Artist Tropinin biography and his paintings. Tropinin Vasily Andreevich – gallery of works (226 images)

(1780 – 1857)

Among Russian painters of the first half of the 19th century, Vasily Andreevich Tropinin is especially dear to us for the sense of nationality recognizable by the heart that permeates his works: artistically excellent portraits of his contemporaries, typical images of Russian life and everyday scenes.

Tropinin’s role is also great in general process democratization of domestic art, in the formation realistic method. The charm of the artist’s creative individuality is deeply connected with the Russian culture of his time, his artistic heritage is a natural and necessary link in the general flow of national development.

Tropinin belongs to all of Russia, but perhaps Moscow has the greatest right to consider him one of its own. Here the artist’s talent developed in full force, here he lived most of his life. It is no coincidence that a stunning museum of V.A. Tropinin and the artists of his time was opened in Moscow.

Tropinin's paintings are characterized by extreme simplicity. The artist believed that a portrait should be artless, simple and as close as possible to the actual appearance of a person.

His works are characterized by a mixture of genres, where the portrait is organically combined with everyday life. Everywhere there is a type combined with some action, usually simple and unambiguous.

All these paintings, without exception, exude peace, tranquility, comfort... Tropinin reminds us of the value of every minute of our fleeting existence. The nature of the artist’s talent was such that in his canvases he reflected life poetically, and not critically. Tropinin said this: “Who in life loves to look at angry, gloomy faces?”

But the life of the artist himself was by no means easy. The artist was born on March 17 (28) in the village of Karpovo, Chudovsky volost Novgorod province in a serf family. Only thanks to his talent, hard work and perseverance was he able to break through to success despite the unfavorable circumstances of his life.

He was an “outside” student of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1798-1804) in the portrait class of S.S. Shchukin. In 1804, by the will of the owner, Count I.I. Morkov, he moved to his estate in the Podolsk province and lived in Ukraine (1804-1812 and 1818-1821). In the spring of 1823, Vasily Tropinin received his freedom, lived and worked in Moscow.

In the fall of 1823, for the portrait of E.O. Skotnikov (Tretyakov Gallery), the painting “The Lacemaker” (Tretyakov Gallery) and “The Old Beggar” (Russian Russian Museum), he was recognized as “appointed” to an academician. For the program “Portrait of K. A. Liberecht” (NIM RAH) in 1824 he was awarded the title of academician.

Portrait painter, painted landscapes, genre and religious compositions. Participated in exhibitions of the Imperial Academy of Arts, took part in the activities of the Moscow Art Class.

1. Tropinin Vasily “Portrait of an unknown woman in a lace cap” 1800s Oil on canvas 61x53 State Tretyakov Gallery 2. Tropinin Vasily “Portrait of A.I. Tropinina” Circa 1809 Oil on canvas 51.5x40.4 State Tretyakov Gallery

3. Tropinin Vasily “Dionysus with a goat” 1802-1804 Paper, graphite and Italian pencils, chalk 59.5x44 State Historical Museum 4. Tropinin Vasily “Portrait of an unknown woman with an umbrella in her hand” 1810 Oil on canvas 130x93 Collection of A. Smuzikov

5. Tropinin Vasily “The Spinner” Late 1800s - early 1810s Oil on canvas 60.3x45.7 State Tretyakov Gallery 6. Tropinin Vasily “Boy with a gun. Portrait of Prince M.A. Obolensky (?)" Around 1812 Tin, oil 14x12 Museum of V.A. Tropinin and Moscow artists of his time

13.. Tropinin Vasily “Family portrait of the Counts Morkovs” 1815 Oil on canvas 226x291 State Tretyakov Gallery 14. Tropinin Vasily “Family portrait of the Counts Morkovs (in the process of restoration)” 1815 Oil on canvas 226x291 State Tretyakov Gallery

05/03/1857 (05/16). – Portrait painter Vasily Andreevich Tropinin died

Self-portrait with brushes and palette against the backdrop of a window overlooking the Kremlin (1844)

Vasily Andreevich Tropinin (03/19/1776–05/3/1857), portrait painter. Born a serf on the estate of Count Anton Sergeevich Minikh, located in the village of Karpovka, Novgorod province. Tropinin's father was the headman of the serfs, then a manager, and for honest service he received manumission from the count, but manumission did not apply to his children; they continued to be considered serfs.

