Russian painting is rightly distinguished from world art. The fact is that until the seventeenth century, domestic painting was associated exclusively with a religious theme. The situation changed with the coming to power of the tsar-reformer - Peter the Great. Thanks to his reforms, Russian masters began to engage in secular painting, and icon painting separated as a separate direction. The seventeenth century is the time of such artists as Simon Ushakov and Iosif Vladimirov. Then, in the Russian art world, the portrait was born and quickly became popular. In the eighteenth century, the first artists appeared who switched from portraiture to landscape painting. The pronounced sympathy of the masters for winter panoramas is noticeable. The eighteenth century was also remembered for the birth of everyday painting. In the nineteenth century, three trends gained popularity in Russia: romanticism, realism and classicism. As before, Russian artists continued to turn to the portrait genre. It was then that world-famous portraits and self-portraits of O. Kiprensky and V. Tropinin appeared. In the second half of the nineteenth century, artists more and more often depict the simple Russian people in their oppressed state. Realism becomes the central trend of painting of this period. It was then that the Wanderers appeared, depicting only real, real life. Well, the twentieth century is, of course, the avant-garde. The artists of that time significantly influenced both their followers in Russia and around the world. Their paintings became the forerunners of abstractionism. Russian painting is a huge wonderful world of talented artists who glorified Russia with their creations
Species landscape.
Since the 17th century the topographic landscape is widely distributed (engravers - the German M. Merian and the Czech V. Gollar), the development of which was largely predetermined by the use of the camera obscura, which made it possible to transfer individual motifs to canvas or paper with unprecedented accuracy. This kind of landscape in the XVIII century. reaches its peak in the vedutas saturated with air and light by Canaletto and B. Belotto, in the works of F. Guardi, which open a qualitatively new stage in the history of the landscape, and stand out for their virtuoso reproduction of a changeable light-air environment. Species landscape in the XVIII century. played a decisive role in the formation of the landscape in those European countries where until the XVIII century. there was no independent landscape genre (including in Russia, where the largest representatives of this type of landscape were the graphic artists A.F. Zubov, M.I. Makhaev, the painter F.Ya. Alekseev).
The genre of landscape emerged rather late. Its appearance is associated with the founding of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, where in 1767 a landscape class was established to train landscape painters. The classes of perspective and theatrical scenery, from which many landscape painters came from, also contributed to the establishment of this genre. Narrow specialties, including landscape, were instituted in the engraving class.
The landscape class from 1776 to 1804 was taught by Semyon Shchedrin, a student of the Academy of Arts. The well-known landscape painter Fyodor Alekseev left the perspective class. Difficulties arose with the search for a teacher for the class of theatrical scenery. Therefore, in 1776, the Academic Council decided to send two students to the theater master - Yakov Gerasimov and Fyodor Matveev, later a famous landscape painter.
Of great importance for the development of the landscape genre were the retirement trips of the most gifted graduates of the Academy. Studying in Italy and France with great masters, pensioners improved their skills, reaching the level of European art. They have been abroad, and some have stayed there. famous Russian landscape painters: Maxim Vorobyov, Alexander Ivanov, Mikhail Lebedev, Semyon Shchedrin, Fyodor Matveev. Fedor Alekseev, Sylvester Shchedrin and many others. This allowed the landscape genre to equalize with European art and continue to live its own Russian life, finding its own face, responding to the problems of the spiritual reality of the country.
The landscape performed by Semyon Fedorovich Shchedrin (1745 - 1804) took shape as an independent genre, not burdened with various kinds of sandy loam. These were no longer exercises in perspective views, but images of terrain views. As a pensioner of the Academy of Arts, Shchedrin studied in France, where he was patronized by the Russian ambassador in Paris, Prince DA Golitsyn, in fact, the first Russian art critic who wrote an essay on the theory and history of art. Judging by the early work of Shchedrin Noon(1779), executed in the wake of his stay in Italy, the artist was clearly influenced by classicism. A characteristic plot with a herd and ruins, a color scheme typical of classicism, dividing the composition into plans - brown near and blue in the distance, decorative interpretation of trees, not natural, but transformed into a fluffy cloud, are evidence of the appearance of the genre of the composed landscape.
Upon arrival in Russia, Shchedrin received a number of orders for landscape panels for the Mikhailovsky Castle (1799-1801), murals and panels for Gatchina, Pavlovsk and Peterhof. AA Fedorov-Davydov noted the development of park art at the end of the 18th century, which influenced Shchedrin's painting. Regular or free, in the English spirit, parks were created in Pavlovsk, Peterhof, Tsarskoye Selo, Gatchina. Landscape paintings were intended to decorate palaces and therefore, along with palace panels, they carried decorative functions. These functions determined the meaning and structure of the St. Petersburg period of Shchedrin's work, including easel landscapes executed by him in 1792-1798: Mill in Pavlovsk(1792), View of the Gatchina Palace from Long Island(1796). View in Gatchina park(1798). The artist retained in them all the signs of conventionality: brown color, slightly tinted with green and blue, "mongrel" trees, staffing figures, pointing to the motive of contemplation. Time seems to be frozen in the picture, and it requires reflection.
