An animated winterscape of Cossacks on horseback with covered wagons by Adolf Constantin Baumgartner-Stoiloff. The caravan is shown moving at speed and flanked by a group of armed Cossacks. During the 19th century, Cossacks were often used by the Czar to collect tributes or taxes from many of the native tribes in Russia.

Adolf Constantin Baumgartner-Stoiloff was born Adolf Baumgartner in Linz, Austria on 10 March, 1850. Little is known about his early life although some sources suggest he was of Bulgarian extraction. He visited Russia during the 1880’s where he studied at the St Petersberg Academy of Fine Arts.

He spent time travelling around Russia and Ukraine and began specialising in winter scenes featuring Cossacks on horseback. Many of his paintings depict Cossack military convoys moving at speed across a frozen landscape, as in these fine examples. He also produced animated scenes of horse sleighs and their riders being pursued by wolves and a number of coastal scenes with figures. Some of his paintings of Cossacks were reproduced as prints in European publications.

Many of his works were signed ‘C Stoiloff’ however, he also went by C. Stoiloff-Baumgartner and A.Baumgartner-Stoiloff. He died in Vienna on 27 April, 1924.

© Benton Fine Art