Russian artistic culture, the origins of which began with classicism, which acquired a powerful folk sound, like high classicism, which was reflected in the painting of the 19th century, gradually moved from romanticism to realism in Russian fine arts. The contemporaries of that time especially appreciated the direction of Russian artists, in which the historical genre prevailed with an emphasis on national themes.

But at the same time, there were no particular changes in the art of the historical direction compared to the masters of the second half of the 18th century and from the very beginning of the history of Russian portraiture. Often in their works, many masters devoted to the true heroes of ancient Rus', whose exploits inspired them to write historical canvases. Russian painters of that time approved their own principle of describing a portrait, paintings, having developed their own directions in depicting a person, nature, indicating a completely independent figurative concept.

Russian artists in their paintings reflected various ideals of national upsurge, gradually abandoning the strict principles of classicism imposed by academic principles. The 19th century was marked by the high flourishing of Russian painting, in which the painters of Russia left an indelible mark on the history of Russian fine art for posterity, imbued with the spirit of a comprehensive reflection of the life of the people.

The largest researchers of Russian painting of the 19th century as a whole note an outstanding role in the high flowering of the work of the great Russian masters and fine arts. Unique works created by domestic masters have always enriched Russian culture.

Famous artists of the 19th century

(1782-1836) Superbly and subtly painted portraits of Kiprensky brought him fame and true recognition among his contemporaries. His works Self-portrait, A. R. Tomilova, I. V. Kusova, A. I. Korsakov 1808 Portrait of a boy Chelishchev, Golitsina A. M. 1809 Portrait of Denis Davydov, 1819 Girl with a wreath of poppies, the most a successful 1827 portrait of A. S. Pushkin and others. His portraits reflect the beauty of excitement, the refined inner world of images and the state of mind. Contemporaries compared his work with the genres of lyric poetry, poetic dedication to friends. (1791-1830) Master of Russian landscape romanticism and lyrical comprehension of nature. In more than forty of his paintings, Shchedrin depicted views of the Sorento. Among them are paintings of the Sorrento neighborhood. Evening, New Rome"Castle of the Holy Angel", the Mergellina Embankment in Naples, the Grand Harbor on the island of Capri, etc.

Completely surrendering to the romance of the landscape and the natural environment of perception, Shchedrin, as it were, replenishes with his paintings, the fallen interest of his fellow tribesmen of that time in the landscape. Shchedrin knew the dawn of his creativity and recognition.

(1776-1857) A remarkable Russian portrait painter, a native of serfs. His famous painting works: The Lacemaker, also Portrait of Pushkin A.S., engraver E.O. Skotnikova, An old man - a beggar, characterized by a light color Portrait of a son, 1826 Spinner, Goldsmith, these works especially attracted the attention of contemporaries. 1846 Tropinin developed his own figurative style of portraiture, characterizing a specific Moscow genre of painting. At that time, Tropinin became the central figure of the Moscow beau monde.

(1780-1847) Ancestor of the peasant household genre, His famous portrait of the Reaper, painting > Reapers , Girl in a headscarf, On arable land Spring, Peasant woman with cornflowers, Zakharka and others. It can be especially emphasized about the painting Gumno, which attracted the attention of Emperor Alexander 1, he was touched vivid images peasants, truthfully conveyed by the author. He loved ordinary people Finding a certain lyric in this, this was reflected in his paintings showing the difficult peasant life. his best works were created in the 20s. (1799-1852) Master of Historical Paintings, The Last Day of Pompeii in a flurry of doomed inhabitants flee from the fury of Mount Vesuvius. The picture made a stunning impression on his contemporaries. He masterfully writes secular paintings, using the Horsewoman and portraits in bright coloristic moments in the composition of the picture, Countess Yu. P. Samoilova. His paintings and portraits are composed of contrasts of light and shadow. . Under the influence of traditional academic classicism, Karl Bryullov endowed his paintings with historical authenticity, romantic spirit and psychological truth. (1806-1858) Magnificent master of the historical genre. For about two decades, Ivanov worked on his main painting The Appearance of Christ to the People, emphasizing his passionate desire to depict the coming of Jesus Christ to earth. At the initial stage, these are the paintings of Apollo, Hyacinth and Cypress 1831-1833, the Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection of 1835. long life Ivanov created many works, for each picture he writes many sketches of landscapes, portraits. Ivanov, a man of extraordinary intelligence, always sought to show in his works the elements of popular movements. (1815-1852) Master of the satirical direction, who laid the foundation for critical realism in the everyday genre. The Fresh Cavalier 1847 and The Picky Bride 1847,

Views: 27 748

First decades of the 19th century in Russia took place in an atmosphere of popular upsurge associated with the Patriotic War of 1812. The ideals of this time found expression in the poetry of the young Pushkin. The war of 1812 and the Decembrist uprising largely determined the character of Russian culture in the first third of the century.

The contradictions of the time became especially acute in the 1940s. It was then that the revolutionary activity of A.I. Herzen, V. G. Belinsky spoke with brilliant critical articles, passionate disputes were waged by Westerners and Slavophiles.

Romantic motifs appear in literature and art, which is natural for Russia, which has been involved in the pan-European cultural process for more than a century. The path from classicism to critical realism through romanticism determined the conditional division of the history of Russian art in the first half of the 19th century. as if into two stages, the watershed of which was the 1930s.

Much has changed since the 18th century. in fine and plastic arts. The social role of the artist, the significance of his personality, his right to freedom of creativity, in which social and moral problems were now more and more acute, increased.

The growth of interest in the artistic life of Russia was expressed in the building of certain art societies and the publication of special journals: "The Free Society of Lovers of Literature, Sciences and Arts" (1801), "Journal of Fine Arts" first in Moscow (1807), and then in St. Petersburg (1823 and 1825), "Society for the Encouragement of Artists" (1820), "Russian Museum ..." P. Svinin (1810s) and the "Russian Gallery" in the Hermitage (1825), provincial art schools, such as the school of A.V. Stupina in Arzamas or A.G. Venetsianov in St. Petersburg and the village of Safonkovo.

The humanistic ideals of Russian society were reflected in the highly civic examples of architecture of that time and monumental and decorative sculpture, in the synthesis of which decorative painting and applied art which often ends up in the hands of the architects themselves. The dominant style of this time is mature, or high, classicism, in scientific literature, especially at the beginning of the 20th century, often referred to as the Russian Empire style.

Architecture

The architecture of the first third of the century is, first of all, the solution of large urban planning problems. In St. Petersburg, the layout of the main squares of the capital is being completed: the Palace and the Senate. The best ensembles of the city are being created. Moscow was built especially intensively after the fire of 1812. Antiquity in its Greek (and even archaic) form becomes the ideal; the civic heroism of antiquity inspires Russian architects. The Doric (or Tuscan) order is used, which attracts with its severity and conciseness. Some elements of the order are enlarged, especially colonnades and arches, the power of smooth walls is emphasized. The architectural image strikes with grandeur and monumentality. A huge role in the overall appearance of the building is played by sculpture, which has a certain semantic meaning. Color decides a lot, usually the architecture of high classicism is two-tone: columns and stucco statues are white, the background is yellow or gray. Among the buildings, the main place is occupied by public buildings: theaters, departments, educational institutions, palaces and temples are built much less often (with the exception of regimental cathedrals at the barracks).

“View of the Stroganovskaya dacha” (1797, Russian Museum, St. Petersburg)
Big office of S.V. Stroganova, watercolor from the Stroganov family album, 1830s.

The largest architect of this time, Andrei Nikiforovich Voronikhin (1759–1814), began his independent path back in the 90s, following F.I. Demertsov interiors of the Stroganov Palace F.-B. Rastrelli in Petersburg (1793, Mineral Cabinet, art gallery, corner room). Classical simplicity is also characteristic of the Stroganov dacha on the Black River (1795–1796, not preserved for oil landscape "Stroganoff's Dacha on the Black River" , 1797, Russian Museum, Voronikhin received the title of academician). In 1800, Voronikhin worked in Peterhof, completing the project of galleries near the bucket of the Samson fountain and taking part in the general reconstruction of the fountains of the Great Grotto, for which he was officially recognized as an architect by the Academy of Arts. Later, Voronikhin often worked in the suburbs of St. Petersburg: he designed a number of fountains for the Pulkovo road, finished the “Flashlight” office and the Egyptian vestibule in the Pavlovsk Palace,

Kazan Cathedral
Mining Institute

Viskontiev Bridge and the Rose Pavilion in the park of Pavlovsk. The main brainchild of Voronikhin - Kazan Cathedral (1801–1811). The semicircular colonnade of the temple, which he erected not from the side of the main - western, but from the side - northern facade, formed a square in the center of the Nevsky Prospect, turning the cathedral and the buildings around it into an important town-planning hub. Driveways, the colonnade ends second, connect the building with the surrounding streets. The proportionality of the side passages and the building of the cathedral, the design of the portico and the fluted Corinthian columns testify to the excellent knowledge of ancient traditions and their skillful modification in the language of modern architecture. In the remaining unfinished project of 1811, a second colonnade was proposed near the southern facade and a large semicircular square near the western one. Only a wonderful cast-iron grating in front of the western facade turned out to be made from this plan. In 1813 M.I. was buried in the cathedral. Kutuzov, and the building became a kind of monument to the victories of Russian weapons. Banners and other relics recaptured from the Napoleonic troops were kept here. Later, monuments to M.I. Kutuzov and M.B. Barclay de Tolly, executed by the sculptor B. I. Orlovsky.

Voronikhin gave the Mining Cadet Corps (1806-1811, now the Mining Institute) an even more strict, antiquity character, in which everything is subordinated to a powerful Doric portico of 12 columns facing the Neva. Equally severe is the image of the sculpture that adorns it, perfectly combined with the smoothness of the side walls and Doric columns. I.E. Grabar correctly noted that if the classicism of the Catherine era proceeded from the ideal of Roman architecture (Quarenghi), then the "Alexandrian" kind of resembles the stately style of Paestum.

Voronikhin, the architect of classicism, devoted a lot of energy to the creation of an urban ensemble, the synthesis of architecture and sculpture, the organic combination of sculptural elements with architectural divisions both in large structures and in small ones. The mountain cadet corps, as it were, opened a view of Vasilsvsky Island from the sea. On the other side of the island, on its spit, during these years, Thomas de Thomon was building the Bourse Ensemble (1805–1810).

Thomas de Thomon(c. 1760–1813), a Swiss by birth, came to Russia at the end of the 18th century, having already worked in Italy, Austria, possibly having taken a course at the Paris Academy. He did not receive a completed architectural education, however, he was entrusted with the construction building

View of the stock exchange from the Bolshaya Neva

Exchanges , and he brilliantly coped with the task (1805-1810). Tomon changed the entire appearance of the spit of Vasilievsky Island, shaping the banks of the two channels of the Neva in a semicircle, placing along the edges rostral columns-lighthouses , thereby forming a square near the Exchange building. The Exchange itself has the appearance of a Greek temple - a peripter on a high plinth, intended for trading warehouses. Decor is almost non-existent. Simplicity and clarity of forms and proportions give the building a majestic, monumental character, make it the main one not only in the ensemble of arrows, but also influencing the perception of both embankments, both Universitetskaya and Dvortsovaya. Decorative allegorical sculpture of the Stock Exchange building and rostral columns emphasizes the purpose of the buildings. The central hall of the Stock Exchange with a laconic Doric entablature is covered with a coffered semicircular vault.

The Stock Exchange Ensemble was not the only construction of Thomas de Thomon in St. Petersburg. He also built in the royal suburban residences, using here the Greek type of construction. The romantic mood of the artist was fully expressed in the mausoleum "To the Benefactor Spouse", erected by Empress Maria

Mausoleum to the spouse-benefactor in Pavlovsk

Fedorovna in memory of Pavel in the park of Pavlovsk (1805–1808, the memorial sculpture was made by Martos). The mausoleum resembles an archaic type of prostyle temple. Inside the hall is also covered with a coffered vault. Smooth walls are lined with artificial marble.