It cannot be said that the landscape was completely composed by Shchedrin. It is based on a specific look, but it is arbitrarily transformed by the artist. Yes, in the landscape Mill in Pavlovsk the decorativeness of the letter is clearly visible, inspired by some residual baroque, which did not have time to disappear with the advent of the new time. It seems that the “Shchedrin Baroque” was influenced by the style of Russian icon painting of the 17th-18th centuries, as well as the interiors of the Naryshkin Baroque. In two views - the Gatchina Palace from Long Island and the Gatchina Park - along with decoratively treated trees, the depth of real space built by light is visible. The traces of the classicist style are too timid, but the understanding of the landscape as an image of some idyllic land corresponds to the concept of classicism, which corrected the “vile” nature by aligning it with antiques. Nature, as if trimmed to a standard decorative pattern, is far from Russian nature. The landscape is a kind of canon of style, executed according to the rules of the game of this style. But it also contains a live observation of nature, marked by a desire to capture the awe of nature and the beauty of reality. More directly, reality was embodied in two Views of the Kamennoostrovsky Palace(1803 and 1804). The river and the palace are written according to the rules of perspective. They are clear and believable. The picture shows the influence of another landscape painter - Fyodor Alekseev with his airy and spatial views of St. Petersburg. In Shchedrin's landscapes, the image was replaced by a composition. The composed landscape was a fiction, based on the view of a very specific area, but so modified that it was left to guess about its real prototype. Shchedrin's fictional landscape was a landscape of prototypes, not landscapes. For this reason, landscapes cannot be recognized as specific, despite the fact that they bear names species.
Classicism had its own ideological and plastic concept. The given plot and theme are visible in the picture noon, for which the artist received the title of academician. The academic program prescribed: "I will imagine noon, where cattle, shepherds and shepherds are required, often a forest of water, mountains, bushes, etc." Similar bucolic scenes are depicted in the paintings View in the vicinity of Stary Russa(1803) and Landscape with shepherds and flock the original Russian Arcadia had nothing to do with reality. The artist pursued in the landscape the ideology of classic art, the visual system of which provided for a distance between reality and fiction, giving preference to a fictionally composed picture of life and the conventions of its plastic interpretation.
In 1799-1801, commissioned by Paul I, Shchedrin painted a panel for the Mikhailovsky Castle. In them, the artist not only enhanced the decorative features of his manner, but changed the nature of the landscape as a genre that had been outlined in his previous works. In panel Stone bridge in Gatchina near Connetable Square the meaning and purpose of the Shchedrin landscape change significantly. The panel fits into the interior of the palace, being subordinate to the task of purposefully decorating the halls. The landscape itself, that is, the image of the area, becomes only an excuse for the implementation of a different function of the work, adjusted to the architectural style of the interior. The seeming or earlier autonomization of the landscape as an independent genre is subordinated to the task of decorating the interior of the palace. From this follows the strengthening of the decorative beginning of the work, which neglects the exact transfer of the subject of the image. The functions of decorative and easel works are different. Submitting to decorative tasks, the genre of landscape turned into an illusion of a genre, losing or narrowing its independence in posing genre and landscape problems, in reflecting and reproducing life.
Fedor Yakovlevich Alekseev (1753 - 1824) took the first step in Russian landscape painting towards the real depiction of the landscape. The subject of his art was the urban landscape. In this sense, a line of urban perspectives has been outlined in the Russian landscape, as if inheriting the art of Canaletto, Bellotto, Guardi and others.
Alekseev creates an airy landscape thanks to the panoramic construction of plans. Perspective and aerial environment are crucial components of his landscapes. The artist's works do not respond to ideas that are outside the landscape image, so they are devoid of an element outside the artistic interpretation of the subject of the image. A gentle range of cold tones usually prevails in Petersburg perspectives. Light painting corresponds to the real color of the city, and the air environment seems to demonstrate the emotional excitement of the artist. The interpretation of the landscape through the air was an innovation in Russian art. Perhaps only the Dutch, Claude Lorrain and Joseph Turner turned to this technique, which became one of the essential means of pictorial solution of the theme. Alekseev's landscapes are contemplative. Calmly pouring light gives some of his works a sense of peace. In Alekseev's Petersburg landscapes, one can feel the influence of Francesco Guardi, who turned to aerial panoramas when depicting Venice.
In the views of Nikolaev and Kherson, the artist paid more attention to objectivity, characteristic of the works of Antonio Canaletto and especially Bernardo Bellotto. Alekseev's landscapes are sparsely populated, but where there is a semblance of an everyday genre, the landscape theme wins. For Canaletto, the life of the city is almost the core of the image, and therefore it is rather difficult to determine the genre based on the subject of the image. The genre in general often changes its essence, acquiring a completely different meaning from which it is habitually endowed. For Canaletto, the landscape is not a view of the area, but a display of the life of the city. This discrepancy is very important, because the evaluation of the work from the point of view of genre typology is difficult. Like Canaletto, Alekseev presents the city both as a view of the area and in the integrity of its life, and not just enjoying its architectural features. (View from Vasilyevsky Island to the English Embankment, 1810s). On the contrary, the landscapes of Moscow focus on the sights of antiquity, on the "ruins" characteristic of the landscape of classicism. The city of Alekseev is lively, populated by working people, especially in the picture Red Square in Moscow(1801) and images of St. Petersburg embankments. In this respect, the paintings are not like the staffage landscapes of Semyon Shchedrin or Benjamin Patersen.
The landscapes of Moscow are strikingly different from the spatial, light and airy landscapes of St. Petersburg. It seems that a certain prejudice, a deliberately accepted view of things, hovers over everything. The ancient capital appears in the halo of “old times”, the green gamma is like a patina. The drawing is characterized by intricacy that deforms nature. Because of this, the image acquires a decorative effect, drawing art back to Semyon Shchedrin. Alekseev's landscape seemed to move in jerks. At first, he went along the path of realistic perfection, then returned to a very superficial decorative effect.
The Russian landscape began, in fact, as an urban landscape, which made significant adjustments to the classicist scheme. He destroyed it, because he was incompatible with the ideas of the majestic, pathetic, civic art of classicism. From the very beginning, the urban landscape was established as a low genre, since it was forced to turn to urban life, to the everyday genre, with which it was clearly combined. Alekseev's work stands apart in Russian art of the 18th century. It coexisted with the decorativism of Semyon Shchedrin and the classicism of Fyodor Matveev, but went against them, as if anticipating the realistic tendencies of the subsequent landscape.
