The State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg. Guide [Second, revised edition] 9785938935754

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THE

STATE

RUSSIAN MUSEUM

THE

STATE

RUSSIAN MUSEUM

Guide

Iii

I P - 2

PUBLISHERS

ST. PETERSBURG ,

2016

Introduction by

Vladimir Gusev

Texts:

V. Gusev, E. Petrova OLD RUSSIAN ICON -PAINTING . 12th - 17th CENTURIES: T. Vilinbakhova 18TH-CENTURY PAINTING : S. Moiseyeva SCULPTURE OF THE 18th - 19th CENTURIES : E. Karpova PAINTING OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY: S. Moiseyeva, E. Shilova PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY: P. Klimov, G. Krechina, S. Kri vondenchikov, V. Kruglov, E. Shilova PAINTING OF THE LATE 19th - EARLY 20th CENTURIES: I. Verkhovskaya, P. Klimov, G. Krechina, V. Kruglov, N. Solomatina, Yu . Solonovich, T. Chudinovskaya, L. Shakirova, E. Shilova, SOVIET PAINTING : A. Dmitrenko, T. Chudinovskaya

Museum's Branches

THE MARBLE PALACE: E. Kochetova THE STROGANOV PALACE: S. Kuznetsov THE MIKHAILOVSKY CASTLE: Yu. Kuzmina THE SUMMER GARDENS: N. Kareyeva

Designed by

A. Lobanov

SECOND REVISED EDITION

Cl State Russian Museum, 2009 C P-2 Publishers, St. Petersburg, 2016 0 A.V. lovanov: make-up and design, 2016

Contents

8

INFORMATION ON THE MUSEUM

13

THE HISTORY OF THE MUSEUM

21

OLD RUSSIAN ICON-PAINTING. 12th - 17th CENTURIES

39

18th-CENTURY PAINTING

53

SCULPTURE OF THE 18th 19th CENTURIES

63

PAINTING OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY

85

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

123

PAINTING OF THE 20th CENTURY IN THE BENOIS BLOCK

155

MUSEUM'S BRANCHES

172

INDEX

Information on the museum ,..

s

TR INITY

PETER

V EMBANKMENT

.

J.. ~ I

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0

The State Russian Museum

4/2 lnzhenernaya ulitsa.

h;,~ .

,I.\ ••,]Jill' 'l

.., . .

0

Summer Gardens and the Summer Palace of Peter I

0

Stroganov Pa pace

TEL.: 585-42-48 OPEN: 10.30 a.m. - 6 p.m.

TEL.: 585-42-48. OPEN: Mondays: 1O a.m. - 4 p.m.;

17 Nevsky Prospekt

CLOSED: Tuesdays Ticket offices are closed

Wednesday- Sunday: 10 a.m. -5 p.m. CLOSED:

TEL.: 585-42-48 OPEN: 10.30 p.m. - 6 p .m.

an hour earlier TRANSPORT: Nevsky

Tuesdays. TRANSPORT: Nevsky Prospekt and Gostiny

Prospekt and Gostiny Dvor metro stations

Dvor metro stations

CLOSED: Tuesdays TRANSPORT: Nevsky Prospekt and Gostiny Dvor metro stations

O

Marble Palace

8

Mikhailovsky Castle

5/ 1 Millionnaya ulitsa TEL.: 585-42-48 OPEN: Mondays: 10 a.m. -

0

2 Sadovaya ulitsa TEL.: 585-42-48

4 p.m .; Wednesday - Sunday: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Address: 6 Peter Embankment PHONE: 595-4248. OPEN

OPEN: 10.30 a.m. - 6 p.m.

CLOSED: Tuesdays

DAILY, from 10 am to 6 p.m.

CLOSED: Tuesdays TRANSPORT: Nevsky

TRANSPORT: Nevsky Prospekt and Gostiny Dvor

Prospekt and Gostiny Dvor

metro stations

metro stations

Log Cabin of Peter the Great

(on Thursdays, from 1 p.m. to 9 p .m .), closed on Tuesdays PUBLIC TRANSPORT: Gorkovskaya Metro Station

Exhibitions of the Russian Museum

ART OF THE 18th CENTURY

WHITE HALL

ART OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY

9 11

70

71

72r

69 88

68

8

10

67 66

1

87

2

3

85

73 91 84

74 75 92

1st FLOOR

83

~

76

94

77

78

79

80

81 82

OLD RUSSIAN ICONPAINTING

DECORATIVE AND APPLIED ART OF THE 20th CENTURY ART OF THE 20th CENTURY

o'"

r,',\

'QK-2115

Apostles Peter and Paul First third of the 13th century. Tempera on panel. 139.4 x 90 cm. AP>K-2095

These apostles are called the Prime Apostles for the great role they played in preaching Christianity and erection of the Church of Christ. It was Peter to whom Christ addressed: "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church and the powers of death shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven ... " (Mt 17:18, 19). Since the key became an attribute of Apostle Peter. Paul came to the Gospel and became a hot gospeller after the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. That is why he is traditionally depicted holding the Gospel. The apostles on this icon that ha s come from the Sts Peter and Paul Church in Belozersk are represented

hands are also similar. Above them,

frontally, dressed in similar chitons and

Christ blessing is depicted.

himations, and the gestures of their

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12th - 17th

C EN T U RI ES

The pantheon of Byzantine saints accepted by Old Rus after her baptism was soon added with Russian holy men. The first amon them were Boris and Gleb, sons of Grand Prince Vladimir of Kiev who baptized Rus. In 1015 they were treacherously assassinated. In 1072 they were canonized as Russian saints. Sts Boris and Gleb were venerated as patrons and defenders of the newly-baptized Rus, "hope and support of Russian land, her two-edged swords." This icon is one of the earliest among the icons of holy princes that have come to us. Its refined colour range, graceful postures and elegant lines betray a hand of a brilliant master from the Moscow school of icon-painting, an expert in the best works of Byzantine

Sts Boris and Gleb Second halfof the 14th century. Moscow Tempera on panel. 143 x 95 cm. AP>K-2 11 7

Prophet Samuel Ca 1112. Kiev. Fresco. 11 8 x 95 cm. AP>K-2112

It is one of few fragments of frescoes from the Archangel Michael Cathedral in the Mikhailovsky Golden-Domed Monastery in Kiev. Prince Sviatopolk (christened as Michael) laid the foundation of the cathedral in 1108 in commemoration of a victory over Polovtsy. The rich decor of the cathedral with its mosaics and frescoes created by both Greek and Russian masters is the evidence of high achievements of art in Kievan Rus.

art of the time.

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Mother of God Eleusa (Belozersk)

12th - 17th

CEN T U RI ES

The figure of Christ-Emmanuel sitting in

First third of the 13th century. Novgorod school.

her arms is inscribed into the contours

Tempera on panel. 155 x 106.3 cm. P>K-211 6

of the figure of the Virgin, their haloes merged into one whole, they are one

After the baptism of Rus in the 10th century the image of the Mother of God became most favourable among Russian icon painters and they developed many types of her image. Most of them derive from Byzantine originals. One of the most popular images is the representation of the Mother of God holding her child who is tenderly clinging to her. In Byzantium this type of icon was known as 'the Mother of God Eleusa '. This type of icons as well as the Vladimir

and inseparable: the Mother-Church and its Lord Jesus Christ. The angels in the round medallions in the upper corners of the cut-back central portion of the icon are depicted worshiping them . The naked flesh of the Infant Christ is allusive to the eucharistical sacrifice, the Lamb of God. On the blue borders of the icon, in round medallions, Old Testament prophets are represented. The icon was found in the 13th century in Belozersk (hence its name), the former capital of a separate principality. Judging by its large size and the high

icon of the Mother of God are the most

mastership of execution it might be one

ancient in Russia. The half-figured rep-

of the main object of worship in the old

resentation of the Virgin is majestic, her enormous eyes are full of mourning.

Belozersk.

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12th - 17th

CEN T U RI ES

The Saviour of the Fiery Eye Late 14th - early 15th century. Moscow. Tempera on panel. 107 x 77.5 cm. .QP)K- 1889

The focus of the representation is the face of Christ with demanding and severe expression of his eyes. Later, the Old Beli evers will call this image as the Saviour of the Fiery Eye. Behind the Saviour's head, the cross is depicted as a reminding of t he Crucifixion and the victory over death . The icons of such a type have Byzantine roots and became spread in Russian icon-painting from the late 14th century.

In the icon are represented Byzantine saints who were widely revered in Rus, and especially in Novgorog. The image of St. John the Ladder (6th century) is put in the centre. He lived at Sinai as a hermit for many years and wrote the treatise The Ladder of Paradise (hence his name). St. Blasius, the bishop of Sebaste (9th century), and St. George the Victorious (executed in 30) are standing by his sides. The fact that the figure of St. John is larger than the rest may be explained by a supposition that the customer of the icon might be of the same name. The figures of the saints are outlined with rigid and angu lar lines, and their faces are modelled with sure and rich brushstrokes what imparts the images with spiritual might. This style of pa int-

Sts John of the Ladder, George and Blasius Second halfof the 13th centu ry. Novgorod. Tempera on panel. 109 x 67 cm. .QP)K-2774

ing is peculiar for the Novgorod school of icon-painting .

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12th - 17th

C EN T U RI ES

This is the earliest of Russian icons with a depiction of St. George that has come to us. In the centre of the icon, is a depiction of one of the saint's moraculous deeds the victory over the dragon and rescue of a princess and the city of Racley. The saint is sitting on the horseback, with a spear in his hand, while the princess Elisava is leading the timed dragon with her belt. In the upper right a tower symbolizing the rescued city with its inhabitants is depicted. The central part of the icon is surrounded with four hagoographical border scenes. Each one is accompanied with an explanatory text what makes them resembling book illuminations. The scenes represent mainly the martyrdoms of St. George testifying his spiritual

St. George and the Dragon

strength and devotion to Christianity.

First half of the 14th century. Novgorod. 89 x 63 cm. Tempera on panel. APIK-2118

Miracle of the Icon of the Virgin Mary of the Sign (Battle of Novgorodians and Suzdalians) Early 14th century. Novgorod. Tempera on panel. 87.8 x 63 .8 cm. APIK-2129

The icon represents a historical event: the miracle rescue of Novgorod from the invasion of Suzdalians in 1170. In the upper tier there is depicted the praying before the icon of the Virgin Mary of the Sign, the carrying it out of the Church of Our Saviour-on-the-Marketplace, the icon-bearing procession along the Volkhov River to the Detinets (Kremlin) where it was met by the citizens. The middle tier represents the ambassadors from Novgorod and Suzdalians shooting arrows to the icon put on the wall of

gripped with horror, began to beat each

the Kremlin . The lower tier features the

other, while the Novgorod army led by

victory of Novgorodians. After an arrow

holy warriors is victoriously riding out

had hit the icon the Mother of God

of the city.

began to cry. Seeing this the Suzdalians,

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12th - 17th

C EN T U RI ES

27

The subject of St. George and the Dragon developed into an indepentent theme in Christian art. It has become one of the most favourable subjects of Russian iconpainting. In spiritual verses existing in Russia the image of the saint is associated with the idea of the warrior's deed and the salvatory power of Christian faith. The icon belongs with a number of the most brilliant samples of icon-painting of the Novgorod school of painting in its peak. The colour range is bright and built on contrasts. The red colour, the colour of the martyr's blood, faith and the victory over death, the green and white colours, the colours of the Divine Wisdom and Holy Spirit, emerge into one cheerful accord. The black colour, the colour of

St. George and the Dragon

death and evil, opposes to them. Thus

Last quarter of the 15th century. Novgorod.

an episode from the life of the saint is

Tempera on panel. 58.5 x 42 cm. AP)K-2 123

transformed into a high symbol of the inevitable and predeterminated victory of good and faith over evil forces.

Holy Doors Late 15th - early 16th century. Novgorod. Tempera on panel. 110 x 40.5 cm (left wing), 110 x 41 cm (right wing), 56.5 x 45 cm (top parts, each). AP)K-2661

The doors initially were in the St. Nicholas Church in the village of Gostinopolye near Novgorod the Great. The Holy Doors is the main entrance to the altar and are situated in the centre of the iconostasis, opposite the Holy Throne. The Doors is called "Holy" or "Royal" in honour of the King of Glory Jesus Christ. Christians believe that in the course of the liturgy Christ mysteriously enters the altar through it. The representations on the doors reveal its symbolic meaning. In the upper part, the Annunciation is depicted and below, the images of the authors of the Litugy, Sts John Chrysostom and Basil the Great, are placed, with the scrolls with liturgical texts in their hands.

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The idea of the tripersonality of God

is expressed here: God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The iconography of the icon is based on the text from the Old Testament (Gen. 18:1 - 8) describing the appearance of the Lord in the guise of three wanderers to Abraham when he was sitting near his tent by the oaks of Mam re. When he recognized in them the Lord he offered him his hospitality. This iconography derived from Byzantine sources and since the 14th century it became widely spread in Rus. This icon is painted under the influence of the famous icon ofTrinity by Rublev, but the author seriously changed its composi-

The Old Testament Trinity

tion. The icon painter has chosen a round-like composition for his icon. The

Mid-16th century. Novgorod. Tempera on panel.

figures of Abraham, Sarah and a servant

148.9 x 113.5 cm. AP)K-2 126

slaughting a calf are easily inscribed into an imaginal circle. The slaughting of a calf iconographically served as an antitype of the redeeming sacrifice of Our Saviour.

The Entombment The Lamentation First half - mid-16th century. Pskov. Tempera on panel. 83.9 x 67.8 cm. AP)K-2083

The event depicted in the icon

is described in the Gospels. Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses are depicted mourning over dead Jesus Christ. All images are deeply emotional and their over-exc ited jestures reveal their inner agitation .

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Apostle Peter 1410s. Moscow. Tempera on panel.

12th - 17th

C EN T U RI ES

of the Deisis Tier that was placed at a high level. The painters, taking into

312x 104cm. AP>K-2134

consideration the large volume of the

Apopstle Paul

cathedral and a large distance between

1410s. Moscow. Tempera on panel.

the icons and prayers, made an accent

311 x 104cm. AP>K-2722

on the apostles' silhouettes which are painted with w ide brushstrokes.

The icons of the Apostles Peter and

The ideas of Sergious of Radonezh

Paul came from the iconostasis of the

propagating self-perfection and love to

Dormition Cathedral in Vladimir, the

one's neighbour, striving for spiritual

most magnificent edifice created in Old

purity greatly influenced all Russia, and

Rus. According to the chronocle the

Andrei Rublev in particular. Inspired

icons for it were painted about 1408 by Andrei Rublev and Dan iii (horny with

with these ideas, he created images of

their assistants. The icons were part

with inner harmony and light.

profound significance and endowed

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DIONYSIUS AND HIS WORKSHOP

Archangel Gabriel 1502 - 1503. From the Deisis Tier of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in the St. Therapontus Monastery. Tempera on panel. 156.5 x 66 cm. .QP/K-3090

Dionysius (1430s or early 1440s between 1503 and 1520) was one, on apar with Andrei Rublev, of the most eminent Russian icon painters. There are some sources mentioning many works made by Dionysius for cathedrals and monasteries in Moscow and Northern Russia, but, regrettably, most of them have not come down to us. The icons from the collection of the Russian Museum refer to his later period of life spent in the Belozersk region . The frescoes and icons of the Therapontus Monastery are a brilliant consummation of his work. The images created by him are full

The influence of the art of Dionysius

of inner harmony and appeal to

was so strong that Russian icon painters

everything good and light in men's

remained under its spell till the mid-

souls.

16th century.

St. Simeon Stylites First half of the 16th century. Tempera on panel. 158.2 x 49 cm . .QP/K-3093

St. Simeon (356 - 459) was born in Cilicia. When he was eighteen years old he became a monk. The peak of his asceticism was pillar asceticism, or stylitism. He spent more than 40 years on the platform arranged at the top of a pillar, praying and conversing with those who went to him. The veneration of the saint derived from the pre-Mongolian period in the history of Russia. The icon was placed in the Deisis Tier of the Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in the St. Therapontus Monastery. The icon was painted somewhat later than the rest icons of the tier by a follower of the school of Dionysius.

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12th - 17th

C EN T U R I E S

This type of the image of the Virgin Mary is called Hodigitria, what in Greek means 'showing the way'. The name of this icon is commonly connected with the famous Byzantine icon from the Odegon Monastery in Constantinople. The Mother of God is represented frontally, as if appealing to the prayers. In one hand, she holds the blessing Infant Christ while with the other she shows on him thus indicating the way of salvation. In the course of many centuries a lot of variants of the Hodigitria appeared, differing in details, but imbued with severity and majesty. The icon painted by Dionysius is full of light and gold luminescence, echoing, as it were, with the words of a prayer to the Virgin DIONYSIUS AND HIS WORKSHOP

Hodigitria in which the habitation of

The Virgin Hodigitria

Christ is said to be brighter than gold

1502 - 1503. From the Local Tier of the Cathedral

and lighter than the sunny morning.

of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in the St. Theraponyus Monastery. Tempera on panel. 141.2 x 105.7 cm. ,QP/K-3095

DIONYSIUS AND HIS WORKSHOP

The Proofing of the Apostle Thomas 1500. Tempera on panel. 885 x 54 cm. ,QP/K-2737

The icon was painted for the Festival Tier of the iconostasis of the Trinity Cathedral in the Rev. Paul of Obnorsk Monastery. Its subject is taken from the Gospel of St. John (20: 24 - 29) where the appearance of Christ among his disciples after his resurrection is described. Thomas, one of the twelve disciples, was not with them at that moment and did not believe them. He said that he had to put his hand in Christ's side in order to believe. In the icon Thomas is depicted approaching to Christ in order to touch his wounds. His gestures and pose say that he believed that it was Christ in front of him, for he exclaimed:

acteristic for the manner of Dionysius

"My Lord and my God!" the graceful

testify that the icon is a work of the

poses and gestures of the figures char-

great master.

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12th - 17th

C EN T U RI ES

Intercession of the Mother of God

memorate this miracle. The Russians saw in this an evident of the protec-

Middle- second half of the 16th century.

tion of the Mother of God over Russia

Novgorod. Tempera on panel. 11 8.5 x 69 cm.

and all Orthodox Christians. Some

,QP/K-2142

other variants of the icon, differing in details, are known. This one is typical

In the icon, an episode from the life

for Novgorod iconography. The event

of St. Andrew Christ's Fool (9th -

is represented against the background of a many-doomed church . The Mother

10th century) is depicted. While praying in the Church of Blachernae in Constantinople he saw the Mother of

of God stands on a cloud, in the central

God spreading her omophorion over

archangels, Michael and Gabriel, holds

apse. Above her head, two hovering

the people gathered in the church as

the veil, above which, Christ sits on

a sign of intercession and protection

seraphs with flamy wings. The Mother

of Constantinople from the Saracenes.

of God is flanked with saints. They are

In Russia, the celebration of this event began in the 12th century, when, by

represented as the heavenly retinue of the Mother of God, arranged in groups

the will of Prince Andrei Bogoliubsky,

according to their hierarchy.

a new feast was established to corn-

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The Transfiguration of Christ, with 24 border scenes representing feasts

Jesus was tran sfigurated before them . The subject is represented in this icon

First halfofthe 16th century. Tempera on panel.

in details, including their ascent the

133 x 102.3 cm . .QP>K-1879

went up a high mount Fabor where

mount and coming down. This subject, also represented in details, can often

The icon came from the Intercession

be found in icons from different centres

Monastery in Suzdal. The iconography of the icons of the Transfiguration is

of icon-painting in Russia . The central composition is surrounded with

based on the Gospels texts (Mt 17: 1 - 9; Mk 9: 2 - 9; Lk 9: 28 - 36). It is

24 border scenes with depictions of

said there that Jesus and his disciples Peter, James and his brother John

course of the whole year.

saints and the feasts celebrated in the

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C EN T U R I ES

Prophet Daniel Ca 1450. Tver - Moscow. Tempera on panel. 133 x 102 cm . .QP)K-1968

The icon belongs with a large group of icons from the iconostasis of the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of Our Saviour in Tver. It was painted by icon painters from Tver and Moscow as well. This icon is from the Prophets' Tier where the images of the Old Testament prophets who prophesied the incarnation of God on the earth are put. They hold the scrols with the text of their prophecies.