The new century was marked by the creation of the most important ensembles in St. Petersburg. A graduate of the St. Petersburg Academy and a student of the Parisian architect J.-F. Schalgrena Andreyan Dmitrievich Zakharov(1761–1811), since 1805 "the chief architect of the Admiralty", begins construction Admiralty (1806–1823). Having rebuilt the old Korobov building, he turned it into the main ensemble of St. Petersburg, which invariably rises in the imagination when talking about the city even today. Zakharov's compositional solution is extremely simple: the configuration of two volumes, and one volume is, as it were, nested in the other, of which the outer, U-shaped, is separated by a channel from two inner outbuildings, L-shaped in plan. The inner volume is ship and drawing workshops, warehouses, the outer one is departments, administrative institutions, a museum, a library, etc. The Admiralty facade stretches for 406 m. is the castle of the composition and through which

Alexander Garden and Admiralty

lies the main entrance inside. Zakharov retained Korobov's ingenious design for the spire, showing tact and respect for tradition and managing to transform it into a new classicist image of the building as a whole. The monotony of the almost half a kilometer facade is broken by evenly spaced porticos. In striking unity with the architecture is the decorative plasticity of the building, which has both architectonic and semantic significance: the Admiralty is the maritime department of Russia, a powerful maritime power. The whole system of sculptural decoration was developed by Zakharov himself and brilliantly embodied by the best sculptors of the beginning of the century. Allegories of the Winds, Shipbuilding, etc. are depicted above the parapet of the upper platform of the tower pavilion, crowned with a dome. At the corners of the attic are four seated warriors in armor, leaning on shields, executed by F. Shchedrin, below is a huge, up to 22 m long, relief frieze " Establishment of the Fleet in Russia” by I. Terebenev, then in flat relief the image of Neptune, passing the trident to Peter as a symbol of dominance over the sea, and in high relief - winged Glories with banners - symbols of the victories of the Russian fleet, even lower are the sculptural groups of “nymphs holding globes” , as Zakharov himself called them, also performed by F. Shchedrin. This combination of round sculpture with high and low relief, statuary sculpture with relief-ornamental compositions, this correlation of sculpture with a smooth mass of the wall was also used in other works of Russian classicism of the first third of the 19th century.

Zakharov died without seeing the Admiralty in its finished form. In the second half of the XIX century. the shipyard area was built up tenement houses, much of the sculptural decoration was destroyed, which distorted the original plan of the great architect.

The Zakharovsky Admiralty combines the best traditions of Russian architecture (it is no coincidence that its walls and the central tower remind many of the simple walls of ancient Russian monasteries with their gate bell towers) and the most modern urban planning tasks: the building is closely connected with the architecture of the city center. Three avenues originate from here: Voznesensky, Gorokhovaya st., Nevsky avenue (this ray system was conceived under Peter). The Admiralty needle echoes the high spiers of the Peter and Paul Cathedral and the Mikhailovsky Castle.

Leading Petersburg architect of the first third of the 19th century. ("Russian Empire") was Karl Ivanovich Rossi(1777–1849). Rossi received his initial architectural education in the workshop of Brenna, then

Mikhailovsky Palace (main building of the Russian Museum)

made a trip to Italy, where he studied the monuments of antiquity. His independent work begins in Moscow, continues in Tver. One of the first works in St. Petersburg - buildings on Elagin Island (1818). It can be said about Rossi that he “thought in ensembles”. A palace or a theater turned into a town-planning hub of squares and new streets. So, creating Mikhailovsky Palace (1819–1825, now the Russian Museum), he organizes the square in front of the palace and paves the street on Nevsky Prospekt, while commensurating his plan with other nearby buildings - the Mikhailovsky Castle and the space of the Field of Mars. The main entrance of the building, located in the depths of the front courtyard behind a cast-iron grate, looks solemn, monumental, which is facilitated by the Corinthian portico, to which a wide staircase and two ramps lead.

The building of the General Staff on Palace Square

Rossi did much of the decoration of the palace himself, and with impeccable taste - the design of the fence, the interiors of the vestibule and the White Hall, the color of which was dominated by white and gold, characteristic of the Empire, as well as grisaille painting.

In design Palace Square (1819-1829) Rossi faced the most difficult task - to combine the baroque Rastrelli Palace and the monotonous classicist facade of the building of the General Staff and ministries into a single whole. The architect broke the dullness of the latter with the Arc de Triomphe, which opens the exit to Bolshaya Morskaya Street, to Nevsky Prospekt, and gave the correct shape to the square - one of the largest among the squares of European capitals. The triumphal arch, crowned with the chariot of Glory, gives the entire ensemble a highly solemn character.

One of the most remarkable ensembles of Rossi was started by him at the end of the 10s and completed only in the 30s and included the building Alexandria Theater , built according to the latest technology of that time and with rare artistic perfection, Alexandria Square adjacent to it, Theater

Facade of the Alexandrinsky Theater

the street behind the facade of the theater, which today has received the name of its architect, and the five-sided Chernyshev Square near the Fontanka embankment that completes it. In addition, the ensemble included the Sokolovsky building of the Public Library, modified by Rossi, and the pavilions of the Anichkov Palace, built by Rossi back in 1817–1818.

The last creation of Rossi in St. Petersburg - Senate building and the Synod (1829–1834) on the famous Senate Square. Although it still amazes with the impudent scope of the architect’s creative thought, who connected the two buildings separated by Galernaya Street with a triumphal arch, one cannot but note the appearance of new features characteristic of late creativity architect and the last period of the Empire as a whole: some fragmentation of architectural forms,

Senate and Synod, St. Petersburg

congestion with sculptural elements, rigidity, coldness and pomposity.

In general, Rossi's work is a true example of urban planning. Like Rastrelli once, he himself composed the decor system, designing furniture, creating wallpaper patterns, and also led a huge team of wood and metal craftsmen, painters and sculptors. The integrity of his plans, a single will helped create immortal ensembles. Rossi constantly collaborated with sculptors S.S. Pimenov Senior and V.I. Demut-Malinovsky, the authors of the famous chariots on the Arc de Triomphe of the General Staff and sculptures at the Alexandria Theater.

The "most rigorous" of all architects of late classicism was Vasily Petrovich Stasov (1769–

Moscow Triumphal Gates
Narva Gate

1848) - whether he built barracks (Pavlovsky barracks on the Field of Mars in St. Petersburg, 1817–1821), whether he rebuilt the Imperial stables (the Stable Department on the Moika Embankment near Konyushennaya Square, 1817–1823), whether he erected regimental cathedrals (the Cathedral of the Izmailovsky Regiment , 1828-1835) or triumphal arches (Narva and Moscow gates), or designed interiors (for example. Winter Palace after the fire of 1837 or Ekaterininsky Tsarskoye Selo after the fire of 1820). Everywhere Stasov emphasizes the mass, its plastic heaviness: his cathedrals, their domes are heavy and static, the columns, usually of the Doric order, are just as impressive and heavy, the general appearance is devoid of grace. If Stasov resorts to decor, then it is most often heavy ornamental friezes.

Voronikhin, Zakharov, Thomas de Thomon, Rossi and Stasov are Petersburg architects. No less remarkable architects worked in Moscow at that time. During the war of 1812, more than 70% of the entire urban housing stock was destroyed - thousands of houses and more than a hundred churches. Immediately after the expulsion of the French, intensive restoration and construction of new buildings began. It reflected all the innovations of the era, but remained alive and fruitful. national tradition. This was the originality of the Moscow construction school.

Grand Theatre

First of all, Red Square was cleared, and on it O.I. beauvais(1784–1834) the Trade Rows were rebuilt, and in fact, rebuilt, the dome over the central part of which was located opposite the dome of the Kazakov Senate in the Kremlin. A little later, a monument to Minin and Pozharsky was erected on this axis by Martos.

Beauvais was also engaged in the reconstruction of the entire territory adjacent to the Kremlin, including a large garden near its walls with a gate from Mokhovaya Street, a grotto at the foot of the Kremlin wall and ramps at the Trinity Tower. Beauvais creates ensemble Theater Square (1816–1825), building the Bolshoi Theater and linking the new architecture to the ancient Kitai-Gorod wall. Unlike St. Petersburg squares, it is closed. Osip Ivanovich also owns the buildings of the First City Hospital (1828–1833) and triumphal gate at the entrance to Moscow from St. Petersburg (1827–1834, now on Kutuzov Avenue), the Church of All Who Sorrow on Bolshaya Ordynka in

Triumphal Gates, O.I. beauvais

Zamoskvorechye, which Beauvais added to those built at the end of the 18th century. Bazhenov bell tower and refectory. This is a rotunda temple, the dome of which is supported by a colonnade inside the cathedral. The master worthily continued the work of his teacher Kazakov.

Almost always worked together fruitfully Domenico (Dementy Ivanovich) Gilardi(1788–1845) and Afanasy Grigorievich Grigoriev(1782–1868). Gilardi rebuilt the Kazakov Moscow University (1817–1819), which burned down during the war. As a result of reconstructions, the dome and the portico become more monumental, from Ionic to Doric. Gilardi and Grigoriev worked a lot and successfully in estate architecture ( Usachyov's estate on the Yauza, 1829–1831, with its finely molded scenery; the Golitsyn estate "Kuzminki", 1920s, with its famous horse yard).

Manor of the Usachovs-Naydenovs

Moscow residential buildings of the first third of the 19th century conveyed to us the special charm of the Russian Empire: solemn allegorical figures on the facades peacefully coexist in them - with the motif of balconies and front gardens in the spirit of provincial estates. The end facade of the building is usually displayed on the red line, while the house itself is hidden in the depths of the courtyard or garden. Compositional picturesqueness and dynamics reign in everything, in contrast to the balance and orderliness of St. Petersburg (the Lunin house at the Nikitsky Gate, built by D. Gilardi, 1818–1823); Khrushchev's house, 1815–1817, now the museum of A.S. Pushkin, built by A. Grigoriev; his own house Stanitskaya, 1817–1822, now the museum of L.N. Tolstoy, both on Prechistenka.

Gilardi and Grigoriev greatly contributed to the spread of the Moscow Empire, mostly wooden, throughout Russia, from Vologda to Taganrog.

By the 40s of the XIX century. classicism lost its harmony, became heavier, more complicated, we see this in the example

Saint Isaac's Cathedral

St. Isaac's Cathedral Petersburg, built Auguste Montferrand forty years (1818–1858), one of the last outstanding monuments of religious architecture in Europe of the 19th century, which brought together the best forces of architects, sculptors, painters, masons and foundry workers.

The paths of development of sculpture in the first half of the century are inseparable from the paths of development of architecture. In sculpture continue to work such masters as I.P. Martos(1752–1835), in the 80–90s of the 18th century. famous for its tombstones, marked by grandeur and silence, wise acceptance of death, “like the ancients” (“My sadness is bright ...”). By the 19th century there is a lot of change in his handwriting. Marble is replaced by bronze, the lyrical beginning - heroic, sensitive - strict (tombstone of E.I. Gagarina, 1803, GMGS). Greek antiquity becomes a direct role model.

Monument to Minin (standing) and Pozharsky (sitting)

In 1804–1818 Martos is working on monument to Minin and Pozharsky funded by a public subscription. The creation of the monument and its installation took place during the years of the highest public upsurge and reflected the mood of these years. Martos embodied the ideas of the highest civic duty and feat in the name of the Motherland in simple and clear images, in a laconic artistic form. Minin's hand is extended to the Kremlin - the greatest shrine of the people. His clothes are a Russian shirt, not an antique toga. Prince Pozharsky is wearing ancient Russian armor, a pointed helmet and a shield with the image of the Savior. The monument is revealed in different ways from different viewpoints: if you look to the right, it seems that, leaning on a shield, Pozharsky stands up to meet Minin; from a frontal position, from the Kremlin, it seems that Minin convinced Pozharsky to take on the high mission of defending the Fatherland, and the prince is already taking up the sword. The sword becomes a link

Moses spouting water from a rock

the whole composition.

Together with F. Shchedrin, Martos also works on sculptures for the Kazan Cathedral. They are filled with relief "The outflow of water by Moses" on the attic of the eastern wing of the colonnade. A clear articulation of figures against a smooth background of the wall, a strictly classical rhythm and harmony are characteristic of this work (the attic frieze of the western wing "The Copper Serpent", as mentioned above, was executed by Prokofiev).