Fyodor Matveevich Matveev (1758 - 1826) continued the Renaissance dream of a harmonious life. Classicism as a whole took advantage of the Renaissance imagination, based, in turn, on the gospel legends. He supplemented nostalgia for a harmonious life with regret for the lost antiquity. The classical landscape of the 18th century limits its idea of a beautiful life to the glorification of ancient realities that are encountered in reality and reminiscent of the once harmonious existence of man and nature. Matveev's classical landscape is predominantly elegiac. He is alien to Lorrain's clarity, which is read as if in a hymn sung to the sun and light. Matveev's landscape is a bright elegy sounding on the same note, in which reality and the past are united. The landscape, as it were, is retrospective not in style, but in the feelings and moods inherent in Renaissance artists, correcting the spiritual structure of old art, passing off what is desired for reality. rim razvaliny foruma
Matveev also retained decorative elements. This suggests that classicism grew out of decorative painting, preserving its plasticity as an atavism. Decorativeness is felt in the stylization of nature. The modification of forms concerns the image of trees, glossy, crushed, as if minted foliage of the middle plan, as well as color, clearly bluish or overgreen.
In the work of Matveev, a whole philosophy of landscape arises, comprehension of worldview problems through the landscape. The landscape sounds like pictorial symphonies, where the author's reflections on the world space, on the frailty of earthly existence are clearly heard. Philosophizing is framed by a plot outline.
In classicism, pictorial art is based on a conditionally transformed essay on the theme of the real qualities of nature, natural and life circumstances. Matveev's early 19th-century classicism has a completely different theme than 18th-century classicism. Previously, classicism fantasized about ancient or mythical themes (Nicolas Poussin, Claude Lorrain), now it is, as it were, reality, in which one of its aspects is chosen: the “remains” of ancient culture, transformed by the artist according to his philosophy, regretting the past, which is embodied in the form of an illusory reality.
The "majestic" (in the terminology of classicism) is extracted from nature itself, where the appropriate motif of grandiose mountains or spaces is chosen, and enhanced by the ruins of ancient monuments. When Pyotr Chekalevsky said that painting “chooses the most perfect spectacle of nature in general, connects different parts of many places and the beauty of many private people”, this primarily applied to Matveev. His communication with reality turned into its idealization - a sign of a classic landscape. Fedorov-Davydov writes: “In classicism, the landscape from nature and the landscape of the imagination are not so much combined as they are fighting with each other”2. The natural tendency, as it were, is subject to fiction. Fedorov-Davydov cites the words of Matveev, confirming this consideration: “The artist does not want to leave those beautiful, naturally decorated places that seem to be made on purpose by the artist.”
In Matveev's work, the appeal to reminders of past cultures is completely different than that of Claude Lorrain or Hubert Robert, where the ruins were fictional, but corresponding to Renaissance architecture. Matveev's ruins have a real character: the Colosseum, for example, or the Temple of Paestum (Heroic landscape). The real view was perceived through the prism of the author's "transforming" concept. Often, as in the View of Rome. Colosseum, the naturalness of the view begins to prevail over the "philosophy" and the landscape, despite the severity of classical architectonics, looks like an ordinary natural image. Sometimes it seems that Matveev's art is a textbook of examples and rules of classicism. Indeed, his work provides for classic normativity. Many compositions have stable regularity, are flanked by trees, balanced by mountain horizontals and architectural verticals. The same view of Rome, the Colosseum has a reasonable regularity of construction. It shows a strict delimitation of plans: the first is written in detail, in detail; the middle plan, containing the main idea of the landscape, is painted green, the distant plan "melts" in a bluish haze, serving as a kind of background for the plot. However, in many other works Matveev retained the principles of decorative landscape. In Vida in Paestum, the classical scheme of the stage building is broken by a group of trees located almost in the compositional center. In the Heroic Landscape, the mass of trees on the right side of the picture overwhelms the weak counterbalance of the left side. Elements of decorative painting, not limited to a displaced composition, are preserved in the technique of decorative construction of the view, stable and monotonous. The drawing tends to be decorative, especially noticeable in the way each leaf of huge tree crowns is minted, clearly readable against the brightened sky. The classicism of the 19th century retained from the decorativeism of the late 18th century the thoroughness of the subject study and the brown color, which has two or three meager shades. The color in Matveev is extinguished, becomes boring, does not excite emotions. The main thing is the composition and drawing, sometimes clear, sometimes monogrammed, intricately sophisticated. The developed template leads to one result: composition and transformation based on reality. Nature in the landscape View in the vicinity of Bern (1817), being transformed, loses its real forms and is translated into an ideal majestic panorama, as if not a specific area was depicted, but the artistic concept of "the whole earth" was being implemented. Matveev has his own version of the ideal landscape. He is not always heroic and majestic. Idealization concerns not only the image of the beautiful earth, but also the particulars that make up the whole. For example, trees are conditional, they personify the idea of a luxurious tree, but do not convey its real look.
The landscape with figures in antique clothes is distinguished by careful detailing of the image, filigree finish. The foreground, as well as the crown of the tree on the right, are drawn with jeweler's precision. However, does the thoroughness of writing contradict the generalization of the image? To some extent, definitely. But only at the level of realistic generalization. In classicism there is a different generalization. The classic image is the same. It does not respond to the specificity of particulars and the whole. It generates an image-ideal, which is supposed to designate some quality. In this version, the tree embodies the idea of \u200b\u200bluxurious flora. This is not a symbol, but, so to speak, “a typical detail * in the system of classic artistic measurements. With slight variations, this applies to other elements (ruins, mountains, plains, plants, valleys) that appear in all interpretations of nature. The artist, as an architect, operates with “typical details*, established pictorial matrices, constructing a streamlined, emotionally tuned image of the world.
