Kaluga Merchant and Wife, a Russian Peasant and Women of Valdai, 1842

This is an original antique lithograph with hand coloring from the Galleria Universale di Tutti i Popoli del Mondo (Venice, Giuseppe Antonelli, 1842). The upper image shows four figures: a bearded merchant in a fur cap and long blue coat lined in green, with high boots and a cane; his wife on his arm in a tall gold headdress, a yellow bordered red jacket and a long blue skirt; a woman in a white and gold headdress and a fur trimmed green jacket over an orange skirt; and a bearded peasant in a broad black hat and gray blue coat, holding a rake. The lower image shows a young woman in a tall headdress patterned in red and white, with a yellow trimmed red jacket over a blue gown; a woman in a small gold cap and pink dress with white sleeves, a basket in each hand; and a woman in a dark hat with a red crown and a striped brown shawl over a long blue gown.

The top margin is lettered "Tav. 94" at the left, "RUSSIA" in the center and "Tom. IV" at the right. The caption under the upper image reads "Mercante di Kaluga con Moglie in vestito d' estate. Cont.° Russo" (merchant of Kaluga with his wife in summer dress; Russian peasant). The captions under the lower image read "Donzella di Kaluga" (maiden of Kaluga) and "Fantesca e Padrona Valdaiche" (maid and mistress of Valdai).

Kaluga is a city on the Oka river southwest of Moscow, and Valdai is a town on the old road between Moscow and Saint Petersburg. The tall women's headdresses shown here belong to the kokoshnik tradition of Russian festive dress.

This is an original antique print, not a modern reproduction. This item is sold unframed.