Re-offered as Early Morning in the Fields in a specialised Important Russian Art auction in London by Christie's on November 24, however, it sold for a just beyond the upper estimate £158,500 IBP.
The estimate at Christie's was £100,000 to £150,000 but estimates do not include buyers premium. The gross exceeded the upper estimate and was therefore not as excessive as it seems.
But the result would still have been have been well received by its vendor in Australia, a country re-evaluated after the painting's first offering as one unfriendly to Russia.
The painting was re-offered after the Australian PM Tony Abbott threatened to shirt front Russian President Mr Vladimir Putin.
It is still far from the Russian market's wild excesses - especially for big pink and purple sunrises and sets in gold frames like those by Australian artists which broke price barriers during the reign of buyers like Alan Bond in the 1980s.
Christie's clearly benefitted from a long history of selling works by the artist but none of this importance.
Russian petro-tsars and other members of Russia's new class of big spenders have been driving the market for their equivalents of these wild. Ukraine also has its collectors such as steel tycoon Victor Pinchuk.
The Russian market has been hit by falling petrol prices and what must be confidence destroying sanctions and a sharp fall in the rouble.
Christie's lion share was around £20 million equivalent to a very good year at best from its past auction in Australia which it ceased to participate more strongly in auctions in rising markets such as Russia's.
The different nation state's claims to the artist however did not set off an obvious counter bidding war for what is an artist chef d'oeuvre.
Kryzhitsky was born in Kiev in 1858 which today is in the Ukraine. When he was born it was part of Russia. Both countries have been at loggerheads over territorial issues.
Kryzhitsky (1858-1911) is burgeoning talent, according to the catalogue, at the Academy of Fine Arts in St Petersburg from 1877 to 1884. He studied landscape painting under Mikhail Klodt, a founding member of the Peredvizhniki [Itinerants],
This was a progressive group of 14 students who in 1863 left the Imperial Academy of Arts after finding its rules constraining.
They formed the Petersburg Cooperative of Artists (Artel) which set about organising travelling exhibitions to give people from the provinces a chance to follow the achievements of Russian Art. It was pro serf and against injustice.
The Kryzhitsky came down to the present owner from native of St Petersburg, Tatiana Brussilowsky who studied at the Sorbonne in Paris where she met her future husband, Michel Dubrowsky.
The painting was acquired by a native of St Petersburg, Tatiana Brussilowsky who studied at the Sorbonne in Paris where she met her future husband, Michel Dubrowsky.
Following their marriage, the couple settled in Kharkov, Ukraine, before eventually immigrating to France with their young daughter, Irene.
According to the latest catalogue Tatiana was active in the French Resistance during World War II, before embarking on a new adventure and boarding the Volendam to start a new life in Australia in 1949.
Family lore has it the large and impressive Kryzhitsky is the last remaining work from a collection of five paintings that Tatiana Brussilowsky brought with her when she emigrated from France.
According to the catalogue entries following his marriage, the artist settled in Kharkov, Ukraine, before eventually immigrating to France with their young daughter, Irene.
Tatiana was active in the French Resistance during World War II, before embarking on a new adventure and boarding the Volendam to start a new life in Australia in 1949.
Tim Abdallah, Head of Art, Southern Region for Menzies Art Brands, told Australian Art Sales Digest that Menzies had created numerous contacts in the global market for Russian art before offering the painting but the interest had been subdued and the painting had not sold.
Menzies claimed its share for a stake in the Russian market through the sale in September 2007 of a 1928 also sizable landscape 71 by 123.5 cm, depicting the French port of Cassis by Russian artist Basil Schoukhaeff (1887-1930) which had been in the collection of Sir Hans Heysen.
The was shown in the Special Exhibition of Contemporary British and Continental Artists, National Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, 19 October - 31 December 1938.
The estimates of $50,000 to $80,000 meant that it was a rare sleeper with seven contenders on the phones one of which secured it for $260,000. This was more than double the top estimate.
The lack of a buyer for the latest work at Menzies suggests that unless offered at very inviting reserves such art finds may have still to go to the centre of the world art market to be fully appreciated. Its Australian price would have been available to any clients of a resale merchant.
Big pictures also do not always look so grand when looked at through mobile phones which is how many bidders now see the works offered at auction.
Although the sanctions are not specifically aimed at art the accompanying fall in the rouble and coincidental lower petrol prices have taken their toll.
The results of the auctions for the Russian week which took place from 24 until 26 November 2014 suggest economic sanctions on the country and the fall of the rouble have had a negative effect on sales.
Total sales were down 37 per cent on last summer’s Auction Week, with 1,300 lots offered and £40.5 million total sales.
It has been calculated that only around half of the lots were sold which would be the lowest rate since Winter 2008.
As usual it was not the trophy art which was hit for five works sold for over £1 million. A new record was also set for the most expensive painting ever sold in a Russian art sale. This was also at Christie's where Valentin Serov’s 1910 Portrait of Maria Zetlin which sold for £9.2 million at Christie’s.
It overtook the previous record also set by Christie's which was Annenkov’s Aleksandr Tikhonov which sold for £4 million.
The market to obtain Russian paintings is highly competitive, tending to push up estimates. Nearly half in value is own by Christie's, followed by Sotheby's with less than a third. Bonhams percentage has been estimated at around 5 per cent.
Christie's also came out ahead with its Asian art sales in China, where a few works by the prolific Lin Fengmian are believed to have been sourced from Australia. Some of the selling in this very successful series of sales was taken again by Christie's Australian representative Ronan Sulich.