The Meeting of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple Ca 1450. Tver-M oscow. Tempera on panel.

to present him to the Lord. They were met by the righteous man Simeon who

103 x 81 cm . .QP)K-2 132

took the child Jesus in his arms and

Initially, the icon was put in the Fiest

him that he should not die before he

blessed God. It had been revealed to Tier of the iconostasis in the Cathedral

had seen the Saviour (Lk 2: 22 - 38).

of the Transfiguration of Our Saviour in

Their meeting signified the meeting

Tver. This feast is devoted to the event when the parents of Jesus brought

of the Old and New Testaments, i.e. of the old, vanishing, world and the new,

the child into the temple in Jerusalem

forthcoming, world.

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C EN T U RI E5

Christ in Majesty Ca 1450. Tver- Moscow. Tempera on panel.

13th centuries. There are different

209 x 137 cm. ,QP/K-1944

sources, the main of which are the vision of the Prophet Ezekiel and the

The icon originally was put in the cen-

Apocalypse. Christ, holding the open

tre of the Diesis Tier of the iconostasis

Gospels, sits on the throne, inscribed

of the Cathedral of the Transfiguration of Our Saviour in Tver. It had to reveal

into a red rhomb surrounded with fire and light. The blue and green ovals

the majesty of Our Lord who, sitting on the throne, administers the Last

symbolize the Universe with heavenly forces subject to the Pantocrator.

Judgement. This iconography developed in Byzan-

The red quadrangle is a symbol of the Earth filled with the light of the teach-

tium in the course of the 12th and

ing of Christ.

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1 2 t h - 1 7 th

CEN T U RI ES

EFREM TREBES

PROKOPY CHIRIN

Crucifixion

Sts Tsarevich Demetrius and Prince Roman of Uglich

1512. Moscow. Tempera on panel. 25.7 x 21.5 cm. ,QP>K-274

First quarter of the 17th century. Stroganov school. Tempera on panel. 29.5 x 22.9 cm.

This is a very rare example of an

,QP>K-2053

inscribed icon. On the back, the painter's name and the place of the icon's whereabouts are inscribed. It was located in the St. Nicetas closter near the St. Cyril of Belozersk Monastery. The manner of its execution betrays the strong influence of Dionysius.

Prokopy Chirin (d. Ca 1628) is one of the most famous masters of the Stroganov schoo l of painting, as the tre nd in the Russian icon-painting of the late 16th first quarter of the 17th cent uries was called . Prokopy Chirin painted icons to the commissions from the Godunovs, Stroganovs and Patriarch Filaret This icon ofSts Demetrius and Roman int erceding with the icon of the Mother of God of the Sign is referred to Chirion on the base of its stylistic affinity to his signed works. The main idea of the icon is the supplica- · tion for the protection of Russian land from its enemies.

GAVRIIL DMITRIYEV

Selected Sa ints 1702. Tempera on panel. 11 8 x 81 cm . ,QP>K-2786

Dmitriyev followed and further developed in his work the principles of Simon Ushakov and the Armoury of the Moscow Kremlin . In his works he combined the depiction of volume and perspective with trad it ional manner of representation .

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12th - 17th

C EN T U RI ES

SIMON (PIMEN) USHAKOV

Old Testament Trinity

the Moscow Kremlin where Ushakov

1671. Tempera on panel. 123 x 89.2 cm.

worked for more than 20 years. His most famous icon of the Old Testa-

AP>K-2147

ment Trinity reveals most vividly all The name of Simon Ushakov

peculiarities and contraversies of his

(ea 1626 - 1686) is connected with last period of icon-painting in Old Russia . The shift that occurred in the medieval consciousness in the second half of the 17th century resulted in serious changes in the meaning of iconic images. Most graphically these new trends found their expression in the works of the icon painters from the Armoury of

creative manner. He strived to try to overcome the canons of the medieval icon -painting. The faces and hands of the images are painted with the use of the shade-and-light modelling, and in the depiction of the lansdcape Ushakov used the principles of linear perspective borrowed from West European engravings.

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THE

RUSSIAN

MUSEUM

1st FLOOR

1Sth-century painting

The collection of Russian 18th-century painting in the Russian Museum is rightly recognized as one of the most richest museum collection. It comprises works by practically all known artists of the period from the reign of Peter I to Catherine II and Paul I. The Petrine epoch is represented with, first of all, such "masters of depiction of persons" as Johann-Gottfried Tannauer, Louis Caravaque, Ivan Nikitin and Ivan Odolsky. The middle of the century is represented with the oeuvres of the universal masters from the Office for Construction who were equally skilled in decorative and monumental art as well as in easel, portrait and icon-painting. They created many works for churchers of St. Petersburg and its environments. Among them are Andrei Matveyev, Ivan Vishniakov, brothers Ivan, Alexei anf Yefim Belsky, Boris Sukhodolsky, Ivan Firsov and many others. Russian academic school of painting of the second half of the 18th century is also represented in the Russian Museum. The collection comprises the historical canvases by Semion Shchedrin, portraits by Dmitry Levitsky and Stepan Shchukin, panoramic views by Feodor Danilov and Mikhail Shotoshnikov, masterpieces by such animalists as Johann Friedrich Grooth and Karl Friedrich Knappe. Works by the outstanding portrait painters of the middle and the second half of the 18th century Alexei antropov, Ivan Argunov, Feodor Rokotov and Vladimir Borovikovsky arouse a particular interest among the public. The canvases by foreign painters who worked in Russia for many years in the 18th century form a separate page in the history of Russian painting. Among them were Georg Christoph Grooth, Pietro Rotari, Jacques Louis de Velly, Louis Jean Franc;:ois Lagrenee, Jean Louis Voille and Johann-Baptist Lampi the Elder.

Exhibition of art of the 18th century

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UNKNOWN ARTIST OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 17TH CENTURY THE ARMOURY SCHOOL

Portrait of Yakov Turgenev Not later than 1695. Oil on canvas. 105 x 97.5 cm. lK-4902

It is one of the most famous portrait mentioned in the 1739 inventory book of the Preobrazhensky Palace in Moscow suburbs. The portrait is part of the so-called "Preobrazhensky series". The series is often called as "portraits of jesters". The "jesters" were the closest associates of Peter I in the early period of his reign, the members of the mocking Synod of the Most-Drunken PrincePope organized by young Peter.

ANDREI MATVEYEV

1727 he was taken on the staff of the

1702 (?) - 1739

Office for Construction. Matveyev took

Self-Portrait with Wife

part in the painting of the Peter and

1729(?). Oil on canvas. 75.5 x 90.5 cm. lK-4913

Paul Cathedral and the tsar's residences

He was a portraitist, icon painter, au-

St. Simeon and St. Anna Church. The

in St. Petersburg, painted icons for th e thor of allegoric and decorative compo-

self-portrait is supposed to be painted

sitions. In 1716, by the order of Peter I,

in 1729, when he married Irina An-

he was sent to Holland to study paint-

tropova (17 12/ 14 - 1740s), a daughter

ing. After his return to St. Petersburg in

of the blacksmith S. Antropov.

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IVAN VISHNIAKOV 1699- 1761

Portrait of Sarah Eleanor Fermor 1749 or 1750. Oil on can vas. 138 x 114.5 cm. >K-4914

He is known as a portrait and monumental painter. From 1739 he was the head of the team of painters at the Office for Construction. They worked in palaces in St. Petersburg and its suburbs and in Moscow and Kiev. The portrait was painted in the end of the 1740s. Sarah Fermor (1740- between 1805 and 1824) was a daughter of General William Fermor, an Englishman on the Russian service. In 1765 she married Count Jacob Sten bock (1744 - 1824). Her son took the name of Stenbock-Fermor and founded a family, famous in Russia.

IVAN NIKITIN (?) 1680s - not earlier than 1742

Portrait of Peter I First half of the 1720s (?). Oil on canvas. SS x SS cm (tondo). >K-4906

A son of the Moscow priest Nikita Nikitin, the artist lived in St. Petersburg from 171 l . In 1716 - 1719 Nikitin, as a "pensioner' of Peter I, studied in Florence underTommazo Redi. In the beginning of 1720 he returned to Russia and in 1727 married Maria Mamens, but soon divorced. In August of 1732 he was arrested in St. Petersburg in the connection of the cause of the pasquil on Feofan Prokopovich (1681 - 1736),

tionally linked with the entry in the

a renowned state and church figure,

diary of Peter I he made on September

author and associate of Peter I. In 1737

3, 1721: "on the Island of Kotlin , before

Nikitin was exiled to Siberia. On January

the liturgy, the painter Ivan Nikitin

25, 1742, by an ukase from the Secret

painted a portrait of His majesty".

Chancellery he was released . The artist

Nevertheless the portrait is made in the

died on the way to Moscow.

technique characteristic for the later

This tondo portrait of Peter I is tradi-

period of the 18th century.

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ALEXEI ANTROPOV 1716-1 795

Portrait of Grand Duchess Yekaterina Alexeyevna 1753. Oil on ca nvas. 87.5 x 66 cm. >K-5435

Antropov was a portrait and icon painter. From 1732 he trained under Louis Caravaque and in the late 1750 studied under Pietro Rotari. In 1750 1755 he decorated the St. Andrew Cathedral and painted icons for it. From 1758, he lived in St. Petersburg. This is a pendant to the portrait of Grand Duke Piotr Feodorovich. The Portrait is close

artist Georg Christoph Grooth who

to the iconographic type of the German

worked in Russia from 1741.

IVAN ARGUNOV 1729 (?) - 1802

Portrait of Prince Ivan Lobanov-Rostovsky 1752. Oil on canvas. 89 x 70 cm. >K-4926

In 1746 - 1747 he was a pupil of Georg Christoph Grooth. In the 1750s - 1760 Argunov was on the peak of his career and painted portraits of the elite of Russian society. Prince Ivan Lobanov-Rostovsky (1731

Portrait of Princess Yekaterina LobanovaRostovskaya

- 1791) belonged to the elder line of the princely fam ily of Lobanob-

1754. Oil on canvas. 81.5 x 62.S cm. >K-4927

Monomakh. He was a relative of Count

Ivan Argunov was a serf portrait

was the reason why he commissioned

Rostovsky originating from Vladimir Piots Sheremetev and, probably, this

and icon painter of Prince Alexander

his portrait and portrait od his wife, nee

Cherkassky. In 1743 he went into the

Princess Kurakina (1735 - 1802), from

possession of Count Piotr Sheremetev.

Ivan Argunov.

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FEODOR ROKOTOV 1732 (?) or 1735 (?) - 1808

Portrait of Countess Yelizaveta Santi 1785. Oil on can vas. 72.S x 56 cm (ova l). >K-4955

Rokotov was an outstanding portrait

painter. According to one version, he was an emancipated serf of Prince Piotr Repnin or, to other version, his bastard son. He studied painting in Moscow under local icon painters. In the 1750s Rokotov went to St. Petersburg where he studied at the Szlachta Cadet Corps. From 1760, he was a student of the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg . His teachers were Francesco Fontebasso, Louis Jean de Lorrain and

Louis Jean FranK-4986

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A. Levshina (1775) and Natalya Borshchova (1776). Reading and Sciences are represented in the portrait of Ye. Molchanova (1776) and Music and Singing by the portrait of G. Alymova (1776). All portraits are now housed in the Rus-

In the 1770s Dmitry Levitsky painted

sian Museum.

a series of portraits of the students of the Smolny Institute for Girls of Noble

The Smolny Institute had a good theatre and its performances were often visited

Origin. Each portrait, except for the

by Catherine II . She even once brought

most earliest ones - the portraits of

t here Denis Diderot when he was on a

F. Rzhevskaya and N. Davydova (1772

visit to St. Petersburg.

- have an allegorical meaning. Thus,

Yekaterina Nelidova (1758 - 1839) in

Yekaterina Nelidova (1773) represents

1765 - 1775 was a ward of the Smolny

Opera Buffa, Ye. Khrushchova and Ye. Khovanskaya (both 1773) - Theatre.

Institute. In 1776 she became a lady-

Dance is represented in the portrait of

favourite of Paul I.

in-waiting to the Empress. She was a

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DMITRY LEVITSKY 1735 - 1822

Portrait of the Architect Alexander Kokorinov 1769. Oil on canvas. 134 x 102 cm. )K-4985

Dmitry Levitsky was one of the most talented Russian portrait painters of the 18th century. He was born in the family of the priest Grigory Levitsky, a known Ukrainian engraver. Levitsky went to St. Petersburg about 1758 and studied there under Alexei Antropov. In the 1760s he worked in Moscow. In 1771 - 1787 Levitsky was at the head of the portrait class in the Academy of Arts. The portrait of Kokorinov was the first in the series of portraits of the best teach-

the course of the second half of the 18th

ers of the Academy of Arts created in

and the first half of the 19th centuries.

DMITRY LEVITSKY 1735 - 1822

Portrait of Catherine II as the Legislator in the Temple of Themis 1783. Oil on canvas. 261 x 201 cm. )K-4998

Levitsky said of the conception of the picture: "In the centre, an interior view of the Temple ofThemis is Depicted. In front of the goddess, Her Imperial Majesty, in the appearance of the legislator, burns poppies thus sacryfuing her precious peace and rest for the sake of peace and fesr of her people".

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Borovikovsky is one of the most outstanding Russian portraitists who was very popular among his contemporaries. Initially he studied painting in Mirgorod under his father Luka Borovik, an icon painter. In 1788 he went to St. Petersburg where he studied under Dmitry Levitsky and Johann-Baptist Lampi the Elder. In 1794 he was given the title of academician and, in 1795, an academician of portrait painting. From 1802, Borovikobsky was a member of the Board of the Academy of Arts. Yekaterina Arsenyeva (1778 -- ?) is the elder daughter of Major General Nikolai Arsenyev, a participant of the assault of the VLADIMIR BOROVIKOVSKY

lzmail Fortress, the head of the headquar-

1757-1825

ters of the army of Alexander Suvorov. She was brought up by the Society of Girls

Portrait of Yekaterina Arsenyeva

of Noble Origin at the Smolny Convent

Second half of the 1790s. Oil on canvas.

she was conferred the title of a lady-in-

71.5 x 56.5 cm. >K-5017

waiting to Empress Maria Feodorovna. On

in St. Petersburg. On November 23, 1796,

November 4, 1800, she married P. Kozlov, Full Councillor of State.

VLADIMIR BOROVIKOVSKY 1757- 1825

Portrait of the Vice Chancellor Prince Alexander Kurakin 1799. Oil on canvas. 178 x 137 cm. >K-5013

Alexander Kurakin (1752 - 1818) was one of the most outstanding state figures of the reign of Paul I and Alexander I, a famous diplomat. In his childhood he was brought up together with the future Emperor Paul I and they remained friends till the last days of Paul I. Kurakin studied at Leiden University. In 1802 he became the Chancellor and a member of the State Council. He wa s among those who signed the Tilsit Peace Treaty in 1807. After that Kura kin was sent to Vienna with a diplomatic mission. In 1809 - 1812 he was an

St. Andrew the First-Called Order put

ambassador to Paris. Kura kin is depicted wearing the mantle of a knight of the

over a dalmatic of the St. Johnof Jerusalem Order.

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the Chancellor llya Bezborodko (1756 - 1815). Liubov Bezborodko (1782-

Portrait of Countess Anna Bezborodko with Her Daughters Liubov and Cleopatra

the last male representative of the

1803. Oil on canva s. 134 x 104.S cm. >K-5026

Bezborodko family after the death of

This is one of t he most brilliant Russian

a permission to name himself Count

1809) in 1799 married Admiral Count Grigory Kushelev (1754 - 1833). Her son, Alexander Kushelev (1800 - 1855),

his mother's brother, in 1816 was given group portraits of the Empite period.

Kushelev-Bezborodko.

Cleopatra holds a miniature portrait of

Cleopat ra Bezborodko (1787 - 1840)

her deceased brother Alexander, deco-

in 1811 married Ajutant General Prince

rated with bril liants. Anna Bezborodko

Alexander Lobanov-Rostovsky (1788

(1766 - 1824), nee Shiryai, the wife

- 1866), a reknowned passionate col-

(from 1797) of the Full Secret Council-

lector of art.

lor, senator and a younger brother of

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UNKNOWN ARTIST

Perspective View Downstream the Neva from Nevsky Bridge between the St Isaac Curch and the Cadet Corps Third quarter of the 18th century. Oil on canvas. 116 x 220 cm. >K-3133

SEMEN SHCHEDRIN 1745 (?)- 1804

View of the Kamennoostrovsky Palace across the Great Neva from Stroganovskaya Embankment 1803. Oil on canvas. 56 x 72 cm. >K-3223

The artist was a son of a private of the Life-Guards Preobrazhensky Regiment. He studied in the Academy of Arts and then, as an Academy's pensioner, in Paris (1767 - 1769) and Rome (1769 -

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This work is on the four perspective views of the Neva in the collection of the Russian Museum. It reprersents a panoramic view of the Great neva between University and English Embankments. On the left, the Menshikov Palace is depicted and further, the "houses" of the Academy of Arts are seen.

1772). In 1776 he was enlisted in the Cabiet of Her Imperial Majesty for painting views of palaces and parks. In 1779 Shchedrin became an academician and, from 1799, was at the head of the landscape engraving classes of the Academy of Arts. The pendant pictures View of the Kamennoostrovsky Palace across the Great Neva and View of the Kamennoostrovsky Palace and the Pontoon Bridge across the Great Neva from Stroganovskaya Embankment were painted by Semen Shchedrin almost at the same time.

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ALEXEI BELSKY 1729 (30?) - 1796

Flowers, Fruit and a Parrot 1754. Oil on canvas. 99 x 208 cm. )K-4925

Alexei Belsky is known as the author of decorative panels, ceiling and wall paintings. He was a son of Ivan Belsky, a lacquer master at the Armoury of the Moscow Kremlin. He studied under Ivan Vishniakov and Girolamo Bona. In 1745 Belsky enlisted in the Office for Construction and, from 1747, worked in Tsarskoye Selo, Peterhof, Yekaterinhof and the Winter Palace. In 1762, among

FEODOR ALEXEYEV 1753 (4?) - 1824

View of English Embankment from Vasilyevsky Island 1810s. Oil on canvas. 53 x72.5 cm. )K-5050

Alexeyev was one of the initiators of cityscape painting in Russia. He was a son of a watchman at the Academy of Arts. In 1766 - 1773 he studied there and in 1773 - 1777 studied in Venice as

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other artists, he decorater the Triumphal Arch in Moscow. In 1771 he was commissioned from the Academy of Arts to "represent a project of a design for an academic theatre which was to includ4 three scenes: a tragical, a comical and a pastoral scenes. All of them must be in colours." In 1772 Belsky became a master at the Office for Construction. This dessus de porte was painted at the same time as the overdoor panels Painting and Music by Boris Sukhodolsky and Flowers and Fruit by Ivan Firsov. All of the were painted for the Catherine Palace in Tsarskoye Selo.

an Academy's pensioner. After return to St. Petersburg in 1779 Alexeyev worked as a painter at the Theatre Director's Office. In 1803 he began to teach in the Academy of Arts. Views of the Neva embankments were his favourite subject. His cityscapes can be called the portraits of St. Petersburg. They are always documentally exact and at the same time full of poetry.