The world in Matveev's works is motionless. The mountains are solemn and static, the sky is calm and enlightened, the rivers are smooth and calm. The picture of the world in its rational equanimity, as it were, opposes its other element - the restless sea. And if the mountains become a symbol of classic tranquility, then the sea and cascades are a sign of a romantic impulse.
Landscape painters of the early 19th century (mostly graduates of the Academy of Arts) do not reach artistic heights. However, some of their works unexpectedly express a significant trend. Thus, a landscape of national color appears in the painting by Andrey Efimovich Martynov (1768 - 1826) View of the Selenga River in Siberia (1817) or Timofey Alekseevich Vasilyev (1783 - 1838) View of the Nikolaev pier at the source of the Angara River from Lake Baikal (1824), which retain the classic significance and scale of the species. But these are no longer heroic landscapes, although they are guided by specific effects. Effectiveness is a pathos that will be preserved by Russian art for a long time to come. In these landscapes, not so much nature is contemplated as life on earth. It is significant that, despite the traditional classicistic techniques, ordinary, everyday life is depicted, which in its essence destroys the sublime classical motifs. In cases where nature retains a majestic appearance, the everyday shell of human life begins to contradict classical impressiveness.
The decorative and classicist trend in art has a special relationship to the subject. The subject does not attract the attention of the artist with its independent value, capable of causing a desire to know it and discover aesthetic qualities in it. The subject is involved in the circle of philosophical reflections and has no independent meaning. It stands among the other components of the picture as a secondary element, necessary to indicate the situation generated by the author and the image of a panoramic view that expresses the author's philosophy. Therefore, subjects are not studied, not investigated, but, in fact, play the role of staffing, which, along with other components, should create a “general” picture of the world. In classicism, the standard for depicting villages, mountains, space, plans was worked out. With rare exceptions, a tree is drawn in general, without a breed, unless the pine is recognizable. Thus, the idea of a luxurious crown is embodied, the idea of mountains, turning into flat decorations. In other words, a natural approach to nature has not yet been developed, which diminishes the concrete significance of things. The classic image is far from understanding the life of nature. It represents rather the movement of the author's thought, the author's idea of the landscape, where nature is assigned a third-rate role. Nature has nothing to do with time. It does not show a specific situation. Lack of specificity leads to convention. In the relationship between nature and artistic consciousness, the objectivity of the image of nature is distracted by the illusory author's thinking. Semyon Shchedrin and Fyodor Matveev, and even earlier Fyodor Alekseev, are showing a clear change in the depiction of the objective world. In their art, the growing role of objectivity is taken under the scope of observation and study. But this happens in full measure in the landscapes of Sylvester Feodosievich Shchedrin (1791 - 1830).
Sylvester Shchedrin was born in the family of the sculptor Theodosius Shchedrin. The landscape painter Semyon Shchedrin was his uncle. Almost all of his life was spent in Italy, where he was sent as a pensioner and where he died at a young age. The vast majority of his work is devoted to Italy. His first works bear the stamp of the residual influence of decorativeism: View from Petrovsky Island in St. Petersburg (1811). View from Petrovsky Island to Tuchkov Bridge and Vasilyevsky Island in St. Petersburg (1815), View of Petrovsky Island in St. Petersburg (1817). Unlike Alekseev's landscapes, Shchedrin has no air. It seems that it is pumped out of the picture, thanks to which the colors do not fade, but gain true strength. They bring an unbiased sense of object colors glowing within a classic scheme built on the contrast of a densely shaded foreground and a brightened background. The description of the tree crowns of the conditional pattern looks like the decorative outlines of the trees of Semyon Shchedrin. The figures in the landscape are of a staffing nature. They do not live in it, do not act - they signify life, enlivening the landscape.
The landscape in Russia was just beginning to take shape. It bears the stamp of academic convention. But he had the opportunity to be released, because he did not suffer from the plot and thematic connectedness that reigned in other genres. In the first two decades of the 19th century, this freedom was acquired by the artist abroad, mainly in Italy, where the students of the Academy went on an internship (retirement). Shchedrin's first landscapes have a dual property. They are full of size and slowness. They are static, as if stopping for a moment from the chain of time. On the other hand, filling the picture of the city with staffing gives the landscape a genre shade, which reduces the feeling of the majesty of the motif. The introduction of fractional everyday components: interweaving of bridges, horse-drawn carts, random buildings, fishermen - puts the landscape on the verge of the everyday genre that arises inside the landscape.
Landscapes of the 1810s are clearly not natural. After drawing blanks, the picture was brought from memory. Due to the fact that the landscape in the genre register was not in the forefront, it was believed that it could not embody moral and religious ideas. As soon as the landscape gained freedom, he hurried to free himself from canonical biases and speak in the natural language of nature, preferring it to "high calm". The genre's natural attraction to authenticity did not at all mean that realism became its ultimate goal. Equally competent was the composed landscape, which organized the picture according to a given idea. The idea, as a rule, created a kind of myth about a beautiful country, if it was not a divine idea, denoting and embodying the presence of a divine spirit or cosmic forces in earthly nature. Shchedrin's impulse to realism, upon his arrival in Italy, did not at all constitute the pinnacle of his work, although it gave the world remarkable examples that expanded the pictorial and plastic range of art. The artist pursued beauty - the only and ultimate goal of art.
In Italy, Shchedrin worked side by side with Matveev, who had some influence on him. It is noticeable in the painting Colosseum in Rome (1822), compositionally comparable to Matveev's Colosseum, as well as in the canvas View of Naples from the road to Posilippo (1829). In this work, while maintaining the classicist scheme, Shchedrin tried to overcome it. He carefully observed the objective world, which distracted him from the composition of the landscape image. But the artist has not yet succeeded in creating a unity of color relations.
