He was brought up by serfs, but managed to become a famous artist. How Fedor Rokotov managed to catch luck by the tail against all odds

Fedor Stepanovich Rokotov (1735-1808) was a Russian portrait painter whose paintings were distinguished by their innovative at the time emotionality and coloristic mutedness. His portraits are characterized by soft light and a slight blur, mysterious half-smiles of ladies, which makes them partly similar to the famous “Gioconda” by Leonardo da Vinci. Rokotov was one of the first Russian artists to depict the character of the heroes of his paintings, not just their appearance.

Portrait of Alexandra Petrovna Struyskaya

Because of these features of his paintings are always unmistakable among other similar portraits of the time, the hand of the master is visible at once, and it is safe to say that he knew his work perfectly. The vast majority of portraits of Rokotov written pogrudno, people depicted in them, most often sad or indulge in melancholy, although, perhaps, in life and were cheerful. Also, Rokotov almost did not try to display the volume, replacing it with a misty haze - flattened images in the portraits as if slightly melted in it, as if in a fog.

Portrait of an unknown woman in a blue dress with yellow trim

Unfortunately, many of Rokotov's paintings darken due to imperfections in the primers used by artists and simply over time. Their restoration is a complex and expensive undertaking, so they are often left as is. But this dimness and some shading of his portraits gradually began to be perceived as the artist's signature style.

Portrait of a young man in uniform (possibly a self-portrait by Fedor Rokotov)

About Rokotov preserved very little information that leads some art historians in perplexity: Rokotov was on good account, received favorable orders and even received the right to write portraits of Peter III and Catherine II, and such a privilege was awarded to very few artists.

Portrait of Peter III

It is believed that Rokotov came from serfs who belonged to General Peter Repnin, who lived in the Moscow region. However, Fedor himself was lucky - he was a freeborn, but his relatives remained serfs. Probably Rokotov was a bastard son of the general, so he received such privileges. The general simply gave him for upbringing in a suitable peasant family, which sometimes threw money and gave other indulgences, and then even began to bring his son “in society.” Fedor spent a lot of time at Repnin's estate, probably there and began to draw, and his real father, seeing that the boy shows an aptitude for painting, invited teachers to him.

Portrait of Alexey Bobrinsky as a child

When Fedor grew up, Repnin sent him to study at the Gentry Cadet Corps. The education there was good for those times, but, of course, they did not teach painting. Therefore, Rokotov studied with the artists Pietro Rotari and Louis Tocquet. This is just the case when the student surpassed his teachers. The Empress did not like Tocquet's portrait of the Empress because, in her opinion, too short nose, but Rokotov depicted the nose according to all the ancient Greek canons, and therefore the profile turned out to be almost perfect, the Empress even ordered the Empress in the future to write their images only from Rokotov's painting.

Portrait of Catherine II

However, parade portraits Rokotov preferred a different genre - chamber portrait, where you can focus not on the image of the majestic clothes, orders and jewelry, but on the personality of the portraitist. The clothes on the portraits of Rokotov only cover the nakedness, the main thing - the inner world of the man, he managed to display “the soul of the changeable omen” as they said at the time, and this is the sign of a great master.

Portrait of an unknown woman in a pink dress

Rokotov's talent was appreciated by his contemporaries. His patron was the all-powerful favorite Ivan Shuvalov, so the artist could set up a large workshop with a dozen students, and soon received the title of academician of painting.

Alexander Mikhailovich Rimsky-Korsakov

However, in addition to many official portraits of people rich and famous Rokotov wrote marvelous portraits of ladies who remained unknown to historians. And these paintings, according to art historians, the most valuable in his creative legacy. Here all the artist's signature traits manifested themselves especially brightly, and deep psychology allows us to conclude that all these people existed in reality and the author was quite familiar with them.

Portrait of an unknown woman

Rokotov probably never had any children - at least, he left all his inheritance to his nephews. After his death, he was forgotten for many centuries, but when Impressionism became popular, it turned out that Rokotov's paintings surprisingly corresponded to this direction. This prompted an interest in them that has not died down to this day.

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