Yevgeny Yevgenyevich Lanceray (1875-1946), Return of Ryazan women from the field
Patinated bronze, between 1893 and 1917.
Dimensions: 32 x 64 x 33 cm
Signed in Cyrillic "Lancere", foundry mark (N Shtange*).
Lanceray considered this work one of his best early works. In 1870, the sculpture was one of six that the artist presented to the Imperial Academy of Arts with a request for promotion to artist of the first degree (khudozhnik pervoi stepeni).
* The casting was made in the studio of Nikolai Shtange, who had the rights to make casts of some of Lancerey's works. Nikolai Shtange's foundry was established in 1845, when Shtange bought Schiller's factory, where he had previously worked. The company initially specialized in lamps, but thanks to Sztange's entrepreneurial spirit, it began to grow rapidly - in 1845 it employed just a few people, by 1857 it already employed 40 people, and by 1865 it employed about 70 people and 40 apprentices. In 1851, Stange took part in the World Exhibition of Arts and Crafts in London, where its products were awarded a Second Class Medal for lamps and a candelabra. Stange also began to expand its product range to include art bronzes, among other things. In 1861, the company participated in the St. Petersburg Exposition not only as a lamp maker, but also as a bronze maker, displaying a wide range of artistic products, from lamps to candelabra and gilded bronze mantel clocks. Following market trends in Russia and beyond, Shtange began producing utilitarian bronzes (including as lamp bases) and artistic bronzes patinated and oxidized, and combining various techniques. His products were so highly regarded that Russian and European rulers ordered them - for example, he created a fireplace suit (clock and candlesticks) commissioned by the Prince of Prussia, which was presented at an exhibition in St. Petersburg in 1861. His products were purchased for the rooms in the Winter Palace, decorated for Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, and in 1875 for the Livadia Palace, which was the favorite summer residence of the Russian tsars (Tsar Alexander III died here, and Nicholas II and his family also liked to stay here).
In 1893, the company purchased the casting rights to some of Lancerey's sculptures. Later that year, they were exhibited at the Chicago International Fair (cf. archival photo of the Shtange stand, where the Return of the Ryazan Women from the Field can be seen in the foreground).
Bibliography:
- N.R. Levinson and L.N. Goncharov, Russkaia khudozhestvennaia bronza, Moscow 1958, pp. 78-83 and no. 79
- G.W. Sudbury, Evgueni Alexandrovitch Lanceray, 1848-1886, Lausanne, 2006, p. 101.