THE

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MUSEUM

Sculpture of the 18th 19th centuries

The basis of the Museum's collection of the sculpture of the 18th 19th centuries was laid in 1897 - 1898 when works by Russian sculptors from the Hermitage and the Academy of Arts were transferred to the Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander Ill. Due to great inflows from other state and private collections in the 1920s - 1940s, the sculpture collection of the Russian Museum enlarged for several times. At present, it numbers more than 2,500 items most part of which is on display in the Mikhailovsky Palace. The rest are housed in the Mikhailovsky Castle where the construction works on the organizing of so-called "open funds" of sculpture of the 18th - early 20th centuries are conducting.

Display: Art of the First Half of the 19th Century

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BARTOLOMEO CARLO RASTRELLI 1667- 1744

C EN T U RI ES

the Hermitage). He also took part in the creation of the Triumphal Column in

Empress Anna loannovna with a Blackmoor Child

honour of the victory of Russia in the Northern War and in sculptural decor

1731 - 1741 . Bronze. 223 x 160 x 228 cm.

of fountains in Peterhof. Still as early

(K-391 , (K-392

as 1719 Rastrelli began to work on the creation of an equestrian monument

This is one of the most significant

to Peter I, but the final version of the

monumental works of Rastrelli, a wellknown European sculptor who went to

model was ready in 1743. It was cast in bronze by Alexander Martelli in

work to Russia in 1716. He made bronze busts of Alexander Menshikov (1717, the

Mikhailovsky Castle. His son, Bartolo-

1747 an in 1800 erected in front of the

Hermitage) and Peter I (1724 - 1727, the

meo Francesco Rastrelli (1700 - 1771 ),

Hermitage). After Peter's death Rastrelli

was an outstanding architect who

made a wax effigy of the emperor (1725,

devoted his talent to Russia.

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18th - 19th

CEN T U RI ES

Fedot Shubin, after he in 1767 graduated from the Academy of Arts with a big gold medal, was sent as an Academy's pensioner to continue his study abrosd. At first he studied under Jean-Beptiste Pigalle in Paris (1767 - 1770), then in Rome (untill 1772). After his return to St. Petersburg he made a marble bust of Vice Chancellor Alexander Golitsyn (1773, the Tretyakov Gallery) after which Catherine II ordered him "to be at the court". The sculptor created a great portrait gallery of state and military leaders of the epoch of Catherine the Great. The bust of Paul I is commonly acknowlFEDOT SHUBIN

edged as the sculptor's masterpiece

1740-1805

distinguished with deep psychological

Portrait of Paul I

characteristics.

1800. Marble. 80 x 53 x 53 cm. (K-311

FEDOT SHUBIN 1740-1805

Catherine II as the Legislator 1789. Marble. 198 x 114 x 88 cm. CK-306

The statue was commissioned from the sculptor by one of the closest empress' associate Field Marshal General Prince Grigory Potemkin-Tavrichesky and initially was installed in the rotonda of the Tau ride Palace in St. Petersburg.

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C EN T U R I ES

MIKHAIL KOZLOVSKY 1753-1802

Hymen 1796. Marble. 107 x 52 x 43 cm. (K-333

As most of sculptors of his time Kozlovsky was an Imperial Acedemy of Arts graduate. He studied under Nicholas Franc;ois Gillet (1764 - 1773), worked in Rome (1774- 1779) and in Paris (1779 - 1780, 1788 - 1790). The Russian Museum can boast with the best collection of Kozlovsky's works. The statue of Hymen was made on the occasion of the marriage of Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, a son of Paul I, and the Princess of Saxe-Coburg (their portraits are depicted in the medallion).

MIKHAIL KOZLOVSKY 1753- 1802

The Vigil of Alexander of Macedonia Mid-1780s. Marble. 11 2 x 123 x 81 cm. (K-331

Kozlovsky was striving to embody high ideals of the Enlightenment in his works. The subject of the sculpture is based on the legend of this outstanding military leader. According to it, Alexander with aim to enforce his will tried to overcome the desire to sleep. For this purpose he used to take a bronze ball in his hand which was to wake him with its noise when it would drop into a vessel standing near by.

SC U LPT U RE O F

T H E 18th - 19th

C EN T U RI ES

FEODOR TOLSTOI 1783-1873

Popular Militia 1816. Wax. Diameter 16 cm. CK-523

Feodor Tolstoi entered the history of Russian art as a many-sided master. He was a talented sculptor, medallist, graphic artist, author of watercolours and a painter. As he was a descendant of an old count family Tolstoi finished the Navy Corps, but in 1804 he retired

series of medallions glorifying in al-

in order to devote himself entirely to

legoric form the victory of Russia in the

art. This bas-relief refers to the famous

war against Napoleon.

FEODOSY SHCHEDRIN 1751-1825

Venus 1792. Marble. 180 x 70 x 82 cm. (K-1868

Feodosy Shchedrin had a lyrical talent. He graduated from the Academy of Arts with a big gold medal and was sent to Italy (1773 - 1775) and then to France (1775 - 1777). His masterpieces, the statues of Venus and Diana, became the first representations of female bodies in nude in Russian sculpture. Shchedrin was among those who were responsible for the sculptural decor of the Great Cascade in Peterhof, the Kazan Cathedral and the Admiralty in St. Petersburg.

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BORIS ORLOVSKY 1797- 1837

Faun and a Bacchante 1837. Marble. 183 x 90 x 54 cm . CK-340

Boris Smirnov (Orlovsky) was a serf. He studied at the marble workshops of 5. Campioni in Moscow and Agostino Triscorni in St. Petersburg. He was emancipated in 1822 for the marble bust of Alexander I (1822, the Hermitage) he made under the guidance of Ivan Martos. By an imperial order, Orlovsky was sent to Italy to continue his training, where he worked in the workshop of Bertel Thorvaldsen. Orlovsky's best works created in Italy (1825 - 1828) betray the influence of the renowned Danish master. The group

Faun and a Bacchante, first made in plaster of Paris and later transferred in marble, is one of them.

18th - 19th

CEN T U RIES

S C U LPT U RE O F

T H E

18th - 19th

CEN T U RI ES

IVAN VITALI 1794- 1855

Venus 1852. Ma rbl e. 168 x 59 x 64 cm . CK-341

Vitali, an outstanding sculptor of the first half of the 19th century, was a son of Pietro Vitali, a moulder at the Academy of Arts who came to Russia from Italy. In 1806 - 1818 the future sculptor worked at the marble workshop of , Agostino Triscorni and at the same time attended classes in the Academy of Arts. In 1818, on the instruction from Triscorni, he went to Moscow where he made decorative and monumental sculptures in collaboration with the architects Domenico Batista Gilardi and Osip Bove. In Moscow he began to work as a portraitist. In 1836, for the bust of the artist Karl Briullov he received the title of a free artist and in 1840, for the bust of the artist Vasily Shebuyev, he was made an academician. In 1841 Vitali returned to St. Petersburg in order to make the main work of his life - the sculptural decor of the St. Isaac Cathedral built by Auguste Montferrand. The statue of Venus was one of his best works.

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18th - 19th

IVAN ANTOKOLSKY

C EN T U RI ES

the imperial collection are housed

1843-1902

now in the Russian Museum. Among

Ivan IV the Terrible

them are the Death of Socrates (1875,

1871. Bronze. 147 x 100 x 119 cm. CK-455

marble), Christ under the Trail of People (1878, bronze), Mephistophles (1883,

This sculpture belongs with the most

marble), The Chronicler Nestor (1890,

famous works by Ivan Antokolsky, a re-

marble), Yermak (1891, bronze). The

nowned sculptor of the second half of the 19th century. He was born in Vilnius

statue of Ivan IV the Terrible repeated in marble to the commission from

in a poor Jewish family and studied

Pavel Tratyakov (1875) was the acme of

(1862 - 1868) in the Academy of Arts in

Antokolsky's creative work. In 1871 the

St. Petersburg. Many significant works

sculptor was given the title of academi-

of the sculptor transferred in 1897 from

cian for his work.

S C U L PT U R E

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T H E

18th - 19th

C EN T U R I E S

LEONID POZEN 1849-1921

eny Lanceray, A. Auber and Leonid

AScythian

Pozen, who worked in every genres, en-

1889. Bronze. 51 x 82 x 31 cm. CK-51 5

joyed great success umong the public.

Russian artistic bronze was a great suc-

wax, was firstly demonstrated at the ex-

cess both at the exhibitions in Russia and abroad in the last third of the

hibition of the Itinerants and thanks to

19th century. Such sculptors as Yevg-

attention from the public.

Pozen's sculpture A Scythian, made in

its exaggerated expressivity attracted

MATVEI CHIZHOV 1838-19 16

A Peasant in Trouble 1872. Bronze. 110 x 83 x 86 cm. CK-447

The idea to make a sculptural group of a peasant and his son looking at smouldering ruins - everything what remained of their house - came to Chizhov when he was, as an Academy's pensioner, in Italy (1868 - 1873). In 1873 the collector Kozma Soldatenkov com missioned from Chizhov a marble copy of A Peasant in Trouble. The copy, with a great success, was demonstrated at the World Exhibitions in Vienna (1873) and

him in Rome and St. Petersburg are

Paris (1876). At these both exhibitions

busts of the artists Alexei Bogoliubov

the sculptor was given gold medals.

(1872) and Ivan Aivazovsky (1873)

Chizhov created many works of different

and Emperor Alexander II (1881,

genres. Among the portraits made by

the Hermitage).

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THE

RUSSIAN

MUSEU

M

1st FLOOR

Painting of the First Half of the 19th Century

The collection of painting of the first half of the 19th century in the Russian Museum is one of the most complete and fully reflects the development of Russian painting in this period. Collecting painting of Russian school became a passion not only of Alexander I, Nicholas I and their most august spouses but of representatives of many aristocratic families and other private collectors. Nicholas I was a frequent visitor to academic exhibitions and workshops of artists. On his initiative, the New Hermitage was built, where from the early 1850s the Gallery of Russian Art was housed. The Gallery comprised also pictures from the Academy of Arts, The Last Day of Pompeii by Karl Briullov in particular. In 1897 eighty pictures of the most famous Russian painters were transferred to the Russian Museum of Alexander Ill. The collection of painting of the first half of the 19th century is known for a large number of pictures by such renowned painters as Karl Briullov, Feodor Bruni, Orest Kiprensky, Vasily Tropinin, Alexei Venetsianov, Pavel Fedotov, Alexander Ivanov and Sylvester Shchedrin. The museum can boast with seventy-two pictures by the brush of Karl Briullov, about thirty portraits painted by Orest Kiprensky, about 100 canvases by Aleander Ivanov, more than fifty works by Alexei Venetsianov, more than forty landscapes by Silvester Shchedrin and more than fifty works by the most renowned Russian marine painter Ivan Aivazovsky with his masterpiece The Tenth Wave.

Display: Art of the First Half of the 19th Century

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PA IN TING OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY

illegitimate son of the landowner Adam Dyakonov and the serf peasant woman Anna Gavrilova. In 1783 Kiprensky was emancipated and given the name of Kipreisky which later was changed to Kiprensky. In 1788- 1803 he studied in the Academy of Arts . In 1805 he received a gold medal of the first degree. In 1816, as a pensioner of Empress Yelizaveta Alexeyevna, he was sent to Italy. In 1823 - 1828 Kiprensky lived in Russia and painted a lot of portraits and took part in academic exhibitions. In 1828 the artist returned to Italy where, in 1836, he married his former model

OREST KIPRENSKY

Maria Falcucci and secretly accepted

1782-1836

Catholicism. He died and was buried

Portrait of a Young Man in a Neck Kerchief (Karl Albrecht)

delle Fratte.

1816. Oil on

canvas. 41 x 35.7 cm. /K-5130

in Rome, in the Church of Saint Andrea Karl Albrecht (1789 - 1859) was of Prussian origin and first served at the

Orest Kiprensky, an outstanding por-

Life-Guards Hussar Regiment. In July of

traitist, author of historical and genre

1812 he was seriously wounded in the

compositions, was a consistent follower

battle at Vitebsk and was promoted to

of Romanticism in Russian art. He was an

the rank of colonel.

OREST KIPRENSKY 1782- 1836

Portrait of Yekaterina Avdulina 1822 or 1832. Oil on

canvas. 81 x 64.3 cm.

/K-5138

There is a widely recognized opinion that Kiprensky painted the portrait of Avdulina in 1822 or 1823 in Paris. Yekaterina Avdulina (1788 - 1832) is a granddaughter of the merchant millionaire Savva Yakovlev who was ennobled. In 1808 she married Major General of the Horse Guards Regiment Alexei Avdulin (1776 - 1838). He was a member of the English Club and the Society for the Encouragement of Artists .

P A I N T I N G O F TH E F I R S T H A L F O F T H E 19th C E N T U R Y

OREST KIPRENSKY 1782-1836

Portrait of Life-Guards Colonel Yevgraf Davydov 1809. Oil

on canvas. 162 x 116 cm. >K-5134

aim to create an image of a national hero on the threshold of the Patriotic War of 1812. An impression of emotional tension is created with a stormy landscape in the background, the saturated colours and free and large

This is the most famous canvas by

brushstrokes. In 1812 Orest Kiprensky

Kiprensky. The manner of painting,

was honoured with a title of academi-

the composition of the portrait and its

cian for his four portraits, this portrait

colour ramge are subordinated to the

being among them .

65

66

PA IN TING OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY

SYLVESTER SHCHEDRIN 1791 - 1830

Lake Albano in the Environs of Rome 1824. Oil on canvas. 45

x 6 1 cm. /K-5 108

studied under Mikhail Ivanov. In 1818, as an Academy's pensioner, he was sent to Italy. In 1821 - 1825 Shchedrin lived and worked in Rome and its environs. Lake Albano is situated in 30 kilometres to the south-east of Rome. Along its

He was a son of the sculptor Feodosy

western shore, the oak avenue Galleria

Shchedrin. In 1800 Sylvester Shchedrin

di Sopra run s. It is depicted in this

entered the Academy of Arts where

picture.

SYLVESTER SHCHEDRIN 1791- 1830

Terrace on a Sea Shore. Capuccini near Sorrento

Capuccini is a village in the vicinity of Sorrento where a Capuchin monastery was located. Two Capuchin frairs are de-

1827. Oil on canvas. 47.5 x 60 cm. )K-51 07

picted on the terrace. Probably, the lines from Shchedrin 's letter to his brother

Sorrento is a small town on the south-

picture: "Yesterday a frair posed for me

ern shore of the Gulf of Naples where,

but did not want to take money ... "

dated November 13, 1827, refer to this

from 1825, Shchedrin lived and worked.

PA I N T I N G O F TH E F I R S T H A L F O F T H E 19th C E N T U R Y

SYLVESTER SHCHEDRIN 1791-1830

Naples in a Moonlit Night. Via Partenope and Castello dell' Ovo 1829. Oil

on canvas. 62 x 87.5 cm. >K-5114

Depicted here is a view of an embankment in Naples. In the centre, there is Via Partenope, a street leading from the Royal Gardens to Santa Lucia Embankment. Above, the houses on Pizzofalcone Hill are seen; on the right, one can see the Castello dell'Ovo. The picture is known in four versions.

MAXIM VOROBYOV 1787-1855

The Neva Embankment at the Academy of Arts. Vew of the Landing-Stage with Egyptian Sphinxes in Day Time 1835. Oil

on canvas. 75 x 111 cm. )K-5122

Mikhail Ivanov. In 1814 he was given the title of academician. During the RussoTurkish War of 1828 Vorobyov was taken into the emperor's suite to paint studies on the theme of the war. In 1843 he was made a merited professor of the Academy of Arts. The picture was displayed at the exhibi-

From 1798, Vorobyov was a pupil of the

tion of the Academy of Arts in 1836.

Academy of Arts where he studied archi-

The artist managed to impart a note of

tecture under Jean Thomas de Thomon,

poetry to quite a concrete view.

painti ng under Feodor Alexeyev and

68

PA IN TING OF TH E FIRST HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY

KARL BRIULLOV (BRIULLO) 1799, St. Petersburg - 1852

Narcissus Looking at His Reflection in Water 1819. Oil on canvas. 162 x 209.5 cm. )K-5074

The picture is painted on the subject from Metamorphoses by Ovid. Briullov received a gold medal for this picture.

PA IN TING OF THE FIRST HALF OF TH E 19th CENTURY

KARL BRIULLOV (BRIULLO)

in Florence and took part in exhibitions

1799, St. Petersburg-1852

in Rome, Milan, Paris and St. Petersburg .

The Last Day of Pompeii

In 1848, on the doctor's advice, he left

1833. Oil on canvas. 456.5 x 651 cm .. /K-5084

Russia and settled in 1850 in Italy where

Karl Briullov, the most eminent representative of the academic school of

In the picture, the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A.D., when the town of Pompeii

painting, came from an artistic family. In 1809 - 1822 he studied in the

time the picture was demonstrated in

he died in 1852.

Academy of Arts and graduated from it with a gold medal. In 1822, on the

was perished, is depicted. For the first 1833 at the exhibition in the academy of Brera in Milan, in 1834, it was exhibited

money given to him by the Society for

in the Louvre, and in 1834 - in the Her-

the Encouragements of Artists he was

mitage. Briullov was awarded with the

sent to Italy to continue his training. He

St. Anna Order of the third degree for

stayed there till 1835. After his return to

this picture and elected a professor at

Russia Briullov lived in St. Petersburg. He

the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg.

was a professor at the Academy of Arts

70

PA IN TING OF THE FIRST HALF OF TH E 19th CENTURY

KARL BRIULLOV (BRIULLO) 1799, St. Petersburg - 1852

Italian Midday (An Italian Woman Gathering Grapes) 1827. Oil on ca nvas. 64 x 55 cm. >K-5079

The picture was very popular. It represents a so-called "Italian genre" brill iantly exploited by Briullov. Its pen dant, Italian Morning (Kunsthalle, Kiel ), was painted in 1823. The picture Midday was commissioned from Briullov by Nicholas I. Initially both pictures were

KARL BRIULLOV (BRIULLO) 1799, St. Petersbu rg - 1852

Portrait of the Shishmarev Sisters

housed in the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg in private rooms of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna .

(1820 - 1893) and Olga Shishmareva (1821 - 1868) are daughters of the well-known theatregoer from St. Pe-

1839. Oil on canvas. 284 x 213 cm. >K-5091

tersburg Afanasy Shishmarev and Maria Shishareva (nee Yakovleva), originating

This is one of the most known portraits

ground for the portrait the artist chose

by Briullov. In 1851, after the artist's departure to Italy, it remained in his studio.