The best creation was created in the first decades of the century F. Shchedrin- sculptures of the Admiralty, as mentioned above.

The next generation of sculptors is represented by the names Stepan Stepanovich Pimenov(1784–1833) and Vasily Ivanovich Demut-Malinovsky(1779–1846). They, like no one else in the 19th century, achieved in their works an organic synthesis of sculpture with architecture - in sculptural groups from

"The Abduction of Proserpina"
Apollo's chariot

Pudost stone for the Voronikhinsky Mining Institute (1809–1811, Demut-Malinovsky - "The Abduction of Proserpina by Pluto" , Pimenov - “The Battle of Hercules with Antey”), the character of overweight figures of which is consonant with the Doric portico, or in the chariot of Glory and the chariot of Apollo made of sheet copper for Russian creations - the Palace Arc de Triomphe and the Alexandria Theater.

Chariot of Glory Arc de Triomphe (or, as it is also called, the composition "Victory") is designed for the perception of silhouettes that are clearly drawn against the sky. If you look at them directly, it seems that the mighty six horses, where the foot warriors are led by the bridle, are presented in a calm and strict rhythm, reign over the entire square. On the side, the composition becomes more dynamic and compact.

Monument to Kutuzov

One of the last examples of the synthesis of sculpture and architecture can be considered the statues of Barclay de Tolly and Kutuzov (1829–1836, erected in 1837) at the Kazan Cathedral by B.I. Orlovsky(1793–1837), who did not live a few days before the discovery of these monuments. Although both statues were executed two decades after the construction of the cathedral, they brilliantly fit into the passages of the colonnade, which gave them a beautiful architectural frame. The idea of ​​Orlovsky’s monuments was succinctly and vividly expressed by Pushkin: “Here is the initiator Barclay, and here is the performer Kutuzov”, that is, the figures personify the beginning and end of the Patriotic War of 1812. Hence the resilience, internal stress in the figure of Barclay there are symbols of heroic resistance and the gesture of Kutuzov's hand calling forward, Napoleonic banners and eagles under his feet.

Sculpture

Russian classicism also found expression in easel sculpture, in small-scale sculpture, in medal art, for example, in the famous medallion reliefs. Fyodor Tolstoy(1783-1873), dedicated to the war of 1812. A connoisseur of antiquity, especially Homeric Greece, the finest plastic, the most elegant

F. P. Tolstoy. Civil uprising 1812. 1816. Medallion. Wax

draftsman. Tolstoy managed to combine the heroic, the sublime with the intimate, deeply personal and lyrical, sometimes even romantic mood, which is so characteristic of Russian classicism. Tolstoy's reliefs were executed in wax, and then in the "old manner", as Rastrelli the Elder did in the time of Peter the Great, they were cast by the master himself in metal, and numerous plaster versions have been preserved, either translated into porcelain, or executed in mastic ("People's Militia", "Battle Borodino”, “Battle of Leipzig”, “Peace to Europe”, etc.).

It is impossible not to mention F. Tolstoy's illustrations for the poem "Darling" by I.F.

Tolstoy F. P. Illustration for "Darling". 1820-1833

Bogdanovich, made with ink and pen and engraved with a chisel - fine example Russian sketch graphics on the plot of Ovid's "Metamorphoses" about the love of Cupid and Psyche, where the artist expressed his understanding of the harmony of the ancient world.

Russian sculpture of the 30-40s of the XIX century. becoming more democratic. It is no coincidence that such works as “The Guy Playing Money” by N.S. Pimenov (Pimenov the Younger, 1836), "A guy playing pile" by A.V. Loganovsky, warmly welcomed by Pushkin, who wrote famous poems about their exhibition.

Interesting work of the sculptor I.P. Vitali(1794–1855), who performed sculpture among other works

Figures of angels at the lamps on the corners of St. Isaac's Cathedral

for the Triumphal Gate in memory of the Patriotic War of 1812 near the Tverskaya Zastava in Moscow (architect O.I. Bove, now on Kutuzova Avenue); a bust of Pushkin, made shortly after the death of the poet (marble, 1837, VMP); colossal figures of angels at the lamps on the corners of St. Isaac's Cathedral - perhaps the best and most expressive elements of the entire sculptural design of this gigantic architectural structure. As for the portraits of Vitali (with the exception of the bust of Pushkin) and especially the portraits of the sculptor S.I. Halberg, they bear the features of a direct stylization of ancient herms, which does not get along well, according to the right remark of the researchers, with an almost naturalistic elaboration of faces.

The genre stream can be clearly seen in the works of early deceased students of S.I. Galberg - P.A. Stavasser ("The Fisherman", 1839, marble, Russian Museum) and Anton Ivanov ("Young Lomonosov on the Seashore",

Stavasser. fisherman

1845, marble, RM).

In the sculpture of the middle of the century, there are two main directions: one, coming from the classics, but coming to dry academicism; the other reveals a desire for a more direct and multilateral reflection of reality, it becomes widespread in the second half of the century, but there is no doubt that both directions are gradually losing the features of the monumental style.

The sculptor who, during the years of the decline of monumental forms, managed to achieve significant success in this area, as well as in "small forms", was Petr Karlovich Klodt(1805–1867), author of horses for the Narva Triumphal Gates in St. Petersburg (architect V. Stasov), “Horse Tamers” for the Anichkov Bridge (1833–1850), a monument to Nicholas I on St. Isaac’s Square (1850–1859), I.A. . Krylov in the Summer Garden (1848–1855), as well as a large

One of Klodt's horses

amount of animalistic sculpture.

Decorative and applied art, which so powerfully expressed itself in the general single stream of interior decoration of the "Russian Empire" of the first third of the 19th century - the art of furniture, porcelain, fabric - also loses its integrity and purity of style by the middle of the century.

Painting

Classicism was the leading trend in architecture and sculpture in the first third of the 19th century. In painting, it was developed primarily by academic artists in the historical genre (A.E. Egorov - "Torture of the Savior", 1814, Russian Museum; V.K. Shebuev - "The Feat of the Merchant Igolkin", 1839, Russian Museum; F.A. Bruni - " Death of Camilla, Horace's sister", 1824, Russian Museum; "The Copper Serpent", 1826-1841, Russian Museum). But the true successes of painting lay, however, in a different direction - romanticism. Best Aspirations human soul, ups and downs of the spirit were expressed by the romantic painting of that time, and above all by the portrait. In the portrait genre, the leading place should be given to Orest Kiprensky (1782–1836).

Kiprensky was born in the St. Petersburg province and was the son of a landowner A.S. Dyakonov and the fortress. From 1788 to 1803, he studied, starting with the Educational School, at the Academy of Arts, where he studied in the class of historical painting with Professor G.I. Ugryumov and the French painter G.-F. Doyen, in 1805 received the Great Gold Medal for the painting "Dmitry Donskoy on victory over Mamai" (GRM) and the right to a pensioner's trip abroad, which was carried out only in 1816. In 1809-1811. Kiprensky lived in Moscow, where he helped Martos in the work on the monument to Minin and Pozharsky, then in Tver, and in 1812 returned to St. Petersburg. The years after graduating from the Academy and before leaving abroad, covered with romantic feelings, are the highest flowering of Kiprensky's work. During this period, he moved among the free-thinking Russian noble intelligentsia. He knew K. Batyushkov and P. Vyazemsky, V.A. posed for him. Zhukovsky, and in later years - Pushkin. His intellectual interests were also wide, not without reason that Goethe, whom Kiprensky portrayed already in his mature years, noted him not only as a talented artist, but also as an interestingly thinking person. Complicated, thoughtful, changeable in mood - such appear before us portrayed by Kiprensky E.P. Rostopchin (1809, State Tretyakov Gallery), D.N. Khvostov (1814, Tretyakov Gallery), boy Chelishchev (c. 1809, Tretyakov Gallery). In a free pose, looking thoughtfully to the side, casually leaning on a stone slab, stands Colonel of Life Caps E.B. Davydov (1809, Russian Museum). This portrait is perceived as a collective image of the hero of the war of 1812, although it is quite specific. The romantic mood is enhanced by the depiction of a stormy landscape against which the figure is presented. The coloring is built on sonorous colors taken at full strength - red with gold and white with silver - in the clothes of a hussar - and on the contrast of these colors with the dark tones of the landscape. Opening various facets of the human character and the spiritual world of a person, Kiprensky each time used different possibilities of painting. Each portrait of these years is marked by a painting master. The painting is free, built, as in the portrait of Khvostova, on the subtlest transitions from one tone to another, on different color luminosity, then on the harmony of contrasting clean large light spots, as in the image of the boy Chelishchev. The artist uses bold color effects, affecting the modeling of the form; impasto painting contributes to the expression of energy, enhances the emotionality of the image. According to the fair remark of D.V. Sarabyanov, Russian romanticism has never been such a powerful artistic movement as in France or Germany. There is neither extreme excitement nor tragic hopelessness in it. In the romanticism of Kiprensky, there is still much from the harmony of classicism, from a subtle analysis of the “windings” of the human soul, which is so characteristic of sentimentalism. “The current century and the past century”, colliding in the work of the early Kiprensky, who was formed as a creative person in the best years of military victories and bright hopes of Russian society, and made up the originality and inexpressible charm of his early romantic portraits.

In the late Italian period, due to many circumstances of his personal fate, the artist rarely managed to create anything equal to early works. But even here one can name such masterpieces as one of the best lifetime portraits of Pushkin (1827, Tretyakov Gallery), painted by the artist during the last period of his stay at home, or the portrait of Avdulina (c. 1822, Russian Museum), full of elegiac sadness.

An invaluable part of Kiprensky's work is graphic portraits, made mainly with a soft Italian pencil with pastel highlights, watercolors, and colored pencils. He portrays General E.I. Chaplitsa (TG), A.R. Tomilova (RM), P.A. Olenina (TG). The appearance of quick pencil portraits-sketches is in itself significant, characteristic of the new time: any fleeting change in the face, any spiritual movement is easily recorded in them. But in Kiprensky's graphics, a certain evolution is also taking place: in later works there is no immediacy and warmth, but they are more virtuosic and refined in execution (portrait of S.S. Shcherbatova, it. car., State Tretyakov Gallery).

A Pole can be called a consistent romantic A.O. Orlovsky(1777–1832), who lived in Russia for 30 years and brought to Russian culture the themes characteristic of Western romantics (bivouacs, horsemen, shipwrecks. “Take your quick pencil, draw, Orlovsky, sword and battle,” Pushkin wrote). He quickly assimilated on Russian soil, which is especially noticeable in graphic portraits. In them, through all the external attributes of European romanticism, with its rebelliousness and tension, something deeply personal, hidden, secret lurks (Self-portrait, 1809, State Tretyakov Gallery). Orlovsky, on the other hand, played a certain role in “treading” the paths to realism thanks to his genre sketches, drawings and lithographs depicting Petersburg street scenes and the types that brought to life the famous quatrain of P.A., Vyazemsky:

Rus' of the past, removed

You pass on to offspring

You grabbed her alive

Under the folk pencil.

Finally, romanticism finds its expression in the landscape. Sylvester Shchedrin (1791–1830) began creative way student of his uncle Semyon Shchedrin from classic compositions: a clear division into three plans (the third plan is always architecture), on the sides of the wings. But in Italy, where he left the St. Petersburg Academy, these features were not consolidated, they did not turn into a scheme. It was in Italy, where Shchedrin lived for more than 10 years and died in the prime of his talent, that he revealed himself as a romantic artist, became one of the best painters in Europe along with Constable and Corot. He was the first to open plein air painting for Russia. True, like the Barbizons, Shchedrin painted only sketches in the open air, and completed the picture (“decorated”, as he defined it) in the studio. However, the motive itself changes emphasis. So, Rome in his canvases is not the majestic ruins of ancient times, but a living modern city of ordinary people - fishermen, merchants, sailors. But this ordinary life under Shchedrin's brush acquired a sublime sound. The harbors of Sorrento, the embankments of Naples, the Tiber at the castle of St. Angels, people fishing, just talking on the terrace or relaxing in the shade of trees - everything is conveyed in the complex interaction of the light and air environment, in a delightful fusion of silver-gray tones, usually united by a touch of red - in clothes, and a headdress, in the rusty foliage of trees , where any one red branch was lost. In the last works of Shchedrin, an interest in chiaroscuro effects was increasingly evident, heralding a wave of new romanticism by Maxim Vorobyov and his students (for example, "View of Naples on a moonlit night"). Like the portrait painter Kiprensky and the battle painter Orlovsky, the landscape painter Shchedrin often paints genre scenes.

