Anton Checkov signed Cabinet Photograph, 1899 (cropped)

Portrait photograph signed ('Anton Chekhov') and inscribed to Father Grigory Vinogradov, n.p., 20 June 1899. Cabinet photograph, [by Alexander Pavlovich Chekhov, 1897], image 136 x 100mm, mount 164 x 108mm. Inscribed ('Otzu Grigoriu Vinogradovu na dobruyu pamiiat') and signed on the image. A Chekhov portrait, presented to a priest. Chekhov's older brother Alexander was a talented amateur photographer, and Chekhov often used his portraits for presentation purposes: the present image was taken just before Anton Chekhov's departure for a winter stay at Biarritz necessitated by his worsening tuberculosis. By 1899 he had moved to Yalta (his 'hot Siberia') where he lived, plaintively detached from Moscow life, for his last years. Father Grigory Vinogradov was archpriest in the Sergeevskaya church in Kuban.