Valery Koshlyakov (Russian, born 1962) Alexandria signed in Cyrillic, titled and dated '1995-1998' (verso) tempera and acrylic on canvas 150 x 150cm (59 1/16 x 59 1/16in). Footnotes: 'I work with the pure terrifying category which is inaccessible to man—the tragedy of dying, fading,' - Valery Koshlyakov. Valery Koshlyakov studied at the Grekov Art College in Rostov-on-Don and has become well known for his large-scale paintings of historical monuments, political scenes, and ruins. The present work creates a sense of the passing of time and melancholy, of history fading and the destruction of greatness. He fashions evocative architectural masterpieces, with monumental subjects that in ways cry paradoxically of a failed ideal world. By naming this piece as Alexandria, one cannot but think that the artist might be depicting his own version of the Library of Alexandria. This city named by the Macedonian Alexander the Great, became the capital of knowledge and learning as the library was known to encapsulate all the literature of the civilised world and became a meeting place for all the famous ancient scholars. However, for the viewer, he seems to base the building on a more familiar building, the Parthenon in Athens. To the right is a depiction of a winged Nike that was probably based on the Nike of Samothrace (the Greek goddess of Victory which is displayed at the Louvre). The sculpture was found in the sanctuary at Samothrace and the Nike was an important symbol to the Macedonian kings. The Nike stands out as it is the most detailed aspect of the painting. The sculpture, which is renown in art history for its flowing drapery, is almost three-dimensional in perspective, moving toward the viewer as if alive and floating amongst the rubble below. The broken marble, as if a sketch, in the left-hand corner gives a sense of destruction and desolation, and this is reinforced by the ghostly head in the bottom right corner of the painting. The romanticised artwork reminds one of P. B. Shelley's poem and the great Ozymandias laying shattered 'Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of that colossal Wreck, boundless and bare, The lone and level sands stretch far away.' This romantic and philhellenic painting depicts the ancient world but in numerous dizzy unfinished details. The texture created by the vigorous brushstrokes make this landmark into a half idealised and partly precarious monument in the air. The cloud-like, as if watered down paint, gives an effect of the empty ruins of Alexandria becoming encapsulated in the eerie past, leaving it desolate. Koshlyakov said; 'Here yesterday, gone today. It's an eternal human theme, and the pictures—they are metaphors of this thought, like mourners.' This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: * * VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com