The author, who set out the history of Russia in persons, Dmitry G. Levitsky, an artist of the "gallant" century, and purely outwardly he himself was the face of a "non-general expression": expressive, passionate, a little gallant. The painter had a rare gift; he captured all the realities of the eighteenth century for study by their most distant descendants. Before us, the artist Levitsky reveals the era in all its glory: the faces of kings and courtiers, philosophers and secular lions, cold beauties and writers, industrialists and diplomats, aristocrats and merchants, officials and military, parents and their children, and these portraits are able to tell more accurately than any words about the past that has long passed and will never come back.
History painter
The artist Levitsky gave art lovers an invaluable gift - these are hundreds and hundreds of portraits depicting stupid and smart faces, angry and kind, cold and sensual, each with its own character, with its own biography. These representatives of the age of Catherine the Great personify the very essence of a very difficult and very creative time. The artist Levitsky did not paint a single painting in a purely historical genre, although the historian’s mission was more than fully completed.
Fate first exalted him, bestowing honor and glory, and then hid him in the most distant and unvisited corner: his contemporaries quickly forgot the artist Levitsky, whose portraits had just admired them. The public had their own affairs - calculations, intrigues, whether to painting here! Nobody even knows where exactly the mound is located in the Smolenskoye cemetery, under which lies a wonderful man who immortalized the appearance of his era.
Biography
The artist Dmitry Levitsky was born around 1735 (the exact date is not set) in a small village in the Poltava region. The clan was an old priestly one, which started from the famous Vasily Nos in those parts. Father, Grigory Kirillovich, a talented and educated man, studied engraving in Poland for many years and became an excellent master.
It was in Poland that he received a new surname, under which he settled in Kiev, and gave his own parish in the church for hire to familiar priests. His work was mainly devoted to the spiritual beginning, since in Kiev he collaborated with the Theological Academy and worked in the printing house of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra.
Gift
Agafya's wife (nee Levitskaya, whose surname was taken by the engraving priest) bore him four sons and a daughter. The eldest son got the brightest glory. The entire biography of the artist Levitsky suggests that it was he who inherited from his father the gift of composition, which was different from all his contemporaries, accurate in all details of the drawing, as well as confident work from nature.
The circle of clergy and highly educated intelligentsia surrounded the boy from birth, because he grew up well-read, intelligent and well-mannered. In addition, the character of the young artist D. Levitsky was: up to a certain point in his life, he was accompanied by confidence in his own abilities and abilities. And the fact that he was talented never caused controversy.
The beginning of mastery
According to some reports, in 1752 the young man met with the famous painter Alexei Petrovich Antropov, and this acquaintance had an impact on the life of the artist D. G. Levitsky. At this time, they had to work together on the painting of the St. Andrew's Church in Kiev. And six years later, the young man came to St. Petersburg and not only became a student of this illustrious master, but also lived in his house for the next six years. As an assistant to Antropov, Levitsky painted the Triumphal Gate to the coronation of Catherine II. And two years later he restored this building on his own.
In 1767, he even became rich by completing two iconostases and more than seventy images for the Kiroioannovskaya and Catherine’s churches in Moscow together with the artist Vasilievsky. There is no information about other teachers. But there is such a fact: the very first portraits of celebrities by the artist Levitsky radically differed from the style of the artist Antropov. The manner was completely new and independent, more in tune with the canvases of the masters of Western Europe than with the vision of his dear teacher. Everything was different: ease, lightness, not characteristic of Russian painting of that time, a gamut of halftones, glaze, especially softening intense colors, and such a light-air environment, characteristic of Levitsky's works.
First thaw
It was a time when art flourished: grandiose palaces were built, the influence of Western schools was enormous, since the best architects, musicians, and artists were invited to the country. The new aesthetics absorbed everything with ease, leaving unshakable the directness of the spirit and the very healthy beginning that could give rise to Rokotov and Levitsky, whose work is life itself. At the same time, the artist in the society of that time meant no more than a good cook or watchmaker. Of course, the portrait painter Levitsky spent most of his life among the highest nobility, in the radiance of diamonds.
And this, most likely, is the biggest dissonance - dependence on art material does not lead to anything good. Antropov was a good man, but a few tyrants, it was not easy with him. He hated the Academy of Arts and strongly opposed the lessons of the two masters. Levitsky quite quickly managed to stop depending on the teacher purely financially, and therefore he subsequently took such lessons. Ten years later, craftsmanship was finally polished, and the Frenchman Langrene and the Italian Valeriani, both of the academicians, helped in this. In 1770, real glory came to Levitsky.
