Works of art from the 18th century. Mid-18th century art

Beginning of the 18th century For Russia, it was marked by a break in the usual way of life, a turn towards imitation of Western cultural models, which primarily affected the capital and provincial nobility. Russian art from the beginning of the 18th century. becomes secular. Hitherto unknown types and genres of spatial arts appear: engraving, monument, sculptural portrait, landscape architecture, etc. The emergence of new types and genres of art was associated with the need to create drawings and maps of St. Petersburg under construction, reflecting the victories of the Russian army and navy.

A system of professional training for engravers, sculptors, painters, and architects is emerging. Often the teachers are recognized masters invited from abroad. Several artistic styles came to Russia from Europe - baroque and rococo, classicism, educational realism, and later - sentimentalism and pre-romanticism. Thus, artistic processes in Russia are becoming more and more closely connected with pan-European processes; only folk art remains faithful to traditional patterns and methods of activity.
The leading artistic style of the first half of the 18th century. in Russia it becomes baroque - the style of absolutism, embodying the splendor and power of the Russian autocracy. Russian Baroque differed from Western European in its optimistic pathos and positive beginning. The main thing in Russian Baroque is the construction of palaces in the new capital of Russia - St. Petersburg.

B.-K. Rastrelli.
Bust of Peter I. 1723-1729.
On Peter's cuirass there are relief images of the Battle of Poltava. And also an image of Peter in the attire of Roman emperors, carving a female figure with a scepter and orb

In 1706, the Office of City Affairs, headed by U.A., was established to manage construction work. Sinyavin. The construction of the Admiralty shipyard fortress began on the left bank of the Neva.
In 1710-1711 The first Winter Palace of Peter I was built. The two-story building, covered with a high roof, was decorated with a small elegant portal and narrow pilasters. In 1726-1727 the architect Dominico Trezzini added two wings to the building and emphasized its center with four columns.

By the end of the 1720s. The appearance of St. Petersburg was determined. In 1737, the Commission on St. Petersburg Buildings was established, its architectural part was headed by P.M. Eropkin. The commission developed a master plan for the capital, according to which the center was moved to the Admiralty side. The directions of the three main city highways, diverging from the Admiralty Tower, were outlined. I.K. Korobov (1700/1701-1747) proposed building a seventy-meter stone Admiralty tower with a high gilded spire and a weather vane in the shape of a ship.
The entire central region was ordered to be built only with stone buildings. The predominant type of building of this time was the palace-estate in the capital or in its suburbs.

The heyday of Russian architecture in the mid-18th century. associated with the Baroque style and with the name of Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli (1700-1771), who combined in his work the features of Western European Baroque and its so-called “Naryshkin” embodiment. Arriving in St. Petersburg as a 16-year-old boy, Rastrelli went abroad twice, starting to work independently during the reign of Anna Ioannovna. His first buildings were the wooden Winter Palace Annenhof in Moscow and the Summer Palace near the Kremlin. Rastrelli built the third Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, combining the houses of Apraksin and Kikin and building two new buildings in the corners from the Admiralty side. The facades of the palace, stretching along the Neva for almost 150 m, still retained the features of Peter the Great's Baroque, but Rastrelli's hand was already felt in the design of a number of interior spaces - the Throne Hall, the antechamber and the Theater.

In 1749, Elizabeth issued a decree on the construction of the Smolny Monastery. Construction of the cathedral, begun in 1748, was suspended due to lack of funds. Rastrelli never finished it, but the resulting building was one of his remarkable creations.
While working on the construction of the Smolny Monastery, Rastrelli received an order from the Empress to begin work on the reconstruction of the Great Peterhof Palace. The architect was given a condition: to preserve the complex of buildings remaining from Peter, significantly expanding the palace.

Rastrelli's most perfect creation is the Great, or Catherine, Palace in Tsarskoe Selo, work on the construction of which took place from 1752 to 1757. The construction of the palace, which had begun earlier, did not satisfy Elizabeth. Rastrelli turned the palace into a huge suite of halls and erected park pavilions in the vast regular garden. The other side of the palace faces a huge courtyard, limited by one-story buildings. The suite of rooms in the central part of the palace had a wonderful decoration - gilded wooden carvings and painted lampshades.

Rastrelli built the fourth Winter Palace in the center of St. Petersburg. The Palace, preserved almost unchanged, is the pinnacle achievement of Russian Baroque, built in the form of a closed quadrangle with a vast courtyard; its size dominates the surrounding space. Countless columns either gather in groups, especially picturesque ones at the corners of the building, or part ways. There are dozens of decorative vases and statues on the roof balustrade. Rastrelli designed each façade differently. Thus, the Northern facade, facing the Neva, stretches as a more or less even wall, without noticeable protrusions. The southern façade, facing Palace Square, has seven divisions and is the main one. Its center is highlighted by a wide, lavishly decorated rhizolite, cut through by three entrance arches. Of the side facades, the most expressive is the western one, facing the Admiralty. Of the interior spaces of the palace created by Rastrelli, the Jordan Staircase and part of the Great Church have retained their Baroque appearance. After the accession of Catherine II to the throne, Rastrelli stopped receiving orders; the Baroque style was not liked by the court. October 23, 1763 Catherine decides to resign Rastrelli from the post of chief architect. In 1771, he submitted a request to be accepted as a member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, the request was granted on January 9, 1771. In the same year, Rastrelli dies.

