Alexey Tolstoy is a world-recognized Russian writer, a descendant of an old noble family, a famous writer, poet and publicist.
The count was not only an excellent author of many literary works, but also had a pronounced aristocratic appearance, which prompted many artists to paint a portrait of Alexei Tolstoy.
Our article will tell you about the life path of a famous writer, his creative heritage. You will also learn about the portraits of Alexei Tolstoy, created by various artists both during the life of the author and posthumously.
Biography
Alexey Konstantinovich Tolstoy was born on August 24, 1817 in St. Petersburg. The future famous writer was born in the small village of Red Horn. It belonged to his father, Count Konstantin Tolstoy.
Aleksei Tolstoy remained in Russian classical literature as a writer, poet, translator and playwright, who created over 500 works in his life.
In addition to literary activity, Alexei Konstantinovich was an honorary full member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
Childhood
The childhood of the future literary figure was held in a cozy family atmosphere. Alyosha's family possessed great wealth and great influence in the noble society, and the young count needed nothing, devoting his leisure time to reading French literature and teaching various sciences. Alesha’s learning abilities, according to the assurances of the tutors, were excellent: the boy eagerly read works on philosophy, arithmetic, drafting, literary criticism and linguistics, also carried away by chemistry and zoology.
Unfortunately, the family of Alexei Tolstoy broke up when he was still very young, and the boy was sent to be raised by his uncle, the famous writer Anton Pogorelsky, who dedicated his famous fairy tale “Black Chicken, or Underground Residents” to him.
Youth
From a young age, Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy was in the children's environment of the future Emperor Alexander II, with whom he spent leisure time, traveled abroad, and was also listed in the personal guard of the sovereign.
The year 1834 fundamentally changed the life of the future writer, since this year he received the post of cadet intern in the archival department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire. Three years later, Aleksey Konstantinovich was promoted to be appointed deputy commander in the Russian mission at the German Sejm in Frankfurt am Main, and another three years later the count retires and receives the seat of the court ceremonies of the master and jägermeister at the imperial court in St. Petersburg.
The beginning of literary activity
After resigning, Alexey Tolstoy decides to engage in active literary activity. In just two years, he is preparing to publish a collection of short stories, as well as a fantastic novel “Ghoul”. In 1841, both books were published under the pseudonym Krasnorogsky and gained some fame in literary circles. Critics noted the innovative ideas of the young writer, a special style of presentation, as well as an interesting philosophical component of the works.
The legendary critic and literary critic Vissarion Belinsky, reading both books, noted that they contain all the signs of a still too young, but nonetheless very remarkable talent.
Literary and social activities
In the next decade, Alexey Konstantinovich only strengthened his authority in the literary community of the Russian Empire. In 1860 he became editor of the journal Sovremennik, and also performed work on proofreading texts in the periodicals Russky Vestnik and Vestnik Evropy, simultaneously working on a collection of his own poems, published in 1867 under the writer’s real name.
At this time, Tolstoy was actively experimenting with poetic forms, creating ballads and imitations of folk forms of poetry. From 1863 to 1870, he published a series of tragedies dedicated to the Russian imperial line: “Prince of Silver”, “Death of Ivan the Terrible”, “Tsar Fedor Ivanovich” and “Tsar Boris”.
In the literary portrait of Alexei Tolstoy, by that time, shades of satire and humor began to appear distinctly. It is Alexey Konstantinovich who is known as one of the creators of the satirical image of Kozma Prutkov.
Shortly before his death, the writer took a major trip to European countries, the result of which was a collection of travel notes, published a year before the death of the writer, in 1874.
Death
In the late 1870s, Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy feels a sharp deterioration in his health and is forced to consult a doctor. Despite the writer’s frequent visits to the warm countries of southern Europe, his health is not improving, and the personal doctor prescribes morphine to the writer in order to relieve headache attacks.
September 28, 1875, Alexei Tolstoy experiences a sharp attack of severe headache and introduces himself another dose of morphine. Being in a painful condition, he is mistaken in the calculation of the dosage, and the dose he takes is too large.
On the night of September 29, at 12 hours 45 minutes, the writer dies in his bed from a heart attack caused by an overdose of morphine.
He will be found only a few days later, when the maid comes to restore order in the house.