Vasily received his primary education (through the efforts of his father) in Novgorod, where he studied for four years at public school. It was there that the boy developed a passion for drawing. When Minikha's daughter Natalya Antonovna married Count Irakli Ivanovich Morkov, young Tropinin was included in her dowry and entered the service of the new owner. Count Morkov did not favor his serf's hobby of drawing and sent Vasily to St. Petersburg to study confectionery. In the capital, Tropinin, who was under the supervision of Count Alexei Ivanovich Morkov’s cousin, free time continued to draw. Soon Alexey Ivanovich was surprised to learn that Vasily had been secretly attending lectures at the Academy of Arts since 1798.

After viewing the serf’s drawings, the young count decided at all costs to persuade his cousin to send Tropinin to study at the Academy of Arts, and ultimately achieved his consent, promising his relative that he would reimburse all costs. At that time, according to the Academy's charter, serfs could only be free listeners for an appropriate fee. For six years Tropinin studied art in plaster and painting classes. Basics artistic craft the future painter learned in the studio famous artist- Professor Stepan Semenovich Shchukin. For his student drawings Vasily received gold and silver medals. Tropinin at the Academy of Arts became friends with the future famous engraver Yegor Osipovich Skotnikov and artist Orest Adamovich Kiprensky.

In 1804, Tropinin presented his work for the first time at an academic exhibition. His painting was praised by the adjunct rector of the Academy Ivan Akimovich Akimov and Empress Maria Feodorovna, who visited the exhibition. And the President of the Academy, Count Alexander Sergeevich Stroganov, having learned from Kiprensky that one of the best students continued to be a serf, promised to obtain freedom for Tropinin. But, as soon as Count Irakli Morkov learned about the interest of such high-ranking gentlemen in his peasant, he immediately recalled Vasily from St. Petersburg to Little Russia. The count did not need a highly educated portrait painter - he needed a serf estate artist who was supposed to paint icons and altar images for the new church under construction and decorate carriages.

In 1807, Vasily Tropinin married Anna Ivanovna Katina, a free settler who was not afraid to marry a serf. A year later, the Tropinins had a son, Arseny. The Patriotic War of 1812 found Tropinin in Little Russia. Count Morkov was elected to the leadership of the Moscow militia. Summoned to Moscow, Tropinin arrived in the ancient capital with a convoy of his master's property. Life in burned-out Moscow gradually came back to life after Napoleon's expulsion. In 1813, militias began to return from the war, in 1814 - Russian troops from foreign trips. Tropinin took up painting again. In the count's house, which was rebuilt after the fire, he had a workshop where he painted portraits of his owners, their relatives and noble acquaintances. On large canvas The Morkov family depicts the father with his sons-warriors and eldest daughters-brides, happy to meet after graduation Patriotic War.

Family of Counts Morkovs, 1813, Tretyakov Gallery

In 1818, Tropinin painted a portrait of the historian Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin, which was engraved and opened the collected works of the writer. Nobles following old fashion, again revived in their homes portrait galleries instead of the canvases burned in the Moscow fire. Therefore, Tropinin painted portraits of the count’s neighbors, numerous military men, his loved ones (son, sister Anna), and Muscovites. In these works one can notice his mastery of the full range of painting techniques related to portraiture. Orders also appeared from representatives of the merchant class.

In the 1810-1820s, improving his skills, Tropinin copied paintings by old masters from Moscow private collections. This helped to master professional “secrets”: the expressiveness of contours, the subtlety of light and shadow modeling, and color. Although no art exhibitions were held in Moscow, the master quickly gained fame as good portrait painter. The interest of lovers of fine art in his personality aroused flattering lines in Domestic notes: “Tropinin, a serf of Count Morkov. He also studied at the Academy of Arts and has a happy talent and inclination for painting. His coloring is similar to Titian’s.”