Strange as it may sound, the everyday genre found a certain refraction in the portrait, and above all in the portrait of Vasily Andreevich Tropinin (1776 - 1857), an artist who freed himself from serfdom only at the age of 45. Tropinin lived a long life, and he was destined to know true recognition, even fame, to receive the title of academician and become the most famous artist Moscow portrait school of the 20-30s. Starting with sentimentalism, however, more didactically sensitive than Borovikovsky's sentimentalism, Tropinin acquires his own style of depiction. In his models there is no romantic impulse of Kiprensky, but simplicity, artlessness, sincerity of expression, truthfulness of characters, authenticity of household details captivate in them. The best of Tropinin's portraits, such as the portrait of his son (c. 1818, Tretyakov Gallery), the portrait of Bulakhov (1823, Tretyakov Gallery), are marked by high artistic perfection. This is especially evident in the portrait of Arseny's son, an unusually sincere image, the liveliness and immediacy of which is emphasized by skillful lighting: the right side of the figure, the hair is pierced, flooded with sunlight, skillfully rendered by the master. The range of colors from golden-ocher to pink-brown is unusually rich, the widespread use of glazing still reminds of the painting traditions of the 18th century.

Tropinin in his work follows the path of giving naturalness, clarity, balance to simple compositions of a bust portrait image. As a rule, the image is given on a neutral background with a minimum of accessories. This is exactly how Tropinin A.S. Pushkin (1827) - sitting at the table in a free position, dressed in a house dress, which emphasizes the natural appearance.

Tropinin is the creator of a special type of portrait-painting, that is, a portrait in which features of the genre are introduced. "Lacemaker", "Spinner", "Guitarist", "Golden Sewing" are typified images with a certain plot plot, which, however, have not lost their specific features.

With his work, the artist contributed to the strengthening of realism in Russian painting and had a great influence on the Moscow school, according to D.V. Sarabyanov, a kind of "Moscow Biedermeier".

Tropinin only introduced a genre element into the portrait. Alexei Gavrilovich Venetsianov (1780–1847) was the real founder of the everyday genre. A land surveyor by education, Venetsianov left the service for the sake of painting, moved from Moscow to St. Petersburg and became a student of Borovikovsky. He made his first steps in the “arts” in the portrait genre, creating amazingly poetic, lyrical, sometimes fanned with romantic mood images in pastel, pencil, oil (portrait of V.C. Putyatina, State Tretyakov Gallery). But soon the artist left portraiture for the sake of caricature, and for one action-packed caricature "The Nobleman", the very first issue of the "Magazine of Caricatures for 1808 in Persons" he had conceived was closed. The etching by Venetsianov was, in fact, an illustration to Derzhavin's ode and depicted petitioners crowding in the waiting room, while a nobleman was visible in the mirror, who was in the arms of a beauty (it is assumed that this is a caricature of Count Bezborodko).

At the turn of the 10-20s, Venetsianov left St. Petersburg for the Tver province, where he bought a small estate. Here he found his main theme, devoting himself to depicting peasant life. In the painting The Barn (1821–1822, Russian Museum), he showed a labor scene in the interior. In an effort to accurately reproduce not only the poses of the workers, but also the lighting, he even ordered to saw out one wall of the threshing floor. Life as it is - that's what Venetsianov wanted to portray, drawing peasants peeling beets; a landowner giving a task to a courtyard girl; sleeping shepherdess; a girl with a beetroot in her hand; peasant children admiring a butterfly; scenes of harvest, haymaking, etc. Of course, Venetsianov did not reveal the sharpest conflicts in the life of the Russian peasant, did not raise the "sore questions" of our time. This is a patriarchal, idyllic way of life. But the artist did not introduce poetry into it from the outside, did not invent it, but scooped it up in the very image he portrayed with such love folk life. In the paintings of Venetsianov there are no dramatic plots, a dynamic plot, they, on the contrary, are static, “nothing happens” in them. But man is always in unity with nature, in eternal labor, and this makes the images of Venetsianov truly monumental. Is he a realist? In the understanding of this word by artists of the second half of the 19th century - hardly. His conception has a lot of classicistic ideas (it is worth remembering his "Spring. On Plowed Field", State Tretyakov Gallery), and especially sentimentalist ones ("On the Harvest. Summer", State Tretyakov Gallery), and in his understanding of space - also from romantic ones. And, nevertheless, the work of Venetsianov is a certain stage on the way of the formation of Russian critical realism of the 19th century, and this is also the enduring significance of his painting. This determines his place in Russian art as a whole.

Venetsianov was an excellent teacher. The Venetsianov school, the Venetians, is a whole galaxy of artists of the 1920s and 1940s who worked with him both in St. Petersburg and on his Safonkovo ​​estate. This is A.V. Tyranov, E.F. Krendovsky, K.A. Zelentsov, A.A. Alekseev, S.K. Zaryanko, L.K. Plakhov, N.S. Krylov and many others. Among the students of Venetsianov there are many peasants. Under the brush of the Venetians, not only scenes of peasant life were born, but also urban ones: St. Petersburg streets, folk types, landscapes. A.V. Tyranov also painted interior scenes, portraits, landscapes, and still lifes. The Venetians were especially fond of "family portraits in the interior" - they combined the concreteness of the images with the detail of the narrative, conveying the atmosphere of the environment (for example, Tyranov's painting "The Chernetsov Brothers Artists' Workshop", 1828, which combines a portrait, a genre, and a still life).

The most talented student of Venetsianov is undoubtedly Grigory Soroka (1813–1864), an artist tragic fate. (Magpie was freed from serfdom only by the reform of 1861, but as a result of a lawsuit with a former landowner he was sentenced to corporal punishment, could not bear the thought of it and committed suicide.) Under the brush of Soroka and the landscape of his native lake Moldino, and all the objects in the office of the estate in Ostrovki, and the figures of the fishermen frozen over the surface of the lake are transformed, filled with the highest poetry, blissful silence, but also aching sadness. This is a world of real objects, but also an ideal world imagined by the artist.

Russian historical painting of the 1930s and 1940s developed under the sign of romanticism. Karl Pavlovich Bryullov (1799–1852) was called a “genius of compromise” between the ideals of classicism and the innovations of romanticism. Fame came to Bryullov while still at the Academy: even then Bryullov’s ordinary studies turned into finished paintings, as was the case, for example, with his Narcissus (1819, Russian Museum). After completing the course with a gold medal, the artist left for Italy. In his pre-Italian works, Bryullov turns to biblical subjects (“The Appearance of Three Angels to Abraham at the Oak of Mamre”, 1821, Russian Museum) and antique (“Oedipus and Antigone”, 1821, Tyumen Regional local history museum), is engaged in lithography, sculpture, writes theatrical scenery, draws costumes for productions. The paintings “Italian Morning” (1823, location unknown) and “Italian Noon” (1827, Russian Museum), especially the first, show how close the painter came to the problems of the open air. Bryullov himself defined his task as follows: “I illuminated the model in the sun, assuming backlighting, so that the face and chest are in shadow and reflected from the fountain illuminated by the sun, which makes all the shadows much more pleasant compared to simple lighting from the window.”

The tasks of plein air painting thus interested Bryullov, but the artist's path, however, lay in a different direction. Since 1828, after a trip to Pompeii, Bryullov has been working on his equal work, The Last Day of Pompeii (1830–1833). The real event of ancient history is the death of the city during the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD. e. - gave the artist the opportunity to show the greatness and dignity of man in the face of death. Fiery lava is approaching the city, buildings and statues are collapsing, but children do not leave their parents; the mother covers the child, the young man saves his beloved; the artist (in which Bryullov portrayed himself) takes away the colors, but, leaving the city, he looks with wide eyes, trying to capture a terrible sight. Even in death, a person remains beautiful, like a woman thrown from a chariot by crazed horses is in the center of the composition. One of the essential features of his painting was clearly manifested in Bryullov's painting: the connection between the classicist style of his works and the features of romanticism, with which Bryullov's classicism is united by faith in the nobility and beauty of human nature. Hence the amazing "accommodation" of the plastic form that preserves the clarity, the drawing of the highest professionalism, prevailing over other expressive means, with romantic effects of pictorial lighting. Yes, and the very theme of inevitable death, inexorable fate is so characteristic of romanticism.

As a certain standard, a well-established artistic scheme, classicism in many ways limited the romantic artist. The conventions of the academic language, the language of the “School”, as the Academies were called in Europe, were fully manifested in Pompeii: theatrical poses, gestures, facial expressions, lighting effects. But it must be admitted that Bryullov strove for historical truth, trying as accurately as possible to reproduce specific monuments discovered by archaeologists and astonished the whole world, to visually fill in the scenes described by Pliny the Younger in a letter to Tacitus. Exhibited first in Milan, then in Paris, the painting was brought to Russia in 1834 and was a resounding success. Gogol spoke enthusiastically about her. The significance of Bryullov’s work for Russian painting is determined by the well-known words of the poet: “And the “Last Day of Pompeii” became the first day for the Russian brush.”

In 1835, Bryullov returned to Russia, where he was greeted as a victor. But actually historical genre no longer engaged, because "The Siege of Pskov by the Polish King Stefan Batory in 1581" was not completed. His interests lay in a different direction - portraiture, to which he turned, leaving historical painting, like his great contemporary Kiprensky, and in which he showed all his creative temperament and brilliance of skill. One can trace a certain evolution of Bryullov in this genre: from the ceremonial portrait of the 30s, the model of which can serve not so much as a portrait as a generalized image, for example, the brilliant decorative canvas “Horsewoman” (1832, State Tretyakov Gallery), which depicts a pupil of Countess Yu. P. Samoilova Giovanina Pacchini, it is no coincidence that it has a generalized name; or a portrait of Yu.P. Samoilova with another pupil - Amatsily (circa 1839, Russian Museum), to portraits of the 40s - more chamber, gravitating towards subtle, multifaceted psychological characteristics (portrait of AN. Strugovshchikov, 1840, Russian Museum; Self-portrait, 1848, State Tretyakov Gallery). In the face of the writer Strugovshchikov, the tension of inner life is read. Fatigue and bitterness of disappointment emanates from the appearance of the artist in a self-portrait. A sadly thin face with penetrating eyes, an aristocratically thin hand hung helplessly. There is a lot of romantic language in these images, while in one of latest works- a deep and penetrating portrait of the archaeologist Michelangelo Lanci (1851) - we see that Bryullov is no stranger to a realistic concept in interpreting the image.

After the death of Bryullov, his students often used only the formal, purely academic principles of writing that he carefully developed, and Bryullov's name had to endure a lot of blasphemy from critics of the democratic, realistic school of the second half of the 19th century, primarily V.V. Stasov.

The central figure in the painting of the middle of the century was undoubtedly Alexander Andreevich Ivanov (1806-1858). Ivanov graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy with two medals. He received a small gold medal for the painting “Priam asking Achilles for the body of Hector” (1824, State Tretyakov Gallery), in connection with which criticism noted the artist’s careful reading of Homer, and a large gold medal for the work “Joseph interpreting the dreams of prisoners with him in prison butler and baker” (1827, Russian Museum), full of expression, expressed, however, simply and clearly. In 1830, Ivanov leaves through Dresden and Vienna to Italy, in 1831 he ends up in Rome, and only a month and a half before his death (he died of cholera) returns to his homeland.