Shishmarev's country house and garden in Novaya Derevnia in the vicinity

Alexandra Shishmareva

of St. Peters burg.

from a rich merchant's family. As a back-

P A I N T I N G O F T H E F I R ST H A L F O F T H E 19th C E N T U R Y

KARL BRIULLOV (BRIULLO) 1799, St. Petersburg - 1852

Portrait of Countess Yulia Samoilova Leaving a Ball with Her Adopted Daughter Amazilia Pacini

von der Pahlen (1775 - 1834). In 1825 she married Aide-de-camp Count Nikolai Samoilov, shen she married the Italian singer Peri and then the French diplomat Count De Morne. After the las divorse she took the name

Not later than 1842. Oil on canva s.

of her first husband. Yulia Samoilova

249 x 176 cm. >K-5093

had a large fortune and shined in the high society of St. Peters burg, Paris and Milan. Briullov and Samoilova first met

The portrait was, in all probability, painted in St. Peters burg in 1839 - 1840, when Samoilova lived in Russia . It was demonstrated at the exhibition of the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg in 1842. Yulia Sa moil ova (1803 - 1875),

no children of her own and brought

the last representative of the Skavronsky family, was a daughter of Cavalry Gener-

Amazilia, a daughter of the composer

al Count Paul Carl Ernst WilhelmPhilipp

Pacini, is depicted in this picture.

in the 1820s in Italy. Soon their relations became so close that there was a rumour that they were going to be getting married. Yulia Samoilova had up two girls - Giovanna and Amazilia .

71

72

P A I N T I N G O F T H E F I R ST H A L F O F T H E 19th C E N T U R Y

FEODOR BRUNI 1801 - 1875

Portrait of Princess Zinaida Volkonskaya 1820 - 1824. Oil

on canvas. 188 x 130 cm. IK-3409

Feodor Bruni, a son of the Italian painter and sculptor Antonio Bruni, came to

FEODOR BRUNI

Russia in 1807 with his father. He stu-

1801 - 1875

died in the Academy of Arts. He was a

The Bronze Serpent

honorary member of the Academies of

184 1. Oil

on ca nvas. 565 x 852 cm. lK-5070

Arts in Bologna and Milan and professor of the Academy of Arts in Florence

The subject of the picture is borrowed

and the St. Luke Academy in Rome. He

from the Bible (Num 21 : 4- 9; Jn 3: 14-

taught at the Academy of Arts in St. Pe-

15). When the people became impatient

tersburg and from 1855 to 1871 was its rector. The portrait of Zinaida Volkon-

on their way to the Promised Land and began to speak against God and Moses

skaya he painted in Rome. The artist

the Lord sent fiery serpents to bit them,

depicted her in the costume ofTancred,

so that many of them d ied. Moses

the title part of the opera by Gioacchino Rossini that was staged under the con-

prayed for the people and the Lord said to him to make a bronze serpent and set

duction of the author in Volkonskaya 's

it on a pole so that everybody who was

house in Rome, with Felix Mendelssohn

bitten could remain to live if he looked at it. Feodor Bruni managed to vividly

as one of the orchestra members. Princess Zinaida Volkonskaya (nee Prin-

reveal the hopelessness pf the people.

cess Beloselskaya-Belozerskaya, 1792 -

Alexander Ivanov wrote of the picture

1862) was a writer, actress, singer,

that "the artist wanted, as it seemed,

patron of arts and art collector. In 1824 1829 she lived in Moscow, where many

to show people's suffer and, depicting them in various poses, demonstrated his

known scientists and men of letters

skill." For the picture The Bronze Serpent

used to gather at her home. The she

Bruni was awarded the St. Vladimir Order of the 4th degree.

went to Rome.

PA IN TING OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY

FEODOR BRUNI 1801-1875

Death of Camilla, Sister of Horatii 1824. Oil on canvas. 350 x 526.5 cm. /K-5068

The picture was commissioned from the artist by Prince Ivan Bariatinsky. For this picture Bruni was elected a memer of the St. Luke Academy in Rome (1824) and received the title of professor of the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg (1834).

73

PA I N T I N G O F T H E F I R ST H A L F O F T H E 19th C E N T U R Y

ALEXANDER IVANOV 1806-1858

The Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene after His Resurrection 1835. Oil on canvas. 242 x 321 cm. /K-5263

In 1827 Alexander Ivanov was given a big gold medal. From 1830 to 1858 he lived in Italy. For this picture, in 1836, he was given the title of academician. The picture was painted on the Evangelic subject (Mk 16: 9; Jn 20: 14 - 17). In early 1836 Ivanov exhibited the canvas in Rome for the public at large and

Alexander Ivanov was a son of Andrei Ivanov, professor of history painting at

then, in May of 1836, he sent it

the Academy of Arts. In 1817 - 1828 he

to Livorno from where it was shipped

studied in the Academy of Arts under

to Russia. The picture was presented to

his father and professor Alexei Yegorov

Nicholas I.

This study is painted in Italy near the thirteenth-century Franciscan Palaz-

ALEXANDER IVANOV

zuola Monastery in the environs of Rome by Lake Albano. This is one of the

1806-1858

most perfect landscape studies made by the artist. The series of these studies laid

Water and Stones near Palazzuola

the foundation of plain-air painting in

Early 1850s. Oil on paper, lined on canvas.

Ivanov undoubtedly was.

45 x 61.2 cm. /K-4509

Russia, the pioneer of which Alexander

P A I N TI N G O F TH E F I R ST H A l F O F T H E 19th C E N T U R Y

ALEXANDER IVANOV 1806-1858

Appearance of Christ to People 1836 - not earlier than 1855. A small version of the picture, serving as a study. Oil on canvas. 172 x 247 cm. >K-5268

1837 started to work on picture anew using the retouched canvas as a study. It took more than twenty years from Ivanov to paint the picture Appearance of Christ to People (Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow; a variant in the Russian Museum). About 400 studies were made by the artist for this picture. He was the

The picture Appearance of Messiah was started by Ivanov in 1836 during his stay

first in the history of Russian painting

in Italy. He began to paint it without a

and nude models and depicted the

permission from the Imperial Society for

influence on a human body of not only of warmth (the studies of the figures of

the Promotion of Arts whose pensioner

who drew a distinction between bare

he was. The artist chose a relatively

boys) but of cold (the study of shivering

small canvas for his future picture be-

figures) as well. In 1858 Ivanov returned

cause he was in need of money. By 1837

to St. Petersburg to see a deep indifer-

the picture had been already retouched

ence of the public and art critics to

with paints, but when the Society prolongated his pension, Ivanov purchased

his dearest creature. The shok was so heavy that the artist soon died.

a new, larger, canvas and in September

75

PA IN TI NG OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19th CENT U R Y

He studied at a private boarding school, then worked as a draftsman. In 1802 he came to St. Petersburg where he studied painting by himself, copying pictures in the Hermitage, painted pastel portraits. In 1811 the Academy of Arts gave him the title of nominated painter for the self-portrait and then an academitian for the portrait of Cyril Golovachevsky. In 1815 Venetsianov married M. Azaryeva and soon acquired an estate in the Vyshny Volochok district, Tver Province. After the retirement he spent much time in his estate where, from the early 1820s, he painted a lot of genre scenes from nature. The artist had ALEXEI VENETSIANOV 1780-1847

many pupils known in the history of Russian painting as "the school ofVenetsian-

Reapers

ov". He died in an accident on the way to

Late 1820s. Oil on canvas. 66.7 x 52 cm. IK-5166

the estate of his friends Miliukovs. In the late 1820s, while painting small-size

Alexei Venetsianov is known as a p9r-

pictures resembling stud ies from nature,

traitist and the founder of genre painting

Venetsianov also turned to large canvases

on themes from peasant's life. He is an

with more generalized images. The picture

author of oil and pastel paintings, etch-

Reapers is one of them. It is considered to

ings and lithographs as well. Venetsianov was a son of a Moscow merchant.

be one of the best pictures from the acme of the painter's work.

ALEXEI VENETSIANOV 1780-1847

A Reaper Not later than 1826. Oil on canvas. 30 x 24 cm. )K-5165

Though it is of small size, the picture with an unpretentious subject matter is the artist's masterpiece. A simple Russian peasant girl is depicted at the moment of short rest after hard work. Her image is penetrated with poetry and calls in one's memory works of high classical arts. The picture occupies a significant place in the history of Russian art and was highly evaluated by the artist's contemporaries.

P A I N T I N G O F T H E F I R ST H A L F O F T H E 19th C E N T U R Y

ALEXEI VENETSIANOV 1780- 1847

Capuchin Monastery on Barberini Square in Rome by Fran~ois Marius Granet. The

The Threshing Floor

work on the picture, probably, began

1821 (?). Oil on canvas. 66.5 x 80.5 cm . /K-5 154

in the summer of 1822 and continued in the summer of 1823. In April 1824

Venetsianov said that the idea of the picture came to him after he had seen in the Hermitage the picture Interior

View of the Gallery in the Church of the

ALEXEI VENETSIANOV 1780-1847

A Sleeping Shepherd Between 1823 and 1826. Oi l on canvas. 27.5 x 36.5 cm. /K-5157

Venetsianov called the picture A Sleeping Peasant and mentioned that it was painted sfter the Threshing Floor. The landscape background is a view of the Vorozhba river in Safonkovo village, an estate ofVenetsianov (Vyshny Volochok district, Tver Province).

Vasnetsov presented the picture to Alexander I and on April 29 it entered the Hermitague catalogue.

77

78

PA IN TING OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19th CENT U R Y

NIKIFOR KRYLOV 1802- 1831

In 1825 Krylov came to St. Peters burg

Russian Winter

and began to attend the Academy of

1827. Oil on can vas. 54 x 63.5 cm. )K-5482

Arts. In the end of the summer of 1825, under Venetsianov, he began to paint

Krylov began his artistic career as an

from nature. For the picture Russian

icon painter in a team of village icon

Winter and the portraits demonstrated

painters. In 1823 Alexei Venetsianov saw

at the Academy of Arts exhibition in

him in a monastery in Tver Province.

1827 Krylov was given a gold medal.

GRIGORY SOROKA 1823- 1864

Fishermen

under Alexei Venersianov when the latter stayed in his estate Safonovo

Second halfof the 1840s. Oil on ca nvas.

not far from Miliukov's estate. Soroka

67 x 102 cm. /K-5184

was emancipated in 1861 in the course of the reform. It is one of the best

Soroka is known as an author of genre

landscapes by the artist. The nature

paintings, landscapes and portraits. He

depicted in this picture is calm and

was a serf of the landowner N. Miliukov. In 1842 -1847 he studied painting

the people seem to be in a stste of estrangement.

PA IN TING OF TH E FIRST HALF OF THE 19th CENT U R Y

IVAN KHRUTSKY

George Dawe. In 1838 he was awarded

1806- 1885

a small gold medal. In 1839 he received the title of an academician of portrait,

Still-life with a Candle Ca 1839. Oil o n can vas. 66 x 88 cm. )K-7019

landscape and "fruit and vegetables" painting.

Khrutsky was a son of an Ukrainian priest. He first studied at the faculty

This is one of the most expressive still-lifes by Khrutsky. It is distinguished

of liveral arts at a lyceum in Polotsk. In 1827 he came to St. Petersburg where

with the scrupulous treatment of details what did not prevent the creating

he began to study painting under

a wholeness in its composition.

VLADIMIR SVERCHKOV 1820- 1888

still-lifes. Sverchkov chose for his pic-

Fruit

tures exuberant roses, tulips, peonies

1886. Oil on panel. 79.S x 120 cm. )K-2606

and ripe fruit, such as pears, apples and grapes. He could create refined compo-

He was one of few Russian artists of the

sitions of these objects, traditional for

late 19th century who prefered to paint

Dutch painting of the 17th century.

79

PA IN TING OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19th CENT U R Y

IVAN AIVAZOVSKY 1817- 1900

View of Odessa in a Moonlit Night 1846. Pilon canvas. 122 x 190 cm. >K-2201

In April 1845 Nicholas I expressed a wi sh fo r Aivazovsky would paint views

of Sevastopol, Odessa a nd Kerch. The View of Odessa was painted between January 15 and March 16, 1846. On May 18, 1846, the picture was demonstrated at the exhibition in Feodosia. In July of 1846 it was acquired by Nicholas I for the Hermitage.

PA IN TING OF THE FIRST HALF OF TH E 19th CENTURY

Archipelago and others. By his own words, the artist painted totally a bot 6,000 pictures. The picture Tenth Wave is the most popular and renown work by Aivazovsky. It was acquired for the Russian Gallery of the Imperial Hermitage and destined to become one of the first pictures in the collection of the Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander Ill founded in 1897.

IVAN AIVAZOVSKY 1817-1900

Tenth Wave 1850. Oil on canvas. 221 x 332 cm. IK-2202

Aivazovsky is one of the most renowned Russian marine painter. He was an academician (1844), a professor of the Russian Academy of Arts (1847), a member of the St. Luke Academy in Rome and academies in Florence, Stuttgart and Amsterdam, a member of the Russian Geographical Society (1853), a

IVAN AIVAZOVSKY 1817-1900

The Gulf of Naples in a Moonlit Night. Vesuvius Oil on cardboard. 26.8 x 20 cm. /K-1200

knight of the Legion of Honour (1857). He began to study painting under the

This landscape, undoubtedly, refers to

architect Koch in Feodosia and then, from 1833, in the Academy of Arts in

the Italian period of the artist's life as it was painted under an evidenca influ-

St. Petersburg. Aivazovsky, as an Acad-

ence of Sylvester Shchedrin. The view

emy's pensioner, in 1840 - 1844 studied abroad. In 1845, together with the

top of Mount Pozilippo.

known Russian traveller Feodor Litke he visited Turkey, Asia Minor, the Green

of Vesuvius is depicted as seen from the

81

82

PA IN TING OF THE FIRST HALF OF THE 19th CENTURY

Tropinin is a renowned author of portraits, landscapes, genre and religious pictures. He was a serf of Count A. Minich and later of Count I. Morkov. In 1798 1804 he studied in the Academy of Arts under Stepan Shchukin as a free pupil. In the spring of 1823 he was emancipated. On September 16, 1824, Tropinin was elected an academician of the Academy of Arts for the portrait of the medallist Karl Leberecht. From 1821, he lived and worked in Moscow. Tropinin depicted himself in the prime of his life as a happy and free man who at last received a possibility to devote himself entirely to his favoured work. VASILY TROPININ

The artist painted many versions and variants of this portrait.

1780-1857

Self-portrait 1830s. Oil on canvas. 46 x 37 cm. )K-3676

LAVR PLAKHOV

In the 1840s the artist painted a series

1810-1881

of pictures on the theme of the life of

Forge

artisans and city craftsmen: At a Metal-

1845. Oil on canvas. 65 x 53 cm. >K-5206

worker's Shop; At a Coopery; Coachman's Room of the Academy of Arts and others. The picture Forge organically entered this list.

P A I N T I N G O F TH E F I R ST H A L F O F TH E 19th C E N T U R Y

Fedotov is known as a portraitist,

author of genre pictures and a battle painter. He served with the Life-Guards Finlandsky Regiment. In 1834 - 1845 Fedotov attended classes in the Academy of Arts. In March 1840 Nicholas I gave the artist the right to retire from military service in order to take up painting. Following an advice of the renowned Russian fabulist Ivan Krylov, Fedotov began to paint genre scenes. Karl Briullov was a good adviser for him as we ll. In 1848 Fedotov was given the title of academician for his picture Major's Marriage Proposal. The portraits of PAVEL FEDOTOV 1815-1852

painted by Fedotov are distinguished with sincere and deep liking of the art-

Portrait of Zhdanovich at the Piano 1849. Oil

the members of the Zhdanovich family

ist to his models.

on canvas. 24.S x 19.2 cm. )K-4516

PAVEL FEDOTOV

It is a va riant of the picture of the

1815- 1852

same title housed in The Tretyakov

Major's Marriage Proposal (Inspection of a Prospective Bride)

Gallery in Moscow. The subject matter of the picture is a marriage proposal of

1850- 1852. Oil on

daughter in order to improve his finan-

vanvas. 56 x 76 cm. )K-4521

a major of noble origin to a merchant's cia l position.

83

THE

RUSSIAN

MUSEUM

GROUND FLOOR

Painting of the Second Half of the 19th and Early 20th Centuries The year 1863, when the best students of the Academy of Arts led by Ivan Kramskoy refused to contribute to the competition for the Gold Medal (the so-called "Riot of the Fourteen"), is traditionally regarded as the time of crucial change in Russian 19th-century painting. The students rebelled because they did not want to take hackneyed subjects of Academic painting and insisted on their right to freely choose their themes. As a result, upon graduation without official degrees and salaries, they united to establish the famous Arte/ of Artists. This group paved the way for the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions which held its first exhibition in St Petersburg in 1871. The society brought together around it the entire Moscow and St Petersburg artistic elite of the second half of the 19th century. This process resulted in the unusual uplift of the Russian realistic school inspired by the art critic Vasily Stasov. The school is represented in the museum by masterpieces of Kramskoy, Vasilyev, Repin, Miasoyedov, Shishkin, Polenov, Yeroshenko, Vereshchagin, Savrasov, Surikov, Levitan and others. These masters have largely predetermined the scale of the phenomenon known as the Silver Age of Russian culture dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Major artists of the preceding age, llya Repin, Vasily Surikov and Victor Vasnetsov, continued to work in this period, too. Simultaneously artists of younger generations continued their experiments and founded the innovative World of Art Society, the exhibitions of which were notable for works by Benois, Bakst, Somov, Lanceray, Dobuzhinsky, Roerich, Sudeikin, Sapunov and Maliavin.

Display: Art of the Second Half of the 19th century

85

86

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

NIKOLAI GAY

ciple who has betrayed him. The figure

1831 - 1894

of Judas is wrapped with dark clothes and turned with its back to the viewer.

The Last Supper 1863. Oil

on canvas. 283 x 382 cm. )K-4141

He is placed at the edge of the composit ion as if in contrast to the rest. Theim-

The picture was painted in Florence on

age of Aposthe John the artist painted

a subject from the Gospel of St. John.

from his wife while Apostle Peter has

The artist treated a religious subject as a tragical clash of human charac-

of the picture is bu ilt on the contrast of

ters and philosophies of life. Christ, in whose features conteporaries could easily recognize Alexander Herzen, endures deep disappointment in his dis-

likeness to the artist. The colour range light and shade, cold and warm hues. This made it possible to better reveal the psychological tension between the participants of the scene.

NIKOLAI GAY 1831 - 1894

Portrait of the Writer Leo Tolstoy 1884. Oil

on canvas. 96 x 71 cm. )l{-6624

In the 1880s Nikolai Gay took up portrait painting. In this period the artist became close friends with Leo Tolstoy. He depicted the writer in his study in the house at Khamovniki immersed in the work on the book What My Faith Is in. The artist created an image of a man of great spiritual power.

PAINTING OF THE SECONO HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTUR I ES

VASILYPEROV 1834-1882

Meal Time 1865-1876. Oil

on canvas. 84 x 126 cm. IK-3000

Vasily Perov is one of the founders of critical realism in Russian painting of the second half of the 19th century. He was one of t he organizers of the Society for Itinerant Exhibitions. Perov's favourite subjects were genre scenes. The picture Meal Time continued a series of works devoted to t he life of clergy. Like in other pictures, there are some critical notes there. Diversity of the poses, facial expressions and gestures of the depicted persons creata a vivid social portrait of this stratum of Russian society.

VASILY PEROV 1834-1882

A Solitary Guitarist 1865. Oil on

panel. 31.2 x 22 cm. /K-4093

This is one of Perov's most heartfelt pictures of the mid-1860s, the acme period of his work. The artist revealed a personal tragedy of a solitary man. The depiction impresses one with the laconism and precision of details.