Many enlightened and noble people, learning that the painter Tropinin was a serf, were extremely outraged by this. The young nobles, with whom Count Morkov had various affairs, considered it their duty to publicly demand that he grant freedom to the talented serf. There is information that once at the English Club, a certain Dmitriev, having won against the Count at cards a large sum, publicly invited him to exchange debt for freedom for Tropinin. But Morkov did not want to lose his personal artist: he did not let Vasily Andreevich go anywhere and took care of him in his own way.

And yet, Count Morkov was forced to yield to public opinion: in May 1823, as an Easter gift, he presented Tropinin with a certificate of freedom. Now he could start a new one free life, but it was necessary to decide on status, place of work and residence. Morkov, who still had Tropinin’s wife and son as serfs (they received their freedom only after five years), invited Vasily Andreevich to stay in his count’s house and promised to work for him for a place in the military department. However, the artist, who had dreamed of complete independence for so long, decided to live independently and do what he loved most.

Tropinin turned to the Imperial Academy of Arts with a request to award him the title of artist. In September 1823, for submissions to the Academy paintings: portrait of E.O. Skotnikov, the paintings “The Lacemaker” and “The Old Beggar”, he received the title of “appointed” to academician. In the painting “The Lacemaker,” the problems of conveying the illusion of space and light-tonal painting are convincingly resolved. The cuteness of the model and the picturesque beauty of the canvas made the viewer forget that in reality the girl’s work is very difficult. According to the rules of the Academy, to receive the title of academician, an artist must perform a large generational image of one of the members of the Academy Council. In the spring of 1824, he arrived in St. Petersburg, where he painted a portrait of medalist professor K.A. Leberecht and was awarded the title of academician portrait painting. At the same time, the master showed his paintings at an academic exhibition. Having received recognition from colleagues and art lovers, Tropinin painted his self-portrait. The status of a free man and artist Vasily Andreevich Tropinin in society increased: the title of academician and the rank of 10th grade according to the Table of Ranks made it possible to enter the public service.

From 1824 until the end of his life (year of death 1857), Vasily Tropinin lived and worked in Moscow. Tireless portraiture made the artist the most famous and leading portrait painter of the ancient capital. In the 1820s, the artist worked on portraits of university professors and other notable persons of Moscow. The images of prominent city dignitaries he made decorated the halls of the Council of Guardians, the Racing Hunt Society, the Agricultural Society and others. His brush captured a number of victorious heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812. They were used as iconographic material by the English artist Dow when creating the Military Gallery Winter Palace. Among private commissioned works, in 1827 a portrait of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin was painted at the request of a friend of the great poet, Sobolevsky. Contemporaries noted the striking resemblance of the poet depicted in the portrait to the living Pushkin.

In addition to commissioned portraits, the artist painted his friends, acquaintances and acquaintances. These friendly works of the artist include portraits: engraver E.O. Skotnikov, owner of the framing workshop P.V. Kartashev, sculptor I.P. Vitali, amateur guitarist P.M. Vasiliev, engraver N.I. Utkina. At the beginning of 1836, in winter, Muscovites solemnly welcomed K.P. Bryullov. An acquaintance took place between the author of the painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” and the portrait painter Tropinin. In his modest workshop, Vasily Andreevich, as a sign of friendship and recognition of talent, painted a portrait of Karl Pavlovich Bryullov.

In the early 1850s, the unprecedented popularity of Vasily Tropinin began to fade. Many out-of-town and foreign portrait painters frequented wealthy Moscow to earn money, offering their services cheaper and working faster than the older artist. But the habit of daily work did not allow Vasily Andreevich Tropinin to leave his brush. He continued to write, try various options portrait compositions, trying to compete with the masters of the salon direction. Therefore, in a fashionable spirit, “Portrait of the spouses Nikolai Ivanovich and Nadezhda Mikhailovna Ber” (1850, National Art Museum Republic of Belarus, Minsk).

Noble gentlemen are presented in luxurious clothes and free poses against the backdrop of the rich surroundings of their own home. Marble sculpture a plump angel, a vase of flowers, velvet drapery, an oriental carpet on the floor - all these elements of the ceremonial furnishings are intended not so much to show the wealth of the customers, but to demonstrate the skill of the artist, who so realistically conveyed the decoration of the room. Tropinin, even in his declining years, wanted to remain true to his principles of depiction happy life portrayed. The painting “Girl with a Pot of Roses” (1850, Museum of V.A. Tropinin and Moscow Artists of His Time, Moscow) is a genre scene. A young maid, clutching a pot of blooming roses, takes a pallet from the table and playfully looks at the viewer. A sweet, slightly embarrassed face, an open look, smoothly combed hair and a stately figure of the girl, as well as large pink buds against the background of the dark color of the room convey the spontaneity and liveliness of the young lady and, of course, the romantically upbeat mood of the entire canvas.

