In front of the mirror

04/03/2006 at an auction in Prague was sold a painting by Russian artist Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin "Before the Mirror".
The painting depicts the painter's wife reading a letter in her St. Petersburg apartment. The canvas was put up for auction by the former owner, 86-year-old Jan Biskup, the head of an old aristocratic family. With an initial price of 7.5 million CZK, the painting went under the hammer for 8.9 million CZK (about 400 thousand dollars), including the auction fee.
"This is a record amount for Czech antique auctions," said the organizers of the auction - employees of the Prague art gallery "Piktura".
Although the new owner has not been named, it is assumed that the painting went to a private Russian collector.