The story of the currant that fed Count Tolstoy and his family for many years. Fedor Tolstoy. "Berries of red and white currants" Picture of berries of red and white currant thick

Fyodor Tolstoy had many talents: he was an excellent sculptor and graphic artist, a famous medalist and a unique master of silhouettes. Fyodor Petrovich lived an extraordinary life interesting life 90 years long. And there was one amazing story in his life connected with red and white currants. This was no ordinary berry. It was a currant nurse! That's what Tolstoy himself called it. Here it is - the same berry. Picturesque.

It's very beautiful and realistic, isn't it? Everything seems to glow from within. And even droplets of water on paper are present. Also painted. These bunches are written by Tolstoy so convincingly that for 200 years now people who look at them have become sour in the mouth and salivate profusely. Well, what can I say - the magical power of art!

In his younger years, Count Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy, you will not believe, was in need. And all because he went against the will of the family and refused the service of the sovereign's man, which his parents had predicted for him. He deliberately rejected a successful military career: after completing his studies at the Naval Cadet Corps, he did not want to become an admiral and chose art. Fyodor Tolstoy was well aware that he would be excommunicated from the house of noble parents, losing the favor of relatives, misunderstanding of influential friends and acquaintances, as well as poverty and deprivation. However, this did not cool down and did not stop the count-artist.

And then one day Fortune brought Fyodor Tolstoy a fateful meeting with the wife of Emperor Alexander I - Elizabeth Alekseevna.

The artist gave the queen his modest still life with two sprigs of red and white currants. The empress liked the drawing so much that she granted the artist from her hand a diamond ring worth one and a half thousand rubles.

Such a generous payment allowed Fyodor Tolstoy to solve many financial difficulties. His family moved from a small rented house near the Smolensk cemetery in St. Petersburg to a new solid mansion.Soon, Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna invited the artist and asked him to draw another such watercolor. And for the new still life, the master again received a precious ring.

It should be noted that Elizaveta Alekseevna was unusually beautiful, smart and refined. When she wanted to surprise her foreign relatives with something new and elegant, each time she ordered Fyodor Tolstoy fresh bunches of currants. And she paid according to the established tradition with jewelry. The sale of berries for diamonds was repeated so many times that the artist lost count of how many currants he painted for Elizaveta Alekseevna and how many rings he received from her. It was a very profitable trade. You can’t sell ordinary currants, and other garden products for so much!

Years later, recalling the beginning of his penniless work, the artist used to say: “It was hard for me, but then my currant rescued me! If it weren’t for her, I don’t know how I would have got out ... You can honestly say that the whole family ate only currants ”.

Despite his aristocratic origin and the title of count, Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy (1783-1873) earned his living by his labor. His family lived extremely modestly, the Tolstoys rented a small house near the Smolensk cemetery.

Zaryanko S.K. "Portrait of the artist and sculptor Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy,
Vice President of the Academy of Arts. OK. 1850

Luck entered the house in the person of Secretary of State Nikolai Mikhailovich Longinov. He introduced Tolstoy to Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna, who asked the artist to show her his watercolors. One of them, on which a currant branch was drawn, was extremely liked by the Empress. Tolstoy presented the watercolor to her as a gift.

F.P. Tolstoy."Berries of red and white currant" . 1818.

Elizaveta Alekseevna was very pleased, and in response she sent Tolstoy a diamond ring. The need for money forced Tolstoy to sell the ring. This allowed the family to rent a nice house in St. Petersburg. But the story didn't end there. Elizaveta Alekseevna several times ordered Tolstoy to draw currants for her relatives abroad, and each time the artist received an expensive ring for the watercolor. Later, recalling these years, Fedor Petrovich said: “It was hard for me, but my currant helped me out. You can not jokingly say that the whole family ate one currant ... "

In fact, Fedor Petrovich was a medalist. Here are a couple of examples of what he did for a living (as we can see from the above, he did not make very successful money):

People's militia in 1812. 1816. Medallion. Wax

The first step of Emperor Alexander outside Russia in 1813. bas-relief

But as an artist, Fyodor Tolstoy worked in the genre of "still life-dummy". Such still lifes, on the one hand, look rather primitive and at the same time everything on them is so alive that it seems that you can touch and even taste or smell the berries and flowers depicted in the paintings, that a butterfly is about to fly away or flutter birdie.

