Supported by The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation
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Supported by The Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation

Nicholas Konstantinovich Roerich

Author name
Терем Ярославны. Эскиз декорации к опере А.П.Бородина «Князь Игорь»
1914
tempera on cardboard
67.9 × 97.5 cm
1.0014
Location of the works
Nicholas Roerich Museum. New York

Князь Игорь
Антреприза С.П.Дягилева, Королевский театр Дрюри Лейн, Лондон, 1914

Roerich Museum, New York (1923); Louis & Nettie Horch col., New York (1935); Daniel Farb col., USA (1981); John Patton col., USA (1985); Nicholas Roerich Museum (1988)

Nikolay Roerich proved himself as an excellent theater painter.
He turned his mind to the opera "Prince Igor" twice – in 1909 and in 1914. According to contemporaries of the artist and later researchers of his work, the 1914 sketches for the performances in London as part of the Russian Seasons, at the Royal Drury Lane Theatre, differed from that of 1909, being more decorative and colorful.

The sketch "The Yaroslavna's Tower Chamber" was created for the second scene of the first act of the opera. In 1914, the second scene of the first act was transferred by the artist from the Yaroslavna's tower chamber to an open porch. "This picture is interpreted in this way because it is more in line with the place where Yaroslavna could wait for the return of her prince". Rech' Magazine. 1914. March 23 / April 5. No. 80

To depict the details with wooden carvings in his sketch, Nikolay Roerich used the relief images of Vladimir and Suzdal churches of the 12th and 13th centuries, as well as some architectural decoration patterns that has been adopted from the East Slavic folk arts and crafts (embroidery, wood carving, etc.).