Auction 84th, Lot 190  This portrait depicting a dark-haired girl with gold earrings and beads is a typical work of the prominent Russian painter Alexei Alexeyevich Harlamoff, a member of the Peredvizhniki Art Association, who came from a family of poor serfs, but was able to study, thanks to his great talent, at the prestigious Academy of Fine Arts in St. Petersburg. During his studies he received a number of honours and even gained a six-year scholarship, which he spent mainly in Paris. There he soon became a well-known and well-paid portraitist, took part in the local Salons and was accepted into the prominent social circle of the Russian writer Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev. Based on a comparison with the Portrait of a Girl by the same author from the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg, dated by Harlamoff directly in the signature, whose physiognomy and presumed age basically coincide, the origin of the presented canvas can be dated exactly to the late 1870's or early 1880's. The Portrait of a Girl - probably depicting one of the pupils of the French singer Paulina Viardot - bears, similarly to the author's artistic expression in general, an international character with perfectly, naturalistically rendered parts contrasting with the clothes and the back plan created in a fast, light and modern way. This makes it an excellent example of period salon painting of the highest European level. In addition to the above-mentioned artistic qualities and comparisons, the authenticity of the work is confirmed by its reproduction in the author's online inventory of work (https://harlamoff.org/files/Authentic_Paintings_Addendum.pdf, p. 41) as well as its provenance provable until the beginning of the 20th century. It is undoubtedly an excellent work of art from the author's strongest creative period and would thus enhance any good art collection. Expertise by PhDr. J. Jančárková, Ph.D. attached.