Girls
In 1770, Levitsky received a gold medal from the Academy of Arts for a portrait of the architect Kokorinov, who presented at the exhibition organized there. Celebrities participated - Losenko, Groot, but Levitsky unconditionally gave first place for perfect form and spiritual fulfillment. That is why in 1773 the artist received an order from the Empress herself and painted portraits of the girls - pupils of the Smolny Institute. It was the first and so far the only school for girls. Previously, noble women studied with governesses, and the poor did not study at all. It was the empress’s good initiative to open the institution of noble maidens in the Smolny Monastery.
In all portraits, the artist's talent developed as much as possible. Levitsky proved to be not only an excellent psychologist, but also an excellent decorative artist. The portraits were executed as ceremonial allegorical paintings: the pupil of Borshchova personified the theater, Molchanova - science, Alymova - music and so on. The entire eighteenth century in his aesthetic system was reflected in these portraits.
Freemasonry
In less than twenty years, portraits of celebrities by the artist Levitsky were forgotten at best, and sometimes even played against him. The empress changed her favorites from time to time; Freemasonry was always more than negative. And Levitsky was a freemason, just like some of his patrons. The main customers for a long time were Chancellor Prince Bezborodko and President of the Academy of Arts, Count Betskoy. Under many princes and counts, chairs once reeled. The chancellor lost Potemkin all his state power, and the elderly Betskoi was already useless for the state.
A lawsuit has been opened against the publisher of “Drone” Nikolai Novikov , and it’s difficult to separate this name from Levitsky’s name, even we know Novikov from the portrait painted by the artist. Both were freemasons. Then Levitsky was not just out of favor. She brought with her and obscurity. Throughout the last quarter of his life, Levitsky almost did not work, his canvases of this period can be counted on the fingers. The canvases, as always, are excellent. But there are few of them. Very little. And then, already in old age, Levitsky went blind.
When joy is lost
The educator and writer Novikov in the mid-nineties literally opened his eyes to the artist on his life and on the significance of this very life. He was, of course, a wonderful friend. It was dazzlingly clear to the artist that his life was lived in lies, hypocrisy and falsehood, which not only surrounded him, but he himself was their parent hourly and every day. Deception seemed to him phantasmagoric, and most of all he was terrified of his own participation in it.
Further, life continued for some time in the old way. After breakfast, Levitsky stood at the easel, so that the canvases left the workshop one by one, and the noble customers rejoiced and thanked. But the painter could no longer rejoice. The happiness of creativity, creation was gone, and there was only dissatisfaction and emptiness with it. Then new ways were tried - people, folk themes. A portrait of the artist’s daughter appeared in a folk wedding dress. But alas. Many years of custom work has done its job. There was no more truth in him than before. Salon he turned out, and not national.
Style
The artist did not succeed in inspired images, because the whole soul was emasculated by these magnificent portraits, where coldness, sweetness, and artificiality are inevitable. And all because in art concessions, even the smallest, are unacceptable, and also there should not be any half-truths there. Neither excellent craftsmanship, nor mastery of color, nor magnificent drawing, nor excellent sense of tone could replace it. But all this made the portraits of celebrities of the artist D. G. Levitsky so significant and so beautiful!
Masons completely ruined the artist. He now felt constant tearing, breaking, and hours of work on order became unbearable. Levitsky was drawn to reading, to reflection, to loneliness. He was not ready for the role of a fighter. He just missed. Noble customers from the very beginning felt this, and the yard forgot the artist almost instantly. Two or three years passed before the moment when real poverty knocked on the house.
Along with the era
The Academy had to leave with a ridiculous annual pension of two hundred rubles. This handout was so insignificant that it did not look like a beneficence, but an insult. It is understandable - Levitsky was objectionable. Not because of poor health, he left, it was an excuse. The leadership of the Academy has changed, previous benefactors have disappeared. The artist was left with a large family and impending blindness without funds. The struggle for existence was humiliating, difficult and very long.
His contemporaries described in his memoirs how a blind old man stood idle for many hours on his knees in the temple at the Academy of Arts. He died at eighty-seven years old, and by that time as an artist he had been completely forgotten. For the last quarter of his century - from the beginning of the 1800s, he left us from large works portraits of Bilibin breeders and Protasova chamber maids of honor. That is almost all. And how prolific this brush was earlier! The Catherine’s era has dried up, so her singer fell silent.