Paulo Troubetskoy (Italian, 1866-1938) Half-figure of Tolstoy Bronze with dark brown patina 13-3/4 x 11 x 11-1/2 inches (34.9 x 27.9 x 29.2 cm) Signed leftside of base: Paolo Troubetzkoy Property from the Dr. Sheldon G. and Irma H. Gilgore Collection of Italian Art 1850-1925 PROVENANCE: Villa Collection, Milan; Interart Cultural Exchange, New York; Acquired from the above, November 19, 1992. EXHIBITED: The Art Institute of Chicago and Denver Art Museum, "Chiseled with a Brush: Italian Sculpture, 1860-1925, from the Gilgore Collections," May 14, 1994 - January 29, 1995, no. 31; The Gilgore Collection, Naples, Florida, "The Winds of Change, The Milanese Avant-Garde 1860-1900," 2003, no. 38. LITERATURE: Centro Culturale Pirelli, Milan, Architettura Liberty a Milano, exh. cat., 1972, p. 148; The Art Institute of Chicago and Denver Art Museum, Chiseled with a Brush, Italian Sculpture 1860-1925, from the Gilgore Collections, exh. cat., 1994, p. 122, no. 31, illustrated; The Gilgore Collection, Winds of Change, The Milanese Avant-Garde 1860-1900, exh. cat., Naples, Florida, 2003, p. 108, no. 38, illustrated. Paulo Troubetskoy's bust of the Russian writer Leo (Lev) Tolstoy, modelled around 1899 after sittings at Tolstoy's estate at Yasnaya Polyana, ranks among the sculptor's most celebrated works. The portrait quickly gained recognition for its vivid immediacy and expressive vitality, qualities that critics associated with Troubetskoy's distinctive Impressionist approach to sculpture. During the artist's lifetime the model was widely exhibited both in Russia and internationally, including major showings in Paris (1900 and 1904), New York (1911), Chicago (1912), and Rome (1913). Troubetskoy had first encountered Tolstoy in 1898, shortly after relocating from Italy to Russia. The writer's striking physiognomy immediately inspired the sculptor, who produced several portraits of Tolstoy within a short period. These works are widely considered among Troubetskoy's most important achievements. Their success was underscored in 1900, when the sculptor received the Grand Prix for Sculpture representing Russia at the Paris Exposition Universelle, where his model Tolstoy on Horseback was subsequently acquired by the Musée du Luxembourg. The collaboration between artist and sitter became something of a cultural event. Tolstoy travelled regularly to Troubetskoy's studio on Myasnitskaya Street in Moscow for sittings, fascinated by the sculptor's fluid and seemingly effortless modelling technique. Contemporary photographs taken by Tolstoy's wife document the sessions and attest to the lively artistic exchange between the two men—an encounter that reportedly even inspired Tolstoy to experiment briefly with sculpture himself. The bust proved highly popular, and casts in plaster and bronze were produced in multiple versions. Examples are now preserved in important public collections, including the Leo Tolstoy State Museum in Moscow and the Tolstoy Museum-Estate at Yasnaya Polyana, as well as other institutional and private holdings. Comparable casts are also recorded in the State Tretyakov Gallery (see Sculpture of the 18th–20th Centuries, Moscow, 2000, vol. I, p. 259, no. 371) and in the exhibition catalogue Paolo Troubetzkoy 1866–1938 (Museo del Paesaggio, Verbania, 1990, p. 139, no. 77). HID12401132022 © 2026 Heritage Auctions | All Rights Reserved www.HA.com/TexasAuctioneerLicenseNotice

The Art Institute of Chicago and Denver Art Museum, "Chiseled with a Brush: Italian Sculpture, 1860-1925, from the Gilgore Collections," May 14, 1994 - January 29, 1995,, no. 31; The Gilgore Collection, Naples, Florida, "The Winds of Change, The Milanese Avant-Garde 1860-1900," 2003, no. 38.

Villa Collection, Milan; Interart Cultural Exchange, New York; Acquired by the present owner from the above, November 19, 1992.

Areas of rubbing to patina, particularly on figure's head. Dust and white accretions in recesses.