The influence of Rastrelli's work was also strong for independently working architects. One of these masters was S.I. Chevakinsky (1709/1713 - ca. 1780), who built the two-story St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral.

Details Category: Russian Art of the 18th Century Published 02/10/2018 18:52 Views: 2730

The 18th century for Russia is an era of changes associated with the reforms of Peter I. These reforms affected almost all spheres of the country’s life:

economy, government, military affairs, education, social thought, science and culture. From the “window to Europe”, which Peter the Great cut through, all the achievements of modern times literally poured into Russia.
Russian art mastered and processed Western European experience in various ways: ready-made works of art were bought abroad, and their own works were created by domestic and foreign specialists, who were very actively involved in Russia at that time. Talented people were sent to Europe to study at government expense.

Features of artistic creativity of the 18th century

New times also created a new culture, which replaced the Middle Ages. The idea of ​​beauty and the forms of its embodiment changed.
At the same time, we must not forget that the art of Peter the Great’s time had not yet been completely established; foreign art was not filtered, but did not have a predominant importance in Russian art. Life itself put everything in its place, and in Russian culture only that which took root on Russian soil and met national interests remained. It was this process that brought Russian art out of the closed space of the Middle Ages and connected it with pan-European art, while providing examples of world-class masterpieces.
We must not forget that the public worldview was changing - Russia took the path of absolutism. Science and education developed. The Academy of Sciences was created, book printing actively developed, and culture entered a secular path of development. These changes were especially pronounced in the visual arts and architecture.
The principles of urban planning have changed - they relate to layout, certain types of buildings, compositions of facades, decor, interior, etc.
In the second half of the 18th century. Baroque was replaced by classicism, based on the principles of antiquity. But in Russian architecture, the features of classicism became noticeable already in the first half of the 18th century: simplicity, balance and severity of forms. In connection with the development of industry and trade, the need arose for the construction of buildings of industrial, state and public importance: banks, exchanges, markets, guest houses, government offices. And the development of culture and education led to the construction of libraries, theaters, universities, and academies. The privileges of the nobility expanded, and this led to the growth of noble estates in rural areas.

Painting

In the first half of the 18th century. The genre of secular portrait was formed. This era is called the “portrait of Peter’s time.” The portrait genre becomes dominant in painting. It is already very different from the parsuna of the late 17th century. composition, color, individualization of the person depicted.

I. G. Tannauer. Portrait of Peter I
Artists began to use direct perspective, which creates depth and volume in the image on a plane. The art of Peter the Great's era is characterized by a high pathos of affirmation, which is why the central theme is the person, and the main genre is the portrait.
But the question of authorship in the Peter the Great era remained a complex problem. Artists sometimes did not sign their works. In addition, there was also the problem of identifying the model, because commissioned portraits were usually created with a large degree of embellishment of the person being portrayed, especially since these were usually the emperor and members of his family and their entourage.

I. Nikitin. Portrait of Chancellor Golovkin
Parsuna is gradually being replaced, but continues to exist for some time even in the works of advanced artists of the era: I. Nikitina, I. Vishnyakova, A. Antropova, A. Matveeva, I. Argunova and other artists, which indicates the not yet completed transition from the medieval to the new style. Traces of parsunism are also found in the second half of the 18th century, especially in the works of serfs and provincial craftsmen, self-taught.

I. Vishnyakov. Portrait of Ksenia Ivanovna Tishinina (1755)
In Russian painting of the second half of the 18th century. Two artistic styles predominated: classicism and sentimentalism.
The portrait genre received further development. Artists V. Borovikovsky And F. Rokotov worked in the style of sentimentalism and created a number of lyrical and spiritual portraits.

V. Borovikovsky. Portrait of E.N. Arsenyeva (1796)
A portrait artist created a whole gallery of images of extraordinary people D. Levitsky.

Architecture

First half of the 18th century. marked in architecture by the Baroque style. The first stage of the development of Russian Baroque dates back to the era of the Russian Empire, and from the 1680s to the 1700s the Moscow Baroque began to develop, the main feature of which was the widespread use of elements of the architectural order and the use of centric compositions in temple architecture.

The founding of St. Petersburg gave a powerful impetus to the development of Russian architecture; with the activities of Peter I, a new stage in the development of Russian Baroque began, this stage was called “Petrine Baroque,” ​​which was guided by examples of Swedish, German and Dutch civil architecture. But only the first architectural monuments of this period (for example, the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg) practically escaped Russian influence. Despite the abundance of foreign architects, a new architectural school of its own is beginning to form in Russia.