Tolstoy F.P. Bouquet of flowers, butterfly and bird. 1820

Tolstoy F.P. Flower, butterfly and flies. 1817

Here is how Yu.M. wrote about still lifes of F.P. Tolstoy. Lotman in his work “Still life in the perspective of semiotics”: “...“ At first glance, still lifes of this type may seem either a tribute to primitive naturalism, or something related to extra-artistic illusionism, “tour de force”, demonstrating deft skill and nothing more. Such an idea is erroneous: we are playing on the edge, requiring a sophisticated semiotic sense and testifying to the complex dynamic processes that, as a rule, take place on the periphery of art even before they capture its central spheres. It is the imitation of authenticity that makes the concept of conventionality a conscious problem, the boundaries and measure of which are felt by both the artist and his audience. If you look from this point of view, for example, at F. Tolstoy's watercolor "Flower, Butterfly and Flies", then it is easy to see that on the sheet in front of us the artist collides different types of conventions: a butterfly and a flower are "as if painted", and drops of water in the picture and flies crawling on it and drinking this water, "as if real." Thus the butterfly and the flower become drawings of a drawing, images of an image. In order for the viewer to catch this game, he needs a subtle feeling of semiotic registers, a feeling of a drawing as a non-thing, and a thing as a non-drawing "... "

Tolstoy F.P. Lilac branch and canary. 1819

Tolstoy F.P. A branch of grapes. 1817

A man of extensive and varied knowledge, Tolstoy, among other things, was also interested in botany. The library of the Russian Museum contains an atlas once owned by the artist, dedicated to the flora of the Russian Empire. Entering into a creative competition with a French artist, whose gouaches depicting flowers were once shown to Tolstoy by Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna, he defined his task as follows: “... with strict clarity, transfer from nature to paper the copied flower, as it is, with all the smallest details, belonging to this plant ... "

S.K. Zaryanko "Portrait of the artist and sculptor Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy,

Vice President of the Academy of Arts. OK. 1850

Despite his aristocratic origin and title of count, Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy (1783-1873) had to earn his own living. His family lived extremely modestly, the Tolstoys rented a small house near the Smolensk cemetery.
The talent of Count Tolstoy was most clearly manifested in the work on the medal part, what are the twenty medallions with allegorical images of events Patriotic War 1812 - 14, twelve similar medallions in memory of the Persian and Turkish wars of 1826 - 29 and medals. Through his efforts, the medal art was raised to a great height and reached its peak in the first quarter of the 19th century.
In addition to medals, Tolstoy was engaged in sculpture and oil paintings; composed the ballet "Aeolian Harp", wrote the libretto for it and even directed some of the dances; became the founder and permanent leader (venerable master) of the Masonic lodge "Chosen Michael", which included many future Decembrists; left us "Notes of Count Fyodor Petrovich Tolstoy". But the well-being was brought to him by the empress Elizaveta Alekseevna, who liked the still-lifes, painted in watercolor. For the watercolors executed by her order, the count received precious rings as a gift.

Bouquet of flowers, butterfly and bird

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Flowers, fruits, bird. table cover

Such still lifes, on the one hand, look rather primitive and at the same time everything on them is so alive that it seems that you can touch and even taste or smell the berries and flowers depicted in the paintings, that a butterfly is about to fly away or flutter birdie.

Lilac branch and canary

Raspberry branch, butterfly and ant

Gooseberry

grape branch

Red and white currant

Berries of red and white currants

Here is how Yu.M. wrote about still lifes of F.P. Tolstoy. Lotman in his work "Still life in the perspective of semiotics": "At first glance, still lifes of this type may seem either a tribute to primitive naturalism, or something related to extra-artistic illusionism," tour de force ", demonstrating deft skill and nothing more. Such an idea is erroneous: we are playing on the edge, requiring a sophisticated semiotic sense and testifying to the complex dynamic processes that, as a rule, take place on the periphery of art even before they capture its central spheres. It is the imitation of authenticity that makes the concept of conventionality a conscious problem, the boundaries and measure of which are felt by both the artist and his audience. If you look from this point of view, for example, at F. Tolstoy's watercolor "Flower, Butterfly and Flies", then it is easy to see that on the sheet in front of us the artist collides different types of conventions: a butterfly and a flower are "as if painted", and drops of water in the picture and flies crawling on it and drinking this water, "as if real." Thus the butterfly and the flower become drawings of a drawing, images of an image. In order for the viewer to catch this game, he needs a subtle feeling of semiotic registers, a feeling of a drawing as a non-thing, and a thing as a non-drawing.

Flower, butterfly and flies