LEONID SOLOMATKIN 1837-1883

Policemen Carolers 1864. Oil

on canvas. 45 x 53.5 cm. /K-1416

Leonid Solomatkin who himself experienced hardships and misfortunes of a poor artist's life, was attracted with genre scenes from the life of poor city dwellers and peasants. In the canvases by Solomatkin there always is, besides a narration of a story, a deep sympathy to the images created.

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PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

FEODOR VASILYEV 1850- 1873

Feodor Vasilyev is a key figure in Russian landscape painting of the

After the Rain. A Country Road

landscapes in his works seem to be

Late 1860s. Oil on canvas. 57.5 x 82 cm.

animated, filled with human emotions.

)K-4102/K-4 102

The wide stripe of the sky over the low

second half of the 19th century. Rural

horizon, the shadows running on the ground and reflections of clouds in the puddles impart a dynamic quality to an ordinary country landscape.

FEODOR VASILYEV

The canvas belongs with the most

1850- 1873

emotional works of the Russian

Thaw

school of landscape painting. The dull

187 1. Oi l on canvas. 55 .5 x 108.5 cm. )K-4 105

panoramic view of poor peasant's huts creates a feeling of aching melancholy in the soul of a viewer.

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

The picture is unfinished. The artist began to paint it shortly before his death. The picture demonstrates rich creative possibilities of the artist and novelties he introduced into his manner of painting in the last period of his life. While undergoing a medical treatment in the Crimea Vasilyev for many times tried to depict a dawn on the marsh. This picture outstands among his other canFEODOR VASILYEV 1850-1873

vases with a free manner of painting, emotionality and pure colour range.

Marsh in A Wood. Autumn 1872 (3?). Oil on canvas. 81 x 111.5 cm. >K-4103

ALEXEI SAVRASOV

The most favourite motif of the

1830-1897

founder of lyrical landscape painting in

Rainbow

Russia was a transitional state of nature.

1875. Oil on canvas. 45 x 56.5 cm. >K-4114

This life-asserting picture is a work of a mature master. Savrasov imparted an air of poetry to quite an ordinary village view. The viewer can feel a fresh breath of the nature after the rain. This result could be achived with a work in plain air only.

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PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

VLADIMIR MAKOVSKY

ideology of the Itinerants who consid-

1846-1920

ered their aim to be the enlightenment

The Convict

of people and realistic representation

1879. Oil on canvas. 76.5 x 113 cm. >K-4220

of their life. In the picture, a painful

The artist was always attracted with

scene near a court building is depicted. Its subject was an echo of the works of

non-typical characters and dramatic situations. Makovsky was a typical

Dostoyevsky, and the picture gained a recognition from the artist's contem-

representative of the aesthetics and

poraries.

ILLARION PRIANISHNIKOV

in Kursk Province. The work, began in

1840-1894

1893, remained unfinished. The proces-

Religious Procession 1893. Oil on canvas. 101.5 x 165 cm. >K-4166

sion, consisting of representatives of various social strata, seems to moove

Prianishnikov, one of the founders of

are organically inscribed into the

upon the viewer. The images of people the Society for Itinerant Exhibitions,

surrounding landscape. In depicting

was most interested in landscape

the peculiarities of northern nature, its modest beauty, the artist made use of

and genre painting. The picture was painted under the influence of the canvas by Repin Religious Procession

his plain-air studies.

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

NIKOLAI YAROSHENKO

Yaroshenko was commonly recog-

1846-1898

nized as a portrait painter. In the

Girl Student

1870s - 1880s the artist painted a

1880. Oil on

gallery of portraits of typical represen-

canvas. 85 x 54 cm. )K-4157

tatives of peoples from various social strata. Female images, created by Yaroshenko, were always distinguished with lyricism.

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92

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

IVAN KRAMSKOI 1837- 1887

Portrait of Sophia Kramskaya, the Artist's Daughter 1882. Oil on canvas. 119.S x 70 cm. >K-2983

the artist found consolation and support in the circle of his family and nearest friends only. The portrair was painted when Sophia was engaged to be married Sergei Botkin (1859 - 1910). The slin figure of the girl in a smart

This work of the outstanding artist and

dress is painted with great attention to

the ideological leader of the Itinerants

the accessories and decorations, and

refers to a series of his family portraits. By the words of his contemporaries, Kramskoi was an ideal father and

her well -thought hair-dress imparts a certain solemnity to the image. The girl's gaze not only betrays her inner

husband. In the early 1880s, when his relations with the Itinerants went

concentration before an important

wrong and his heartache aggravated,

birth of a creative person in her look.

event in her life, but one can read the

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

IVAN KRAMSKOI 1837-1887

Mina Moiseyev 1882. Oil

on canvas. 57 x 45 cm. /K-2993

Images of peasants occupy an important place in the artist oeuvre. The best of them is the portrait of Mina Moiseyev, a study for the picture

A Peasant Holding a Bridle (1883). The painter worked on the portrait with a special inspiration and painted it very quickly, for several sittings, in his studio at the village of Siverskaya near St. Petersburg.

IVAN KRAMSKOI 1837-1887

Portrait of the Artist Ivan Shishkin 1880. Oil

on canvas. 115.5 x 83.5 cm. IK-2992

Kramskoi created a whole gallery of portraits of eminent Russian cultural figures of the second halfof the 19th century. The expressive portrait of the renowned Russian landscape painter occupies a special place among them. Kramskoi painted this model not once till he created, by his own words, "an honest portrait".

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PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

KONSTANTIN FLAVITSKY 1830- 1866

Christian Martyrs in the Colosseum 1862. Oil on paper. 18 x 26 cm. >K-5688

In the summer of 1856 Konstantin Flavitsky graduated from the Academy of Arts with the first gold medal and, as an Academy's pensioner, went on the tour to Europe for six years and stayed in Rome. Inspired with the views of ancient Roman architecture, Flavitsky, an adherent of the academic trend in art and an admirer of Karl Briullov, turned to events of the 1st century A.D., the time of the persecution of the first Christians. Flavitsky depicted people in the most dramatic situation, just before their execution. In a moment they will be tattered by lions. The balanced composition, somewhat exaggerated facial expressions and conventional gestures of the victims impart to the picture excessive pathetics and acertain theatrecality.

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

HEINRICH SEMIRADSKY 1843-1902

and rich south scenery inspired the

Phryne on the Festival of Poseidon in Eleusis 1889. Oil on

canvas. 390 x 763.5 cm. lK-5687

The works by Semiradsky enjoyed

artist. The central figure in the picture is the hetaera Phryne who lived in Ellada in the 4th century B.C. She served as a model for the statue of Aphrodite of Cnidus for her beloved, the sculptor

great popularity among the public. The

Praxiteles. The landscape in the picture

artist strived to establish art as the end

is the best oneever painted by the

in itself., its independence from social

artist. While working on the picture

and political doctrines. Not they, but the perfect beauty of human's body

Semiradsky specially went to Greece,

VASILY SMIRNOV 1858-1890

Death of Nero 1888. Oil

on canvas. 177.5 x 400 cm. lK-5592

to Eleusis.

house of his friend. Under the threat of a savage execution he thrust a dagger into his throat. His body was saved from profanation by his concubine and two nursers. They burnt his body

Smirnov, who was an adherent of

and buried the remains in an old burial

academical traditions in painting,

vault. The artist manage to resolve in this picture a complicated coloristic

prefered subjects from antique history. The picture was painted in Rome where he lived as an Academy's pensioner.

task: to depict red cloth against the

Nero learned of the approaching of the Gaul army and found a refuge in the

this canvas to the Academy of Arts as a

background of a red wall. Smirnov sent report of his work abroad.

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96

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

VASILY SURIKOV 1848-1916

a family legend, his ancestors were among those who came to Siberia to-

Conquer of Sibiria by Yermak

gether with Yermak. The picture repre-

1895. Oil on canvas. 285 x 599 cm. >K-4231

sents the event in the autumn of 1581 when the army of the Don Cossacks'

Surikov was always interested in the

ataman Yermak occupied the capital of

history of Siberia, and in the destiny

the Siberian khan Kuchum.

ofYermak in particular. According to

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

97

VASILY SURIKOV 1848-1916

Taking of a Snow Fortress 1891. Oil on canvas. 156 x 282 cm. >K-4235

While staying in January 1890 in his native Krasnoyarsk in Siberia, where Surikov participated in local merry-makings, he decided to paint a picture on this subject. He depicted a popular winter entertainment he took part in by himself in his youth . This favoured popular game was specially staged for Surikov in the village of Lodeiki. As it was a custom with Surikov, he used to ask his friends and relatives to pose for him. Tus, in the sledge covered with a patterned carpet, sits a woman in an ermine pelerine. This is the artist's niece Tatyana Domozhilova. Near her, the artist's brother Alexander Surikov, sits. While working on the picture Surikov said that his main target was to reveal the peculiarities of Siberian life, the daring and breadth of the soul of Cossack youth .

VASILY SURIKOV

tried to show through the lots of indi-

1848- 1916

viduals. The image of the Cossack ata-

Stepan Razin

man Stepan Razin is the focus point of

1906. Oil on canvas. 318 x 600 cm. >K-4236

the picture. The boundless landscape where the river merges with the sky

The picture is the last one painted by

is painted in a light perlaceous gamut

the artist on history subjects. Historical

impressing with a diversity of hues.

events of the late 17th century Surikov

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PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

ILYAREPIN 1844-1930

Raising of the Daughter of Jair 1871 . Oil on canvas. 229 x 382 cm. lK-4050

This picture was the first large-scale work by the future great painter. Following the tradition of Alexander Ivanov, the then young artists imparted the "programme" subject with grandeur and life-like simplicity. The faces

ILYA REPIN 1844- 1930

Barge Haulers on the Volga 1870-1873. Oil on canvas. 131.5 x 281 cm. lK-4056

This picture brought the painter wide popularity in Russia and abroad.

of the deceased's relatives express mourning and hope. Only a moment remains to the miracle of the raising which is to occur after Christ touched the body of the girl. The figures of the people resemble sculptures and the illumination of the scene is rendered with most tiny hues which creates an impression of solemn silence. The picture is painted under the influence of the recollections of the death of Repin's sister Ustia.

The Barge haulers on the Volga was a vivid realisation of the new aesthetics and ideas propagated by Vladimir Stasov and Ivan Kramskoi who believed that a real artist had to choose subjects for his pictures from "plain" Russian reality.

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

ILYAREPIN 1844-1930

Portrait of Vladimir Stasov 1883. Oil

on canvas. 74 x 60 cm. >K-4043

The collection of works by llya Rep in housed in the Russian Museum is the best in Russia. Most of the pictures are portraits, among them there are two portraits of art and music critic Vladimir Stasov. This portrait was painted in Dresden, when both, Stasov and Repin, travelled along Europe. The composition of the canvas is simple while the manner of painting is free and masterly. It reveals the temperamental nature of the model, Repin's close associate.

ILYAREPIN 1844-1930

Ceremonial Session of the State Council on May 7, 1901, on the Centenary of Its Foundation 1903. Oil on

canvas. 400 x 877 cm. >K-4088

The broad-shouldered, resembling a fairy-tale hero, Vladimir Stasov was the most uncompromising adept and ideologist of Russian realistic art.

81 persons are depicted in this picture, including Nicholas II, the chairman at the session. All of them are given convincing portrait characteristics. One of the best painters of the time and two his pupols, Boris Kustodiyev and Ivan Kulilov, worked hard for two years before this picture appeared in the state rooms of the Mariinsky Palace in St. Petersburg. The picture entered the Russian Museum in 1938 from the Museum of Revolution.

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PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

ILYA REPIN

motherland. It is not an accident that

1844- 1930

Sadko while seeing foreign beauties is most attracted by the beauty of Cher-

Sadko 1876. Oil on

canvas. 322.5 x 230 cm. IK-4002

nava, a Russian girl. Though the picture did not enjoy wide popularity in Paris it

The picture Sadko Repin painted

was friendly welcomed in Russia . Repin

in Paris after his three-year travel in

was given the title of academician for

Europe. For his contemporaries it was a reflection of the artist's love to his

this picture.

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTUR I ES

ILYA REPIN

In 1675 the Turkish sultan Mohammed

1844- 1930

IV sent a message to Cossacks demand-

Zaporozhye Cossacks

ing to become his subjects. Cossacks

1880-189 1. Oil on

wrote a reply in which they refused

ca nvas. 203 x 358 cm. >K-4005

from his demand in mocking expressions. Repin tried in his picture to reveal

This one of the most spectacular canvases in the collection of Repin 's

the mood of the Cossacks writing a

works housed in the Russian Museum.

letter to the Turkish sultan.

It took ten years from the artist to paint this picture.

ILYAREPIN 1844- 1930

St. Nicholas of Myra in Lyda Delivers Three Innocent Men from Death 1888. Oil on canvas. 215 x 196 cm. >K-4001

The idea to paint a picture on this subject came to Repin in 1886 after he visited the St. Nicholas Monastery in Kharkov Province. The theme of the delivering of three innocent men became very actual for Russia in the late 1880s in connection with public movement for the ban on the death penalty.

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102

PAINTING OF THE SECONO HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

IVAN SHISHKIN

his studies of grass, in the suburbs of

1832-1898

St. Petersburg, on the Island ofValaam

Goutweed grass. Pargolovo 1884 (S?). Study. Oil on

canvas pasted on card-

board. 35 x 58.5 cm. IK-4132

or in his native Yelabuga, he always strived not to miss anything and depicted everything in the most accurate manner. Every flower, leaf and twig in

Contemporaries usually called Shish-

his canvases create a peculiar portrait

kin the milestone of Russian landscape

of nature.

painting. Wherever the artist painted

IVAN SHISHKIN 1832- 1898

Oaks 1887. Oil on

The

canvas. 147 x 108 cm. lK-4130

Oaks is a high achievement of Rus-

sian realistic landscape painting of the second halfofthe 19th century. The artist painted this picture in Dubki Park on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, in 30 km from St. Petersburg. In the 1880s Shishkin frequently visited the place where he with enthusiasm painted studies of mighty trees which later were to become the "heroes" of his future pictures.

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CE N T U RI ES

IVAN SHISHKIN 1832- 1898

Russian winter. The artist did not paint this severe season very often. Shishkin

Winter 1890. Oil

This is one of the best depictions of

on canvas. 125.5 x 204 cm. )K-2803

take up this not an easy task in his mature years. For his epic canvases the artist was often nicknamed "the forest bogatyr".

IVAN SHISHKIN 1832-1898

Ship Timber 1898. Oil on

At the 26th exhibition of the Itinerants, where the picture was demonstrated

canvas. 165 x 252 cm. /K-4125

for the first time, the artist's colleagues exclaimed enthusiastically: "The smell of pine-trees is felt at the exhibition! Sunlight is brighter!" In 1898 the

The Ship Timber is the brilliant sum and peak of the creative activity of

picture became a wonderful addition

Ivan Shishkin. In his last picture the

to the collection of the then recently

artist fully revealed the harmony and

opened Russian Museum.

grandeur of a forest landscape.

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104

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

In 1872-1876 Vasily Polenov was on a pensioner's tour in Europe. In the summer of 1874 he, on an advice of Alexei Bogoliubov who took care of Russian artists in France, lived together with llya Repin and others in the North of France, in the village ofVelle. The pictures painted in this period are distinguished with freshness and sincerity. Polenov demonstrated here his talent as a plain-air painter and bent VASILY POLENOV 1844- 1927

for depicting cosy secluded places. This tendency found its realisation

In a Park. Village of Velle in Normandy

known as a remarkable author of lyric

1874. Oil on canvas. 61 x 46 cm. >K-4205

landscapes.

later in his mature period. Polenov is

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENT URI ES

GRIGORY MIASOYEDOV

the best canvases in his oeuvre and in

1834-1911

the history of Russian painting on the

Harvest Time (Mowers}

theme of labour. The optimistic mood

1887. Oil

on canvas. 179 x 275 cm. tK-6899

of the picture is supported with its colour range. The figure of the central

In 1880-1890s Miasoyedov painted

mower expresses labour enthusiasm

a nimber of pictures devoted to peasant's life. The picture Mowers is one of

and joy.

VASILY POLENOV 1844-1927

Christ and a Sinner (Who Is Sinless?} 1888. Oil

on ca nvas. 325 x 611 cm. tK-4204

An idea to paint a picture on a theme from the life of Jesus Christ came to Polenov whenhe was still a young artist. He was then under an influence of the works by Alexander Ivanov and his famous picture Appearance of Christ to People in particular. The first studies Polenov mad during his staying abroad as an Academy's pensioner in 1873 and 1876. He continued the work in 1881 1882 when he travelled in Egypt, Syria, Palestine and Greece where he made a lot of studies. In 1886 - 1887, in Moscow, in the workshop of Savva Mamontov, Polenov painted this picture using his studies.

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PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

ARKHIP KUINJI 1842 (?)- 191 0

Ukrainian Evening

The artist prefered to depict landscapes filled with emotions. In his picture, an

1878. Partly re-painted in 1901.

ordinary Ukrainian village Ii with the rays of the setting sun, turns into a fairy-

Oil on ca nvas. 81 x 163 cm. >K-4 190

tale view. His contemporaries noticed that the colours in the picture are more intencive than in reality and this increases the effect.

This is one of the most famous pictures in Russian art. A bewitching sight created by the artist on the canvas was a great success. Thousands of people were eager to look at the picture. Ivan Kramskoi wrote of the picture: "The

Moonlit Night on the Dnieper is filled with real light and air; the river really flows

ARKHIP KUINJI

majestically; and the sky is also real, fathomless."

1842 (?)- 1910

Moonlit Night on the Dnieper 1880. Oil on canva s. 105 x 144 cm . >K-4191

ARKHIP KUINJI 1842 (?)- 1910

Spots of Moon Light in the Forest. Winter 1900s. Oil on paper pasted on canvas. 39 x 53.5 cm. )K-1514

The artist depicted a decorative effect of the moon light, a motif so favoured by Kuinji.

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

ISAAC LEVITAN 1860-1900

Lake 1899-1900. Oil on canvas. 149 x 208 cm. IK-4260

In the oeuvre of Levitan there not many cheerful pictures. The canvas Lake is such an exception. He worked on the picture in the last year of his life. The

mitif of the picture is simple and at the same time characteristic for Russian landscape painting. Levitan strived here to create a generalized image of Russia and was going to name the canvas Russia. The picture impresses the viewer with the deep, wide and mighty image. The bright sunlight imparts the depiction with a symbolic meaning.

The great Russian writer Anton Chek-

ISAAC LEVITAN 1860-1900

Dusk. The Moon 1899. Oil on canvas. 49.5 x 61.3 cm. IK-4265

hov called Levitan the best Russian landscape painter. The lyrical and melancholic landscapes by Levitan reflected the mood of a solitary and suffering soul what was especially close to the people of the "turn of the century", the epoch of symbolism. The Dusk. The Moon is a work of a mature master who was always able to reveal human feelings through landscapes.

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PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

Vereshchagin travelled much in many countries. He was always attracted with genre scenes and peculiarities of life styles in various countries. This picture refers to the so-called Turkestan series of works painted under the influence of the impressions the artist received in his travels in Central Asia in 1867 - 1870. Vereshchagin painted the picture in Munich using his plain-air studies he had made before. The canvas depicts a vivid scene from Oriental life. Similar to the other canvases from the series, this picture featuring one of the most revered Mosque of Hazret-Yasavi VASILY VERESHCHAGIN

impresses one with scrupulous treatment of details.

