Learning to give away with joy takes a great deal of self-perfection
Russian collector Mikhail de Bouar’s first wife Lyubov Yelizavetina helped to return to Ukraine another icon that had been stolen in 1984
The Virgin’s Intercession icon was returned to Ukraine this July by the Russian art collector Igor Vozyakov who had paid 350,000 euros for it. It was among the 22 icons that had been stolen 27 years ago from the Lviv Museum of Ukrainian Art’s repository (currently, the institution is called the Andrei Sheptytsky National Museum). And now, Ukraine has got back another ancient icon, work of a painter from the 15th century Crucifixion with Bystanders. Again, it all happened due to the private initiative of a Russian collector.
This masterpiece of the 15th century’s sacred art was donated by the late Russian collector Mikhail de Bouar (Yelizavetin)’s first wife Lyubov Yelizavetina. Her late husband bought the icon in Germany in 2007.
Yelizavetina estimates Crucifixion with Bystanders to cost no less than half a million dollars. However, she says she made her donation with a light heart, because the sacred art works must be where they belong.
“I can’t imagine a place where this icon would be better preserved and play a greater role as a symbol of national culture than it would in a museum. Therefore, the only correct solution for a collector is to return a stolen item to its rightful place,” Yelizavetina says.
Art critic by training, she returned stolen icons to their keepers before. Last year, for example, Yelizavetina donated St. Nicholas of Zaraysk icon which was painted in 1553 to the Yaroslavl Museum-Preserve, wherefrom it had been stolen in 1995. The Ukrainian icon is the third item in her list of returned masterpieces. In addition, the art critic donated 75 valuable icons to the Pushkin Museum in Russia.
According to the collector, the Ukrainian icon’s way back home was not easy, as the thieves had mutilated the work beyond recognition. In particular, they had erased two angels on both sides of the cross. Experts, art critics and restorers had to work hard to even identify it.
“Learning to give away with joy takes a great deal of self-perfection. Today, it is with great joy that I donate the icon to Ukraine,” Yelizavetina shared her feelings with the audience.
The late Russian collector Mikhail de Bouar (Yelizavetin)’s unique collection of icons is one of the largest private collections of sacred art in Russia. It includes about 600 works of 15th to 20th century and contains an invaluable legacy of the Old Russian culture. Today, Mikhail de Bouar’s heirs, including his first wife Yelizavetina, second wife Tatiana de Bouar and his children are disputing the inheritance of his priceless estate in courts. The collector desired to establish the icon museum of his name before he would die, to protect the collection from the division and sale of some works by his descendants.