The path of A. Ivanov has never been easy, winged fame did not fly behind him, as for the “great Karl”. During his lifetime, Gogol, Herzen, Sechenov appreciated his talent, but there were no painters among them. Ivanov's life in Italy was filled with work and reflections on painting. He did not seek wealth or secular entertainment, spending his days in the walls of the studio and on sketches. Ivanov's worldview was influenced to a certain extent by German philosophy, primarily Schellingism with its idea of ​​the artist's prophetic destiny in this world, then by the philosophy of the historian of religion D. Strauss. Passion for the history of religion led to an almost scientific study of sacred texts, which resulted in the creation of famous biblical sketches and an appeal to the image of the Messiah. Researchers of Ivanov's work (D.V. Sarabyanov) rightly call his principle the "principle of ethical romanticism", i.e. romanticism, in which the main emphasis is shifted from the aesthetic to the moral. The artist's passionate faith in the moral transformation of people, in the perfection of a person who seeks freedom and truth, led Ivanov to the main theme of his work - to the painting, to which he devoted 20 years (1837 - 1857), "The Appearance of Christ to the People" (TG, author's version - timing).

Ivanov went to this work for a long time. He studied the painting of Giotto, the Venetians, especially Titian, Veronese and Tintoretto, wrote a two-figure composition "The Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection" (1835, Russian Museum), for which the St. Petersburg Academy gave him the title of academician and extended the period of retirement in Italy for three years.

The first sketches of "The Appearance of the Messiah" date back to 1833, in 1837 the composition was transferred to a large canvas. Then the work went on, as can be judged by the numerous remaining sketches, sketches, drawings, along the line of specifying the characters and the landscape, and searching for the general tone of the picture.

By 1845, "The Appearance of Christ to the People" was, in essence, over. The composition of this monumental, programmatic work is based on a classicistic basis (symmetry, the placement of the expressive main figure of the foreground - John the Baptist - in the center, the bas-relief arrangement of the entire group as a whole), but the traditional scheme is uniquely rethought by the artist. The painter sought to convey the dynamism of construction, the depth of space. Ivanov searched for this solution for a long time and achieved it thanks to the fact that the figure of Christ appears and approaches people who are being baptized by John in the waters of the Jordan, from the depths. But the main thing that strikes in the picture is the extraordinary veracity of various characters, their psychological characteristics, which impart amazing authenticity to the entire scene. Hence the persuasiveness of the spiritual rebirth of the characters.

Ivanov's evolution in his work on "The Phenomenon ..." can be defined as a path from a concrete-realistic scene to a monumental-epic canvas.

Changes in the worldview of Ivanov the thinker, which occurred over many years of work on the painting, led to the fact that the artist did not finish his main work. But he did the main thing, as Kramskoy said, “he woke up the inner work in the minds of Russian artists.” And in this sense, the researchers are right when they say that Ivanov's painting was "a harbinger of hidden processes" then taking place in art. Ivanov's finds were so new that the viewer was simply not able to appreciate them. No wonder N.G. Chernyshevsky called Alexander Ivanov one of those geniuses “who decisively become people of the future, sacrifice ... to the truth and, having approached it already in their mature years, are not afraid to start their activities again with the dedication of youth” ( Chernyshevsky N.G. Notes on the previous article//Contemporary. 1858. T. XXI. November. S. 178). Until now, the picture remains a real academy for generations of masters, like Raphael's "Athenian school" or Michelangelo's Sistine ceiling.

Ivanov had his say in mastering the principles of the plein air. In landscapes painted in the open air, he managed to show all the strength, beauty and intensity of the colors of nature. And the main thing is not to break up the image in pursuit of an instant impression, for striving for the accuracy of a detail, but to preserve its synthetic character, so characteristic of classical art. Harmonious clarity emanates from each of his landscapes, whether it depicts a solitary pine tree, a separate branch, the expanses of the sea or the Pontic swamps. This is a majestic world, conveyed, however, in all the real richness of the light-air environment, as if you feel the smell of grass, the fluctuation of hot air. In the same complex interaction with the environment, he depicts the human figure in his famous sketches of naked boys.

In the last decade of his life, Ivanov came up with the idea of ​​creating a cycle of biblical gospel paintings for some public building, which should depict the plots of Holy Scripture in ancient Eastern color, but not ethnographically straightforward, but sublimely generalized. The unfinished watercolor sketches of the Bible (TG) occupy a special place in Ivanov's work and, at the same time, organically complete it. These sketches provide us with new opportunities for this technique, its plastic and linear rhythm, watercolor spot, not to mention the extraordinary creative freedom in interpreting the plots themselves, showing the depth of Ivanov the philosopher, and his greatest gift as a muralist ("Zachariah in front of an angel", "Joseph's Dream", "Prayer for the Chalice", etc.). Ivanov's cycle is proof that a brilliant work in sketches can be a new word in art. "In the 19th century - the century of the deepening analytical splitting of the former integrity of art into separate genres and separate pictorial problems - Ivanov is a great genius of synthesis, committed to the idea of ​​​​universal art, interpreted as a kind of encyclopedia of spiritual quests, collisions and stages of growth of the historical self-knowledge of man and mankind" (Allenov M.M. Art of the first half of the XIX century//Allenov M.M., Evangulova O.S., Lifshits L.I. Russian art of the 10th - early 20th century. M., 1989. S. 335). A monumentalist by vocation, Ivanov lived, however, at a time when monumental art was rapidly declining. The realism of Ivanov's forms did not correspond much to the art of a critical nature that was being established.

The socio-critical trend, which became the main trend in the art of the second half of the 19th century, made itself known in graphics as early as the 1940s and 1950s. An undoubted role here was played by the “natural school” in literature, associated (very conditionally) with the name of N.V. Gogol.

The album of lithographed caricatures "Yeralash" by N.M. Nevakhovich, which, like the Venetian "Journal of Caricatures", was devoted to the satire of morals. Several subjects could be placed on one page of a large format, often the faces were portraits, quite recognizable. "Yeralash" was closed on the 16th issue.

In the 40s, the publication of V.F. Timm, illustrator and lithographer. “Ours, written off from life by Russians” (1841–1842) - an image of the types of a St. Petersburg street from dandy flaners to janitors, cab drivers, etc. Timm also illustrated “Pictures of Russian Morals” (1842–1843) and performed drawings for the poem by I.I. . Myatlev about Mrs. Kurdyukova, a provincial widow, traveling around Europe out of boredom.

The book of this time is becoming more accessible and cheaper: illustrations began to be printed from a wooden board large circulations, sometimes with the help of polytypes - metal castings. The first illustrations for Gogol's works appeared - “One Hundred Drawings from N.M. Gogol " Dead Souls» A.A. Agina, engraved by E.E. Vernadsky; The 50s were marked by the activities of T. G. Shevchenko as a draftsman (“The Parable of prodigal son", denouncing cruel morals in the army). Cartoons and illustrations for books and magazines by Timm and his associates Agin and Shevchenko contributed to the development of Russian genre painting in the second half of the 19th century.

But the main source for genre painting in the second half of the century was the work of Pavel Andreevich Fedotov (1815–1852). He devoted only a few years of his short tragic life to painting, but he managed to express the very spirit of Russia in the 1940s. The son of a Suvorov soldier, accepted into the Moscow Cadet Corps for his father's merits, Fedotov served in the Finnish Guards Regiment for 10 years. After retiring, he is engaged in the battle class of A.I. Sauerweid. Fedotov began with everyday drawings and caricatures, with a series of sepia from the life of Fidelka, the lady's dog, who died in a bose and mourned by the mistress, with a series in which he declared himself as a satirical writer of everyday life - the Russian Daumier of the period of his Caricatures (in addition to the series about Fidelka - sepia "Fashion Shop", 1844-1846, State Tretyakov Gallery; "An Artist Who Married Without a Dowry in the Hope of His Talent", 1844, State Tretyakov Gallery, etc.). He studied both on the engravings of Hogarth and the Dutch, but most of all - on Russian life itself, open to the gaze of a talented artist in all its disharmony and inconsistency.

The main thing in his work is everyday painting. Even when he paints portraits, it is easy to detect genre elements in them (for example, in the watercolor portrait "Players", State Tretyakov Gallery). His evolution in genre painting - from the image of the caricature to the tragic, from congestion in detail, as in "The Fresh Cavalier" (1846, State Tretyakov Gallery), where everything is "discussed": a guitar, bottles, a mocking maid, even papillottes on the head of an unlucky hero - to extreme laconism, as in The Widow (1851, Ivanovo Regional Art Museum, option - State Tretyakov Gallery, State Russian Museum), to a tragic sense of the meaninglessness of existence, as in his last painting "Anchor, more anchor!" (about 1851, State Tretyakov Gallery). The same evolution in the understanding of color: from a color that sounds at half strength, through pure, bright, intense, saturated colors, as in the "Major's Matchmaking" (1848, State Tretyakov Gallery, version - State Russian Museum) or "Aristocrat's Breakfast" (1849-1851, State Tretyakov Gallery ), to the exquisite color scheme of the Widow, betraying object world as if dissolving in the diffused light of the day, and the integrity of the single tone of his last canvas (“Anchor…”). It was a way from simple everyday writing to the implementation in clear, restrained images of the most important problems of Russian life, for what, for example, is the "Major's Matchmaking" if not a denunciation of one of the social facts of the life of his time - the marriages of impoverished nobles with merchant "money bags"? And "The Picky Bride", written on a plot borrowed from I.A. Krylov (who, by the way, greatly appreciated the artist), if not a satire on marriage of convenience? Or is it a denunciation of the emptiness of a secular dude who throws dust in his eyes - in the "Breakfast of an Aristocrat"?

The strength of Fedotov's painting is not only in the depth of problems, in the entertaining plot, but also in the amazing mastery of execution. Suffice it to recall the charm-filled chamber “Portrait of N.P. Zhdanovich at the harpsichord” (1849, Russian Museum). Fedotov loves the real objective world, writes out every thing with delight, poeticizes it. But this delight before the world does not obscure the bitterness of what is happening: the hopelessness of the position of the "widow", the lie of the marriage deal, the longing of the officer's service in the "bear corner". If Fedotov's laughter breaks out, it is the same Gogol's "laughter through tears invisible to the world." Fedotov ended his life in the "house of sorrow" at the fateful 37th year of his life.

The art of Fedotov completes the development of painting in the first half of the 19th century, and at the same time, quite organically - thanks to its social sharpness - the "Fedotov direction" opens the beginning of a new stage - the art of critical, or, as they often say now, democratic, realism.

Introduction

In the first half of the 19th century, the crisis of the feudal-serfdom system, which hampered the formation of the capitalist order, intensified more and more. Freedom-loving ideas are spreading and deepening in the advanced circles of Russian society. The events of the Patriotic War, the help of the Russian troops in the liberation of the states of Europe from the tyranny of Napoleon exacerbated patriotic and freedom-loving moods. All the basic principles of the feudal-serf state are subjected to criticism. The illusory nature of hopes for changing social reality with the help of the state activity of an enlightened person becomes clear. The Decembrist uprising in 1825 was the first armed uprising against tsarism. It had a huge impact on Russian progressive artistic culture. This era gave rise to the brilliant work of A. S. Pushkin, popular and universal, full of dreams of freedom.

The fine arts of the first half of the 19th century have an inner commonality and unity, a unique charm of bright and humane ideals. Classicism is enriched with new features, its strengths are most clearly manifested in architecture, historical painting, and partly in sculpture. The perception of the culture of the ancient world became more historical than in the 18th century, and more democratic. Along with classicism, the romantic direction is intensively developed and a new realistic method begins to take shape.

After the suppression of the Decembrist uprising, the autocracy established a cruel reactionary regime. His victims were A. S. Pushkin, M. Yu. Lermontov, T. G. Shevchenko and many others. But Nicholas I could not suppress the discontent of the people and progressive social thought. Liberation ideas spread, embracing not only the nobility, but also the raznochintsy intelligentsia, who began to play more and more significant role in artistic culture. V. G. Belinsky became the founder of Russian revolutionary-democratic aesthetics, which influenced artists. He wrote that art is a form of people's self-consciousness, led the ideological struggle for creativity, close to life and socially valuable.