Another important discovery that changed the "philosophy" of the landscape was the light penetrating the trees and illuminating the sea or the ruins (Old Rome, 1824). Light immediately changed the understanding of nature. Actually, the “window to the world” was opened with the help of illumination of the visual space. In this regard, Shchedrin neglected the understanding of the world as a universe. It was replaced by attention to concrete life. This life was perceived harmoniously, as a happy being of a person. Conjecture, imagination left the picture, replaced by a clearly realized real landscape, interpreted as a happy destiny of man. People in the artist's paintings are working, fishing, relaxing, contemplating the sea, which expands the scope of the landscape to the everyday genre. The observed world of quiet life is carefully studied, or rather, contemplated, which gives it peace and immutability. Unlike classicism, Shchedrin's works are being democratized. He paints not palace parks, not metropolitan prospects, but a country of people, prosaic workers. The circle of knowledge has expanded, opening not only new subjects, it has been enriched with a different worldview. The most important factor in Shchedrin's landscape was the artist's natural entry into nature, which he painted in complete harmony with its breath. Nature is perceived in connection with the commoner. She is inhabited by him, and in this habitation one sees a new property of landscape plots and motifs. The former grandiosity of the world is replaced by humanity. The artist sees the world in its material form, as a luxury given by the Creator. The touch of the beauty of the sea, the physical perceptibility of trees, the air, the enlightened space, the lightness and transparency of the sky gave rise to a world of harmony. For this reason, the study of nature becomes one of the main factors in the changed attitude towards the landscape. The natural environment loses the conventionality of the image. Therefore, the picture is no longer built according to the rules of a majestic spectacle, but, in accordance with the new artistic concept, refers to private views, fragments of nature or seaside towns: Embankment in Naples (1825), View of Amalfi near Naples, Small Harbor in Sorrento, On the Island of Capri ( all - 1826).
The light in Shchedrin's paintings is diffused, softly enveloping distant mountains, coastal houses and trees. From this, many color tints of the sea, sky, velvet mountains, shaded in blue, appear. In the blessed nature, one feels the legacy of ancient times, perceived as a paradise for a calm human being. In Shchedrin's Italian landscapes, the principle of "composition" was completely replaced by the reproduction of nature in its finest qualities.
Fedorov-Davydov notes Shchedrin's mastery of the plein air. This real conquest of the landscape of the 1820s placed Shchedrin among the outstanding landscape painters of Europe. His plein airism is still imperfect. In comparison with the juicy, saturated with reflexes, bold painting of Alexander Ivanov, Shchedrin's plein air is timid, as if academically smoothed. It is more like a speculative reflection of color on color than an object viewed through a color-light medium. It is important, however, that both the color monochrome and the local gamut of the open color are overcome. Presented in a spectacular expression, nature has demonstrated that the beautiful in life is adequate to the beautiful in art. Sylvester Shchedrin combines the panoramic principle of space, left over from classicism, with a new principle - the “window to the world”, which is especially clearly seen in the “tunnel” landscapes and in the views from the photos, where the depth is built by the color shaded in the foreground and the airy distance . This is a breakthrough of the picture plane into the opening space: Grotto in Sorrento overlooking Vesuvius (1826), Grotto Matrimonio on the island of Capri (1827), Veranda entwined with grapes (1828), Terrace on the seashore (1828), Lake Albano in the vicinity of Rome ( 1825), View from the grotto of Vesuvius and Castello dell'Ovo on a moonlit night (1820s).
Calm contemplation of the world collapses in the "night" landscapes of Shchedrin. There are elements of drama. But this is not the drama of real life, but the concentration of the author's state projected onto nature. From here, elements of the conditional transmission of the night sky, clouds beating in the wind, etc. arose again, but the convention is colored this time with features of romantic pathos Naples on a moonlit night, 1829; two versions of Lunar Night in Naples, 1828).
The 18th century is a period in which colossal transformations took place in all spheres: political, social, public. Europe introduces new genres into Russian painting: landscape, historical, everyday life. The realistic direction of painting becomes predominant. A living person is a hero and bearer of the aesthetic ideals of that time.
The 18th century entered the history of art as the time of pictorial portraits. Everyone wanted to have their own portrait: from the queen to an ordinary official from the provinces.
European trends in Russian painting
Famous Russian artists of the 18th century were forced to follow Western fashion at the behest of Peter I, who wanted to Europeanize Russia. He attached great importance to the development of fine arts and even planned to build a specialized educational institution.
Russian artists of the 18th century mastered new techniques of European painting and depicted on their canvases not only kings, but also various boyars, merchants, patriarchs, who tried to keep up with fashion and often commissioned local artists to paint a portrait. At the same time, the artists of that time tried to enrich the portraits with household items, elements of the national costume, nature, and so on. Attention was focused on expensive furniture, large vases, luxurious clothes, interesting poses. The image of people of that time is perceived today as a poetic story by artists about their time.
And yet, the portraits of Russian artists of the 18th century differ from the portraits of invited foreign painters in a striking contrast. It is worth mentioning that artists from other countries were invited to train Russian artists.
Types of portraits
The beginning of the 18th century was marked by the appeal of portrait painters to semi-ceremonial and chamber views. Portraits of painters of the second half of the 18th century give rise to such types as front, semi-ceremonial, chamber, intimate.
The front one differs from others in the image of a person in full growth. Glitter of luxury - both in clothes and in household items.
A semi-front view is an image of a knee-length or waist-length model.
If a person is depicted on a neutral background up to the chest or waist, then this type of portrait is called chamber.
The intimate look of the portrait suggests an appeal to the inner world of the hero of the picture, while the background is ignored.
portrait images
Often, Russian artists of the 18th century were forced to embody the customer's idea of himself in a portrait image, but in no way a real image. It was important to take into account the public opinion about this or that person. Many art historians have long concluded that the main rule of that time was to depict a person not so much as he really was, or as he would like to be, but as he could be in his best reflection. That is, in the portraits of any person they tried to portray as an ideal.