The architecture of Peter the Great's time was distinguished by the simplicity of volumetric constructions, clarity of divisions and restraint of decoration, and planar interpretation of the facades. The first architects of St. Petersburg: Jean-Baptiste Leblond, Domenico Trezzini, Andreas Schlüter, J.M. Fontana, Nicolo Michetti And G. Mattarnovi. All of them worked in Russia at the invitation of Peter I. Each of them introduced the traditions of the architectural school that he represented into the appearance of the buildings they constructed. Russian architects also adopted the traditions of European Baroque, for example, Mikhail Zemtsov.

The Winter Palace is one of the most famous monuments of the Elizabethan Baroque
During the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, a new Elizabethan baroque developed. It is associated with the name of the outstanding architect Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli. But this style is more associated not with Peter the Great, but with the Moscow Baroque. Rastrelli designed palace complexes in St. Petersburg and its environs: the Winter Palace, the Catherine Palace, Peterhof. His creations are characterized by their enormous scale, splendor of decorative decoration, and two- or three-color facades using gold. The festive nature of Rastrelli's architecture left its mark on all Russian art of the mid-18th century.
In the Elizabethan Baroque, an important place belongs to the work of Moscow architects of the mid-18th century. headed by D. V. Ukhtomsky And I. F. Michurin.
In the 1760s, Baroque in Russian architecture was gradually replaced by classicism.
The rise of strict classicism is associated with creativity M.F. Kazakova(1738-1812). Almost all monumental buildings in Moscow from the late 18th century. created by him: the Senate Palace in the Kremlin, the Petrovsky Travel Palace, the Great Tsaritsyn Palace, Butyrka, etc.

Old buildings of Moscow University on Mokhovaya Street. Architect M.F. Kazakov
In 1812, during the fire of Moscow, the building almost completely burned down. All the floors that were made of wood have been lost. The library, which included many exclusive materials, was destroyed. The museum collection and archives have disappeared. Until 1819, Domenico Gilardi worked on recreating the old building.
Nowadays the Institute of Asian and African Countries at Moscow State University is located here.
The masters of early classicism were A.F. Kokorinov(1726-1772) and French J.B. Valen-Delamote(1729-1800). Kokorinov's works mark the transition from Baroque to Classicism. They are the authors of the project for the building of the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. And Valen-Delamot also owns the building of the Small Hermitage.
I.E. Starov(1745-1808) - the largest architect of the second half of the 18th century. Among his works is the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg (1783-1789). This is a huge city estate of G.A. Potemkin, who bore the title of Prince of Tauride.
In the 80-90s, the championship passed to the architects Quarenghi and Cameron. D. Quarenghi(1744-1817), Italian by birth, mainly worked in St. Petersburg. A typical building for Quarenghi is a building made up of three parts: a central building and two wings connected to it by galleries. The center of the composition was highlighted by a portico. Quarenghi built the building of the Academy of Sciences and the building of the Assignation Bank. Then he creates the Hermitage Theater and the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo. The buildings of the Smolny Institute are also the work of Quarenghi.
Cameron- author of the palace-estate in Pavlovsk.

The building of the Smolny Institute. Architect D. Quarenghi

Sculpture

In the second half of the 18th century. the highest achievements in the field of sculpture are associated with creativity F.I. Shubina(1740-1805). Shubin is a master of Russian sculptural portraiture. He had no predecessors in this genre in Russia. The gallery of sculptural portraits he created (A.M. Golitsyn, P.A. Rumyantsev, M.V. Lomonosov, Paul I, etc.) is distinguished by its realism and expressiveness.
Monumental sculpture of the second half of the 18th century. represented by many works, the largest of which is “The Bronze Horseman” EM. Falcone– equestrian monument to Peter I.
A prominent representative of classicism in sculpture was M.I. Kozlovsky. He embodied the image of a modern hero in the monument to A. Suvorov, although without a portrait resemblance. Rather, this is a generalized image of a hero-commander. M.I. Kozlovsky is the author of the famous sculptural group “Samson Tearing the Lion’s Mouth” in Peterhof.

Monument to Suvorov in St. Petersburg (1801). Inscription under the monument: Prince of Italy Count Suvorov of Rymnik

The era of Peter I is of fundamental importance for all Russian art of modern times. Russia in all areas, including in the field of cultural construction, had to stand on a par with Western European countries. Peter understood the enormous importance for Russia of mastering the advanced artistic experience of the West. Works by Western European masters were purchased, pensioner trips were arranged at the expense of Russian masters to study in Europe, foreign artists were invited to work and train Russian masters in Russia.

