Lezgins.

original drawing of the engraving

An original drawing by the German-born artist showing a group of six Lezgins crossing the Caucasian mountains.

The image was made famous by Lev Dmitriev-Kavkazskiy, whose engraving after the original was awarded a large silver medal by the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1873.

Theodor Horschelt (1829–1871) executed the sketch between 1858 and 1863 when he fought on the Russian side in the Caucasus War, having volunteered to join the staff of General Baryatinskiy. Soon after his arrival to the Caucasus in 1858, the artist joined an expedition against the Lezgins. The following year, he was part of a military campaign in Chechnya and participated in an attack on the headquarters of Imam Shamil. For his bravery, Horschelt was honoured with the Grand Cross Star of the Order of Saint Stanislaus and a medal of the Order of St. Anna. He was also awarded for his artistic endeavours during the war and elected to the Russian Academy of Fine Arts.

The drawing comes from a private collection of Sarkis Boghossian and was published in his monumental work 'Armenian Iconography' which gathered together prints and drawings on the subject.

Pen and watercolour on paper (30.5 x 21 cm), highlighted in gum arabic, pasted on contemporary card and mounted (55 x 37.5 cm); two small marginal tears to watercolour with one partly repaired. Here offered with an engraving after the original drawing (37.8 x 28 cm), 1867, mounted; repaired tear in upper margin.

Sarkis Boghossian "Armenian Iconography I" reproduces No. 651 and 652 p.468 - Paris, 1987; Razitta Gadzhikhanova, Dagestanskiy kostium (Epokha, Makhachkala, 2010), p. 151.