First artists
Russian artists of the 18th century, whose list is generally small, are, in particular, I. N. Nikitin, A. P. Antropov, F. S. Rokotov, I. P. Argunov, V. L. Borovikovsky, D G. Levitsky.
Among the first painters of the 18th century are the names of Nikitin, Antropov, Argunov. The role of these first Russian artists of the 18th century was insignificant. It was reduced only to writing a huge number of royal images, portraits of Russian nobles. Russian artists of the 18th century - masters of portraits. Although often they simply helped foreign craftsmen paint the walls of a large number of palaces and make theatrical scenery.
The name of the painter Ivan Nikitich Nikitin can be found in the correspondence of Peter I with his wife. His brush belongs to the portrait of the king himself, Chancellor G. I. Golovin. There is nothing artificial in his portrait of the outdoor hetman. Appearance is not altered by a wig or court attire. The artist showed the hetman as he does in real life. It is in the truth of life that the main advantage of Nikitin's portraits lies.
Antropov's work is preserved in the images of St. Andrew's Cathedral in Kyiv and portraits in the Synod. These works are distinguished by the artist's penchant for yellow, olive colors, because he is a painter who studied with the master of icon painting. Among his famous works are portraits of Elizabeth Petrovna, Peter I, Princess Trubetskoy, Ataman F. Krasnoshchekov. Antropov's work combined the traditions of original Russian painting of the 17th century and the canons of the fine arts of the Petrine era.
Ivan Petrovich Argunov is a famous serf portrait painter of Count Sheremetyev. His portraits are graceful, the poses of the people depicted by him are free and mobile, everything in his work is precise and simple. He is the creator of a chamber portrait, which will later become intimate. Significant works of the artist: the Sheremetyevs, P. B. Sheremetyev in childhood.
You should not think that at that time no other genres existed in Russia, but the great Russian artists of the 18th century created the most significant works in the portrait genre.
The pinnacle of the 18th century was the work of Rokotov, Levitsky and Borovikovsky. The person in the portraits of artists is worthy of admiration, attention and respect. Humanity of feelings is a hallmark of their portraits.
Fyodor Stepanovich Rokotov (1735-1808)
Almost nothing is known about Fyodor Stepanovich Rokotov, an 18th-century Russian artist from the serfs of Prince I. Repnin. This artist writes portraits of women softly and airily. Inner beauty is felt by Rokotov, and he finds the means to embody it on canvas. Even the oval shape of the portraits only emphasizes the fragile and elegant appearance of women.
The main genre of his work is a half-dress portrait. Among his works are portraits of Grigory Orlov and Peter III, Princess Yusupova and Prince Pavel Petrovich.
Dmitry Grigorievich Levitsky (1735-1822)
The famous Russian artist of the 18th century, Dmitry Grigoryevich Levitsky, a student of A. Antropov, was able to sensitively capture and recreate in his paintings the mental states and characteristics of people. Depicting the rich, he remains truthful and unbiased, his portraits exclude obsequiousness and lies. His brush owns a whole gallery of portraits of great people of the 18th century. It is in the ceremonial portrait that Levitsky reveals himself as a master. He finds expressive poses, gestures, showing noble nobles. Russian history in faces - this is how Levitsky's work is often called.
Paintings belonging to the artist's brush: portraits of M. A. Lvova, E. I. Nelidova, N. I. Novikov, the Mitrofanovs.
Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky (1757-1825)
Russian artists of the 18th and 19th centuries are distinguished by their appeal to the so-called sentimental portrait. The artist Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky paints pensive girls, who are depicted in his portraits with light colors, they are airy and innocent. His heroines are not only Russian peasant women in traditional dress, but also respected ladies of high society. These are portraits of Naryshkina, Lopukhina, Princess Suvorova, Arsenyeva. The pictures are somewhat similar, but it is impossible to forget them. is distinguished by the amazing subtlety of the transmitted characters, the almost elusive features of emotional experiences and the feeling of tenderness that unites all the images. In his works, Borovikovsky reveals all the beauty of a woman of that time.
The legacy of Borovikovsky is very diverse and extensive. There are in his work both ceremonial portraits, as well as miniature and intimate canvases. Among the works of Borovikovsky, the most famous were the portraits of V. A. Zhukovsky, G. R. Derzhavin, A. B. Kurakin and Paul I.
Paintings by Russian artists
Paintings of the 18th century by Russian artists are written with love for a person, his inner world and respect for moral virtues. The style of each artist, on the one hand, is very individual, on the other hand, it has several common features with others. This moment determined the very style that emphasizes the character of Russian art in the 18th century.
Most 18th century Russian artists:
- "Young Painter" Second half of the 1760s The author Ivan Firsov is the most enigmatic artist of the 18th century. The painting depicts a boy in a uniform who paints a portrait of a little beautiful girl.
- “Farewell of Hector to Andromache”, 1773 Author Anton Pavlovich Losenko. The last painting of the artist. It depicts a scene from the sixth canto of Homer's Iliad.
- "Stone bridge in Gatchina near Connetable Square", 1799-1801. Author Semyon Fedorovich Shchedrin. The picture shows a landscape view.
And still
Russian artists of the 18th century still tried to reveal the truth and the true characters of people, despite the conditions of serfdom and the wishes of wealthy customers. The portrait genre in the 18th century embodied the specific features of the Russian people.
Undoubtedly, it can be said that, no matter how much the art of the 18th century was influenced by European culture, it nevertheless led to the development of national Russian traditions.
Lev Kamenev (1833 - 1886) "Landscape with a hut"
Landscape, as an independent genre of painting, established itself in Russia around the middle of the 18th century. And before this period, the landscape was the background for the image of icon compositions or part of book illustrations.
A lot has been written about the Russian landscape of the 19th century and such, without exaggeration, great experts in the field of painting wrote that I, in essence, have nothing to add.
