Nicolaus Zdekauer

This portrait of Nicolaus Zdekauer, executed on paperboard in 1848, dates from the very last years of Bryullov's Russian period before his departure for Western Europe in 1849. Zdekauer was a physician of some distinction in Saint Petersburg's German community, and the relatively informal support — paperboard rather than canvas — suggests either a preparatory study for a larger formal portrait or a private commission in a more intimate mode. By 1848 Bryullov was increasingly unwell, and portraits on smaller portable supports reflect the practicalities of his diminished capacity. The Pskov Museum-Reserve, which holds this work, has an eclectic collection of Russian art from the imperial and Soviet periods. The portrait demonstrates that even in less formal circumstances and on unusual supports, Bryullov maintained the precision of likeness and psychological attentiveness that were hallmarks of his portraiture.

The paperboard support is unusual for formal portraiture but adapted accordingly — more direct and less extensively layered than his canvas portraits, while maintaining his characteristic precision of likeness and psychological attentiveness.