1842-1904

At the Door of a Mosque 1873. Oil

on canvas. 315.5 x 237.5 cm. /K-6456

VASILY VERESHCHAGIN 1842-1904

Shipka - Sheinovo (Skobelev at Shipka) Before 1890. Oil on

canvas. 188 x 405 cm.

War of 1877 - 1878 too. He depicted the triumph of Russiam army after the taking of the Shipka Pass on December 28, 1877. General Mikhail Skobelev, surrounded by his attendants, among

/K-8238

which Vereshchagin depicted himself, rides round his army, congratulat-

Vereshchagin, an author of many

ing everybody with the victory. The

battle pictures, took part in many

killed soldiers in the foreground are to

campaigns as a reporter artist. He was

resemble the price of the victory.

a participant of the Russian-Turkish

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENT U R I ES

ABRAM ARKHIPOV 1862- 1930

Laundresses Ca 1898. Oil on canvas. 97 x 65.5 cm. >K-5629

During all his life Arkhipov was an adherent of the ideas of democratic art. The canvas Laundresses painted in a refined silver-grey gamut was created after the artist visited the laundry of the Smolensky Market in Moscow (a variant of the picture is in the Tretyakov Gallery). The artist models the figures with free brushstrokes subordinating their separate movements to the one allembracing rythm of work. The women are immersed into a dense atmosphere impregnate with poisoneous evaporations.

NIKOLAI KASATKIN 1859- 1930

The Poor Gathering Coal on an Abandoned Mine 1894. Oil on canvas. 80.3 x 107 cm. >K-5637

trial region of Russia . The wives and children of the miners in the village of Shakhty gather coal crumbs for home on the place of an old mine while their men mine best-quality coal of Donbass. Kasatkin was a loual follower of Vasily

Kasatkin was one of the first Russian

Perov, his theacher at the School of

artists who turned to an industrial

Painting in Moscow, in depicting griev-

theme in his art. The picture represents

ous moments of life. For this picture he chose dark colours.

a paradoxical situation in an indus-

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PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

KONSTANTIN MAKOVSKY 1839-1915

Portrait of the Artist's Wife, Yulia Makovskaya 1881 . Oil on canvas. 184 x 78 cm. >K-5827

Yulia Makovskaya, nee Letkova

(1859- 1954), was the artist's favoured model for many years. Makovsky liked to depict his wife in luxurio us interiors which were to underline her refined beauty. His works were distinguished with bold colour combinations and decorative effects.

VICTOR VASNETSOV

in the vein of the Itinerants. Vasnetsov

1848- 1926

represented the scene as a real event

Vitiaz at the Crossroads

depicting the vitiaz in historically and

1882. Oil on canvas. 167 x 299 cm. P>K-4214

ethnographically authentic armour

A Russian vitiaz (knight) stands before

surrounded with a real scenery. According to the words of Vladim ir Stasov,

a stone with an inscription: ''There is no

Vasnetsov achieved in this picture

stright way to ride, to go or to fly". This

historical convincingness.

is a typical sample of history painting

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

ANDREI RIABUSHKIN 1861-1904

in costumes and architecture. The picture depicting a vivid street scene

Moscow Street of the 17th Century on a Festive Day

decorative impression, the cold grey

1895. Oil on canvas. 204 x 390 cm. >K-4355

and blue hues of an autumn landscape

is full with dynamism. In spite of a

characteristic for the artist in the 1890s,

Russian history of the 17th century was

impart the picture a wistful mood. In

a theme of many pictures Riabushkin painted at the border of the 19th and

1900 the picture was demonstrated at the World Exhibition in Paris and

20th centuries. In his pictures the artist

received a general recognition.

was accurate in every detail,

ANDREI RIABUSHKIN 1861-1904

Moscow Girl of the 17th Century 1903. Oil on canvas. 48 x 26 cm. >K-4352

In this picture Riabushkin tried not so much to depict life in his favourite 17th century as to reveal his own perception of the epoch. The swift, headlong movements of the graceful figure of a girl express an idea of transition of time.

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PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

KONSTANTIN KOROVIN 1861 - 1939

of century the singer appeared on the stage in the sceneries created after Ko-

Portrait of Feodor Shaliapin

rovin 's sketches. The portrait is painted

1911. Oil on

at Vichy in France. The artist revealed in the portrait the singer's gifted nature

canvas. 65 x 81 cm. lK-4332

The great opera singer Feodor Shalia-

and noble soul - the features which

pin (1873 - 1938) and Konstantin Ko-

attracted everybody to him.

rovin were friends. For almost a quater

VICTOR BORISOV-MUSATOV

by side with ours. In the picture Spring

1870-1905

his favoured sister is represented as an

Spring

owner of an old mansion surrounded with a garden where eternal spring

1901. Oil on

canvas. 71 x 98 cm. lK-2041

reigns. It seems that just in a moment Borisov-Musatov was an adherent

her figure would pass by and vanish

of Symbolism in painting. He did not depict real en vironment. His art sup-

for us, world .

poses the existence of other world side

somewhere in a miraculous, invisible

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTUR I ES

PHILIPP MALIAVIN 1869- 1940

Portrait of the Artist Konstantin Somov 1895. Oil on

canvas. 169 x 92.S cm. >K-4364

This outstanding painter and graphic artist of the early 20th century, a mon on Athos in his youth, has won fame with portraits and pictures from the peasant life in the villages in Riazan Province. His diploma work in the Academy of Arts Laughter (1899) brought him a gold medal at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900. The portrait of Somov is one from the series of portraits of his classmates at the workshop of llya Repin in the Academy of Arts. The canvas painted in a noble gamut of silver hues has brought its author fame and come into the history of national painting.

PHILIPP MALIAVIN 1869- 1940

Peasant Women 1905. Oil on

canvas. 205 x 157 cm. )K-1914

Philipp Maliavin became a professional painter by chance. One of the professors of the Academy of Arts happened to see works of the peasant's son and pupil at an icon-painting workshop. Soon the former novice of the monastery became a pupil of llya Repin. Even first works of Maliavin enjoyed success among the public in Russia and abroad. The turbulent, daring Russia looked from his canvases on the public. His best works were painted in the village of Aksinyino near Riazan . He preferred to paint them from local peasants.

113

114

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

NIKOLAI ROERICH 1874- 1947

director of the School for Promotion of Arts and the chairman of the World of

The Ominous

Art association (from 1910). He wrote

1901 . Oil on can vas. 103 x 230 cm. >K- 1958

in one of his letters from Paris that he was thinking over some subjects for

Roerich is known not only as a famous

his paintings, one of them was named

artist but as a publicist, scientist and

Ravens. The final version was named The Ominous. Russian talk tales say of

traveller. He lived in St. Petersburg (till 1918), then in the USA, and then

ravens as wise birds capable to foresee

in India. He is the author of the pact

future. They feel the disaster approach-

on the protection of cultural values in wartime (Pact of Roerich). He was the

ing the hardly visible town .

NIKOLAI ROERICH

from the past. This picture is from the

1874- 1947

first series entitled Beginning ofRus.

Guests from Overseas

The Slavs. In the picture, Scandinavian

1902. Oil on ca rdboa rd . 79 x 100 cm . >K- 1974

drakar boats sail along the deep blue

Roerich was a member of the Russian

them. The warriors, clad in armour, look

Archaeological Society. The finds made during his archaeological expeditions

at the peaceful banks. What did they bring with themselves, peace or war,

served as basis for his works where the

good or evil?

water with white gulls flying in fron of

artist tried to recreate exciting pictures

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

NIKOLAI ROERICH 1874-1947

Slavs on the Dnieper 1905. Oil on canvas. 67 x 89 cm. >K-1975

The profound knowledge of material culture of Slavonic peoples helped Roerich create works on the theme of the

NIKOLAI ROERICH 1874- 1947

Remember! 1947. Tempera on canvas. 91 x 153 cm. >K-7095

The picture is painted in the last year of the artist's life and can be consid-

history of Old Russia. Chronicles of the 12th century served as the basis for this picture. The artist painted Russia with unusually vivid and cheerful colours. Decorativeness, intensity of colours, simple drawing characteristic for folk art combined together recreate in the picture a remote epoch.

ered the final picture in his Himalayas series. A rider leaves his native home at a dawn. He cast the last glance at a modest hut and two female figures. Afterwards he will be always striving to return here, to this peaceful place.

11 5

116

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

ALEXANDER BENOIS 1870-1960

Feeding Fish

to the artist both in Russia and abroad, but also became a vivid embodiment of retrospective quest of the members

1897-1898. From the seies The Last Walks of

of the World of Art association. The de-

Louis XIV. Charcoal and graphite, gouache

cline of the splendid epoch of Louis XIV

and watercolour on cardboard. 47.8 x 62.5 cm.

Sun King in the watercolours of Benois

P-5126

is like mysterious phantoms against the splendid decorations of the Versaille

The series The Last Walks of Louis XIV

Palace and park.

not only brought fame and recognition

ALEXANDER BENOIS

He worked much as a theatre artist for

1870-1960

the Mariinsky and Moscow Art The-

Commedia dell' Arte. Indelicate Polichinelle 1906. Oil on canvas. 68.5 x 101 cm. iK-2102

atres, Grand Opera, Sergei Diaghilev's enterprises, Ida Rubinstein's troupe and others. The event depicted in the picture occurs in the time of Louis XIV. In the Versailles park, on an open

Theatre was an object of the greatest

stage, actors perform scenes from the

passion of Alexander Benois.

play Indelicate Polichinelle (he is also Harlequin).

PAINTING OF THE SECONO HALF OF THE 19th ANO EARLY 20th CENTURIES

KONSTANTIN SOMOV

A plain-air sketch made at Oranien-

1869-1939

baum in the vicinity of St. Petersburg

A Ridiculed Kiss

served as a basis for the picture.

1908. Oil on canvas. 49

x 58 cm. )K-2112

The artist transformed a picturesque corner of the park into a kind of a stage populated with funny figures in oldfashioned dresses.

KONSTANTIN SOMOV 1869-1939

Carnival (Columbine's Tongue) 1915. Watercolour and gouache on paper. 29.2 x 22.5 cm . P-6563

The pictures and watercolours by Konstantin Somov, his "rainbows" and "fireworks", festivities and masquerades where "invariably a sentimental, galant or flauvored notes sound" (Pavel Ettinger) seem to be an embodiment of the aesthetic programme of the World of Art association.

117

118

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

LEON BAKST 1866-1924

Supper 1902. Oil

on canvas. 150 x 100 cm. /K-2 118

Bakst is one of the most famous theatre artists and painters. He made stage designs for leading theatres in Russia and abroad. Being one of the decorators for the triumphal Sergei Diaghilev's enterprises in Paris he has become a trend setter there. The picture Supper is a kind of a declaration of artistic principles of the Art Nouveau style. The image created by Bakst is almost a symbol - a generalized and stylized portrait of a lady of demimonde. The picture scandalized the society and the press and received a lot of both positive and negative responses.

LEON BAKST 1866-1924

Portrait of Sergei Diaghilev with His Nurse 1906. Oil

on canvas. 161 x 116 cm. )K-2 117

This is the best achievement of the artist as a portrait painter. The famous impresario is depicted in his apartment in St. Petersburg. Bakst created an image of an energetic, self-assured and intelligent man, as he was known by his contemporaries and entered the history of world's culture. It took two years from Bakst to paint the portrait.

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTUR I ES

LEON BAKST 1866-1924

Poster for the Bazaar of Dolls 1899. Pastel on cardboard. 72 x 98 cm. >K-7631

•._.,........_

l!f,H& ml.PYw.

~ l r nULIEUI A ~WlnUIIUWll~IPlflNPll)PW.MIIJ,\lffllTIJl,

The artist depicted a touching scene on a poster for a charitable bazaar of dolls. It resembles a scene from the famous ballet Nutcracker by Tchaikovsky. A girl tenderly kissing a toy Bakst painted from his niece Masha.

LEON BAKST 1866-1924

zation in the result of the unpredictable convulsion of nature is horrible in its in-

Terror Antiquus

evitability. But over the chaos, a figure

1908. Oil on canvas. 250 x 270 cm. >K-8135

of archaic kore holding a blue bird (the bird of happiness) reigns. The picture

While working on the picture on the theme of the desruction of the world

received a lot of favourable responses at the Autumn Salon in Paris (1906) and

of Antiquity Bakst made a long trip to

a gold prize at the International Exhibition in Brussels (1910).

Greece. The country greatly impressed the artist. The idea of the wreck of civili-

119

120

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 20th CENTURIES

YEVGENY LANCERAY 1875- 1946

Petersburg in the Early 18th Century 1906. Tempera on paper. 58.5 x 111.5 cm . )K-2145

Views of St. Petersburg, founded by Peter the Great, now gradn and ma-

a new city construction in spite of the

jestic, now simple and cosy, are one of

raging nature. It was the time of ener-

the favourite themes of Lanceray who

getic and active people.

was born in St. Petersburg. He depicted

Dobuzhinsky, a member of the World of Art association, was a talented graphic artist and book illustrator who was able, as nobody else, to feel "the grandiosity of vast Petersburg and quiet coziness of provincial towns" (Erich Hollerbach). In the drawing

A Provincial Town in the 1830s made by the artist for losif Knabel's'publishing MSTISLAV DOBUZHINSKY 1875-1957

A provincial Town in the 1830s

house, irony is combined with nostalgia for passed life, leisurely and untroubled. Dobuzhinsky knew life in Russian provinces well and could recreate its architecture and atmosphere exactly.

1907- 1909. Watercolour and gouache on cardboard. 60 x 83.5 cm. )K-6563

SERGEI SUDEIKIN 1882-1946

Park in Front of the Castle 1911 . Sketch for the sets to Piotr Tchaikovsky's

Swan's Lake. Oilon canvas. 71 x 90 cm . )K-8005

Theatre, play, theatrecalized life always attracted Sudeikin, a participant of the Blue Rose exhibition and a member of the World of Art association, an aesthete and dreamer. The artist's

and simplicity and naivety of some ele-

mocking Muse helped him combine a classical ballet, luxuriant rocaille design

improbable way.

ments of the composition in the most

PAINTING OF THE SECOND HALF OF THE 19th AND EARLY 2 0th CENTUR I ES

KONSTANTIN BOGAYEVSKY

with inexplicable anguish at the past.

1872-1943

The artist depicted Old Tauride with its

Ships. Evening Sun 1912. Oil on canvas. 133.5

x 155 .8 cm. lK-2339

Bogayevsky, a pupil of Arkhip Kuinji, devoted his art to his native Crimea

tall leafy trees, murmuring brooks and antique ruins on the rocks lit with sun shine.The "coulise-like" composition of the picture made it possible to depict a deep "breaking-through " into the

whose nature kept imprints of many civilizations that once reigned there.

depth of the picture, where, lit by the

The picture Ships is full of majestic

The artist created a beautiful image

quietness and harmony permeated

tinted with nostalgia and romanticism .

NIKOLAI SAPUNOV 1880- 19 12

Still-life with Flowers 1912. Pastel and tempera on ca rdboard. 104 x 84.5 cm. lK-21 76

Sapunov adhered to the circle of the Blue Rose group and exhibited with the artists from the World of Art association and the Golden Fleece Salon. He was an outstanding theatre artist and collaborated with Vsevolod Meyerhold and Vera Komissarzhevskaya . The brightness of the objects in his still -life is muffled as if they are seen through a smoky and dim veil of the air.

setting sun, a wonderful sailer is seen.

121

THE

RUSSIAN

MUSEUM

1st FLOOR

Painting of the 20th Century in the Benois Block

The first decades of the 20th century were marked in Russian art by daring experiments: painting, graphic art and sculpture had an intense development and evolved from Impressionism and Symbolism through Nee-Primitivism and Cube-Futurism to Suprematism, Abstract Expressionism and Nee-Classicism. This led to the emergence of the Russian avant-garde in the latter half of the 1900s. The display rooms of the Benois Block represent this period by such titans of figurative painting as Valentin Serov, Mikhail Nesterov, Mikhail Vrubel, Alexander Golovin, Ivan Bilibin, Kozma Petrov-Vodkin, Boris Kustodiev, Marc Chagall and Zinaida Serebriakova, as well as major avant-garde painters - Wassily Kandinsky, Kasimir Malevich, Pavel Filonov and others. In 1934, the Department of Soviet Art was organized in the museum. By that time, after the decree of the Central Committee of the Bolshevik Communist Party "On the Re-Organization of Literary and Art Organizations", when Socialist Realism was established as a new artistic canon, numerous artistic trends turned to underground creative activities so as to reveal themselves later, in the "second-wave" avant-garde. All these complex processes have been reflected in the museum collection, which includes works by Alexander Deineka, Alexander Samokhvalov and other classical figures of Soviet art as well as works by those artists who placed themselves outside official artistic life for some time.

Display: Art of the 20th Century

123

124

PAINTING

OF

THE

20th

C E N T U R Y

MIKHAIL NESTEROV 1862- 1942

Hermit 1888. Oil

on canvas. 91 x 84 cm. /K-4337

Nesterov's oeuvre reflects the complex

spiritual and philosophic problems of the Silver Age of Russian culture. The Hermit was the first picture to bring the

artist wide popularity. The image of an old hermit is distinguished with a realistic and true-to-life depiction. It reflects the authors views, new for Russian art, on the place of man in the world .

MIKHAIL NESTEROV

lot of Russian woman . A young girl did

1862-1942

not find happyness "in the world" and

Taking the Veil

seeks for it now byond a monastery walls. The artist managed to find true,

1898. Oil

on canvas. 178 x 195 cm. /K-4335

typically Russian, notes for the picture. The Taking

the Veil is the most famous

The viewer seems to hear the chime

picture from the series of works

of the monastery bells accompanying

painted under the impression from the

the solemn and at the same time sad

novels by Pavel Melnikov (pen name Andrei Pechersky) devoted to a hard

procession of girls.

PAINTING

MIKHAIL NESTEROV 1862-1942

Portrait of the Artist's Daughter 1906. Oil on canvas. 175 x 86.5 cm. lK-4336

OF

THE

20th

C E N T U R Y

generation of young Russian women who lived under the veil of romantic dreams of the Silver Age. The elegant, in "the Art Nouveau style", si lhouette of the girl depicted against cold colours of sunset seems to embody the fragility

The portrait of Olga Nesterova (Schriiter by marriage) is one of the

of light and naive dreams. Her image, full of typically Russian sincerity, is in

most outstanding works of Russian portrait painting of the early 20th cen -

contrast with the image of a wamp

tury. It is a generalized image of the

dangerous.

woma n of the Art Nouveau, sexua l and

125

126

PAINTING

OF

THE

20th

C E N T U R Y

ALEXANDER GOLOVIN 1863-1930

Portrait of Feodor Shaliapin as Boris Godunov in the Opera of the Same Title by Modest Musorgsky

Golovin created a series of portraits of the great singer in various parts. As music critics noted, the painter managed to depict a real moment in the part, so theatregoes said that they could hear even an exact music playing at that

1912. Tempera, pastel, gold, silver foil on

moment. Shaliapin was enthusiastic

canvas. 211.5 x 139.5 cm. IK-4345

about this magnificent portrait painted against the background of a theatrical curtain. Golovin revealed a dramatic image of the opera character and great gift of the actor.