Russian artistic culture in the first third of the 19th century took shape during a period of social upsurge associated with the heroic events of the Patriotic War of 1812 and the development of anti-serfdom and freedom-loving ideas of the pre-Decembrist period. At this time, all types of fine arts and their synthesis reached a brilliant flowering.

In the second third of the 19th century, due to the intensified government reaction, art largely lost those progressive features that were characteristic of it earlier. By this time, classicism had essentially exhausted itself. The architecture of these years embarked on the path of eclecticism - the external use of styles from different eras and peoples. Sculpture lost the significance of its content, it acquired the features of superficial showiness. Promising searches were outlined only in sculpture of small forms, here, just as in painting and graphics, realistic principles grew and strengthened, asserting themselves in spite of the active resistance of representatives of official art.

Classicism in the first half of the 19th century, in accordance with romantic tendencies, created images that were elevated, spiritualized, emotionally sublime. However, the appeal to a living direct perception of nature and the destruction of the system of so-called high and low genres already contradicted academic aesthetics, based on classic canons. It was the romantic direction of Russian art in the first third of the 19th century that prepared the development of realism in the following decades, for to a certain extent it brought romantic artists closer to reality, to simple real life. This was the essence of the complex artistic movement throughout the first half of the 19th century. It is no coincidence that the formation of a satirical everyday genre in painting and graphics at the end of this period. In general, the art of this stage - architecture, painting, graphics, sculpture, applied and folk art- an outstanding, full of originality phenomenon in the history of Russian artistic culture. Developing the progressive traditions of the previous century, it has created many magnificent works of great aesthetic and social value, contributing to the world heritage.

An important evidence of the changes that took place in Russian art in the first half of the 19th century was the desire of a wide range of viewers to get acquainted with the exhibitions. In 1834, in the "Northern Bee", for example, it was reported that the desire to see "The Last Day of Pompeii" by K. P. Bryullov swept the St. Petersburg population, spread "in all states and classes." This picture, as contemporaries argued, largely served to bring "our public closer to the artistic world."

The nineteenth century was also distinguished by the expansion and deepening of ties between Russian art not only with life, but also with the artistic traditions of other peoples who inhabited Russia. Motifs and images of the national outskirts, Siberia, began to appear in the works of Russian artists. The national composition of students in Russian art institutions became more diverse. Natives of Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic States, Transcaucasia and Central Asia studied at the Academy of Arts, in the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture organized in the 1830s.

In the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, only individual masters, and primarily A. A. Ivanov, aroused interest in the art world Russia. Only during the years of Soviet power did the art of this period receive wide recognition. In recent decades, Soviet art history has paid great attention to the study of the work of the masters of the first half of the 19th century, especially in connection with the large jubilee exhibitions of A. G. Venetsianov, A. A. Ivanov, O. A. Kiprensky, the 225th anniversary of the USSR Academy of Arts.

32. Russian painting of the first halfXIXcentury. Development of the genre, masters.

Russian fine arts were characterized by romanticism and realism. However, the officially recognized method was classicism. The Academy of Arts became a conservative and inert institution that hindered any attempt at creative freedom. She demanded to strictly follow the canons of classicism, encouraged the writing of paintings on biblical and mythological subjects. Young talented Russian artists were not satisfied with the framework of academicism. Therefore, they often turned to the portrait genre.

Romantic ideals of the era of national upsurge were embodied in painting. Rejecting the strict principles of classicism that did not allow deviations, the artists discovered the diversity and originality of the world around them. This was not only reflected in the already familiar genres - portrait and landscape - but also gave impetus to the birth of everyday painting, which was in the center of attention of the masters of the second half of the century. In the meantime, the primacy remained with the historical genre. It was the last refuge of classicism, however, even here romantic ideas and themes were hidden behind the formally classicist “facade”.

Romanticism - (French romantisme), an ideological and artistic direction in European and American spiritual culture of the late 18th - 1st half. 19th centuries Reflecting disappointment in the results of the French Revolution of the late 18th century, in the ideology of the Enlightenment and social progress. Romanticism contrasted utilitarianism and the leveling of the individual with the aspiration for unlimited freedom and the "infinite", the thirst for perfection and renewal, the pathos of personal and civil independence. The painful discord between the ideal and social reality is the basis of the romantic worldview and art. The assertion of the inherent value of the spiritual and creative life of the individual, the image of strong passions, the image of strong passions, spiritualized and healing nature, for many romantics - heroes of protest or struggle are adjacent to the motives of "world sorrow", "world evil", "night" side of the soul, clothed in forms of irony, grotesque poetics of two worlds. Interest in the national past (often its idealization), traditions of folklore and culture of one’s own and other peoples, the desire to create a universal picture of the world (primarily history and literature), the idea of ​​art synthesis found expression in the ideology and practice of Romanticism.

In the visual arts, Romanticism manifested itself most clearly in painting and graphics, less clearly in sculpture and architecture (for example, false Gothic). Most of the national schools of Romanticism in the visual arts developed in the struggle against official academic classicism.

In the bowels of the official state culture, a layer of "elitist" culture is noticeable, serving the ruling class (the aristocracy and the royal court) and having a special susceptibility to foreign innovations. Suffice it to recall the romantic painting of O. Kiprensky, V. Tropinin, K. Bryullov, A. Ivanov and other major artists of the 19th century.

Kiprensky Orest Adamovich, Russian artist. An outstanding master of Russian fine art of romanticism, known as a wonderful portrait painter. In the painting "Dmitry Donskoy on the Kulikovo Field" (1805, Russian Museum) he demonstrated a confident knowledge of the canons of the academic historical picture. But early on, the area where his talent is revealed most naturally and naturally is the portrait. His first pictorial portrait (“A. K. Schwalbe”, 1804, ibid.), written in the “Rembrandtian” manner, stands out for its expressive and dramatic light and shade system. Over the years, his skill - manifested in the ability to create, first of all, unique individual-characteristic images, choosing special plastic means to set off this characteristic - is getting stronger. Full of impressive vitality: a portrait of a boy by A. A. Chelishchev (circa 1810-11), paired images of the spouses F. V. and E. P. Rostopchin (1809) and V. S. and D. N. Khvostov (1814, all - Tretyakov Gallery). The artist increasingly plays with the possibilities of color and light and shade contrasts, landscape background, symbolic details (“E. S. Avdulina”, about 1822, ibid.). The artist knows how to make even large ceremonial portraits lyrically, almost intimately relaxed (“Portrait of the Life Hussars Colonel Yevgraf Davydov”, 1809, Russian Museum). His portrait of a young A.S. Pushkin is one of the best in creating a romantic image. Kiprensky's Pushkin looks solemn and romantic, in a halo of poetic glory. “You flatter me, Orestes,” Pushkin sighed, looking at the finished canvas. Kiprensky was also a virtuoso draftsman, who created (mainly in the technique of Italian pencil and pastel) examples of graphic skill, often surpassing his pictorial portraits with open, excitingly light emotionality. These are everyday types (“The Blind Musician”, 1809, Russian Museum; “Kalmychka Bayausta”, 1813, Tretyakov Gallery), and the famous series of pencil portraits of participants in the Patriotic War of 1812 (drawings depicting E. I. Chaplits, A. R. Tomilova, P. A. Olenina, the same drawing with the poet Batyushkov and others, 1813-15, Tretyakov Gallery and other meetings); the heroic beginning here acquires a sincere connotation. A large number of sketches and textual evidence show that the artist, throughout his mature period, gravitated towards creating a large (in his own words from a letter to A. N. Olenin in 1834), “spectacular, or, in Russian, striking and magical picture”, where the results of European history, as well as the destiny of Russia, would be depicted in allegorical form. “Readers of Newspapers in Naples” (1831, Tretyakov Gallery) - in appearance just a group portrait - in fact, there is a secretly symbolic response to revolutionary events in Europe. However, the most ambitious of the picturesque allegories of Kiprensky remained unfulfilled or disappeared (like the "Anacreon's tomb", completed in 1821). These romantic searches, however, received a large-scale continuation in the work of K. P. Bryullov and A. A. Ivanov.

The realistic manner was reflected in the works of V. .A. Tropinin. Tropinin’s early portraits, painted in restrained colors (family portraits of Counts Morkovs of 1813 and 1815, both in the Tretyakov Gallery), still belong entirely to the tradition of the Age of Enlightenment: the model is the unconditional and stable center of the image in them. Later, the coloring of Tropinin's painting becomes more intense, the volumes are usually molded more clearly and sculpturally, but most importantly, a purely romantic feeling of the moving elements of life insinuatingly grows, only a part of which the hero of the portrait seems to be a fragment ("Bulakhov", 1823; "K. G. Ravich" , 1823; self-portrait, circa 1824; all three - ibid.). Such is A. S. Pushkin in the famous portrait of 1827 (All-Russian Museum of A. S. Pushkin, Pushkin): the poet, putting his hand on a stack of paper, as if “listens to the muse”, listens to the creative dream that surrounds the image with an invisible halo . He also painted a portrait of A.S. Pushkin. Before the viewer appears wise by life experience, not a very happy person. In the portrait of Tropinin, the poet is charming in a homely way. Some special old-Moscow warmth and comfort emanates from Tropinin's works. Until the age of 47, he was in bondage. Therefore, probably, the faces of ordinary people are so fresh, so inspired on his canvases. And the youth and charm of his "Lacemaker" are endless. Most often, V.A. Tropinin turned to the image of people from the people ("The Lacemaker", "Portrait of a Son", etc.).

The artistic and ideological searches of Russian social thought, the expectation of changes were reflected in the paintings K.P. Bryullov"The Last Day of Pompeii" and A.A. Ivanov "The Appearance of Christ to the People".

A great work of art is the painting "The Last Day of Pompeii" by Karl Pavlovich Bryullov (1799-1852). In 1830, the Russian artist Karl Pavlovich Bryullov visited the excavations of the ancient city of Pompeii. He walked along the ancient pavements, admired the frescoes, and that tragic night of August 79 AD rose in his imagination. e., when the city was covered with red-hot ash and pumice of awakened Vesuvius. Three years later, the painting "The Last Day of Pompeii" made a triumphant journey from Italy to Russia. The artist found amazing colors to depict the tragedy of the ancient city, dying under the lava and ash of erupting Vesuvius. The picture is imbued with high humanistic ideals. It shows the courage of people, their selflessness, shown during a terrible catastrophe. Bryullov was in Italy on a business trip from the Academy of Arts. In this educational institution, training in the technique of painting and drawing was well established. However, the Academy unequivocally focused on the ancient heritage and heroic themes. Academic painting was characterized by a decorative landscape, theatricality of the overall composition. Scenes from modern life, an ordinary Russian landscape were considered unworthy of the artist's brush. Classicism in painting was called academism. Bryullov was associated with the Academy with all his work.

He possessed a powerful imagination, a keen eye and a faithful hand - and he produced living creations, consistent with the canons of academism. Truly with Pushkin's grace, he was able to capture on canvas the beauty of a naked human body, and the trembling of a sunbeam on a green leaf. His canvases “Horsewoman”, “Bathsheba”, “Italian Morning”, “Italian Noon”, numerous ceremonial and intimate portraits will forever remain unfading masterpieces of Russian painting. However, the artist has always gravitated towards large historical themes, to the depiction of significant events in human history. Many of his plans in this regard were not implemented. Bryullov never left the idea of ​​creating an epic canvas based on a plot from Russian history. He begins the painting "The Siege of Pskov by the troops of King Stefan Batory." It depicts the climax of the siege of 1581, when the Pskov warriors and. the townspeople rush to attack the Poles who broke into the city and throw them back behind the walls. But the picture remained unfinished, and the task of creating truly national historical paintings was carried out not by Bryullov, but by the next generation of Russian artists. The same age as Pushkin, Bryullov outlived him by 15 years. He has been ill in recent years. From a self-portrait painted at that time, a red-haired man with delicate features and a calm, thoughtful look is looking at us.

