§ Ivan Chehoff (Russian, 20th Century) Winter Snow signed lower left "Ivan Chehoff" oil on canvas 44 x 59cm (17 x 23in)

Chehoff's signature is in Latin script and not Cyrillic. The transliteration of Chekhov, as Chehoff is interesting, since usually it is transliterated with a letter 'k'. So, a Russian working in the West and for a Western market. The landscape is influenced by the work of Isaak Levitan and the late 19th Century landscape school in Russia. Levitan specialized in creating 'mood' paintings by exploiting the imagery of the lonely but highly poetic corners of the Russian landscape. Streams in forests lit by the setting sun, lonely Orthodox chapels in marshy landscapes at twilight, lonely firs bedecked with snow are the Levitan staple and here we have someone who knows his Levitan and has been influenced by him.