Alberto Pasini

Turin, Galleria Fogliato, 1948, no. 35

Vittoria Botteri Cardoso, Pasini, Genoa, 1991, p. 250, illustrated no. 164

After studying at the Academy of Parma, Pasini gained admittance to the workshop of the famous Théodore Chassériau in Paris. The outbreak of the Crimean War afforded the young Pasini the opportunity of a lifetime when, in 1855, Chassériau recommended Pasini to take his place as official artist in the entourage of the French plenipotentiary minister Nicolas Prosper Bourée to Persia. Pasini accompanied him, returning through the north of Persia and Armenia before reaching the port of Trebizond. The sketches he made in the Caucasus inspired numerous highly detailed paintings upon his return to Paris. In this monumental work, a column of armed soldiers escorts a caravan across a high mountain pass. During the Crimean War (1853-1856), a Cossack regiment was formed under the Ottoman banner. This unit was led by Michał Czajkowski (known as Sadık Pasha), a Polish officer who worked with the Ottomans to create units comprising various Cossack groups and deserters for service against Russia.