The writer was buried in his native village of Red Horn. At the village cemetery, he was erected a monument with one single inscription: "Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy (1817-1875)." Every year, on the first Saturday of October, in the Red Horn is celebrated Poetry Day in memory of him.
Portraits of Alexei Tolstoy
Being a famous person, especially a representative of an old noble family, Alexei Konstantinovich more than once became the object of interest of various artists, as well as relatives, fond of painting. Over the entire life of the count, various portraits of the writer were created by various people. A large number of sketches by the lyceum and university colleagues of the writer, as well as portraits by famous artists such as Repin and Bryullov, have survived to this day. Alexei Konstantinovich, according to contemporaries, was a figure interesting not only for a verbal, descriptive portrait, but also for an artistic portrait.
Having an outstanding aristocratic appearance, innate nobility and spiritual wealth of the soul, he attracted many creative people of that time, some of whom expressed a desire to paint his portrait.
The count was familiar with Shishkin, Aivazovsky, Bogolyubov, Tropinin and Kramsky. Repin and Bryullov, two artists, often went into the house of the count “for tea”, each of whom at one time painted a portrait of the poet Alexei Tolstoy, the author of beautiful works.
Ilya Repin
Ilya Efimovich Repin, being a court painter, was included in many famous houses of the Russian nobility. The Tolstoy’s house was no exception. The artist not only was on friendly terms with Alexei Konstantinovich, but also illustrated some of his works, and also made sketches throughout the life of the writer, which later became the basis of the famous portrait.
It was with Repin that the writer repeatedly undertook joint trips around Russia, as well as many trips abroad, where two creative personalities not only created new works, but also discussed joint creative activities, and also analyzed various social phenomena. At the invitation of Alexei Tolstoy, Ilya Repin repeatedly acted as an artist in the magazines Sovremennik and Russia, and some of the writer's texts were used as descriptions of paintings by the famous artist.
Painting by Ilya Efimovich Repin "Portrait of Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy" is now in the Tretyakov Gallery and is rightfully considered one of the pearls of Russian painting.
Karl Bryullov
With Karl Pavlovich Bryullov fate brought the young writer in 1836, when the young writer was only 19 years old. An elderly artist was able to capture on his portrait young Tolstoy, who had just graduated from university and spent the summer at his uncle's estate, indulging in a carefree vacation before starting public service.
"Portrait of Alexei Tolstoy in his youth" K.P. Bryullov painted just in one go, without using pre-prepared sketches or trial sketches.
Later, the artist admitted that the portrait of A. Tolstoy became one of his best works, which fully reflected the time of youth and high spiritual aspirations of the young man.
Aleksei Konstantinovich Tolstoy already at that time could interest his older contemporaries with the clarity of thought, the purity of views and the remarkable literary talent that attracted many famous people of that time to him.
The work of Karl Petrovich is in the State Hermitage Museum.
Writer's literary heritage
In addition to a large number of excellent works in poetic and prosaic genres, Alexei Tolstoy left behind a great epistolary, satirical and journalistic heritage.
Shortly before the death of the writer, the famous artist V. Nechiporenko managed to paint a portrait of Alexei Tolstoy. The author completed his work in the technique of quick watercolor sketching.
Throughout his life, he was actively engaged in the creation of humoresque, sarcastic stories, as well as humorous feuilletons, most of which were published after his death.
The creative portrait of Alexei Tolstoy includes various prosaic and poetic sketches, and the writer also had the skills of an artist and composer.
The career of a journalist also greatly influenced the writer, becoming the basis for creating a large number of documentary essays and essays on the culture, politics and history of Russia.
An interesting experience of translating the realities of Russian history on a poetic basis was the work “History of the Russian State from Gostomysl to Timashev”, written in 1868 in the genre of epic tragedy and representing a huge (83 stanzas) poem. Unfortunately, due to the ideology of the constitutional monarchy prevailing in the country, the poem was unable to censor and was published only 15 years after the death of the writer, and even then in the form of partial publications in the journal Russian Antiquity. The first full version of the work was published by B. Behr's Verlag in 1889.
Now you know who drew the writer during his lifetime. Descriptions of the portraits of Alexei Tolstoy are presented in the article.