The remarkable Russian portraitist Vasily Tropinin wrote many outstanding portraits, some of them we will talk about in this article.
The famous painting "Lacemaker" Tropinin created in 1823, when he had already firmly established himself as one of the best Russian portraitists.
Lacemaker
True, the road to success was not easy - and the matter is not only that he was a serf, had no personal freedom and belonged to Count Morkov, and free received only in 47 years of life, but also in the prejudice of society against Russian artists. Once a certain high-ranking lady was recommended to order a portrait from Tropinin. Except that she was a bit tight on the ear, and she heard that the name of the artist Tropini, and he is Italian. But when she learned that she was dealing with a Russian, and even with a serf, she pushed Tropinin out of the way.
Goldsmith
But after the War of 1812, much changed. Russians gained proper national consciousness, no longer bowed before foreigners, as it was before, when quite average painters, for example, Elisabeth Vigée-Librene or Jean-Baptiste Grèze, who created in the style of sentimental rococo, determined the artistic taste of our aristocrats.
Buccaneer
However, "The Lacemaker", like other portraits by Tropinin on this theme, is written in the direction of sentimentalism, which is passing away. She is a young, big-eyed beauty, easily and effortlessly performing her delicate artwork, which, it seems, she is not in a burden at all. It is still far from the realism of the Itinerant painters, and therefore there are no harsh details, although in reality Tropinin must have seen what this exhausting, many hours of monotonous artwork does to people, leading to blindness and serious problems with the spine. But to paint a half-blind hunchback - no, no way. Art, in Tropinin's opinion, should reflect only the beautiful and sublime, delight the eye and do not awaken any negative emotions, and this rule Tropinin followed all his life.
Behind the stitching
In 1841, Tropinin wrote another famous painting - "Woman in the window". It is believed that as a plot he took Lermontov's poem "Tambov Treasurer". According to her, a young and beautiful girl was given in marriage to a rich elderly treasurer Bobkovsky, who was seriously fond of playing cards. And therefore did not mind too much when around his wife hovered enthusiastic admirers - you can always invite them to the house and try to beat them at cards. But once a regiment of lancers arrived in provincial Tambov, and the treasurer's wife fell headlong in love with Rotmistre Garin. He was to the charms of the beauty is not indifferent and, of course, reciprocated. Angry husband, who learned about the serious interest of his wife in the brave captain, decided to beat him at cards. But luck was on the side of the captain: the husband lost a considerable sum, and at the end he decided to put his wife on the line as if she were some kind of thing.
The Woman in the Window
However, Tropinin depicted not this dramatic moment, where one could give free rein to the imagination, to depict a woman weeping and wringing her hands, and the treasurer who had reached the edge of his lowliness, but the moment when she first saw the captain and felt that she had fallen in love. The woman leaned out of the window to get a better look at the captain, with the secret hope that he would certainly pay attention to her. The first moment of lovemaking, but often so important. The beauty of this woman, unlike the young lacemaker, is mature, is at its peak, and she understands it perfectly. Tropinin showed himself a true master of depicting complex feelings and purely feminine desire to impress the favorite cavalier with his exquisite outfits, hairstyles, jewelry, which he depicted with special care.
Master of obscene paintings under the fig leaf of antiquity. The Mannerism of Bartholomeus Spranger.
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