I. N. Nikitin. Portrait of the floor hetman. 1720s Canvas, oil.

While noting changes in Russian art, we must not forget that they were based on a great historical heritage and were prepared by the previous course of development of artistic culture. In the art of the 17th century. New features already appeared, for example, the construction of palaces, the genre of portraiture in painting began to be determined, but they were most fully revealed at the beginning of the 18th century. National traditions decisively influenced the nature of the creativity of many foreign masters who worked in Russia.

A. M. Matveev. Auto-reply with my wife. Canvas, oil.

The essence of Peter's transformations in the field of culture is its “secularization.” This means that art becomes secular, it ceases to serve the interests of only the religious cult. The very composition of art is being transformed, new types of artistic activity and genres are appearing, and finally, the visual language is changing. The basis of painting becomes observation, the study of the forms of earthly nature and man, and not following canonized models, as in the Middle Ages.

Among the genres of painting, starting from the time of Peter the Great and throughout the entire 18th century. the portrait becomes the leader. The work of two Russian portrait painters - I. N. Nikitin and A. M. Matveev marks the birth of the actual psychological portrait.

V. L. Borovikovsky. Portrait of A. G. and V. G. Gagarin. 1802. Oil on canvas. State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow

Civil and palace construction of the Peter the Great era is a new bright period in the history of Russian architecture.

Subordinate to the tasks of practical life, art in Peter's time was understood as a high degree of skill - “art” in any matter, be it painting, sculpture or making a model of a ship or watch mechanisms. The fusion of art with technology, science and craft determines the special artistic and engineering character of the culture of the Peter the Great era. Not only the state, but also the largest cultural action of Peter I was the founding of St. Petersburg - the new capital of the young Russian Empire, which became the center of new art.

A. G. Venetsianov. At the harvest. Summer. 1820s Canvas, oil. State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow.

Art begins to serve the purpose of decorating life and everyday life, acquiring a festive, magnificent and decorative character along with a monumental scale. These features received their most vivid and perfect expression in the work of the great architect V.V. Rastrelli - builder of the Grand Palace in Tsarskoe Selo and the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg - brilliant examples of the Baroque style.

Second half of the 18th century. - a time of powerful, brilliant flowering of Russian art of modern times. The time for Europe's apprenticeship has passed. Established in 1757, the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts became a forge of national artistic personnel. The art education system was streamlined, and contacts with the European cultural world became more focused. The beginning of the Academy of Arts coincided with the establishment of classicism - a style that contrasted the decorative pomp and extravagance of the Baroque with strict logic, reasonable clarity and proportionality, which are rediscovered in the classical works of ancient art and the Renaissance. In architecture, this is the time of activity of such outstanding architects as V. I. Bazhenov - the author of the Pashkov house in Moscow, M. F. Kazakov - the builder of the Senate building in the Moscow Kremlin and many public and private buildings in Moscow, I. E. Starov, according to the project who built the Tauride Palace in St. Petersburg, Charles Cameron is the creator of a magnificent palace and garden and park ensemble in Pavlovsk near St. Petersburg. The rise of Russian sculpture in the works of F. G. Gordeev, I. P. Martos, M. I. Kozlovsky, F. F. Shchedrin is also associated with the era of classicism. The portrait sculpture of F. I. Shubin is distinguished by exceptional psychological insight, courage and flexibility of artistic techniques, alien to any conventional schemes. Evidence of the maturity of Russian art, achieved in the second half of the 18th century, is the diversity of creative individuals, reflected, for example, in the difference in artistic style of the two greatest masters of portrait painting - F. S. Rokotov and D. G. Levitsky. Levitsky's painting is filled with brilliance, rapture with the visible beauty of the material world, captivates with the fullness of life, the amazing variety of recreated human types, the wealth of emotional intonations - solemnity, grace, slyness, pride, coquetry, etc. Rokotov in the best portraits of the 1770s. appears as a master of intimate characterization, manifested in the nuances and shades of facial expressions, mysteriously flickering from the darkness of picturesque backgrounds. The work of V. L. Borovikovsky, completing the brilliant flowering of portrait art of the 18th century, is marked by the influence of the ideas and sentiments of sentimentalism.

F. S. Rokotov. Portrait of A. P. Struyskaya (fragment). 1772. Oil on canvas. State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow.

