Alexei Venetsianov (1780-1847) was a Russian artist who painted genre scenes from peasant life, the founder of his own school of art, and a teacher who managed to train many good artists while acting against the standards of training set by the Academy of Arts, which were too conservative and academic.
Venetsianov was one of the first Russian artists to paint genre scenes of peasant life. He created rare and innovative for that time in Russian painting multi-figure compositions, in which an ordinary Central Russian landscape was of great importance and harmonized with the overall message and meaning of the painting.
On the arable land. Spring.
He also painted portraits, but not of influential nobles and statesmen like Borovikovsky or Orest Kiprensky, but of ordinary peasants and young peasant women. Venetsianov was a true humanist, one of the first to see peasants not as powerless serfs, but as individuals, people who think, feel and realize life as well as enlightened aristocrats, and in this his humanistic contribution to art can hardly be overestimated.
Reapers.
The surname Venetsianov seems to be a somewhat pompous and pretentious pseudonym, which does not fit in with the artist's work at all. Except that it is not a pseudonym, but a real surname, which came to him from his Greek ancestors - in Russia, when they began to live there on a permanent basis, they began to be called in the Italian manner "Venetsiano". And Venetsianov himself would hardly have taken such a pseudonym - he was a very modest and decent man, a true sparing man, and if we take into account the number of good deeds that he has done, it is time to declare a saint. We will talk about the kindest Russian artist Alexei Venetsianov in this article.
Venetsianov's parents were not rich merchants - his father traded in all sorts of agricultural goods, which he was supplied by the surrounding peasants: berries and mushrooms, grain, seedlings, apples, honey, etc. And also paintings, but not expensive foreign canvases for the nobles and the imperial court, and small artists-self-taught near Moscow. Paintings were bought willingly - then in Russian society there was a great interest in painting and, of course, ordinary peasants, poor artisans and merchants were not able to buy a real painting by a famous artist, but cheap printed reproductions, engravings or a special chic - a painting on canvas, painted with real oil paints, but for a reasonable price, albeit a completely unknown artist would be purchased with pleasure. These were the kind of paintings that Alexei Venetsianov's father traded in.
Alexei Venetsianov. Peter the Great. Founding of St. Petersburg
Alexei himself began to paint - at first his uncle Prokhorich, a serf, tutored him. But even the lack of academic education and serious teachers did not prevent the 21-year-old Venetsianov from painting good portraits, such as the portrait of his mother.
Portrait of A. L. Venetsianova, the artist's mother
But it was necessary to learn, and therefore a year later, in 1802, he went to St. Petersburg, hoping to settle there as an artist and improve his skills.
True, it turned out that to break through in St. Petersburg visiting artist without a name and education is almost impossible - there were too many visiting foreigners, and the Academy of Arts regularly released new painters who had completed their studies and all of them usually settled in this city. Venetsianov began to work as a draftsman, for a while abandoning the dream of making a living by painting.
But Venetsianov was lucky - his boss introduced the able artist to Borovikovsky, who was at that time a master of writing ceremonial portraits. With him Venetsianov lived and learned to master his craft, was engaged in copying paintings in the Hermitage, made useful acquaintances.
A girl with a harmonica.
But Venetsianov always, like our itinerant artists Vasily Perov, Ilya Repin and Vladimir Makovsky, wanted to scourge the vices of our society, so he organized the "Journal of Caricatures", for which he drew his caricatures, often quite sharp for those times. The magazine developed, the number of subscribers grew, but one day he overdid it and printed a cartoon where a fat official disdainfully looked at a wounded soldier and a hungry widow. It turned out that it is not allowed to laugh at officials, to show them in an unsightly way too, and the magazine was closed by the censor.
He had to work as a surveyor, but Venetsianov wanted to be an artist and did quite bravely - sent his self-portrait to the competition held by the Academy of Arts. Why he decided that his face could interest the competition committee is unknown, but the idea was successful.
Self-Portrait (variant II)
The portrait was qualitatively written, Venetsianov revealed his character fully, coloristically it was kept though quite original - yellow background, but interestingly and thoughtfully. This is how Venetsianov remained in the memory of descendants - myopic view, gentleness, kindness, decency and unconditional talent.
And in 1815, already at a respectable age by the standards of the XIX century - 35 years Venetsianov married the daughter of impoverished noblemen Marfa Azarieva. He moved with her to the village, located in the Tver province and there everything delighted him, rural life seemed very attractive to him, eventually he bought the estate Safonkovo and lived a real landowner.
But he did not forget his art behind agricultural concerns, he enjoyed painting Russian peasants and genre scenes from their lives. It was then that all his famous peasant paintings appeared, Venetsianov painted what before him was considered completely unworthy of depiction and high art of painting.
"So much for Father's lunch."
And one day he noticed how a neighboring peasant boy very skillfully draws charcoal on the whitewashed wall. Instead of flogging him, as any other baron did in Venetsianov's place, he planned to create his own school where able peasant children could study. Over 70 people were eventually taught by Venetsianov, many of them entered the Academy of Arts and were awarded medals there. He forbade copying paintings, ordered to paint only from life, and peasant boys, so that they could familiarize themselves with the masterpieces of painting, took at his own expense to the Hermitage, where he passed off as his own sons.
Zakharka
But Venetsianov never had extra money. He spent a lot of money on the redemption of capable young serfs artists, however, once he was helped by the Emperor Alexander I himself, buying the painting "Threshing Ground". But the money still soon ran out, Venetsianov had to teach his favorite daughter Sasha the profession of home teacher.
The threshing floor
And then his wife died of cholera, his daughters never received a decent dowry and could not marry, and his pupils, having trampled everything that Venetsianov held dear, painted empty portraits on which, to the detriment of any truth of life, were drawn contented peasants in festive clothes. In some ways they resembled the artwork of Konstantin Makovsky, only executed not in exaggeration rougher.
And Venetsianov died terribly. He was traveling in a horse-drawn carriage from Tver, where he painted the temple. The horses were afraid of something and carried, and because of the cold, the artist, who was in mittens, could not hold them and got tangled in the reins. He was thrown out of the wagon and dragged on the ground for several miles. The peasants found Venetsianov already dead. It is difficult to be a decent man in Russia.
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
