[PRINCE PAVEL ARSENIEVICH PUTYATIN (1837–1919)] EUROPEAN OR DUTCH SCHOOL, 17TH CENTURY CIRCLE OF PHILIPS WOUWERMAN (1619–1668) (?) Battle between Christian forces and the Ottoman army

extensively inscribed in Cyrillic in pencil, collector’s stamp of Prince Pavel Arsenievich Putyatin with his monogram and numbered ‘19’, iscription in Cyrillic ‘Iz sobraniya risunkov prinadlejashey Knyazu P. A. Putyatinu’, inventory number ‘N 235’ (on the reverse) ink on paper 26 × 40.5 cm PROVENANCE: Collection of Prince Pavel Arsenievich Putyatin (1837–1919). Private collection, Europe. The present drawing comes from the distinguished collection of Prince Pavel Arsenievich Putyatin (1837–1919), a renowned Russian archaeologist, anthropologist, ethnographer and collector. Housed at his ancestral estate in Bologoye, in the Tver Governorate of the Russian Empire, the Putyatin collection comprised an extensive range of archaeological artefacts, works of art, prints and watercolours, together with a significant library and archive of manuscripts, early printed books and historical autographs. His archaeological collection was among the most important private collections of its kind in Russia, encompassing prehistoric and medieval artefacts. Putyatin was also an active patron and collector of Russian art and maintained close links with the Roerich family. The present sheet is particularly noteworthy for its documented provenance within the Putyatin collection. The reverse bears the collection’s original inventory stamp, featuring the crowned monogram ‘КРАР’ and numbered No. 19, together with a handwritten inscription certifying that the drawing belonged to the collection of drawings of Prince P. A. Putyatin, under inventory No. 235. A further extensive annotation in Russian, written in pre-revolutionary orthography, identifies the composition as ‘Battle of the Christians against the Turks’ and records the remarkable number of 350 horses and 257 riders depicted in the scene. The same annotation documents research undertaken to establish the identity of the artist behind the P.W. monogram, including references to the art dictionaries of Bryan and Nagler. This reference is of particular interest in view of the proposed attribution to the circle of Philips Wouwerman (1619–1668), the celebrated Dutch painter known for his numerous equestrian and military scenes. The composition depicts a large-scale battle between Christian forces and the Ottoman army, reflecting the military confrontations between European powers and the Ottoman Empire during the seventeenth century. Its dense arrangement of mounted figures and horses gives the scene considerable narrative complexity, while the annotations on the reverse preserve valuable historical evidence concerning its early cataloguing and attribution. Much of the Putyatin estate collection is believed to have been dispersed or lost in the aftermath of the Russian Revolution. Nevertheless, a number of objects and archival materials associated with the prince have survived in major institutional collections. The original inventory stamp and accompanying handwritten documentation on the present drawing therefore provide a tangible link to one of the notable private collections of late Imperial Russia.