With the advent of the 19th century. Significant changes are taking place in Russian art. The beginning of the century was marked by the birth of a new artistic movement - romanticism, the first exponent of which was O. A. Kiprensky. Russian painting owes the discovery of plein air painting in landscape to S. F. Shchedrin. A.G. Venetsianov becomes the founder of the Russian everyday genre. For the first time turning to the depiction of peasant life, he showed it as a world full of harmony, grandeur and beauty. Contrary to the opposition between “simple nature” and “graceful nature” that existed in academic aesthetics, the graceful was discovered in a field of activity that had previously been considered unworthy of art. For the first time, the soulful lyricism of Russian rural nature was heard in Venetsianov’s paintings. An excellent teacher, he educates a galaxy of artists such as A.V. Tyranov, G.V. Soroka and others. One of the leading genres in their work, along with landscape and portrait, is interior. The genre composition of Russian art is being enriched. Depicting life in its simple, unpretentious appearance, in the peaceful flow of everyday life, in pictures of native nature, they made beauty in art commensurate with the feelings of ordinary people who perceive the beautiful and poetic as moments of rest and silence, won from everyday worries and labors. At the same time, a visual system emerges, opposed to the academic school, a system based not on an orientation towards traditional patterns of the past, but on the search for harmonious patterns and poetry in ordinary, everyday reality. Reality powerfully invades art and leads to the 40s. to the flourishing of everyday and satirical graphics (V.F. Timm, A.A. Agin), representing an analogy to the “natural school” in literature. This line of art reaches its culmination in the work of P. A. Fedotov, who introduces conflict into the everyday picture, developed dramatic action with a satirical social background, forcing the external environment to serve the purposes of the social, moral, and later psychological characteristics of the heroes. Rethinking the traditional forms of the academic school gives rise to such monumental creations in historical painting as “The Last Day of Pompeii” by K. P. Bryullov, on the one hand, and “The Appearance of Christ to the People” by A. A. Ivanov, on the other. Ivanov enriched painting with in-depth psychological development, the discovery of a new, sketch method of working on a large canvas. The wise assimilation of the classical heritage, testing its precepts with his own experience of painting in the open air, the scale of creative concepts, the attitude towards the creative gift as a great responsibility for enlightening the people and improving their spiritual culture - all this made Ivanov’s work not only a school of excellence, but also a great lesson in humanism in art.

O. A. Kiprensky. Portrait of a boy A. A. Chelishchev. OK. 1809. Oil on canvas. State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow.

First third of the 19th century. - the highest stage in the development of classicism in Russian architecture, usually called Empire style. The architectural creativity of this period is not so much the perfect design of individual buildings as the art of architectural organization of large spaces of streets and squares. These are the urban planning ensembles of St. Petersburg - the Admiralty (architect A. D. Zakharov), the Exchange on the Spit of Vasilievsky Island (architect J. Thomas de Thomon), the Kazan Cathedral (architect A. N. Voronikhin). The ensembles of K. I. Rossi, the author of the General Staff building that completed the composition of Palace Square, and the complex of buildings, streets and squares around the Alexandria Theater in St. Petersburg, which he designed, are marked by the grandiose scope of urban planning thought.

V. A. Tropinin. Portrait of the son of Arseny Tropinin. 1818. Oil on canvas. State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow.

Since the beginning of the 1860s, since the abolition of serfdom, Russian art has received a sharp critical focus and thereby speaks of the need for fundamental social changes. Art declared this, depicting the evil of social injustice, exposing the vices and ills of society (most of V. G. Perov’s works of the 1860s). It contrasted the stagnation of modern life with the transformative power of turning points in historical eras (paintings by V. I. Surikov of the 1880s).

S. F. Shchedrin. Moonlit night in Naples. 1828-1829. Canvas, oil. State Russian Museum.

The combination of the truth of characters and circumstances with a truthful depiction of life in the forms in which it is perceived in ordinary, everyday experience is a feature of critical, or democratic, realism, in line with which advanced Russian art has been developing since the early 1860s. The breeding ground and main audience for this new art were the diverse intelligentsia. The heyday of democratic realism in the second half of the 19th century. associated with the activities of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions, founded in 1870 (see Peredvizhniki). The ideological leader and organizer of the Peredvizhniki was I. N. Kramskoy, one of the most profound artists, a talented theorist, critic and teacher. Under his guiding influence, the TPHV contributed to the consolidation of advanced artistic forces, the expansion and democratization of the audience thanks to the accessibility of artistic language, comprehensive coverage of the phenomena of folk life, and the ability to make art socially sensitive, capable of putting forward themes and issues that concern society at a given historical moment.

A. I. Kuindzhi. Evening in Ukraine. 1878. Oil on canvas. State Russian Museum. Leningrad.

In the 1860s. genre painting dominated, in the 70s - the role of portrait (V. G. Perov, I. N. Kramskoy, N. A. Yaroshenko) and landscape (A. K. Savrasov, I. I. Levitan, I. I. Shishkin, A. I. Kuindzhi, V. D. Polenov). A major role in promoting the art of the Peredvizhniki belonged to the outstanding art critic and art historian V. V. Stasov. At the same time, the collecting activity of P. M. Tretyakov was developing. His gallery (see Tretyakov Gallery) becomes a stronghold of the new, realistic school; the profile of his collection is determined by the works of the Itinerants.

