Vasily Perov - Russian artist, master of genre paintings, who set himself the goal of showing the hard life of all "humiliated and insulted". But along with well-known to all serious paintings, such as "Troika" or "Seeing off the dead", which do not cause any feelings except compassion for the people depicted in them and admiration for Perov's artistic skill, the ability to show the very essence of the life situations displayed in ordinary details, Perov wrote and satirical paintings, such as "First rank, the son of a clerk," "Hunters at the camp" and "Cross Procession at Easter".
First rank. The clerk's son
The last picture and we will analyze in more detail, and also find out why it caused so much trouble to the artist, and what was wrong with it.
Cross Procession on Easter
Cross Procession at Easter by Vasily Perov - a painting that caused criticism from many conservative-minded amateurs of painting. "How would you bateenka not go to Solovki, for such a mockery of the clergy and the Russian people in general" - they wrote. By the way, this picture of Perov censors forbade to exhibit in public places for 40 years, up to 1905. So the picture existed, but in reality, it was seen by few people at that time.
And indeed, in the picture everything looks quite depressing - Russian drunkenness in its most unsightly form, when people, including a sexton and a clergyman, drink themselves intoxicated, fall off their feet, and then suffer from shame, if there are any remnants of conscience, and remember what happened as a bad dream. And in the morning, barely regaining consciousness after a severe hangover, again take up their old ways - you can see it on the frankly drunken face of the priest with a cross, standing on the porch.
But is it really that bad? So that on the brightest holiday everyone would be in such an insane state? Are there no true believers for whom Easter is not an occasion to get drunk to oblivion, but the brightest holiday of the year, a religious celebration?
The whole essence lies in insignificant details, and we will try to understand them. In general, according to all religious customs on Easter close to midnight parishioners leave the church and make a circle around it, and it is counterclockwise - so symbolically the godfather's procession goes towards Jesus Christ.
But in Perov's painting it is not like that - people go clockwise, that is just from Christ. Are they so drunk that they don't know where to go? It all looks very unpleasant. But if you look closely, you can see that people are not coming out of the church, but out of the inn. The church can be seen in the background on the left, and the village is small judging by the number of people participating in the procession, so there should not be two churches.
The cross procession on Easter. fragment. (1. A church. 2. An upside-down icon)
And the birdhouse - somehow it is not customary to attach it to the temple of God, and the porch is quite poor, unchurch-like, and the main thing is that on it and in the doorway there are women seeing off the guests. If there had been a real procession, they would have joined it.
The procession at Easter. Fragment. (Birdhouse. Women seeing off guests)
And finally, the title of the painting is "The Procession at Easter". If the case took place on Easter night itself, the painting should be called "The Procession at Easter".
That is, in fact, on the canvas events occur not on Easter night itself - the brightest holiday of the year, which the vast majority of Russian people in the XIX century met as they should - with a sense of religious celebration and light joy, and Easter week - the days that follow after this holiday.
At this time, singers, clergy, deacons went to the homes of ordinary citizens. The priest congratulated and blessed them, and they gave him drinks and all kinds of treats, donated money for the good of the church. That is, the case was quite God-pleasing, and the fact that at the end of the day, he was, to put it mildly, tipsy - so the holiday at the laymen, and fun in Russia is drinking. Perov depicted the end of such a merry and drunken Easter week, and it is not by chance that the bishop's face is so wrinkled. Well, the singers were needed for greater solemnity, and they went door to door with great willingness - treats and offerings fell to them.
Vasily Perov. Tea party in Mytishchi
It's already evening outside, the house is probably not the first - well, how will the bishop feel after 10 glasses poured by a generous hand?
And maybe it's not an ordinary house, but a clandestine chinok. And the resting drunk is quite appropriate here - he probably has nothing to do with the "godfather's procession". Moreover, a woman is pouring water from a kettle on another drunken man, and the kettle is tied to the beam of the awning. That is, Perov directly points to a chinok - in ordinary houses such a device is unnecessary.
Monastery meal
By the way, not everyone is drunk - the girl sings sincerely and holds the icon correctly, unlike the sexton. Put her in a different environment - the image of a believing and pure-hearted singer would be complete, but even here she seems completely alien, superfluous, and diligence in the performance of church songs in relation to this situation only increases the comic effect. And another young man is deep into a book and does not notice anything around him, and he is obviously quite sober. But how these two contrast with all the others - and this effect is not accidental, Perov deliberately tried to show how ridiculous and shameful looks drunk compared to sober and spiritualized people.
Vasily Perov. A beggar guitarist.
And that chinok was probably the last place where the bishop, the deacon and the singers went - then all that was left was to put the icons in the church and go home. And they finally got drunk there. So not everything is not so bad in the picture, Perov did not exaggerate anything and did not thicken the colors. He wrote honestly, was one of the best representatives of critical realism, but there is no mockery and merciless stigmatization of drunks, the picture is very far from the poster: "Drunkenness - fight.
The morning will come, the bishop and the sexton will sober up, go to church and repent of their deed: "the devil got into their heads". The laity will whisper in the corners: "and on Easter week the priest and the sexton did it", but it will be enough for him to preach another sermon - after repentance it will surely be especially sincere and inspiring and they will forgive him, the shaken authority of the priest and the sexton will be restored again. We are all human beings, we are all sinners, and only the pure voice of the singers, who do not care about vodka, will be heard in the church again during the next procession.
Buy handmade goods or modern art you can on artAlebrio - is an international marketplace for people who want to create, sell, buy and collect unique items and art - buy the best with us artAlebrio.com.
By confirming your order you unconditionally accept these General Conditions of Sale