P A I N T I N G

ALEXANDER GOLOVIN 1863-1930

Square in the Kremlin 1911. Sketch to the opera Boris Godunov by Musorgsky, act 1. Tempera on paper pasted on cardboard. 64.5 x 83 cm. lK-1949

IVAN BILIBIN 1876-1942

Poster for the Historical Exhibition 1904. Watercolour, Indian ink, gold on paper. 63.5 x 45.9 cm. P-35959

The inspiration for his graphic works

Bilibin drew from folk art, icon painting and lubok popular pictures. He found in them themes for his works. Bilibin belonged to the cohort of such masters as Vasnetsov, Nesterov, Vrubel, Roerich, Polenov, Riabushkin, Maliutin, Stelletsky and others who made Russian history and fairy-tales the main themes in their works. Bilibin was striving to re-animate the spirit of history in his works stylized as sevebteenth-century samples where ornamentation was in harmony with letters.

O F

T H E

20th

C E N T U R Y

As a theatre artist Golovin began to work from 1900. He painted sceneries for the Imperial Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow and t he Mariinsky and Alexandrinsky Theatres in St. Petersburg.

127

128

PAINTING

OF

THE

MIKHAIL VRUBEL 1856-1910

C E N T U R Y

Russian antiquities full of mystery, protogenic purity and spiritual health.

Bogatyr 1898-1899. Oil on

20th

He depicted a mighty noble warrior camvas. 321.5 x 222 cm.

>K- 1837

The picture is a kind of an echo to the famous Bogatyrs (1898) by Vic-

quarding his native land from enemies and always ready to help people. The rider is immersed in calm thoughts, his horse seems to listen to the noises of the earth. The rider and his horse are

tor Vasnetsov. Vrubel considered

inseparable from the scenery - a thick

Vasnetsov's picture to be not enough permeated with bylina (Russian epic)

forest inhabited by both good and evil

spirit. Vrubel was attracted with old

beasts.

PAINTING

OF

THE

20th

C E N T U R Y

MIKHAIL VRUBEL

by Push kin. The picture represents the

1856-1910

moment when the patron of artists

Six-winged Seraph

remoinds of the higher mission of the

1904. Oil on canvas. 131 x 155 cm. >K- 1838

chosen one to attract people's souls to

The picture is inspired with the ideas

lofty ideals. The wonderfully beautiful colour range of the picture reminds the

of the prophetical mission of the artist

beauty of mosaics from Ravenna and

popular among symbolists. The subject was cast over the artist with Prophet

Venice the artist had chance to admire

MIKHAIL VRUBEL

period in his work when he worked

in his youth .

1856-1910

much on folklore themes in paint-

Flying Demon

ing, ceramics while his creatures met

1899. Oil on canvas. 138.5 x 430.5 cm. >K-1846

misunderstanding and accusation in

Vrubel returned again to the theme of

decadence from the public. The Flying Demon is a deeply sincere,

Lermontov's poem Demon almost ten years after he had created the canvas

Demon Sitting (1890). It was the acme

confessional picture. It impresses the viewer with the powerful conception and tragic mood .

129

130

PAINTING

OF

THE

20th

C E N T U R Y

The depiction of the children is full of warmth, poetry and understanding of their characters . This is the most charming pictire in Serov's oeuvre. This is a real masterpiece painted in grey and ochreous hues. Serov masterfully reveal the unity of man and nature. The children are depicted on a terrace of the artist's country house at Terijoki (now Zelenogorsk) on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, near St. Petersburg. Sasha Serov (1893- 1960) became a ship-builder and served as an aviator during the World War I. After the revolution of 1917 he lived abroad. Yura Serov (1894-1932) became an actor of Yevgeny Vakhtangov's studio, after VALENTIN SEROV 1865-1911

Children (Artist's Sons) 1899. Oil

on canvas. 71 x 54 cm. >K-4283

VALENTIN SEROV 1865-1 911

Portrait of Princess Zinaida Yusupova 1902. Oil

on canvas. 181.5 x 133 cm. >K-4307

In the 1890s Serov took up painting official portraits. This is one of the most remarkable portraits made by Serov. The picture is one from the cycle decoted to the depictions of the members of the Yusupov family. The beauty of the lady of noble appearance, brilliant mind and naturalness is underlined with simple composition and refined colour range consisting of golden and rosy hues with spots of dark-green and black colour. This conception was a novelty in the history of Russian official portrait painting of the 17th 19th centuries.

the revolution he worked as a cinema director in Germany and France.

P A I N T I N G

VALENTIN SEROV

O F

T H E

20th

C E N T U R Y

the ba,llets of the same titles staged by

1865-1911

Sergei Diaghilev at his Russiai:, Seasons

Ida Rubinstein

in Paris. The picture resembles an Assyr-

1910. Charcoal and tempera on canvas.

ian relief due to the flat representation

147 x 233 cm. >K-1915

of the model whose figure is outlined with now flexible and now sharp angu-

The portrait is a brilliant example of

lar lines. The sharpened silhouette of

a work in the Art Nouveau style. The manner of painting is in accord with

the figure and refined colour gamut add

the peculiarity of the famous ballerina

of Rubinstein depicted with a trag ic ex-

much to psychological characteristics

Ida Rubinstein (1880 - 1960). She was

pression in her eyes, peculiar to her, and

famous with her performances of the

the mouth, as the artist said, resembling

parts of Cleopatra and Scheherazade in

the mouth of a "wounded lioness".

VALENTIN SEROV 1865- 1911

Portrait of Princess Olga Orlova 1911. Oil on canvas. 237.5 x 160 cm. >K-4289

This representative, with the features of high style, canvas was painted by Serov in the last year of his life. Princess Olga Orlova (1872- 1923) belonged to the family of Beloselsky-Belozersky. She was known as the most elegant lady in the capital. The princess is depicted in her mansion on the Moika embankment in St. Petersburg. The noble colour gamut of the picture, sharpened silhouette of the figure, "enamel-l ike" painting add much to the characteristic of the model with a haughty and at the same time dreamy look. Princess Orlova was a bright representative of Russian high society at the eve of the World War I.

131

132

PAINTING

OF

THE

20th

C E N T U R Y

MIKHAIL LARIONOV

often painted fish and animals. Profess-

1881 - 1964

ing the principle of spontaneity in paint-

Fish at Sunset

ing, he refused from any arrangement of his "models" in the picture Fish at Sunset.

1904. Oil

on canvas. 100 x 95.5 cm. IK6-1200

The artist scrutinizes sea creatures hap-

, Larionov, one of the pioneeres of the

hazardly scattered on the ground. This

world 's avant-gardism in art, started

canvas anticipates expressionistic quest

his career as an Impressionist. He took

of the restless master.

a keen interest in everything living and

IGORGRABAR

shade create an impression of a ever-

1871 - 1960

changing, pulsating milieu. Grabar was

Flowers and Fruit on the Piano 1904. Oil on

canvas. 70 x 101 cm. IK-2217

the first author of the many-volumed history of Russian art (1910) among the members of the World of Art associa-

This still-life painted with separate

tion. He was also known as a trustee

brushstrokes, penetrated with light and air, is one of the most famous still-lifes

of the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (from 1913) and an organizer of the

of the artist. Its fragmental composi-

first exhibition arranged on scientifical

tion, the struggle between light and

principles.

PAINTING

OF

THE

20th

C E N T U R Y

He was a recognized head of the Jack of Diamonds association. The picture was painted in the year of the first exhibit ion of the association. It was a kind of the manifesto of the young generation of artists who discovered aesthetic value in folk handicrafts. They opposed lubok popular pictures, painted trays, printed fabrics, hand-made toys with their saturated colours, witty characters to PIOTR KONCHALOVSKY

the canons of official "high art".

1876-1956

Tray and Vegetables 1910. Oil

on canvas. 73 x 92 cm. /K-2363

ALEXANDER KUPRIN 1880-1960

Still-life with a Cactus and Horse's Skull 1917. Oil

on canvas. 1OS x 91 cm. /K-9 192

Kuprin, a pupil of Konstantin Korovin at the School of Painting in Moscow, from his first steps in art demonstrated himself as an overthrower of old and settled traditions. As a member of the Jack of Diamonds association he op-

manful lyricism is considered one of

posed expressive art with its sonorou s

the best from his early period. Kuprin

colours and constructional forms to Impressionism. The Still-life with a Cactus

Cezanne and overcame the influence

and a Horse's Skull with the features of

of Cubism.

implemented here the lessons of Paul

ILYA MASHKOV 188 1- 1944

Loaves 1912. Oi l on canvas. 105

x 133 cm. 11\6-1725

Mashkov was a member of the Jack of Diamons association. Their principles were ba sed on the achievements of Paul Cezanne fused in a peculiar way with traditions of folklore. In this case, the source of inspiration of the artist was a usual shop signboard in a provincial town. A spectacular character of a heap of loaves, the diversity of their forms and colours delight the artist.

133

PAINTING

OF

THE

PAVEL KUZNETSOV

20th

C E N T U R Y

1878-1968

tion of his dreams of beauty he found in the nature and life style of Orient.

Sheep Shearing

Transforming the real world of steppes

1912. Tempera and pastel on canvas.

Kuznetsov created in his pictures a po-

77.5 x 81.5 cm. )K6-1173

etical image of a far away country where everything is in harmony and full of lofty

Kuznetsov, a leading artist of the

tranquility. Even everyday objects and

Blue Rose group, possessed a rare and charming talent. The implementa-

occupations of people acquire in his picture a peculiar meaning.

MARTI ROS SARY AN 1880-1972

Flowers of Asia 1915. Tempera on canvas. 75 x 57.3 cm . )K-1997

In his creative activity Saryan went through symbolistic fantasies, "fairytales and dreams", stylized decorativeness to almost heraldically laconical forms. The acquaintance with the works of such representativesof new French painting as Gauguin and Matisse greatly influenced Saryan 's manner of painting. The artist managed to get creative individuality only after he had peceived himself as part of ancient people of Armenia with its ancient culture. He was prganically linked with the bright world of Armenia.

PAINTING

OF

THE

20th

CENTURY

Chagall was born in Vitebsk where his creative ideas were formed under the influence of Jewish, Russian and French cultures. In St. Petersburg he was a pupil of Leon Bakst at the school of Yelizaveta Zvantseva. He saw the heyday of the poetry of Symbolists and the first works of the pioneeres of avantgardism. In Paris Chagall found himself in the milieu of painters of the newest trends, his patron was the poet and art critic Guillaume Apollinaire. In his pictures reality is intricately entwined with his dreams, childish recollections, folklore images, forming a complex and polysemantic "world of Chagall". MARC CHAGALL 1887-1985

A Red Jew 1915. Oil on cardboard. 100 x 80.5 cm. >K6-1708

MARC CHAGALL 1887-1 985

A Walk 1917. Oil on canvas. 170 x 163.5 cm . >K6-1726

The beginning of the World War I coincided with the return of Chagall to Russia. He happily married Bella

Rosenfield. After the life in Paris which was filled with many events the artist discovered for himself the poetry of ordinary things anew. The picture A Walk painted in the manner of expressive primitivism has a certain confessional character.

135

136

PAINTING

OF

THE

NATAL YA GONCHAROVA 1881-1962

20th

C E N T U R Y

the same time she possessed a significant talent of her own. Her "neo-primitivism" of the 191 Os is characterized

The Evangelists (four-part composition)

with heavy forms, exclusively invented

1910. Oil on canvas. 204 x 58 cm (each part).

from her enthusiasm for "stone babas"

)K-8183, 8184, 8185, 8186

by her own imagination. They derived on one hand and old icons and religious

lubok popular pictures. They surrounded onov, Natalya Goncharova shared his

Goncharova in her childhood . The Evangelists are also distinguished with severe

revolutionary views of visual arts but at

monumentality.

A devoted associate of Mikhail Lari-

Mikhail Larionov was one of the most brilliant and consistent champions of new painting language. The problem of a new painting language was in the centre of quest of many artists of the first decade of the 20th century. They demonstrated a growing interest to "non-scientific" archaic and folk art. A new tendency called "neo-primitivism" appeared. Larionov created many MIKHAIL LARIONOV

works, the cycle Venuses in particular, in this new style, challenging, as it

1881-1964

were, "Greco-Roman hypocrisy". But his

Venus

creative methods did not lose a childish

1912. Oil on canvas. 68 x 85.5 cm. IK6-1528

play at the same time.

PAINTING

OF

THE

20th

C E N T U R Y

of Moscow. He also took up amateur research in ethnography, anthropology and natural scences. Kandinsky was much attracred with modern philisophical and esoterica! doctrines. Music greatly influenced his abstract art especially the works by Wagner. All these factors were decisive in the formation of Kandinsky as "an universal genius" of new art, a citizen of the world with the soul of a Muscovite. In 1896 he settled in Munich where he studied painting first in the private school of Anton Azbe and then at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1911 he fouded The Blue Rider (Der WASSILY KANDINSKY

Blaue Reiter) group of like-mindedart-

1866-1944

ists. It was a kind of a southern outpost

Blue Comb

of German avant-gardism. Many artists

1917. Oil on canvas. 133 x 104 cm. >K6-1609

of the second half of the 19th - early

Wassily Kandinsky, one of the most

an idea to implement in art everything

famous 20th-century artists credited

lofty, untold and spiritual. The ideas of refusal to 910 depict in art material world hovered in the air. But it was Kan-

20th centuries were captivated with

with painting the first modern abstract works, started to study painting rather late, at the age of 30. First he stud ied

dinsky with his Abstract Watercolour of

law and economics at the University

was recognized the first abstract artist.

WASSILY KANDINSKY 1866-1944

Picture with Points 1912. Oil on canvas. 126 x 95 cm. P>K6-1715

In the basis of the oeuvre of Kandinsky lay his theoretical writings the most significant of which are Concerning the Spiritual in Art (1912) and Point and Line to Plane (1926). Nevertheless they are not direct guides for "understanding" his painting. Kandinsky believed that all forms of art might speak the languages of their own. Intrigued viewers ready to immerse into the artist's language would be inevitably captivated with the emotionality of Kandinsky's painting. His art, equally to any true art, is open to sensual comprehension .

137

138

PAINTING

OF

THE

20th

C E N T U R Y

Kustodiyev is commonly recognized as a poet of a special kind of woman's beauty. He treated his merchant's wifes ironically and at the same time he senserely admired them. In 1918 old Russia whose personification were Kustodiyev's beauties ceased to exist. The seriou sly ill artist could not leave his studio in Petrograd. While trying to feel the pulse of the revolutionary time, the artist at the same time often went into "the country of recollections" in his thoughts. The Merchant's Wife Drinking Tea would occupy a worthy BORIS KUSTODIYEV

place among the beauties painted by

1878-1927

Veronese.

Merchant's Wife Drinking Tea 1918. Oil

on canvas. 120 x 120 cm. lK- 1870

BORIS KUSTODIYEV

sisting of representatives of different

1878- 1927

social strata. The lively faces of both the

Booths 1917. Oil

on ca nvas. 80 x 93 cm. lK-4357

actors and spectators are expressive and characteristic. The typically Russian accesories - bright cloths, signboards,

Painted in the year of the two revolu-

trays with heaps of sweets, painted

tions in Russia, the picture is full of

sledges, coloristic figures of coach-

sunlight, cheerful frost and gay careless-

men, beautiful horses in rich harnesses

ness. The theme of the picture is one

- intensify an impression of fullness

of the most favourite of the artist: a

of life. The colour range of the canvas

frosty day with everything covered with

unites the merry-making people into

hoarfrost, a festive crowd of people con-

one whole.

PAINTING

OF

BORIS KUSTODIYEV

THE

20th

C E N T U R Y

Russian winter festival combining both the features of Christianity and

1878-1927

Shrove-tide

paganism. Booths, scenes of typically

1916. Oil on canvas. 89 x 190.5 cm. lK-4358

Russian entertainments, troika ridings are vividly depicted against the back-

The life of Russian provinces in Kusto-

ground of an old provincial Russian

diyev's pictures is usually represented as careless, as if excluded from real

town transformed by frost and the sun into a fairy-tale vision . Beautiful horses

time and life. In this colourful, full of

in luxuriant harnesses, smartly dressed

movement picture Kustodiyev depicted everything he loved best of all. Rep-

people and winter landscape are real heroes of this picture, one in the series

resented in this picture is the popular

of Kustodiyev's "shrove-tides".

ARISTARKH LENTULOV 1882-1943

Churches. New Jerusalem 1917. Oil on canvas. 100 x 100 cm.1!K-1311

BORIS GRIGORYEV 1886- 1939

Portrait of Vsevolod Meyerhold 1916. Oil on canvas. 247 x 168 cm. >K-5823

The artist created a mysterious portrait of the reformer of Russian theatre Vsevolod Meyerhold (1874- 1940). One can feel a presense of the model's twin in the portrait. At the moment depicted in the picture Meyerhold is not a director of the state Alexandrinsky Theatre where he worked, but the experimentalist Doctor Depertutto from the House of Interludes in Galernaya Street in St. Petersburg. The portrait combines the features of neo-Classicism and Expressionism which attracted Grigoryev. The artist revealed the aesthetic quest of the theatre director. The portrait is a specific fruit of Petersburg culture of the 191 Os with its peculiar striving to everything theatrilized.

PAINTING

OF

THE

20th

C E N T U R Y

PAVEL FILONOV 1883-1941

Peasant's Family (The Holy Family) 1914. Oil on canvas. 157 x 128 cm. >K-9578

In the personality of Filonov antitheses get along together in a strange way: mysticism on one side and the cult of scientific knowlege on the other; ardent enthusiasm for communism and deep Christianity. In this early masterpiece, Filonov interpreted the traditional iconography of the Holy Family in a symbolic way. The idea of the unity of everything living was close to naturalphilosophic ideas of the Futurist poet

"horses' brotherhood and rquality of

Velimir Khlebnikov dreaming of the

cows".

PAVEL FILONOV 1883- 1941

use the "eye knowing " in their work. Each centimeter of the canvas must be "done

Faces

biologically". It has to reproduce a giddy

1940. Oil on paper lined with Whatman paper

variety of the processes taking place

and canvas. 64 x 56 cm. )K-11473

every moment in living nature. In this picture, faces seem to appear spontane-

Filonov is known as the creator of

ously from the vibrations of Filonov's

the conception of the "analytical art".

"atoms", fixing a moment between

He called upon the artists not to limit

synthesis and decomposition.

themselves with "the eye seeng" but to

141

142

PAINTING

OF

THE

20th

C E N T U R Y

Serebriakova was brought up in the families of Benois and Lanceray. The artist Alexander Benois was her uncle and Yevgeny Lanceray was her brother. The Study of a Girl is one of her self-portraits. She was equally fascinated, like her contemporary neo-romantics, with the Renaissance art and Russian painting of the arly 19th century, the portraits of Orest Kiprensky and idylls of Alexei Venetsianov in particular. The work she began as a study where she tried to depict an effect of a burning candle, acquired the features of a complete work with a simple but thoroughly thoughtZINAIDA SEREBRIAKOVA

out composition .

1884-1967

Study of a Girl (Self-portrait) 1911 . Oil on

canvas. 72 x 58 cm. lK-1902

ZINAIDA SEREBRIAKOVA

inner purity. The fresh, harmoniously

1884-1967

built wome n's bodies seem to radiate

Baths

and their poses are natural and full of

1913. Oil

on canvas. 135 x 174 cm. lK-1907

calm and dignity. The woman in the foreground, emerged in her thoughts

The picture reflects the neo-classical

while water slowly is pouring out of her

quest of the artist in the 191 Os. The

washing basin, resembles the models

scene in a Russian baths is treated as a solemn ritual. The beauty of healthy

of the 18th-century sculptor Feodor

women's bodies is a reflection of their

Shchedrin.