The next period of Russian art is the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. The 80s were a transitional decade, when peredvizhniki realism reached its peak in the works of I. E. Repin and V. I. Surikov. During these years, such masterpieces of Russian painting were created as “The Morning of the Streltsy Execution”, “Boyaryna Morozova” by V. I. Surikov, “The Religious Procession in the Kursk Province”, “The Arrest of the Propagandist”, “They Were Not Expected” by I. E. Repin. Next to them, artists of a new generation are already performing with a different creative program - V. A. Serov, M. A. Vrubel, K. A. Korovin. The contradictions of late bourgeois capitalist development have an impact on the spiritual life of society. In the minds of artists, the real world is marked by the stigma of bourgeois greed and pettiness of interests. Harmony and beauty are beginning to be sought beyond the boundaries of apparent prosaic reality - in the realm of artistic fantasy. On this basis, interest in fairy-tale, allegorical and mythological subjects revives (V. M. Vasnetsov, M. V. Nesterov, M. A. Vrubel), which leads to the search for an artistic form that is capable of transferring the viewer’s imagination into the sphere of folklore ideas, memories of the past or vague premonitions of the future. The predominance of images and forms that indirectly express the content of modernity over the forms of its direct reflection is one of the distinctive features of the art of the late 19th - early 20th centuries. The complexity of the artistic language characterizes the work of representatives of the “World of Art” - an artistic group that took shape at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries.

V. M. Vasnetsov. Alyonushka. 1881. Oil on canvas. State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow.

The Art Nouveau style became defining during this period. Along with painting, architecture is actively developing, dominated by the Art Nouveau style, decorative and applied arts, book graphics, sculpture, and theatrical and decorative art. The areas of application of artistic creativity are expanding enormously, but more significant is the interaction and mutual influence of all these areas. Under these conditions, a type of universal artist is formed who can “do everything” - paint a picture and a decorative panel, perform a vignette for a book and a monumental painting, sculpt a sculpture and create a sketch of a theatrical costume. To varying degrees, the features of such universalism are noted, for example, in the work of M. A. Vrubel and the leading architect of the Art Nouveau style in Russia F. O. Shekhtel, as well as the artists of the World of Art.

The most important milestones in the evolution of Russian painting at the turn of the century are marked by the works of V. A. Serov, whose work is imbued with the desire, using new stylistic forms, to avoid formalistic extremes, to achieve classical clarity and simplicity, while maintaining loyalty to the precepts of the realistic school, its humanism, in which sober -a critical view of the world is combined with an idea of ​​the high purpose of man.

A. K. Savrasov. The Rooks Have Arrived. 1871. Oil on canvas. State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow.

Artistic life of the early 20th century. characterized by unprecedented intensity. Revolutionary events of 1905-1907 stimulated the development of socially active art. The works of N. A. Kasatkin, S. V. Ivanov and others embodied the most important social events of these years, the image of the worker as the main force of the revolution. Many masters work in the field of satirical political graphics and magazine cartoons.

The range of artistic traditions to which the art of the 20th century turns is unusually wide. Along with the peredvizhniki, which continues its life, there is a variant of impressionistic painting by the masters of the Union of Russian Artists, symbolism, represented by the work of V. E. Borisov-Musatov and the artists of the Blue Rose association.

K. A. Korovin. In winter. 1894. Oil on canvas. State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow.

The desire to renew the artistic language by turning to the style of urban craft and folk art, toys, popular prints, signs, children's drawings, taking into account the experience of the latest French painting, characterizes the activities of the artists of the "Jack of Diamonds" - a society organized in 1910. In the work of the masters of this directions - P. P. Konchalovsky, I. I. Mashkov, A. V. Lentulov - the role of still life increases significantly. The traditions of ancient Russian painting receive a new refraction in the art of K. S. Petrov-Vodkin.

F. A. Vasiliev. Before the rain. 1869. Oil on canvas. State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow.

Reaches a significant rise at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. sculpture. P. P. Trubetskoy introduces impressionistic features into it. His portrait compositions are distinguished by the sharpness of a captured moment of life and the richness of subtle shades. Working in soft materials, Trubetskoy returned to sculpture the lost sense of material and understanding of its expressive properties. The monument to Alexander III created by Trubetskoy in 1909 is a unique example of a grotesque image solution in the history of monuments. Among the remarkable achievements of monumental sculpture is the monument to N.V. Gogol, created by N.A. Andreev (1909).

In the 1912 sculpture “Seated Man” by A. S. Golubkina, an image appears that synthesizes ideas about the fate of the modern proletarian - this is a symbol of strength that is temporarily constrained, but full of rebellious spirit. The creativity of S. T. Konenkov stands out for its variety of genre and stylistic forms. The real impressions of revolutionary battles are embodied by the sculptor in the portrait “Worker-Combatant 1905 Ivan Churkin.” Not only facial features, but also the solidity of the stone block, emphasized by the sparing treatment, give rise to the image of indestructible will, tempered in the fire of class battles. The traditions of classical sculpture are being revived in the work of A. T. Matveev.