In the first half of the XIX century. the artist lived and worked Alexander Andreevich Ivanov(1806-1858). All my creative life he devoted to the idea of ​​the spiritual awakening of the people, embodying it in the painting "The Appearance of Christ to the People." For more than 20 years he worked on the painting "The Appearance of Christ to the People", in which he put all the power and brightness of his talent. In the foreground of his grandiose canvas, the courageous figure of John the Baptist catches the eye, pointing the people to the approaching Christ. His figure is given in the distance. He has not yet come, he is coming, he will definitely come, says the artist. And the faces and souls of those who are waiting for the Savior brighten, cleanse. In this picture, he showed, as I. E. Repin later said, "an oppressed people, thirsting for the word of freedom."

In the first half of the XIX century. Russian painting includes everyday plot. One of the first to contact him Alexey Gavrilovich Venetsianov(1780-1847). He devoted his work to depicting the life of peasants. He shows this life in an idealized, embellished form, paying tribute to the then fashionable sentimentalism. However, Venetsianov’s paintings “Threshing floor”, “At the harvest. Summer”, “On arable land. Spring”, “Peasant woman with cornflowers”, “Zakharka”, “Morning of the landowner”, reflecting the beauty and nobility of ordinary Russian people, served to affirm the dignity of a person, regardless of his social status.

Its traditions were continued Pavel Andreevich Fedotov(1815-1852). His canvases are realistic, filled with satirical content, exposing the mercenary morality, life and customs of the elite of society ("Major's Matchmaking", "Fresh Cavalier", etc.). He began his career as a satirist as a guards officer. Then he made funny, mischievous sketches of army life. In 1848, his painting "The Fresh Cavalier" was presented at an academic exhibition. It was a daring mockery not only of stupid, self-satisfied bureaucracy, but also of academic traditions. The dirty robe, which the main character of the picture put on, very much resembled an antique toga. Bryullov stood in front of the canvas for a long time, and then said to the author half in jest half seriously: “Congratulations, you have defeated me.” Other paintings by Fedotov ("Breakfast of an Aristocrat", "Major's Matchmaking") are also of a comedic and satirical nature. His last paintings are very sad (“Anchor, more anchor!”, “Widow”). Contemporaries rightly compared P.A. Fedotov in painting with N.V. Gogol in literature. Exposing the plagues of feudal Russia is the main theme of Pavel Andreevich Fedotov's work.

In Russian culture of the first half of the 19th century, romanticism has its own specifics. Faith in the enlightenment ideals of reason, progress, elementary rights of the individual - all this was still relevant in Russian public life in the first half of the century.
The image of a man received a deep poetic embodiment in the work of the greatest Russian portrait painter of the 1st third of the 19th century.
Orest Adamovich Kiprensky. (1782-1836).
The largest master of the romantic portrait.
When you look at the portraits of Kiprensky, it seems that you see free people. None of his contemporaries managed to express this feeling of a new person in such a way.
Among the most significant works of Kiprensky are portraits of the military - participants in the anti-Napoleonic campaigns of the beginning of the century.

1809. Timing

Portrait of A.A. Chelishchev. 1808 - early 1809 GTG. refers to the early period of O.A. Kiprensky.
The era of romanticism creates a very special relationship to the concept of childhood. If the portrait painters of the 18th century usually depicted a child as a small adult, then the romantics saw in him a special unique world of personality, which still remained pure and unaffected by the vices of adults.

Portrait of Countess Ekaterina Petrovna Rostopchina. 1809. Tretyakov Gallery.
Some of the female images he created are distinguished by a special charm.
It has no equal in all world painting of the 19th century, in terms of the power of expressing spiritual beauty, as if anticipating the image of Pushkin's Tatyana.

Living in St. Petersburg, Kiprensky became close to the most prominent people of his century.
Romantic tendencies in the work of Kiprensky found their embodiment in the portrait of the famous Russian poet V.A. Zhukovsky.

Portrait of E.S. Avdulina. 1822-1823.
- one of the best works of late Kiprensky.
appears before the viewer as a man of great spiritual subtlety and nobility, possessing a deeply hidden inner world.

In the portrait of Pushkin, the artist accurately conveys the features of the poet's appearance, but consistently refuses everything ordinary. Realizing the exclusivity of the task - to capture the image of the great poet, - O.A. Kiprensky harmoniously combined the spirit of romantic freedom and the pathos of high classics.
Creative burning.
« I see myself as in a mirror, but this mirror flatters me».

O. A. Kiprensky. "Self-portrait". 1828

Tropinin, Vasily Andreevich(1776-1857) - Russian artist, academician, master portrait painting. By origin - a serf. Tropinin failed to finish the Academy. Count Morkov interrupted his studies in 1804 by summoning Kukavka to his Ukrainian estate. The young artist had to be a house painter and at the same time perform the duties of a courtyard man. From 1821 he lived permanently in Moscow, where he gained recognition and fame.
The images of people from the people created by Tropinin are widely known.

“Tropinin had few rivals in picturesque talent. In 1818, when he was still a serf and lived with his master on the estate of Kukavka in Ukraine, he painted "Portrait of a Son" - amazing in terms of picturesque charm and free manner of painting. This portrait of a blond, tanned boy glows, lives and breathes. After that, Tropinin worked for another forty years, immortalized a great many people, developed more or less stable methods of portraiture, improved in technique, but the portrait of his son remained unsurpassed, with the possible exception of the portrait of Pushkin, written in the same year as Kiprensky and not inferior to him. "(Dmitrieva N.A. Short story arts. Issue. III: Countries of Western Europe of the 19th century; Russia of the 19th century. - M.: Art, 1992. S. 198-200.).

The best in the circle of Tropinin's portrait painting of the 1820s
A slightly raised upper lip gives the poet's face a shade of restrained animation.
The purple robe is draped in wide, loose folds; the collar of the shirt is wide open, the blue tie is tied casually.
The coloring is the freshness of direct observation. The reflexes from the white collar of the shirt are convincingly conveyed, highlighting the chin and naked neck of the person being portrayed.

Already a well-known artist, Tropinin created a type of domestic, intimate portrait with elements of genre painting. As a rule, this is a half-length image of a person doing his usual occupation.
The pretty sly girl is full of grace, understood by contemporaries as a special "pleasure", as something that "wins the heart", but "impossible to understand with the mind."
In the year the picture was painted, Vasily Andreevich Tropinin, the serf artist of Count Morkov, received his freedom. He was 47 years old. In the same year, he exhibited his "Lacemaker" at the Academy of Arts, which immediately gained popularity, which has not left it until now.

Venetsianov Alexey Gavrilovich. 1780 - 1847. the first Russian painter who consciously chose the everyday genre as the basis of his work.
It is to him that the merit of establishing the domestic genre in Russian art as an independent type of painting belongs.
He developed a multi-figure form genre painting, in which landscape or interior often plays an important role. Venetsianov was also the first to draw attention to individual folk types. His painting is national and democratic.

In 1811, for his self-portrait, he was recognized by the Academy of Arts as "appointed".

The first fundamental work of Venetsianov was the painting "Barn", which opened up new paths in Russian painting.

The artist created an idealized poetic image peasant life. Working outdoors allowed Venetsianov to use daylight effects and complex palettes.

Bryullov Karl Pavlovich(1799-1852). Painter, draftsman. Master of historical painting, portrait painter, genre painter.
He overcomes the deadness of the canons of classicism with a romantic desire to fill the image with living feelings.

realistic principles underpinned

The joy of life sparkles, a cheerful and full-blooded feeling of life, merging with the environment. The sun's rays pierce the foliage of the vineyard, glide over the hands, face, clothes of the girl; creates an atmosphere of living connection between man and nature. The girl's face with absolutely regular features and huge sparkling eyes is ideally beautiful, it seems almost porcelain (a frequent effect in Bryullov). The Italian type of appearance was then considered perfect, and the artist beats him with pleasure.

The Committee of the Society, having received "Noon", carefully reproached the artist for choosing a model that did not correspond to the classical ideals of St. Petersburg connoisseurs.

Epicurean line

Tragic line in creativity
The last day of Pompeii. 1830-1833. Timing Oil on canvas. 465.5 x 651
For the first time in Russian painting, classicism was combined with a romantic perception of the world. It should be noted that for K.P. Bryullov was important to the truth of historical reality. He studied written sources about the tragedy in Pompeii (Pliny the Younger, Tacitus), as well as scientific research on archaeological excavations.
His heroes at the last moment of life show human dignity and greatness of spirit in the face of the blind element of evil.
Unlike what we see in classic paintings, the compositional center here is not given to the main historical hero(who simply does not exist), but the deceased mother, next to which is depicted a still living child, seized with horror. In opposition to life and death, the idea of ​​the canvas is revealed.

Thus, for the first time, the people entered Russian historical painting, although they were shown in a rather idealized way.

Portrait of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna with her daughter Maria. 1830. Timing In the end, Bryullov came to the image of the Grand Duchess in motion. From now on, in large portraits, he will use this technique, which helps to enhance the expressiveness of the image.

Rider. Portrait of Giovannina and Amazilia Pacini, pupils of Countess Yu.P. Samoilova. 1832. State Tretyakov Gallery
By the beginning of the 1830s, K.P. Bryullov took one of the leading places in Russian and all Western European art. His fame as an outstanding portrait master was reinforced by The Horsewoman, painted in Italy.
Bryullovskiy ceremonial portrait-painting marked by innovation. Unlike the heroes of ceremonial portraits of the 18th century, where the main task was to emphasize the social position of the person being portrayed and his social virtues, Bryullov's characters primarily demonstrate spontaneity, youth, and beauty.

Portrait of the Most Serene Princess Elizabeth Pavlovna Saltykova, born Countess Strogonova, wife of His Serene Highness Prince I.D. Saltykov. 1841. Timing

Portrait of Countess Yulia Pavlovna Samoilova, born Countess Pahlen, leaving the ball with her adopted daughter Amacilia Pacchini. 1842. Timing
the last significant work of K.P. Bryullov and one of his best works in the genre of a ceremonial portrait-painting, which is distinguished by an upbeat, romantic mood.
The artist presented his heroine in a masquerade costume of a queen, against the backdrop of a magnificent theatrical conditional curtain separating her from the participants in the ball.
emphasizes her dominant position in the crowd of people, the exclusivity of her nature.

Ivanov Alexander Andreevich(1806-1858) - painter, draftsman. Master of historical painting, landscape painter, portrait painter. Creativity A.A. Ivanov stands at the center of the spiritual quest of Russian culture of the 19th century.

The highest achievement in Russian historical painting is associated with the work of A. Ivanov. The son of Professor A.I. Ivanov, he studied at the A.Kh., brilliantly mastering composition and drawing (besides his father, his teachers were Yegorov and Shebuev.

In 1824 Ivanov painted the first major painting oil paints- “Priam asking Achilles for the body of Hector” (TG), for which he received a small gold medal. Already in this early work, Ivanov reveals a desire for psychological expressiveness and archaeological accuracy. When the picture appeared at the exhibition, the critics noted the artist's attentive attitude to Homer's text and strong expression actors paintings.

At the exhibition in 1827. Ivanov's second painting appeared - "Joseph Interpreting Dreams of the Baker and the Butler" (RM), which was awarded a large gold medal from the Society for the Encouragement of Artists. Here, the expression of faces and the incomparable plasticity of the figures far surpassed “Priam”, testifying to the exceptional talent of the artist and his rapid development. Illuminated figures on a dark background give the impression of statues. The smooth folds of Joseph's antique clothes are interpreted with amazing perfection. Joseph broadcasts a terrible account to the baker, pointing him to the relief depicting the execution, carved on the wall of the dungeon. The butler waits impatiently with bright hope for what the soothsayer will say about him. The baker and the cupbearer are like brothers, the more distinctly, therefore, the expressions of opposite feelings appear on their faces: despair and hope. The Egyptian relief, composed by Ivanov, shows that even then he was familiar with Egyptian archeology and had a fine sense of style. In all their early works Ivanov strove for strong spiritual movements, expressed in an extremely clear form.