Tropinin created a series of paintings that reflected the images of the “inconspicuous” residents of Moscow. These are poor people, retired veteran soldiers, old men and women. The artist wrote them mainly for himself. However, in the respect with which they are captured on the canvas, one can feel the genuine, unostentatious democracy and humanism of a wonderful master painter. Servant boys and boys with books, seamstresses and laundresses, goldsmiths and lacemakers, guitarists and girls with flowers - in each of these images you can feel a unique personality. It is no less significant that all these works are distinguished by the nobility of the color scheme, a subtle understanding of color shades, and the integrity of the coloristic solution. Even in European painting of those times it was difficult to find a master who long years creative life retained the taste and quality of impeccable handmade craftsmanship.

In 1855, after the death of his wife, the artist moved to Zamoskvorechye. He bought a house on Nalivkovsky Lane. In it, the outstanding Russian portrait painter died on May 3, 1857. Tropinin was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery in Moscow. The painter lived a long creative life and created more than 3,000 portraits, in which he strives for a living, spiritual characterization of a person as a unique personality with a romantic sense of the moving elements of life. In portraits he is often great importance have expressive details, a landscape background, and the composition becomes more complex. Portraits of his son (1818), (1827), composer P.P. are widely known. Bulakhov (1827), artist (1836), self-portrait (1846), paintings “Lacemaker”, “Gold Seamstress”, “Guitar Player”.

An important part of Tropinin's legacy is his drawings, especially his pencil portrait sketches, which stand out for their sharp observations. The soulful sincerity and poetic, everyday, harmonious harmony of his images have more than once been perceived as specific trait Old Moscow art school.

At the end of his life, Vasily Tropinin’s paintings showed fidelity to nature and an analytical view of the world, as a result of which the artist found himself at the origins of a movement in Russian art called critical realism, which was subsequently developed by graduates of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture - Vasily Grigorievich Perov and Nikolai Vasilyevich Nevrev. Thus, Tropinin had a huge influence on the work of all subsequent generations of great Russian painters. The memory of the greatest master of Russian portrait Vasily Andreevich Tropinin is carefully preserved at the present time. At the corner of Volkhonka and Lenivka streets, on the wall of the Moscow house where Vasily Andreevich Tropinin lived and worked for thirty years, a memorial plaque was installed. Since 1969, there has been a Museum of Tropinin and Moscow artists of his time in Zamoskvorechye. Numerous works by the outstanding master decorate the halls of the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow and the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. The works of Vasily Andreevich Tropinin are kept in the collections of many museums and art galleries Russian Federation.

Tropinin Vasily Andreevich (1776-1857), painter.

Born on March 30, 1776 in the village of Karpov, Novgorod province. Serf of Count B.K. Minikh, then Count A. Morkov.

Tropinin's outstanding abilities, demonstrated in childhood, prompted Morkov to enroll the young man in the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg (1798), where his teacher was famous portrait painter S.S. Shchukin.

In 1804, Tropinin submitted his first painting, “Boy with a Dead Bird,” to the competition. The artist failed to complete the course of study - at the whim of the landowner, he was recalled from St. Petersburg.

Until 1821 he lived in Ukraine. Having received freedom only at the age of 47 (1823), he moved to Moscow, where he worked until the end of his life.

Tropinin perfectly mastered the Russian heritage portraitists XVIII century, but at the same time managed to develop a unique painting style. With great warmth and love, he reveals the inner world of the people he portrays.

Among best works- portraits of his wife (1809), I. I. and N. I. Morkov (1813), son (1818), Emperor Nicholas I (1825), N. M. Karamzin, A. S. Pushkin (1827), Y. V. Gogol, composer P. P. Bulakhov (1827), V. A. Zubova (1834), K. P. Bryullov (1836), self-portrait ( 1846). They are distinguished by a delicate color and clarity of volumes.