S. A. Korovin. To the world. 1893. Oil on canvas. State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow.

The desire to rethink and resurrect to a new life almost all the images and forms invented by mankind over its centuries-old history, and at the same time formal experiments, which sometimes reached the point of denying all traditions - these are the extreme manifestations of the artistic situation in Russian art of the early 20th century. However, these extremes themselves were an indicator of the deep internal conflict of Russian life on the eve of the revolution and in their own way reflected the complexity of the time, which, in the words of A. Blok, brought “unheard-of changes, unprecedented revolts.” Under these conditions, that sensitivity to the phenomena of time was cultivated, which, together with a high culture of craftsmanship, the best artists of the pre-revolutionary period brought to Soviet art (see.

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 picturesque portraits. Everyone wanted to have their own portrait: from the queen to an ordinary official from the province.

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 tsars, but also various boyars, merchants, and patriarchs, who tried to keep up with fashion and often commissioned local artists to paint portraits. At the same time, artists of that time tried to enrich portraits with household items, elements of national costume, nature, and so on. Attention was focused on expensive furniture, large vases, luxurious clothes, and interesting poses. The depiction 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 in striking contrast from the portraits of invited foreign painters. It is worth mentioning that artists from other countries were invited to teach Russian artists.

Types of portraits

The beginning of the 18th century was marked by the turn of portrait artists to semi-ceremonial and intimate views. Portraits of painters of the second half of the 18th century give rise to such types as ceremonial, semi-ceremonial, chamber, intimate.

The front door differs from others in the depiction of a full-length man. The brilliance of luxury - both in clothing and in household items.

The half-dress look is an image of the model knee-deep or waist-deep.

If a person is depicted against a neutral background up to the chest or waist, then this type of portrait is called intimate.

The intimate view 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 in a portrait image the customer’s idea of ​​himself, but not the actual image. It was important to take into account public opinion about a particular person. Many art historians have long concluded that the main rule of that time was to depict a person not so much as he actually was, or as he would like to be, but as he could be in his best reflection. That is, in portraits they tried to portray any person as an ideal.

The first artists

Russian artists of the 18th century, the list of which 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 boiled down only to painting a huge number of royal images and portraits of Russian nobles. Russian artists of the 18th century are masters of portraits. Although often they simply helped foreign masters 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 is the portrait of the Tsar himself, Chancellor G.I. Golovin. There is nothing artificial in his portrait of the hetman. The appearance is not changed either by a wig or court clothes. The artist showed the hetman as he was in life. It is in the truth of life that the main advantage of Nikitin’s portraits lies.

Antropov's work was 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 and olive colors, because he is a painter who studied with a master of icon painting. Among his famous works are portraits of Elizaveta Petrovna, Peter I, Princess Trubetskoy, and Ataman F. Krasnoshchekov. Antropov's work combined the traditions of original Russian painting of the 17th century and the canons of fine art of the Peter the Great era.

Ivan Petrovich Argunov is a famous serf portrait painter of Count Sheremetyev. His portraits are elegant, the poses of the people he depicts 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 Sheremetyev couple, P.B. Sheremetyev in childhood.

One should not think that at that time no other genres existed in Russia, but the great Russian artists of the 18th century nevertheless created the most significant works in the genre of portraiture.

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 distinctive feature 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 paints portraits of women softly and airily. Inner beauty is felt by Rokotov, and he finds the means to translate 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 the semi-ceremonial 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 Grigorievich Levitsky, a student of A. Antropov, was able to sensitively capture and recreate in his paintings the mental states and characteristics of people. Portraying the rich, he remains truthful and unbiased; his portraits exclude servility and lies. His brush includes 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 and gestures, showing noble nobles. Russian history in faces - this is how Levitsky’s work is often called.
Paintings by the artist: 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 use of the so-called sentimental portrait. The artist Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky paints thoughtful girls, who are depicted in light colors in his portraits; they are airy and innocent. His heroines are not only Russian peasant women in traditional dresses, 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 characters conveyed, 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.

Borovikovsky's legacy is very diverse and extensive. His work includes both ceremonial portraits and miniature and intimate paintings. Among Borovikovsky’s works, the most famous were the portraits of V. A. Zhukovsky, G. R. Derzhavin, A. B. Kurakin and Pavel I.

Paintings by Russian artists

Paintings of the 18th century by Russian artists were written with love for man, his inner world and respect for moral virtues. The style of each artist, on the one hand, is very individual, but 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:

1. "Young painter" Second half of the 1760s. The author Ivan Firsov is the most mysterious artist of the 18th century. The painting depicts a boy in a uniform who is painting a portrait of a little beautiful girl.
2. “Hector’s Farewell to Andromache,” 1773. Author Anton Pavlovich Losenko. The artist's last painting. It depicts a plot from the sixth song of Homer's Iliad.
3. “Stone Bridge in Gatchina near Constable Square”, 1799-1801. Author Semyon Fedorovich Shchedrin. The painting depicts a landscape view.