However, this picture almost led to the collapse of Ivanov's career, so brilliantly begun. The image (in the form of a bas-relief) of the execution on the wall of the dungeon was interpreted as a daring allusion to the reprisal of Nicholas I with the Decembrists. Hood barely escaped Siberia. And despite the fact that Ivanov was awarded a large gold medal, the issue of his assignment abroad dragged on. The Society for the Encouragement of Artists, having the intention of sending Ivanov to Italy for improvement, decided to once again test his abilities by setting a new theme: “Bellerophon goes on a campaign against the Chimera” (1829, Russian Museum).

Nevertheless, he was awarded a business trip abroad. At this time, Ivanov was already the author of several paintings, completed huge drawings from antique statues - “Laocoön”, “Venus Medicea”, “Borghesian Fighter” (all in the State Tretyakov Gallery), many drawings from academic sitters. His early albums also contain a number of sketches in pencil and sepia on historical and antique themes, among which a few sketches from nature flicker; portraits are even rarer. By the time preceding his departure abroad, there is a small self-portrait (1828, State Tretyakov Gallery), painted with oil paints.

As a tribute to classicism, Ivanov began in Rome a painting in the spirit of Poussin “Apollo, Hyacinth and Cypress, engaged in music and singing” (1831-1834, State Tretyakov Gallery), using the monuments of ancient sculpture. The painting was left unfinished. Despite this, it is one of the most perfect works of Russian classicism. The beautifully grouped figures seem like animated statues.

Tree foliage wonderfully contrasts with the color of naked bodies: the delicate color of the body of Hyacinth, the swarthy color of Cypress, and the figure of Apollo, as if carved from ivory. The picture is a musically coordinated, harmonic composition. Comparison of sketches shows that Ivanov consciously sought the musical beauty of smooth lines and plastic perfection of form. Wonderfully inspired face of Apollo. Taking the head of Apollo Belvedere as the basis of the image, Ivanov breathed into it new life is the life of feeling. This method of processing ancient images became the main one for Ivanov throughout the first half of his work.

Rereading the gospels, Ivanov finally found a plot that none of the hoods had taken up before him: the first appearance of the Messiah (Christ) before the people, waiting for the fulfillment of their cherished aspirations, predicted by John the Baptist. Ivanov took this story as containing the whole meaning of the gospel. In his opinion, this plot could embody the high moral ideals of all mankind in the way that their contemporaries understood them. Work on sketches of the painting began in the autumn of 1833.

From the very beginning of his work, the thin-k thought of the plot as historical rather than religious, eliminating all the features of its mystical interpretation. He drew up a plan for a decade, in accordance with the extreme complexity of the design. This plan frightened the incredulous St. Petersburg "benefactors" of Ivanov by its duration and high cost. Despite threats from the Society for the Encouragement of Thins to deprive him of all means of subsistence, Ivanov did not give up. He deeply studied the monuments of ancient art and monumental painting of the Italian Renaissance. Unable to make a trip to Palestine in order to get acquainted with folk types and landscapes of places associated with the gospel legend, Ivanov looked for the appropriate nature in Italy.

In 1835 Ivanov finished and sent to St. Petersburg for the academic exhibition “The Appearance of Christ to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection” (RM); the success of the picture exceeded the expectations of thin-ka: he was given the title of academician and extended his stay in Italy for another three years.

In the statuary nature of the figures in this picture (especially Christ, reminiscent of a statue by Thorvaldsen), in the conditional draperies and landscape, which serves as an almost neutral background for the figures, Ivanov paid the last tribute to academicism. This fully corresponded to the original intent of the picture, in which the artist intended to show his ability to portray the nude. human body and draperies. However, along with this, he was fascinated here by the task of depicting a weeping beauty. female face and figure movement. He did not dare to make more radical changes in the picture, although the compositions of Giotto he saw in Italy on the same plot prompted the idea to completely abandon the “official piece of nudity”.

The complex facial expression of the Magdalene (a smile through tears) and the well-found position of Christ's legs (based on a deep knowledge of anatomy and giving his figure the illusion of movement) are the most realistic features of the picture in its general academic structure.

Having finished this work, the hood again devoted himself entirely to the development of the main idea. Work on "The Appearance of Christ to the People" (1837-1857, State Tretyakov Gallery) occupied most of Ivanov's life. The surviving numerous materials (sketches, sketches, drawings) and the extensive correspondence of the artists make it possible to restore the main stages of the enormous work. The first sketches date back to 1833, therefore, they were made even before the first trip to Italy.

In 1837 the composition of the painting was already so developed that the artist was able to transfer it to a large canvas, and the next year he shaded it and painted it with terdesienoy.

K1845 “The Appearance of Christ to the People” was, in essence, over, with the exception of some particulars (the face of a slave, the figures emerging from the water, the middle group).

Further work went in two directions - the ultimate concretization of the characters of the characters and the second - the study of the landscape on individual topics, due to the composition of the picture (primary trees, earth, stones, water, distant trees and mountains). It is possible that all this work was preceded by a search for the general tone of the picture, for the solution of which Ivanov wrote in Venice, in close proximity to the great Venetian colorists, a small sketch (“Sketch in Venetian tones”, 1839, State Tretyakov Gallery), which largely predetermined the color of the picture “ Appearance of Christ to the people.

At the end of 1838 there was a break in work. At this time, Ivanov met N.V. Gogol, who then arrived in Rome. They became friends. Their friendship was marked by Ivanov's unexpected appeal to the themes of folk life. Under the influence of the writer, Ivanov created a number of genre watercolors depicting scenes from the life of the common people. They are poetic, vital and imbued with spiritual warmth. Complex multi-figure compositions are united by the action of light. The moon sheds its calm light on a group of children and girls singing Ave Maria (“Ave Maria”, 1839, Russian Museum) in chorus, the warm lights of the candles are reflected by reflections on faces and clothes. Under the burning rays of the southern sun, a sweet scene is played out (“The Groom Choosing Earrings for the Bride”, 1838, State Tretyakov Gallery), The figures of girls in the watercolor “October Holiday in Rome. At the Ponte Mole” (1842, Russian Museum). In watercolor “October holiday in Rome. Scene in the Loggia” (1842, State Tretyakov Gallery) depicts a playful dance. The quick movements of the people surrounding the lanky Englishman are expressed in a complex and beautiful silhouette. Without the influence of Gogol, the appearance of these genre scenes is inexplicable.

In all Ivanov's watercolors, the principle of psychological connection between human figures prevails over the principle of classical architectonic composition. Hood-k clearly aspired in them to the life-like truthfulness of the movements of the figures, their relationships.

In the first two genre watercolors, Ivanov practically faced lighting issues. This task was especially difficult in the watercolor "Ave Maria", in which the cold and even moonlight is combined with the warm and quivering light of candles and the soft light of a lantern in front of the image of the Madonna.

The problem of transmitting sunlight, which especially occupied the artist at the end of the 40s, was first posed by him in the aforementioned watercolor “The Groom Choosing Earrings for the Bride”. A comparison of two versions of this drawing (the State Tretyakov Gallery and the Russian Museum) shows that Ivanov sought to use lighting as a unifying principle.

K1845 “The Appearance of Christ to the People” was, in essence, over, with the exception of some particulars (the face of a slave, the figures emerging from the water, the middle group). To the right and left of the picture are people baptized in the waters of the Jordan, behind John is a group of future apostles, in the center and to the right are crowds of people excited by the words of John. In the foreground, the artist painted a slave who is preparing to dress his master. The action takes place in the Jordan Valley, the distant hills are covered with trees. A huge old tree overshadows the foliage of the central group.

To solve the problem: to portray humanity, waiting for its liberation, Ivanov considered himself in the right to use everything that had previously been achieved by world art. He drew samples of plasticity from ancient Greek sculpture, studying ancient originals in Rome and Florence, studied Renaissance painting: Leonardo da Vinci, Fra Bartolomeo, Ghirlandaio, and most of all Raphael.

Obviously, from the very first steps of working on the composition of the picture, Ivanov felt the need to organize human figures into groups that are interconnected by a commonality or, conversely, compared in deliberate contrasts. These groups were defined as follows: an old man and a young man emerging from the water, a group of disciples, headed by the Baptist and closed on the left by a figure of a skeptic, the foreground group of a rich man and a slave, and, finally, a group - a trembling father and son - flanking the entire composition to the right. In addition, many figures are placed in the shadows, in the middle of the picture in the crowd of people occupying the upper right part of the canvas. These figures are also organized into groups.

The figure of John the Baptist is of decisive importance. It is located almost in the center and organizes the whole composition with its mighty power. In the image of the Baptist, Ivanov used the monuments of Italian painting and, above all, Raphael, which by no means deprived the image of its own expressiveness. John in the picture is filled with a fiery temperament; he burns the hearts of people with the verb. With a gesture of tremendous power, he points to the approaching Messiah. He was the first to see and recognize the Messiah. His gesture determines the movement of the entire compositional structure of the picture.

Hood-k set as his goal to achieve in each of the characters the most typical expression of each person. character. He succeeded especially in the images of the Baptist, the apostles John, Andrew, Nathanael and the slave, the studies of which are among the best. No wonder Kramskoy considered the Ivanovo Baptist "an ideal portrait."

It is characteristic that a real portrait underlies each character, each type included in the picture. At the next stage, the hood attracts the heads of ancient sculptures, as if shaping them with the classical features of living nature.

“The Appearance of Christ to the People” combines the lofty idea of ​​the liberation of mankind with a monumental form.

By 1845 include sketches of the murals "The Resurrection of Christ", intended for the Cathedral of Christ the Savior, which was being built by K.A.Ton. During this period, Ivanov came up with the idea of ​​creating a whole cycle of paintings on biblical subjects. These murals were supposed to cover the walls of a special public building (not a church, as the artist himself always emphasized). Their themes and sequence were more in line with the book “The Life of Jesus” by D. Strauss, but were based on a deep and independent study of the primary sources by the artist himself. Ivanov decided to present here the evolution of the beliefs of mankind in their close relationship and historical conditioning. In a cycle of sketches that embodied this idea, the problems of the historical fate of the people, the relationship between the people and the individual, so typical of romantic historicism, received the most profound solution compared to all Russian historical painting of the 2/3rd century. The abundance and endless variety of watercolor sketches on biblical subjects made by Ivanov is striking (almost all of them are kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery).

It is difficult to point out the best among the sketches. Therefore, we should focus only on the more characteristic ones. Such, for example, is the sketch “Three wanderers announce to Abraham the birth of Isaac”, the composition of which is striking in its monumentality, the fusion of man and nature, and the expressiveness of the figures. No less interesting is the Gathering of Manna in the Wilderness, a mass scene in which fleeing people are captured by a joyful whirlwind, or the Procession of the Prophets, full of powerful, amazing rhythm. Despite the fact that Ivanov's idea remained only in sketches, these sketches belong to the greatest assets of art.

Its landscapes are wonderful. "Appian Way" (1845, State Tretyakov Gallery). “The Gulf of Naples at Castellammare” (1846, State Tretyakov Gallery). Ivanov resolutely entered the path of the plein air. In his painting, nature is not through myth, as in the works of the classics, but through reality.

Ivanov's work, going far beyond the romantic ideals of the era, is the most powerful expression of the realistic orientation of Russian art in the mid-19th century.

In the early years of his retirement in Italy, in the early 1830s, Ivanov painted a beautiful painting "Apollo, Cypress and Hyacinth Making Music and Singing."

Brilliant sketches of murals for the "Temple of Humanity" conceived by him In "Biblical Sketches" Ivanov sought to organically combine the gospel truth with historical truth, the legendary mythical with reality, the sublime with the ordinary, the tragic with everyday life.

Art of the middle (40s - 50s) of the 19th century - the "Gogol" period of Russian culture

Fedotov, Pavel Andreevich(1815-1852) - a famous Russian artist and draftsman, the founder of critical realism in Russian painting.

In the work of Fedotov, for the first time in Russian art, a program of critical realism was implemented. The "accusatory orientation" also affected the "Breakfast of an Aristocrat".

The picture "The Widow" Fedotov performed in several versions, consistently moving towards the goal - to show human misfortune as it really is.

The painting "Anchor, more anchor!" holistic in color - muddy red, and an ominous emotional mood. The canvas is truly tragic: in it, the melancholy of unsightly routine and the meaninglessness of existence comes to the fore.