History of Russian Art
In the XVIII century in Russia there was an unprecedented scale of the development of the sculpture of the appearance of a new, Western European type of sculpture, which Russia did not yet know. Noticeable style change in the development of Russian plasticity brought a new aesthetics of the classicism of the Enlightenment. An important role in mastering classical sculpture in Russia was played by the French sculptor N. Gilles, who was invited to the Russian service for a long time, who headed the sculpture class of the Academy.
The school N. Gilles, who laid the foundations of the classical sculpture in Russia, passed all the leading Russian sculptors of the second half of the 18th century who graduated from the Petersburg Academy of Arts: F. Gordeev, M. Kozlovsky, I. Prokofiev, F. Shchedrin, F. Shubin, I. Maros and others. Consider the most famous works and style trends of these and some other outstanding sculptors of the time. The most fully mastered the principles of mature
Especially noticeable trace he left in the development of the theme of the classical tombstone and the city monument. He was known as a magnificent master of decorative and stucco work, he tried to study a portrait. His talent as a monumentalist was fully revealed in the monument to Minin and Pozharsky in Moscow, which became a reference work – he found new ways of combining monumental plastics not only with classical buildings, but also with a spatial urban ensemble, surpassing all his predecessors. Consistent in its evolution to the classicism was Ivan Prokofiev (1758-1828 gg.). Compared to other masters, Prokofiev feels a sentimental stream more strongly, giving special softness and lyricism to his images. The best thing about his heritage
Thanks to his perseverance and ability, he finds himself in the Petersburg Academy of Arts, where the brilliant flourishing of his talent begins. F. Shubin becomes an unsurpassed master sculptor’s portrait. He performed many custom-made portraits, busts. These were the busts of AM Golitsin, ZP Chernyshev and other famous figures of the Catherine’s epoch. By the end of the 18th century, new forms of figurative expression were also planned in the form of sentimentalist, and then romantic, sentiments. Characteristic in this respect are the busts of PV Zavadovsky and AA Bezborodko (1798), also performed by Shubin. At the same time, in the later works of the artist, another trend is also noticeable: the concretization of the portrait image is intensified, and in the style of increasing severity and simplicity. These signs are mature works of Shubin: the busts of GA Potemkin (1791), EM Chulkov (1792
Shubinsky talent determined the objectivity and depth of his works, reflecting all the diversity and contradictoriness of the era. The artist of one creation (created for Russia) can be called the French sculptor E. M Falcone (1716-1791). Created in Russia only one work “The Bronze Horseman” brought him the glory of a great master. The desire for maximum generalization pushed the way of the abstract interpretation of the monument: a granite rock of a pedestal in the form of a sea wave, a heaving horse and a trampled snake become the personification of those obstacles and hostile forces, which had to overcome Peter – I. As a result, a symbol was born that embodied not only the great deeds of Peter, but also the Russia he had transformed.
A lot of fine masters created during this period, and as if summing up this era. I would like to note that the 18th century was a time favorable for the development of Russian culture, defining its two main lines: a professional one, oriented towards a common European path, and a local one that continues to develop the traditions of folk art. In the second half of the 17th century, along with other forms of art in Russia, painting is undergoing serious changes. To a certain extent, they prepare the fundamental reforms that took place in it at the beginning of the eighteenth century. Entering the position of modern art with considerable delay compared to other advanced artistic countries of Europe, Russian painting reflects the general laws of this stage of development in its own way. The secular art is brought to the fore.
Initially, secular painting is affirmed in St. Petersburg and Moscow, but already from the second half of the XVIII century it becomes very popular in other cities and manors. The traditional branch of painting – icon painting is still widely used in all walks of life. Russian painting developed throughout the XVIII century in close contact with the art of Western European schools, joining the public domain – works of art of the Renaissance and Baroque, and also making extensive use of the experience of neighboring countries. At the same time. as has long been established by researchers, art in general and painting in particular, throughout the XVIII century are connected by a single direction and have a pronounced national character.
During this period Russia was created by the greatest masters of its craft – representatives of the national art school and foreign painters. The most interesting phenomenon in the art of the Petrine era was a portrait. At the origins of portraiture of modern times is IN Nikitin (circa 1680 – 1742). IN Nikitin vividly embodies the power of human capabilities discovered by the Petrine era. The greatest reformer of Russian painting, he shares triumphs with him, and at the end – tragic adversities. Portraits, created by Nikitin in the early period, already represent a completely European in nature images, closest to the works of the French school of the early XVIII century.