The pioneers of Russian landscape painting are called Semyon Shchedrin, Fyodor Alekseev and Fyodor Matveev. All these artists studied painting in Europe, which left a certain imprint on their future work.
Shchedrin (1749 - 1804) gained fame as the author of works depicting imperial country parks. Alekseev (1753 - 1824) was nicknamed the Russian Canaletto for landscapes depicting architectural monuments of St. Petersburg, Gatchina and Pavlovsk, Moscow. Matveev (1758 - 1826) worked most of his life in Italy and wrote in the spirit of his teacher Hackert. The works of this talented Italian artist were also imitated by M.M. Ivanov (1748 - 1828).
Experts note two stages in the development of Russian landscape painting of the 19th century, which are not organically connected with each other, but are clearly distinguishable. These two steps are:
- realistic;
- romantic.
The boundary between these areas was clearly formed by the mid-20s of the XIX century. By the middle of the eighteenth century, Russian painting began to free itself from the rationalism of classical painting of the XVIII century. And Russian romanticism, as a separate phenomenon in Russian painting, is of great importance in these changes.
The Russian romantic landscape developed in three directions:
- urban landscape based on works from nature;
- the study of Russian nature on the basis of "Italian soil";
- Russian national landscape.
And now I invite you to the gallery of works by Russian artists of the 19th century who painted landscapes. I took just one piece from each artist - otherwise this gallery was just endless.
If you have a desire, then you can read about the work of each artist (and, accordingly, recall the work of the artist) on this site.
Russian landscapes of the 19th centuryVladimir Muravyov (1861 - 1940), Blue Forest
Vladimir Orlovsky (1842 - 1914), "Summer Day"
Pyotr Sukhodolsky (1835 - 1903), Trinity Day
Ivan Shishkin (1832 - 1898), "Rye"
Efim Volkov (1844 - 1920), Forest Lake
Nikolai Astudin (1847 - 1925), "Mountain Road"
Nikolai Sergeev (1855 - 1919), "Summer Pond"
Konstantin Kryzhitsky1 (1858-1911), "Zvenigorod"
Alexey Pisemsky (1859 - 1913), "Forest River"
Joseph Krachkovsky (1854 - 1914), "Wisteria"
Isaac Levitan (1860 - 1900), "Birch Grove"
Vasily Polenov (1844-1927), The Old Mill
Mikhail Klodt (1832 - 1902), Oak Grove
Apollinary Vasnetsov (1856 - 1933), Okhtyrka. Homestead type»
Landscape is one of the genres of painting. Russian landscape is a very important genre for both Russian art and Russian culture in general. The landscape depicts nature. Natural landscapes, natural spaces. The landscape reflects the perception of nature by man.
Russian landscape in the 17th century
Saint John the Baptist in the Wilderness
The first building blocks for the development of landscape painting were laid by icons, the background of which was, in fact, landscapes. In the 17th century, the masters began to move away from icon-painting canons and try something new. It was from this time that painting ceased to "stand still" and began to develop.
Russian landscape in the 18th century
M.I. Maheev
In the 18th century, when Russian art joins the European art system, the landscape in Russian art becomes an independent genre. But at this time it is aimed at fixing the reality that surrounded the person. There were no cameras yet, but the desire to capture significant events or works of architecture was already strong. The first landscapes, as an independent genre in art, were topographical views of St. Petersburg, Moscow, palaces and parks.
F.Ya. Alekseev. View of the Resurrection and Nikolsky Gates and the Neglinny Bridge from Tverskaya Street in Moscow
F.Ya. Alekseev
S.F. Shchedrin
Russian landscape at the beginning of the 19th century
F.M. Matveev. Italian landscape
At the beginning of the 19th century, Russian artists painted mainly Italy. Italy was considered the birthplace of art and creativity. Artists study abroad, imitate the manner of foreign masters. Russian nature is considered inexpressive, boring, therefore even native Russian artists paint foreign nature, preferring it as more interesting and artistic. Foreigners are warmly welcomed in Russia: painters, dance and fencing teachers. Russian high society speaks French. Russian young ladies are trained by French governesses. Everything foreign is considered a sign of high society, a sign of education and upbringing, and manifestations of Russian national culture are a sign of bad taste and rudeness. In the famous opera P.I. Tchaikovsky, based on the immortal story by A.S. Pushkin's "The Queen of Spades", the French governess scolds Princess Lisa for dancing "in Russian", it was a shame for a lady from high society.
S.F. Shchedrin. Small harbor in Sorrento overlooking the islands of Ischia and Procido
I.G. Davydov. Suburb of Rome
S.F. Shchedrin. Grotto of Matromanio on the island of Capri
Russian landscape in the middle of the 19th century
In the middle of the 19th century, the Russian intelligentsia and artists in particular began to think about the underestimation of Russian culture. Two opposite directions appear in Russian society: Westernizers and Slavophiles. Westerners believed that Russia was part of world history and excluded its national identity, while the Slavophiles believed that Russia was a special country, rich in culture and history. The Slavophils believed that the path of development of Russia should be fundamentally different from the European one, that Russian culture and Russian nature were worthy of being described in literature, depicted on canvases, and captured in musical works.
Below will be presented paintings, which will depict the landscapes of the Russian land. For ease of perception, the paintings will be listed not in chronological order and not by authors, but by the seasons to which the paintings can be attributed.
Spring in the Russian landscape
Savrasov. The Rooks Have Arrived
Russian landscape. Savrasov "The Rooks Have Arrived"
Usually, spiritual uplift, expectation of joy, sun and warmth are associated with spring. But, in Savrasov’s painting “The Rooks Have Arrived”, we don’t see the sun or heat, and even the temple domes are written in gray, as if still unawakened colors.
