"Maybe (flattering hope!),
The future ignoramus will indicate
In my illustrious portrait
And he says: there was a poet! "
A.S. Pushkin
The poem “The Prisoner of the Caucasus” (first edition) includes a portrait of a boy in a light shirt, propping his swarthy cheek with his hand. So for the first time the secular public, and then the whole of Russia, saw Alexander Pushkin. He was no more than 14 years old at that time, and the author of the portrait was 23 years old. Subsequently, a great many portraits of the famous Russian poet A.S. Pushkin. But a significant value for generations is the sketchy pen sketches made by the poet himself.
Heritage
Among these sketches there is also a self-portrait of Pushkin. To make sure that the appearance of the poet is consistent with his own image, we study his iconography, the memories of his contemporaries. We are interested in knowing what the poet of all times and peoples really looked like. Here he is, 21 years old, three days after the day of his birth (May 26, 1820) arrives in the Sea of ​​Azov.
Youth, courage, overflow of feelings and new thoughts that lie in lines. A few years later - in 1829 - a self-portrait of Pushkin appears during his fall in love with Natalya Goncharova, when he asks for her hand. He does not receive consent, but there was no refusal either. However, such passionate love could not remain without reciprocity, and later the poet receives a positive response. In the meantime, a trip to the Caucasus (without the consent of the government) during the period of the local military operations. Outlines and notes of the future “Travel to Arzrum” are born right on the way. The lines of verses "Caucasus", "Collapse", "On the hills of Georgia lies a night haze ..." flow from the pen. Pushkin’s self-portrait is an integral part of these works. Descendants reached a graphic image with the pen of the poet himself on a horse. The self-portrait of 1829, of course, reflects the impressions received in the Caucasus, because the poet entered Arzrum along with the Russian troops. According to another version of the researchers of the Pushkin heritage, the poet on horseback escapes from the government. There are assumptions that Pushkin’s proud posture on a horse is a reflection of his internal state associated with the answer of Natalia Goncharova. In this posture from Don Quixote, all the nobility and loyalty to the beautiful lady, which permeated every line of the verse of the same period, "I loved you." A little later, Goncharova agreed to become his wife.
Self-portrait of a poet as an element of his works
Priceless drafts and sketches of the poet are a combination of poetic lines and graphics. Drawings are an integral part of the creative process, a kind of creative respite. At the time of the creation of the graphics, he reflected and evaluated, waited for a rush of thought and inspiration, and the muse visited him. The poet does not seek to publish his drawings, they are created for the only spectator - their author. Pushkin’s self-portrait with a pen is distinguished by the feature that exposes the characteristic features of the poet, a romantic and ardent long-haired dandy and at the same time a bold and even daring freethinker (a sketch depicting Pushkin and Lermontov on the banks of the Neva).
In his portraits there is not a shadow of selfishness or narcissism; rather, they are full of subtle self-irony, sarcasm. A slight smile on puffy lips, a cartoon technique, sharp sharp lines confirm this. The poet draws on manuscript fields of himself and loved ones, the heroes of his works and mystical characters. Pushkin's self-portrait with the image of a Demon, a tempting poet, is riddled with sarcasm and ridicule. The artist Pushkin is faithful to the original, faithful to his attitude. Interest in their appearance does not hint at egocentrism. Such self-observation is a way of self-knowledge. But he jokingly sees himself with a laurel wreath on his head: a balding old man with a wrinkled face in the manner of the great Dante and the words: “Great Father P.” In this vision, dignity and satisfaction, pride and sadness in connection with the completion of work on the work, price whom he understood and knew. An accurate and sharp-sighted artist Pushkin, whose self-portrait is known to all of us, painted himself with all his characteristic features, without hiding his flat nose, sideburns and puffy lips. This is how he is remembered by anyone who has ever heard his name.