Using the common European experience, the Russian artist realizes his own ideas about the world, beauty and individual features of the model. So there is a version of the portrait – a generally understandable and completely unrepeatable. To the brush of this great artist belong such works as: a portrait of the princess Anna Petrovna and the princess Praskovia Ioannovna (presumably 1714). Perhaps the most powerful work, after Nikitin’s return from Italy, is the portrait of State Chancellor GI Golovkin (1720s). In addition to the increased literacy in drawing and painting technique, he demonstrates the spirituality of expression and the interaction of the image with the viewer. No less serious is inherent in the “Portrait of the Outdoor Hetman” (1720s).
Author’s independence is manifested in the portrait of S. G. Stroganov (1726) and in the painting “Peter-I on the Deathbed” (1725) .With Peter’s death, the life of the artist himself was tragically ended: he was tried on false accusation and was exiled to Tobolsk, and the work of another Russian painter, Andrei Matveev (1701-1739), belongs to Peter’s epoch, according to the decree of Peter he was sent to Holland to study, which provided the necessary level of knowledge. “Allegory of painting” (1725) and “Venus and Cupid.”
The most famous work of Matveyev is “Self-Portrait with His Wife” (1729) .Makueva’s work depicts a new culture of relations for Russia: the husband and wife do not just act as equals: the artist carefully and proudly presents his spouse to the viewer. distinguished this artist. The painting of the last decades of the eighteenth century is distinguished by a considerable variety and completeness, primarily due to the founding of the Academy of Arts. The Russian school now possesses those genres of painting, Previously, they were represented only by the works of old and modern Western European masters. The largest achievements of Russian painting of the last decades of the XVIII century are associated with the art of portraiture.
Creativity FS Rokotov (1735-1808) is one of the most charming and difficult to explain the pages of our culture. Already at a fairly mature age, he was admitted to the Academy of Arts. His early works – portraits of G. G. Orlov (1762-1763 gg.), EB Yusupova (1756-1761 gg.) Indicate his involvement in the Rococo culture. Signs of this style is in the coronation portrait of Catherine II (1763), which became a model for the depiction of a very exacting empress. Many more portraits came out from under the brush of the artist – the poet V. I. Maikov (1769-1770), almost the entire Vorontsov family – he himself (the end of the 1760’s), his wife MA Vorontsova and children (1770- f). During the eighties of the eighteenth century, in the portraits of F. S. Rokotov, a shade of proud awareness of self-worth is prevalent, to this period belong: the portrait of the young general V. E. Novosiltseva (1780), the noble lady E. N. Orlova. The contemporary of Rokotov was DG Levitsky (1735-1822 gg.). For about 20 years, Levitsky headed the portrait class of the Academy of Arts and not only participated in the education of a whole school of Russian portrait painters, but set the tone and level of the high reputation of portrait art in Russia.
The sphere of his painting is wider than the Rokotovskaya. He was equally successful in chamber portraits and in the front image in growth. Not surprisingly, the range of its customers is very extensive. This is the rich man Demidov. whose painting he painted in 1773, and the secular beauty Ursula Mnishek (1782), and the Italian actress Anna Davia-Bernuci (1782). An important place in Levitsky’s work is occupied by the work on the portrait of Catherine II, which was reflected in the “Vision of Murza” by G. R. Derzhavin. The exalted, mythologized interpretation could not help but be liked by the empress who more than attentively treated her images. (1757-1825), as it were, closes a pleiad of the greatest Russian portrait painters of the 18th century Borovikovsky, like Levitsky, comes from Ukraine, and in the first Petersburg years he became close to a circle headed by NA Lvov, and repeatedly portrayed persons close to this society. Quite quickly, with the support of friends, acquaintances and successful at the court of the Austrian painter IB Lumpy, Borovikovsky becomes popular among a wide circle of St. Petersburg nobility. The artist portrays entire family “clans” – the Lopukhins, Tolstoys, Arsenievs, Gagarins, Bezborodko, who spread his fame through related channels.
This period of his life includes portraits of Catherine II, her numerous grandsons, the Minister of Finance A. I. Vasiliev and his wife. The predominant place in the work of Borovikovsky is occupied by chamber portraits. The paintings of the artist are very elegant due to the graceful staging of models, elegant gestures and skillful appeal to the costume. The heroes of Borovikovsky are usually inactive, most models are in ecstasy with their own sensitivity.
This is expressed both by the portrait of MI Lopukhina (1797), and the portrait of Skobeeva (mid-1790s), and the depiction of the daughter of Catherine II and Potemkin, EG Temkina (1798) . The artist pays much attention to small-format and perfectly successful miniature portraits. Borovikovsky is also the author of a number of double and family group portraits that appear after the 1800s. From all of the above, we can conclude that throughout the XVIII century the Russian art of painting has passed a great way of becoming according to the laws of modern times. The needs of the era were reflected in the predominant development of secular painting – portrait, landscape, historical and everyday genres.
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