Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky (1757 - 1825) was one of the most talented artists of the late XVIII - early XIX centuries. His portraits, tender, sentimental and magnificent, ceremonial, reveal to us the noble culture of this time, when they shed tears over N. Karamzin’s Poor Liza, read G. Derzhavin’s playful Life Zvanska, and admired the new syllable that A. Pushkin began to write. .
Childhood and youth
The future artist was born in Little Russia in the bustling Mirgorod, in the family of a Cossack Luke Borovik. The entire Borovikovsky clan served in the Mirgorod regiment. Vladimir Lukich did not depart from the family tradition. But, having risen to the rank of lieutenant, he retired. From childhood, the young man who drew decided to paint. He saw how, having come from service, father, uncle and brothers, having prayed, began to paint icons. It was with the icons that Vladimir himself began. But in 1787, when Vladimir Lukich was already thirty years old, Catherine II went to the Crimea. The leader of the nobility of the Kiev province, a poet of the XVIII century. V. Kapnist invited Borovikovsky to paint the room in which the empress was supposed to stay. Artist Borovikovsky painted on allegorical themes. They apparently liked them, as he was invited to Petersburg. Having finished business with the inheritance, the artist forever parted with Mirgorod.
northern capital
The first ten years, on the recommendation, Vladimir Lukich will spend in the hospitable and noisy house of the architect N.A. Lviv It gathers the cultural color of the capital. In Lvov, he gets acquainted with a new direction in literature - sentimentalism. Here they read “traveler's letters” and “Poor Liza” by Karamzin, new Kapnist’s poems are heard here, poet Dmitriev reads sensitive verses, there is G. Derzhavin, as well as the artist D. Levitsky, who becomes the first newcomer teacher in the capital. Borovikovsky eagerly absorbs everything. The artist takes lessons in the workshop of IB Lumpy. Among the first works, one can distinguish a portrait of O.K. Filippova.
She was the wife of a friend, such a sociable and friendly person like Borovikovsky. The artist painted it in a white morning toilet on the background of the garden with a rose in his hand. She does not cheat. Not flirting, but simply calmly and affably looks at the viewer with large
almond-shaped eyes. A young woman is tender and dreamy.
First portraits
Borovikovsky writes at ease. The artist in the mid-90s leaned towards idyllic images. Such is E.N. Arsenyev.
The young “smolyanka”, the maid of honor of the Empress, flirty looks at us, posing as a shepherdess. In her hand she holds a symbol of the goddess of love - an apple. They shine, sparkle with mother-of-pearl paint, a young fresh face sparkles with fun, a snub-nosed nose fervently upturned. The figure of a girl stands out in volume against the background of trees. Shining youth was written by Borovikovsky. The artist showed a light and cheerful character of youth.
Lyric work
Seven years of life passed in the capital, and before us is the mature Borovikovsky. The artist creates a lyric poem. Perhaps there is no elegy of Maria Ivanovna Lopukhina, where the young woman and nature will merge into a single whole.
Her posture is completely laid back, but at the same time refined and elegant. Harmony is created by the whole system of the portrait - the lines are melodious and smooth, the position of the hand repeats the shape of a tree branch over a young woman. The color is striking with soft blue and pearl shades, plays light and shadow. A little more - and the magic sounds of music will sound. A hundred years later,
Yakov Polonsky will devote soulful lines to the portrait. Yes, let's say after the poet, V.L. saved this beauty. Borovikovsky. The artist showed not only her incomparable beauty, but also the personal sides of her character.
Man portrait
The Catherine nobleman attracted the painter with his extraordinary mind.
Dmitry Prokofievich Troshchinsky left the simplest family of a clerk. He studied at the
Kiev Theological Academy, and eventually became the Secretary of State of Catherine the Great. With all the orders and regalia fanned by the glory of the Suvorov campaigns, his artist portrayed courageously. With great realism, his stern and energetic face is written.
G. R. Derzhavin
The artist painted Gabriel Romanovich Derzhavin twice. The first time that the poet held public office and was full of energy, which was enough for working as a governor in Karelia, and for poetry. The second time - a wise, very middle-aged person who has already departed from state affairs. This portrait seems more interesting. There is no cabinet surroundings in it. A desk and everything that accompanies a similar job.
In the front scarlet uniform with the orders of St. Alexander Nevsky, St. Vladimir, St. Anne and St. John of Jerusalem (commander's cross), an affectionate and calmly smiling, looks at us an outstanding Russian poet. He has seen and learned a lot and told people about everything. Autumn of life has come. And the poet meets her with dignity, and soon he will see his young successor, who will turn over all Russian literature and will be glad to meet him. Calm wisdom looks at the viewer from a portrait. Worthy old age.
In his workshop
Leaving Russia, I. B. Lumpy, the teacher of Borovikovsky, gives him his workshop. In it, the artist will live and work, leaving the Lvov house. He has already developed his own technique, which he will hone until the end of the day, passing on his skills to his students. And his favorite was A.G. Venetsianov, who will be carried away by work in his own estate and will write his peasants. But then, later.
Technique and techniques of the painter
The artist Borovikovsky Vladimir Lukich for 38 years of work will create countless portraits. He learned to write easily and transparently, to build a composition. But the main attention he paid to the inner world of man, to his personal unique features. Everything served only as a frame for the face - and the pose, and the position of the hands, and the landscape. The features of his writing include special overflows, pearlescent colors, which were combined with the academic accuracy of the drawing.
In the sixty-eighth year of his life, the artist Borovikovsky died. His biography is filled with tireless work, meetings with friends, who often were his customers. Is that why love and warmth come from his portraits.