Painting by Ivanov “Archangel Gabriel strikes Zachariah dumb”


According to the master’s plan, the biblical compositions performed in future sketches were to become wall murals of the public building. On the walls of this “Temple of Wisdom” was to be recreated the history of the spiritual development of mankind. Ivanov conceived about 500 stories, performed more than 200 sketches.
During Ivanov’s lifetime, “Biblical sketches” were almost unknown to anyone. He carefully protected them from prying eyes, closing in recent years his workshop in Rome for the public, and even for artists.
Returning to St. Petersburg in May 1858, Ivanov brought, besides a large picture and sketches, a box with drawings, albums and books, hoping to continue his work on the “Bible cycle” and dreaming of a trip to Palestine.
However, in St. Petersburg, he did not devote any of his acquaintances to his plan.
After the death of Alexander Ivanov in July of the same year, his brother, architect Sergei Ivanov, who stayed in Rome, wrote a letter to Mikhail Botkin, whose artist stopped in Petersburg, with a request to immediately send him drawings and albums, explaining that they should be rewarded, but it’s a mystery that you do not need to talk about.
In 1877 the drawings and albums of Alexander Ivanov entered the Department of Fine Arts of the Rumyantsev Museum. After the reorganization of the Rumyantsev Museum, the pictorial graphic heritage of Alexander Ivanov was transferred to the Tretyakov Gallery.
In the collection of “Biblical sketches” in the Tretyakov Gallery there are about two hundred watercolor sheets and a large number of preparatory drawings, sketches, schemes for the arrangement of paintings and finished watercolor compositions that fill the pages of the artist’s albums.


1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

Painting by Ivanov “Archangel Gabriel strikes Zachariah dumb”