PAINTING

OF

THE

20th

C E N T U R Y

VASILY SHUKHAYEV 1887- 1973

ALEXANDER YAKOVLEV 1887- 1938

Self-portraits (Harlequin and Pierrot) 1914. Oil

on canvas. 210 x 142 cm. >K-7831

The idea of the picture came to the artists when the stayed on Capri after graduation from the Academy of Arts. The picture reflects their interest in the art of the Old Masters and was a reminiscence of their enthusiasm for the House of Interludes of Vsevolod Meyerhold. Yakovlev and Shukhayev, then pupils of the Academy of Arts, happened to have their debut in the pantomime Scarf of Colombine by Arthur Schnitzler staged by Meyerhold.

The friends depicted themselves in the

The images of Harlequin and Pierrot are symbo ls of two human temperaments,

costumes created after the sketches by Nikolai Sapunov.

an embodiment of eternal man's fate.

ALEXANDER YAKOVLEV 1887-1938

Violonist 1915. Oil on

canvas. 201 x 69 cm. )K-2376

The picture painted in Italy was cast over with the atmosphere of artistic and theatrical life of St. Peters burg of the 191 Os with its striving for everything theatrical. The model, a thirty-sevenyear-old violonist suffering of prograssing paralysis, served as a basis for the creation of an expressive picture filled with deep inner dramatism. The stylized form, "old-fash ioned" enturage with masks of the Com media dell'Arte impart the image with high spirituality.

143

144

PAINTING

OF

THE

20th

C E N T U R Y

The oeuvre of Petrov-Vodkin is full

of inner philosophical meaning and distinctly original. The artist combined in his manner of painting elements of neo-Classicism, Russian icon-painting and the Art Nouveau style. The picture

Mother of God of the Affection of Evil Hearts, painted during the World War I, may be considered a response of the artist to tragical events. The elevated and lofty image created by PetrovKUZMA PETROV-VODKIN

Vodkin in this picture is one of the most impressive in his oeuvre.

1878-1939

Mother of God of the Affection of Evil Hearts 1914 - 1915. Oil on canvas mounted on panel. 100.2 x 110 cm. >K-1120

KUZMA PETROV-VODKIN 1878-1939

red colours be the basis for any other colour or hue which could be received

Mother

with mixture of the latters. At the same

1915. Oil on canvas. 107 x 98.5 cm. >K6-1250

time the interest of the artist in national

In the 1910s Petrov-Vodkin developed

of a young peasant woman nursing her

the principle of trichromatism in painting. He considered blue, yellow and

Madonna and Child.

ideals and traditions grew. The image child resembles rather the image of the

PAINTING

OF

THE

20th

C E N T U R Y

KUZMA PETROV-VODKIN

His still-lifes are distinguished with a

1878-1939

colour gamut and perspective building

Apples

characteristic only for him. The objects are painted seeing close-up. All of the

1917. Oil on canvas. 41.5 x 58 cm. >K-8014

are full of inner significance and seen

Kuzma Petrov Vodkin called the still-life

spiritual. The viewer can look at them

"one of the most topical conversa-

at a new angle.

tion between the painter and nature".

KUZMA PETROV-VODKIN

shown from the bird's-eye view, as it

1878-1939

were, through a light blue haze. The

Midday 1917. Oil on canvas. 89 x 128.5 cm. >K6-1263

picture combines a series of subjects united into a single composition by the

The picture is devoted to the memory

The picture in some way is akin to old

use of so-called "spherical perspective". of the artist's father. Views of Khvalynsk,

Russian icons with border scenes of

the native city of Petrov-Vodkin, are

saints' life from their birth to death.

145

146

PAINTING

OF

THE

20th

C E N T U R Y

on the ideas of "the first KAZIMIR MALEVICH

elements" having much in common with the ideas of

1878- 1935

Black Square 1916. Oil

Plato and other popular at

on ca nvas. 53 x 53 cm.

the time scientific, psychological, phylosophic and even economical theories

1!K-5695

Rylov was a representative of romantic landcape painters. He continued the traditions of Arkhip Kuinji, his teacher at the Academy of Arts. Rylov created both large-scale symbolic works (In a Blue

Expanse, Tretyakov Gallery) and "chamber" landscapes. The landscape A Forest River occupies a special place in Rylov's

ALEXANDER DEINEKA 1899- 1969

Textile Workers 1927. Oil

on canvas. 171 x 195 cm

oeuvre. It can be called a "picture-landscape" for it combines naturalness and artistic imagination.

the Society considered their objective to depict contemporary life with new, non-academic methods and manners. They considered it their actual social order. In this aspect, they saw good pros-

Deineka was one of those artists whe were especially active in the development of new Soviet art. The Textile Workers is one of his early works characteris-

tion " are the basis of the composition,

tic for t he period when he was a bright

they impart expressive characteristics

representative of the Society of Easel Painters (1 925 - 1928). The members of

to the works as a whole.

pects for easel painting in particular. By the artist's words, in the Textile Workers "the rhythm and peculiar ornamenta-

PAINTING

OF

THE

20th

C E N T U R Y

ALEXANDER SAMOKHVALOV

Vodkin. The artist achieves success in

1894-1971

easel and decorative painting, book illustrations and posters. His heroes pos-

Girl in a T-Shirt 1932. Oil on

canvas. 102 x 64 cm. lK-4419

sessed dignity, energy and purposefulness - the features characteristic for

Samokhvalov recollected : "Once I saw a

the new generation. The Girl in a T-Shirt

girl that might be a symbol and painted her". The model was Yevgenia Adamova

hibition in Paris in 1937. The picture was

received a gold medal at the World Ex-

(1907 - 1977), a teacher from Leningrad.

sometimes called "Soviet Giaconda", but

Samokhvalov studied at the Higher School at the Academy of Arts. He was

the author prefered to see in it "a beautiful contemporary girl similar to which

greatly influenced by Kuzma Petrov-

there had never been before".

149

1 50

PAINTING

OF

THE

20th

C E N T U R Y

ARKADY PLASTOV

basis of a vast number of studies made

1893-1972

from the village dwellers. Each of them

Kolkhoz Festival

has an individuality. The artist also

1937. Oil on canvas. 188 x 307 cm. )K-5699

made many compositional sketches and splendid still-lifes. The idealized depic-

Plastov lived for almost all his life in

the village of Prislonikha, near the city

tion of abundance and enterteinments was a kind of the programme for Soviet

of Ulyanovsk. He devoted all his works

art of the 1930s when the principles of

to the theme of village life. The picture

socialist realism were forming .

Kolkhoz Festival was painted on the

ALEXANDER GERASIMOV

expressive portraits, landscapes and

1881-1963

still-lifes. In the picture Hymn to October,

Hymn to October

the ceremonial meeting devoted to the

1942. Oil on canvad. 406 x 710 cm. )K-5846

anniversary of the October Revolution of the Moscow City Soviet on Novem-

Gerasimov studied at the professional

ber 6, 1942, attended with the higher

school at the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture of Moscow. He is

officials of the country, military leaders,

an author of many-figure compositions,

scientists, workers, leading representatives of literature and art is represented.

PAINTING

OF

THE

20th

C E N T U R Y

Kukryniksy MIKHAIL KUPRIYANOV. 1903-1991 PORFIRY KRYLOV. 1902-1990 NIKOLAI SOKOLOV. 1903-2000

Flight of Fascists from Novgorod

canvas in 1929. They became known as masters of political satire, sculptors, painters and book illustrators. From 1943 the artists regularly visited fronts and in 1944 they went to the liberated Novgorod where they saw enormous

1944 - 1946. Oil on canvas. 200 x 300 cm.

destruction. The white-stone Cathedral

IK-5565

of St. Sophia standing amidst ruins symbolizes the unvanquished spirit of

"We together are as one artist" were

people and the destryed Monument to

used to say of themselves the three art-

the Millennium of Russia seems to call

ists who began to work together on one

for revenge.

GEL Y KORZHEV 1925-2012

Farwell 1967. Oil on canvas. 260 x 200 cm. lK-8576

Works by Korzhev on the themes of

the revolution and the Great Patriotic War of 1941 - 1945 are marked with deep dramatism. The large-scale composition and severely simple painting manner make the images more significant. His heroes are courageous and sinsere. In the picture Farwell from the cycle The Singed with the Fire of War the figures of a soldier and a girl are

ness in their appearance - the features

depicted close-up. One can feel their

characteristic for the time.

sternness and at the same time tender-

151

152

PAINTING

OF

THE

20th

GEL Y KORZHEV

C E N T U R Y

their essence. Lenin is depicted as a

1925-2012

man trying to receive answers to the

Conversation

most topical and vital questions from a

1980 - 1985. Oil on canvas. 180 x 200 cm. >K-11601

wise blind pilgrim whose appearance resembles the features of the artist. The picture is distinguished with a nontra-

The art of Korzhev is always alien to juncture. He was always striving to

ditional for the "Leniniana" depiction of

understand the characters of his heroes,

the state leader.

YVSEI MOISEYENKO 1916-1988

Cherries 1969. Oil

on canvas. 187 x 275 cm. )K-9283

cially evident in his works devoted to the revolution, Civil War and the Great Patriotic War. The picture Cherries is devoid of pathetics, the heroes are natural in their emotions. The viewer is present,

Moiseyenko, with his larege-scale

as it were, in the picture and at the same

heroes and humane ideas "to defend

time sees everything from a distance.

everything human in man", capability to reveal historical events, is an outstand-

The past, seen from the prism of the

ing figure in Russian culture. It is espe-

present, arises emotional experience common with the depicted people.

PAINTING

DMITRY XHILINSKY

OF

THE

20th

C E N T U R Y

Chernyshev, Pavel Korin and Vladimir

1927-2015

Favorsky. Zhilinsky va lued in art the

Gymnasts of the USSR

exactness of the expression and images.

1964-1965. Tempera, synthetic resin s on

He tried to depict the most meaningful

orgalite. 286 x 216 cm. >K-8816

events and people. The Gymnasts of

Zhilinsky in his pictures on contempo-

champions of the world and Olympic

the USSR is a group portrait of multiple rary themes was close to the tradiotions

Games. Each of them is depicted ready

of the early Italian Renaissance and Old

for further victories.

Russian painting, percepts of Nikolai

153

MUSEUM ' S

BRANCHES

Connetable Square in the early 19th century

Mikhailovsky Castle

The Mikhailovsky Castle was an imperial residence of Paul I (1754 - 1801 ). Its construction began soon after the death of Catherine II in 1796. There is a legend that a guard of the old Summer Palace of Elizabeth Petrovna once saw Archangel Michael who said to build at that site a palace in his honour. Hence is the name of the palace. The Swiss architectHenri Franc;:ois Gabrielle Violle, Russian architect Vasily Bazhenov and the Italian architect Vincenzo Brenna were commissioned to build a pa Ice according to the ideas of the emperor himself. On February 1, 1801 , the crowned couple moved into the new residence. In 1798 Paul I accepted the title of the Grand Master of the Knights of Hospitaller (Maltese Order), an order that was established as early as the time of Crusades. Thus, the Mikhailovsky Castle became a residence of not only the emperor but of the Grand Master as well. The castle and the square in front of it were surrounded with moats, bastions, drawbridges and cannons. In the centre of the square, a monument to Peter I in the guise of a Roman emperor was established. The monument was cast in 1745 - 1747 after a model by Bartolomeo Carlo Rastrell i.

Grand Staircase of the Mikhailovsky Castle

155

The main fa~ade of the Mikhailovsky Castle

History

Emperor Nicholas I the School accom-

On February 2, 1801 , the first, and as it

modated in the ca stle was named after

turned out to be, the last ball wa s given in the new residence. The Mikhailovsky

the emperor.Many men of note studied at different time at the School of

Castle served as an imperial residence

Military Engineeres. Among them there

for merely forty days. Paul I was stran-

were the great Feodor Dostoyevsky,

gled in his own bedchamber on March 11, 1801, as a result of a plot. This

writer Dmitry Grigorovich, the founder of Russian physiology Ivan Sechenov,

tragic event graphically changed the

the scienti st Pavel Yavlochkov, the

further fate of the palace. The imperial

compose Cesar Cui, the hero of the de-

family left the castle for ever. In 1822,

fence of Sevastopol military engineer Eduard Todtleben and many others.

on the initiative of Grand Duke Nikolai Petrovich (futire Emperor Nicholas I)

Furure military engineeres studied

the castle was given to the School of

within the walls of the castle after the

Military Engineeres and in February of 1823 it was officially renamed the

different state bureaucratic depart-

Engineeres Castle. After the death of

ments were accommodated there. In

revolution too, up to the 1950s. Then

1994 the building was given to the Russian Museum.

Interiors Contemporaries called the castle "a wonder of luxury and taste". The state and private rooms, enfilades of rooms containing art collections of the emperor (the Raphael and Laocoon Galleries, Arabesque Room, two Antique Halls) were lavishly decorated. The decor in-

M. GOYEVOI. Monument to Paul I. 2000s

Grand Staircase

eluded items of French artistic bronze, antique sculpture, West European and Russian painting, tapestries. Such well-known masters of decor as Pietro and Carlo Scotti, Giovanni Batista Scotti, Antonio Vighi, Johann Jacob Mettenleiter, sculptors C. Albani, Ivan Prokofyev, painters Ivan Akimov, Feodor Alexeyev, Grigory Ugriumov, Franciszek Smuglewicz and others were invited to decorate the palace rooms. The Throne Room of the Emperor Paul I was distinguished with the most lavish decoration: the walls were upholstered with green velvet embroidered with

State Study

gold, in the niches over the door busts of Roman emperors were put, the ceiling was painted with large compositions The Allegory of Victory and The Allegory of Peace by the Italian artist Giuzeppe Valeriani. The walls of the Resurrection Hall clad with artificial marble with yellow spots were hanged with large pictures on the themes from Russian history. The Marble Gallery was decorated with coloured stones - a feature characteristic for the best palaces of Europe.

MUSEUM ' S

BRANCHES

FEODOR ALEXEYEV. View of Poloce Embankment from Petropavlovskaya Embankment.

After 1794

Marble Palace

The Marble Palace built in 1768 - 1785 is one of the most illustrious monuments from the Age of Catherine II. The empress presented it to her favourite Count Grigory Orlov (1734 - 1783). The Marble Palace was built to plans by Antonio Rinaldi. The walls of the palace were faced with granite and marble of mostly Russian origin, the deposits of which were found in the reign of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna. In plan, the palace is a square open to the East, i.e. to the Summer Gardens. Its sides form a small cour d'honneur separated from the Neva and Millionnaya Street with a forged railings with granite pillars. The central part of the fa~ade, facing the cour d'honneur, is crowned with a bronze attic and a clock-tower. The attic is decorated with allegoric statues by Fedot Shubin who was commissionned to decorate the palace in 1775 - 1782.

Grand Staircase of the Marble Palace

157

The cour d'honneur of the Marble Palace and the monumer to Alexander Ill

History

in accordance with the architectural

Count Orlov died before the

trends that were in fashion at the

decorative work in the palace was

time and the tastes of the owners

completed. Catherine II repurchased

of the palace. At the same time, in

the palace from Orlov's heirs and

1844 - 1847, Briullov re-constructed

presented it to her grandson, Grand

the Auxiliary Block and decorated its

Duke Konstantin Pavlovich, for his

court fa~ade with a relief frieze

marriage Princess Juliane Senriette

2 m high (sculptor Piotr Klodt). In the

Ulrike of Saxe-Coburg Saalseld

centre of the main courtyard in 1994

(Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna).

the equestrian statue of Emperor Al-

In 1798 the last Polish King Stanis-

exander Ill by Pavel (Paolo) Trubetskoi

law II August Poniatowski resided

was established. Initially, in 1909, the

in the Marble Palace. Grand Duke

monument was put on Znamenskaya

Konstantin owned the palace up to

(now Vosstaniya) Square.

hia death in 1831 . In 1832 Emeror

After the death of Grand Duke Kon-

Nicholas I presented the palace to his

stantin N9ikolayevich his son, Grand

second son, Grand Duke Konstantin

Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich

Nikolayevich (1827 - 1892). A large-

(1858 - 1915) became the owner

scale reconstruction of the interior

of the palace. He was a well-known

decor was commissioned from the

author, poet, translator, playwright,

architect Alexander Briullov in the

President of the Academy of Sciences

connection of the marriage of the

(from 1889). In 1900 he was elected

young owner of the palace and

a honorary academician of belles-

Princess of Saxe-Altenburg (Grand

lettres. He was also the Inspector Gen-

Duchess Alexandra losifovna) in

eral of all military schools. The grand

1848. Briullov decorated the rooms

duke published his works under the

Marble Hall

Interiors The fate of the palace interiors was pen-name of K. P. (K. R.) Eminent men

rather dramatic. In the course of the

of letters and musicians were present

reconstruction undertaken in the

at the musical and poetical soirees

mid-19th century the decor made by

arranged by the owners of the palace.

Rinaldi was completely destroyed,

Sometimes performances were

and in Soviet time, when the branch

staged there with the participation

of the Central Museum of Lenin was

of the grand duke and the members

housed there, the same happened

of his family. In the 1870s - 1900s,

to the interiors created by Alexander

on the ground floor, private appart-

Briullov. At present, of Rinaldi 's interi-

ments were arranged for Grand Duke

ors remained the Grand Staircase and

/

Konstantin Konstantinovich. Various

the Marble Hall .

decorative materials - wood of differ-

The Grand Staircase is faced with

ent spices, artificial marble, decorative

grey Ural marble. The ceiling painting

fabrics - were used in the finishing of

Judgement of Paris was made by the

the apartments.

18th-century painter J. Krist. The stair-

When in January of 1992 the Marble

case was decorated with sculptures

Palace was given to the Russian

and bas-reliefs by Fedot Shubin. In the

Museum, scientific restoration works

entrance hall, the bas-relief portrait

began in the palace. In 2001 2003,

of Rinaldi made by Shubin rema ined

on federal means, the court fa~ade

intact. The Marble Hall is faced with

of the palace (including the marble

seven spices of marble from Greece,

sculptures and 23 dolomite vases,

Italy, the Urals, Karelia and Siberia.

mechanism of the palace clock and

The walls are decorated with the bas-

others) was restored. The enfilade of

reliefs made by Kozlovsky and Shubin.

the grand duke's apartments was also

The ceiling painting Triumph of Venus

restored at the same time.

was made by Stephano Torelli.

MUSEUM ' S

BRANCHES

J. JACQOTIE. Politseisky Bridge. 1840 - 1850s

The Stroganov Palace

The Stroganov Palace (House) is one of the most famous private possessions in Europe and one of the most brilliant samples of the golden age of Russian aristocratic culture. The first stage in the construction of the palace ensemble is connected with the name of Sergei Stroganov (1707 - 1756) who built a house near the Green Bridge across the Moika River. In the early 1740s the same person added a new, more spacious building, to his estate, the design of which is ascribed to the architect Nikolai Zemtsov. And only then, in 1753 - 1754, Bartolomeo Francesco Rastrelli built the three-storey palace combining the previously built edifices into one whole. Since that time the lavishly decorated fac;:ade in the baroque style is one of the most illustrious decorations of St. Petersburg.

The Rastrelli Hall

163

The Stroganov Palace

and the fa