Spring in Russia often begins with timid steps. The snow is melting, and the sky and trees are reflected in the puddles. Rooks are busy with their rook business - they build nests. The gnarled and bare trunks of birch trees become thinner, rising to the sky, as if reaching for it, gradually coming to life. The sky, at first glance gray, is filled with shades of blue, and the edges of the clouds are slightly lightened, as if the rays of the sun are peeping through.
At first glance, the picture can make a gloomy impression, and not everyone can feel the joy and triumph that the artist put into it. This painting was first presented at the first exhibition of the association of the Wanderers in 1871. And in the catalog of this exhibition it was called "The Rooks Have Arrived!" there was an exclamation point at the end of the name. And this joy, which is only expected, which is not yet in the picture, was expressed precisely by this exclamation point. Savrasov, even in the title itself, tried to convey the elusive joy of waiting for spring. Over time, the exclamation mark was lost and the picture became simply called "The Rooks Have Arrived."
It is this picture that begins the assertion of landscape painting as an equal, and in some periods the leading genre of Russian painting.
I. Levitan. March
Russian landscape. I. Levitan. March
March is a very dangerous month - on the one hand, the sun seems to be shining, but on the other, it can be very cold and dank.
This spring of air filled with light. Here, the joy of the arrival of spring is already more clearly felt. It is still as if it is not visible, it is only in the title of the picture. But, if you look closely, you can feel the warmth of the wall, warmed by the sun.
Blue, saturated, sonorous shadows not only from trees and their trunks, but also shadows in the snow ruts along which a person walked
M. Claude. On arable land
Russian landscape. M. Claude. On arable land
In the painting by Mikhail Claude, a person (unlike a modern urban dweller) lives in the same rhythm with nature. Nature sets the rhythm of life for a person who lives on earth. In the spring, a person plows this land, in the fall, he harvests. The foal in the picture is like a continuation of life.
Russian nature is characterized by flatness - you rarely see mountains or hills here. And this lack of tension and pathos Gogol amazingly accurately characterized as "the indissolubility of Russian nature." It was this “continuity” that Russian landscape painters of the 19th century sought to convey in their paintings.
Summer in the Russian landscape
Palenov. Moscow courtyard
Russian landscape. Palenov "Moscow courtyard"
One of the most charming pictures in Russian painting. Business card of Polenov. This is an urban landscape in which we see the ordinary life of Moscow boys and girls. Even the artist himself does not always understand the significance of his work. Here is depicted both a city estate and an already collapsed barn and children, a horse, and above all this we see a church. Here and the peasantry and the nobility and children and work and the Temple - all the signs of Russian life. The whole picture is permeated with air, sun and light - that's why it is so attractive and so pleasant to look at. The painting "Moscow Yard" warms the soul with its warmth and simplicity.
US Ambassador's Spass House
Today, on Spaso-Peskovsky Lane, on the site of the courtyard depicted by Palenov, there is the residence of the American ambassador Spass House.
I. Shishkin. Rye
Russian landscape. I. Shishkin. Rye
The life of a Russian person in the 19th century was closely connected with the rhythms of the life of nature: sowing grain, cultivating, harvesting. In Russian nature there is breadth and space. Artists try to convey this in their paintings.
Shishkin is called the "king of the forest", because he has most of all forest landscapes. And here we see a flat landscape with a sown rye field. At the very edge of the picture, the road begins, and, winding, runs among the fields. In the depths of the road, among the tall rye, we see peasant heads in red scarves. In the background, mighty pines are depicted, which, like giants, are striding through this field, on some we see signs of wilting. This is the life of nature - old trees wither, new ones appear. Overhead, the sky is very clear, and closer to the horizon, clouds begin to gather. A few minutes will pass and the clouds will move closer to the leading edge and it will rain. We are also reminded of this by birds that fly low above the ground - they are nailed there by air and atmosphere.
Initially, Shishkin wanted to call this painting "Motherland". While writing this picture, Shishkin thought about the image of the Russian land. But then he left this name so that there would be no unnecessary pathos. Ivan Ivanovich Shishkin loved simplicity and naturalness, believing that it was in simplicity that the truth of life was.
Autumn in the Russian landscape
Efimov-Volkov. October
Russian landscape. Efimov-Volkov. "October"
"There is in the autumn of the original ..."
Fedor Tyutchev
Is in the autumn of the original
Short but wonderful time -
The whole day stands as if crystal,
And radiant evenings ...
Where a peppy sickle walked and an ear fell,
Now everything is empty - space is everywhere -
Only cobwebs of thin hair
Shines on an idle furrow.
The air is empty, the birds are no longer heard,
But far from the first winter storms -
And pure and warm azure pours
On the resting field…
Efimov-Volkov's painting "October" conveys the lyrics of autumn. In the foreground of the picture is a young birch grove painted with great love. Fragile birch trunks and brown earth covered with autumn leaves.
L. Kamenev. Winter road
Russian landscape. L. Kamenev . "Winter road"
In the picture, the artist depicted an endless expanse of snow, a winter road along which a horse drags firewood with difficulty. A village and a forest can be seen in the distance. No sun, no moon, just a dull twilight. In the image of L. Kamenev, the road is covered with snow, few people drive along it, it leads to a village covered with snow, where there is no light in any window. The picture creates a dreary and sad mood.
I. Shishkin. In the wild north
M.Yu.Lermontov
"In the Wild North"
Stands alone in the wild north
On the bare top of a pine tree,
And dozing, swaying, and loose snow
She is dressed like a robe.
And she dreams of everything that is in the distant desert,
In the region where the sun rises
Alone and sad on a rock with fuel
A beautiful palm tree is growing.
I. Shishkin. "In the Wild North"
Shishkin's painting is an artistic embodiment of the motive of loneliness, sung by Lermontov in the poetic work "Pine".
Elena Lebedeva, website graphic designer, computer graphics teacher.
I took a lesson on this article in high school. The children guessed the authors of the poems and the names of the paintings. Judging by their answers, schoolchildren know literature much better than art)))