Konstantin Trutovsky (1826-1893) was a Russian artist famous for his colorful everyday scenes from the lives of Russian and Low-Russian peasants, and not always decent, especially by the standards of the XIX century. Sometimes he was even criticized for this, but Trutovsky did not deviate from his rule of depicting life in all its diversity.
By the river
Kostya Trutovsky was born into the family of a well-to-do Kharkov landowner, who did not economize on his son's education. Therefore, he first studied in the best private boarding school in Kharkov, and then entered the Nicholas Engineering School, located in St. Petersburg. There he became seriously interested in reading Russian literature, especially Gogol's works, and seriously thought of illustrating them someday.
Illustration for Evenings on a Farm near Dikanka
But no less than literature, Trutovsky was also attracted to painting. Therefore, he began to study at the Imperial Academy of Arts, all doors were open to him. At first he decided to stop at the most prestigious historical painting, but after acquaintance with the paintings of Pavel Fedotov, he realized that the considered low genre painting can be much more interesting in creative terms than the pompous depiction of various battles.
In the floods
And the subjects could be taken from life, just to display what he saw himself in his estate, located in the village of Yakolevka, Kursk region, where he settled as a real baron.
One of the first notable paintings was "Round Dance in Kursk Province". It was purchased by Tretyakov and hung in his study, and Trutovsky was awarded the prestigious title of academician of painting.
A round dance in Kursk province
And for good reason, he painted his pictures from the heart, and the best of them are deservedly in our leading museums. True, sometimes he imitated other artists of the household genre, in particular, Perov, as in his painting "Sunday Afternoon. A Game of Cards." The landlords are depicted with poorly concealed irony, relegated to the level of caricature characters. This impression is reinforced by the large heads characteristic of Perov's paintings, perfectly rendered facial expressions and well-built composition.
Sunday afternoon. A game of cards
Trutovsky himself probably knew well what to write about; such Sunday afternoons, when big money and even serfs were lost in cards, were the order of the day.
By the way, he himself accepted the reform of 1861 with approval, because he believed that in the middle of the XIX century it was unacceptable for someone to own people and do with them almost anything you wanted.
In the hayloft (preferably as the title picture).
And this is a lighter picture, although it is not without irony. It leaves some room for interpretation: at first glance it seems that the young peasants, having worked hard at the work of haystacking, decided to relax in the hayloft. A girl and a boy in love dozed off in the hayloft in the afternoon, exhausted by the heat, and then some boy with a rake caught them, and judging by his snide smile, he understood perfectly well what kind of relationship they had and what they could be doing here.
Where have you been?
However, if you look closely, there are some inconsistencies: the clothes on the peasant are too clean, next to the hat, which should be worn by a baron, and there is only one rake, with which the girl must have worked. So it is possible that she was seduced by the young lord, promised rich gifts or the opportunity to live in the lord's house as a servant, and she agreed: everything is better than haymaking all day long in the heat.
By the wattle
And the boy, catching this couple, can probably count on some baksheesh from the barin and peasant woman for his silence, and to see such a racy scene is at least interesting.
And what do you think, what really happens in this picture - write in the comments.
The picture "The Easter Procession" has been banned for 40 years. Was it really that bad?
With a pretty villager in the hayloft. Scenes of village life in the paintings of English artist George Clausen
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