And still

Russian artists of the 18th century still tried to reveal the truth and true characters of people, despite the conditions of serfdom and the desires 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 the artistic art of the 18th century was influenced by European culture, it nevertheless led to the development of national Russian traditions.

Until the beginning of the 18th century, predominantly iconographic traditions developed in Russian painting

According to the memoirs of contemporaries, in Russia at that time any images were mistaken for icons: often, when they came to a stranger’s house, Russians, according to custom, bowed to the first picture that caught their eye. However, in the 18th century. painting gradually began to acquire European features: artists mastered linear perspective, which allowed them to convey the depth of space, sought to correctly depict the volume of objects using chiaroscuro, and studied anatomy in order to accurately reproduce the human body. The technique of oil painting spread, and new genres emerged.

A special place in Russian painting of the 18th century. took the portrait. The earliest works of this genre are close to the parsuna of the 17th century. The characters are solemn and static.

Ivan Nikitich Nikitin (1680 - c. 1742) was one of the first Russian portrait painters. Already in his early portraits - the elder sister of Peter I Natalya Alekseevna (1715-1716) and his daughter Anna Petrovna (before 1716) - the volume and natural pose of the model were conveyed with rare skill for that time. However, some simplification is obvious in these works: the figures are snatched from the darkness of an indefinite space by a beam of bright light and exist without connection with the environment; the artist still ineptly depicts the structure of the figure and the texture of materials - velvet, fur, jewelry.

Returning to St. Petersburg after a four-year trip to Italy, Nikitin created his best works, which showed the artist’s increased skill. This is a portrait of Chancellor G.I. Golovkin and a portrait known as “The Floor Hetman” (both from the 20s).

During the Peter the Great era, many foreign masters settled in Russia, working in different styles and genres. Johann Gottfried Tannauer (1680-1737), who came from Germany, painted portraits of members of the imperial family and

close associates of Peter I, as well as battle paintings. His famous painting “Peter I in the Battle of Poltava” (10s) is a type of portrait of a commander against the backdrop of a battle, common in Europe.

Louis Caravaque (1684-1754), a French master invited to Russia, soon achieved great fame and the position of court painter. He worked in Russia for many years and painted portraits of all Russian monarchs from Peter to Elizabeth. His brush is the famous ceremonial portrait of Anna Ioannovna in a coronation dress (1730), which served as a model for other works of this genre. The portrait conveys not only the appearance of the empress - a woman of powerful physique, depicted in a solemn and majestic pose, but also her nature, superstitious and suspicious. Many Russian painters of the mid-18th century came from Caravacca’s workshop.

By the end of the 20s - 30s. XVIII century refers to the short but brilliant work of the painter Andrei Matveevich Matveev (1701 - 1739). After spending more than ten years in Holland and Flanders, he became the first Russian master who knew how to “write stories and persons,” that is, not only portraits, but also paintings on mythological and historical subjects.

However, Matveev is most famous as a portrait painter. His most famous work is considered to be “Portrait of a Spouse” (circa 1729). Arguments among art critics about who is depicted on it have not subsided to this day. Most likely, this is a self-portrait of the artist with his wife, i.e. the first self-portrait in the history of Russian painting.

From 1727 until his death, Matveev headed the “painting team” of the Chancellery from buildings. Before the opening of the Academy of Arts, almost all artists studied and served there.

By the 40-50s. XVIII century refers to the work of Ivan Yakovlevich Vishnyakov (1699-1761). Vishnyakov’s most exquisite portrait depicts Sarah Eleanor Fermor, daughter of the head of the Chancellery of Buildings (1749). A young girl in a luxurious silver-gray satin dress embroidered with flowers is preparing to curtsy. She gracefully holds a fan in her hand. The hands on Vishnyakov’s canvases are almost always painted with special grace: the fingers only lightly touch the objects, as if sliding along their surface. In “Portrait of Sarah Fermor”, attention is drawn to both the delicate painting of lace and the decorative landscape background, the motifs of which echo the embroidery on the dress.

Alexei Petrovich Antropov (1716-1795) never managed to overcome some of the iconographic flatness of the image: in his portraits the viewer does not feel the space surrounding the models. Thus, in the “Portrait of State Lady A. M. Izmailova” (1759), an elderly and rough woman, the bright colors of the foreground are contrasted with an absolutely dark, “deaf” background. In the portrait of Peter III (17b2), depicted by the artist as a commander with a marshal's baton in his hand, one is struck by the contrast between the puppet-graceful figure of the monarch and the pompous setting with the attributes of imperial power - a mantle, an orb and a crown - against the background of the battle.

In the second half of the 18th century, new genres appeared in the painting of Russian masters - landscape, everyday life and history, which the Academy of Arts considered the main ones. However, the most significant works were still created in the portrait genre.