Albanian writer’s Russian painting home

TIRANA, June 26 – A 1959 oil on canvas painting by Russian painter Raisa Nikolaevna Zelinskaya – Plate featuring a portrait of late renowned Albanian author Sterjo Spase has been donated to the Albanian National Gallery on the writer’s 100th birth anniversary. The painting titled “Albanian writer Sterjo Spase” was donated by the painter’s son Felix Plate.
Appreciating the donation, Artan Shabani, the director of the National Art Gallery said “this act should raise awareness among every artist or collection inheritor to follow the same example.”
Shkelzen Logu, a representative of the Albanian embassy in Russia said the portrait was created during the latest visit of writer Sterjo Spase to Moscow in 1959 where he met his university friend, painter Raisa Nikolaevna Zelinskaya – Plate.
“We are happy we could finally bring this portrait to the writer’s homeland. The artist was a friend of Albania like her family members,” he said.
The painting with dimensions of 81×66 cm and valued by the donor at Euro 3,000, will undergo restoration at the National Art Gallery.