Russian art is known all over the world and inspires artists from many different countries. For many centuries, Slavic artists equally successfully created original plots and supported current trends.
The greatest flowering of Russian art culture occurred several centuries ago, so it is worth talking about the masters of this particular period in the first place.
Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky
The famous portrait painter was born in the Ukrainian city of Mirgorod. According to family tradition, Borovikovsky entered the military service and rose to the rank of lieutenant, after which he retired and gave himself up to art. His father and brothers were also engaged in painting, so the first lessons were held at home. The first canvases were on religious subjects - Borovikovsky’s authorship icons dating from the 1780s have survived to this day. The turning point was the order for the palace design for Catherine II. The master created two paintings and was invited to Petersburg, where the most famous artists worked. In the capital, Borovikovsky met the popular portrait painter Levitsky. Perhaps it was this acquaintance that influenced his future career.
One of the early canvases is “Portrait of O. K. Filippova”, full of reverie and tenderness. Borovikovsky received recognition. In 1795, the Academy of Arts honored him with a title - this was achieved only by the most talented and famous artists. The best works include portraits of Lopukhina, Arsenyeva, Kurakin and canvases depicting peasants: "Lizanka and Dasha", "Torzhkovskaya peasant woman Hristinya."
In old age, the artist was exposed to religious sentiment and moved away from creativity.
Vasily Andreevich Tropinin
The eighteenth and nineteenth centuries became special for Russian art. Many famous artists worked during this period, and Tropinin is no exception. He was born into a serf family in 1776, at age 9 he was assigned to graduate at the Imperial Academy of Arts, and in 1823 Vasily was freed and was soon awarded the title of academician for his work “Lacemaker”, “Old Man-Pauper”, “Portrait of Engraver E O. Skotnikova. " The first works of the master were portrait sketches depicting the children of his master, Count Markov. In the painting "Boy with a Pity" traces the Ukrainian theme. His other works are connected with everyday scenes, landscapes and portraits with a sentimental accent. The most popular canvases are genre-portrait, combining grace and simplicity, created thanks to the understanding of people around. Like many other famous artists of Russia, Tropinin was an honorary member of the Moscow Art Society.
“Self-portrait on the background of a window overlooking the Kremlin”, expressing his desire for beauty and truth, as well as a variety of pencil sketches full of successful observations, can help him better know his personality.
Orest Adamovich Kiprensky
This portraitist can be safely recorded in the famous artists of the world. Kiprensky is known far from only in Russia. Meanwhile, he was the illegitimate son of a serf peasant woman and found his surname only with the receipt of free. The landowner placed him at the Academy of Arts, where the boy lived for nine years in an educational school, and then studied historical painting. Kiprensky's calling is a portrait genre. The first such work received the highest marks from connoisseurs at the exhibition in 1804. The canvas depicted Adam Schwalbe, the stepfather of the artist. Soon after, in 1805, Kiprensky received a gold medal for the painting "Dmitry Donskoy on the Kulikovo Field". Later he painted portraits of many representatives of the Russian noble intelligentsia, and in 1812 he became an academician, like many famous Russian artists of that era. In 1816 he began to travel, lived in Italy.
There he spent his last years. Kiprensky was buried in Rome.
Karl Pavlovich Bryullov
Many famous Russian artists came from serf families. Karl Bryullov is a peculiar exception. He was born in St. Petersburg and received his first mastery lessons from his father. From the age of ten, he studied at the Academy of Arts, where he was considered the first student. Already in 1821, Bryullov was awarded a medal for the painting “The Appearance of Three Angels at the Mamvrian Oak to Abraham” and went abroad. In Italy, he painted paintings from Roman life, copied the paintings of Raphael. His most famous work, “The Last Day of Pompeii,” was written from 1830 to 1833. Famous artists and critics of Europe rated this work very highly, Bryullov became a really popular painter and returned home as a triumphant. Together with Bruni's painting The Copper Serpent, the painting The Last Day of Pompeii became a real milestone in the history of Russian art.
Alexander Andreevich Ivanov
In July 1806 , a son appeared in the family of Andrei Ivanovich Ivanov, a professor of historical painting . In 1817 he entered the Academy, where all the most famous artists of Russia studied, on the rights of an “outside student” - unlike other pupils, he lived in a family. And already at the age of 18, the young man was overtaken by success - he was awarded a gold medal for painting on the subjects of Homer. In 1827, Ivanov completed his studies with an award of the first dignity. He was soon sent to Rome, but the trip was overshadowed by news of his father’s resignation. Nevertheless, Ivanov continued to work on his work and was looking for the main theme for his paintings. It was then that he conceived a picture dedicated to the appearance of the Messiah. The ideas of morality took possession of the artist, and he began work on a grandiose canvas. Twenty years of efforts made it possible to create an amazingly powerful painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People”, but during the life of the artist she did not receive high marks, on the contrary, sharp criticism fell upon the painter. Suddenly ill with cholera, Ivanov died shortly after the presentation of the canvas to the public.
Ivan Constantinovich Aivazovski
Many famous artists are known primarily for portraits and landscapes. Aivazovsky is famous for his battle paintings on the marine theme. He was born in Feodosia and studied art at the Simferopol gymnasium, and then at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. His first picture, devoted to the air over the sea, was well received by critics, and two years later he received a gold medal for his work. After that, the Russian marine painter went to Italy, and then returned to his homeland, where he spent his creative life. His best paintings are The Black Sea, The Wave, The Chesme Battle. Most of the paintings are now preserved in the art gallery of his hometown, in Feodosia.