Among the Itinerants, the evangelical theme played a very important role. Many paintings testify to Christian morals: giving of oneself, love of others, Christ’s suffering for his people… All of these scenes encourage the viewer to rise toward the ideal that he has set for himself. In addition, the theme of salvation particularly attracted Russian artists who, here again, found a way to better man and the human condition. It was more the idea of morals that had a value in and of themselves. Occidental art, to date, had never managed to raise itself to such a level of pathos.
20. Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, The Mother of God of Tenderness Towards Evil Hearts, 1914–1915. Oil on canvas, 100 × 110 cm, Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
Portraiture
21. Ivan Argounov, Portrait of an unknown Girl in Russian Dress, 1784. Oil on canvas, 67 × 53.6 cm, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
22. Ivan Nikitin, Portrait of a Leader, 1720. Oil on canvas, 76 × 60 cm, Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
From the Eighteenth Century to the 1860s
In Russia, the eighteenth century was the century of the portrait. Other than icon painting, the patronage of the tsars, wealthy nobles or merchants was virtually the only source of income available to Russian painters. Perfecting their skills as portraitists was therefore high on the agenda of the five painters sent to study abroad, in 1716, by Peter the Great.
One of the five was Ivan Nikitin. The son of a priest, he began his artistic career by studying drawing and arithmetic at an artillery college. Noticed by the tsar, he was dispatched to Italy, together with his brother Roman, an able though more conventional painter. In the portrait of Peter the Great that Ivan painted in 1721, the emperor is shown without attributes of power and with a degree of intimacy rarely encountered in royal portraits. Four years later, he painted an emotionally charged portrait of the tsar on his deathbed. Ivan’s last years were overshadowed by tragedy. After the death of Peter the Great, he opposed the regime of Anna Ivanovna and in 1736 was deported to Siberia, together with his brother. By the time they were pardoned, Ivan was critically ill, and he died on the way back from Siberia.
Another of the artists sponsored by Peter the Great was Andreï Matveyev, who was sent to study in Holland. Obliged to paint battle scenes, ceilings and panels for the palaces of the tsars, he lacked freedom to fully develop the talent for portraiture evident in works such as The Allegory of Painting (1725) and the portrait that he painted of himself and his wife in 1729. Matveyev was a fine colourist, and his works are full of pleasing nuances. They also hint at his desire to break new ground, to bring a more psychological approach to portraiture.
The 1730s saw appreciable changes in Russian society. Intent on strengthening their position vis-a-vis the State, the aristocracy strove to show their standing by displaying the superiority and sophistication of their tastes and lifestyle, especially through the embellishment of the interiors of their homes. Portraits offered a means of self-aggrandisement and of conveying status. By the 1760s they were in evidence everywhere – not only at the court in Saint Petersburg, but in remote parts of Russia too.
Some of the most accomplished portraits from the mid-eighteenth century were produced by Ivan Vishnyakov (1699–1761). Continuing Matveyev’s tendency towards lyricism, they possess the decorative qualities typical of the Rococo style then prevalent in Russia, without the frivolity generally associated with it. Instead, their static poses and facial expressions have an air of seriousness, focusing attention on the subject’s face. Vishnyakov was at his most sensitive when portraying children; their elaborate clothes and frozen poses underline the innocence and vulnerability of these diminutive lords and ladies. Despite the formality of his portraits, relatively few of them were commissioned by the Imperial court.
23. Fyodor Rokotov, Portrait of Alexei Bobrinsky in Childhood, c. 1763. Oil on canvas, 59.5 × 47 cm, Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
24. Alexeï Antropov, Portrait of Maria Rurnyantseva, 1764. Oil on canvas, 62.5 × 48 cm, Russian Museum, St. Petersburg.
25. Dmitri Levitsky, Portrait of Maria Diakova, 1778. Oil on canvas, 72 × 57 cm, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
26. Vladimir Borovikovsky, Portrait of Maria Lopoukhina, 1797. Oil on canvas, 72 × 53.5 cm, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
27. Vassily Tropinin, Lacemaker, 1823. Oil on canvas, 74.7 × 59.3 cm, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow.
This adoration of portraiture continued during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna, when Russia enjoyed a blossoming of the arts and sciences and an expansion of education – thanks largely to the influence of Mikhaïl Lomonosov (1711–65), a man of immense learning and wide cultural interests who became a professor of chemistry at the Academy of Sciences in Saint Petersburg in 1745. Russian sculpture in particular benefited from these stimuli – and so did portraiture, which developed in two ways. Although there was a greater demand for elaborate formal portraits, there was also an increased realism in the way people were portrayed.
This development in portraiture was clearly demonstrated in the work of Alexeï Antropov who first studied with Matveyev and then worked for nearly twenty years under the direction of Vishnyakov, concentrating primarily on learning to paint formal portraits. Flags, columns and other decorative accessories tended to be featured in these portraits, along with luxuriant robes and drapery, all painted in lively colours. In deference to convention, they were normally full-length. Despite the inhibiting nature of official portraiture, Antropov managed to achieve a remarkable degree of veracity. The portraits, both formal and informal, that he painted during the 1750s and 1760s show him at his best.
Antropov’s contemporary Ivan Argunov painted numerous portraits of artists and their families. By the middle of the eighteenth century he was already considered a leading portrait painter, and he received a great variety of commissions – probably greater than any other Russian artist of his time. His portraits range from the Empress and members of the court to the serfs and ancestors of his wealthy patron, Count Sheremetyev. While Antropov’s style – with its rather static quality and detached feeling – is sometimes reminiscent of the parsunas, Argunov’s work is generally more immediate and less austere.
In addition to Argunov, among the portrait painters of the second half of the eighteenth century, three stand out for the brilliance of their work: Rokotov, Levitsky and Borovikovsky. Their styles, however, are very different. Surprisingly, although highly regarded by his contemporaries, Fyodor Rokotov was completely forgotten during the period following his death and was only rediscovered at the beginning of the twentieth century. Initially he worked as a court painter in Saint Petersburg, where he produced portraits remarkable for their individuality and vivacity, among them his Portrait of the young Alexeï Bobrinsky. In 1767 Rokotov moved to Moscow, where he became the portraitist most sought after by Muscovite society. Once he was freed from the constraints of court painting, his portraits – especially those intended for the interiors of private houses – became more intimate. Particularly in his later works, he increasingly made use of sfumazo (almost imperceptible colour transitions), and a silvery tonal range to reproduce the delicate sheen of his sitters’ satins, silks and velvets.
28. Vassily Tropinin, Portrait of the Writer Varvara Lizogub, 1847. Oil on canvas,