transporting us to the Munich atmosphere of works by Józef Brandt, Alfred Wierusz Kowalski or Maksymilian Gierymski. As noted in the auction catalog of the New York gallery M. Knoedler & Co: "In the foreground of the snowy landscape, we see three Cossacks dismounting from their horses and cooking a modest evening meal over a sparse fire, in a pot suspended from a grate built of three lances. At the top of the hill, in the middle, a companion on horseback stands guard. (Source: Catalogue modern paintings belonging to M. Knoedler & CO. Successors to GOUPIL & CO. to be sold by absolute auction, April 11-14, 1893, New York, CHECKERING HALL 1893, item 61).

"Cossack Camp" is an extremely atmospheric composition muted in both color and sound, transporting us to the Munich atmosphere of works by Józef Brandt, Alfred Wierusz Kowalski or Maksymilian Gierymski. As noted in the auction catalog of the New York gallery M. Knoedler & Co: "In the foreground of the snowy landscape, we see three Cossacks dismounting from their horses and cooking a modest evening meal over a sparse fire, in a pot suspended from a grate built of three lances. At the top of the hill, in the middle, a companion on horseback stands guard. (Source: Catalogue modern paintings belonging to M. Knoedler & CO. Successors to GOUPIL & CO. to be sold by absolute auction, April 11-14, 1893, New York, CHECKERING HALL 1893, item 61).