In the paintings “The Lacemaker” (1823), “The Gold Seamstress”, “The Guitarist”, and the sketch “The Old Beggar”, Tropinin created expressive, attractive spiritual beauty images of people from the people.

The painter several times sought the title of member of the Academy of Arts, but received it only in 1824 for the portrait of the medalist Lebrecht, notable for its harmony and completeness of execution. In total, Tropinin left more than 3 thousand works, having a significant influence on portraiture of the Moscow school.

RUSSIAN ARTISTS. Tropinin Vasily Andreevich (1776-1857), part 1

Vasily Tropinin was born on March 30, 1776 in the village of Karpovka, Novgorod province, as a serf of Count A. S. Minikh. Subsequently, it came into the possession of Count I.I. Morkov as part of the dowry of Minich’s daughter, Natalya. His father, the count's manager, received his freedom for faithful service, but without children. Tropinin, as a boy, attended a city school in Novgorod, and then, when his ability to draw became obvious, he was sent as a pastry chef's apprentice to the house of Count Zavadovsky in St. Petersburg.

They started talking about Tropinin as the “Russian Dream”. Tropinin copied and quoted this painter all his life.

Girl with a dog. Copy of the painting by J.-B. Dream. 1820—1830

As a student at the Academy, Tropinin had the opportunity to join the world artistic culture. The Academy of Arts possessed a significant collection of paintings by Western European masters. Academy students also copied from paintings located in the Imperial Hermitage. From Tropinin's copies one can judge his interest in Dutch and Flemish masters— Rembrandt, Jordaens, Teniers. If Tropinin and Grez were brought together by the sentimentalist-enlightenment worldview inherent in both of them, then in the works of the Dutch and Flemings he found support for his realistic orientation and quests in the field of genre.

“A Boy with a Pity” was written in the spirit of Zhukovsky’s elegiac poetry. Portrait of Irakli Morkov” (1810s).

"The Boy with the Pity"
(Portrait of Irakli Morkov)
1810s
Oil on canvas 60.2 x 45.6
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow

The portrait is dominated by a mood of melancholy reflection. Landscape, as often happens in romantic poetry, explains internal state hero.
In the pictorial style and in the portrait concept of Tropinin in the 1810s, many features were preserved art XVIII centuries - a rocaille range of softened complementary colors, with a predominance of golden tones, a soft movable brush, a transparent, shimmering texture.

Children's images were especially attractive to Tropinin. Most of the children's portraits have a genre theme.
He depicts children with animals, birds, toys, and musical instruments.

A boy releasing a goldfinch from a cage. 1825

There is no doubt that Tropinin’s children’s portraits are connected with the traditions of the 18th century, with the sentimentalist-enlightenment trend in philosophy.
Enlightenment scholars considered the child’s mind a tabula raza (“blank slate”), explaining many of the vices of society by the lack of a reasonable education system.

The years from 1813 to 1818 were very fruitful for the artist. Moscow was recovering from Napoleon's invasion.
In the mid-1810s, the publisher P.P. Beketov posed for him, who conceived a series of engraved portraits of famous Russian figures.
At the same time, the most famous poet in Moscow, I.I. Dmitriev, commissioned his portrait of Tropinin.

Portrait of I. I. Dmitriev. 1835

These early portraits, half-length against a neutral background, harken back to the tradition of 18th-century Russian chamber portraiture.
Gradually, Tropinin’s circle of customers is expanding. He paints portraits of the heroes of the Patriotic War - generals I. I. Alekseev, A. P. Urusov, F. I. Talyzin, P. I. Bagration.

“Portrait of Prince P.I. Bagration, 1816”

"Portrait of the artist's son at the easel"
1820s

In 1821, Tropinin returned to Moscow forever. Having gained respect and popularity in Moscow, the artist, nevertheless, remained a serf, which caused surprise and discontent in the circles of the enlightened nobility.
A. A. Tuchkov - general, hero of 1812 and collector, P. P. Svinin, N. A. Maikov - especially bothered about Tropinin. However, Count Morkov gave freedom to his serf painter only in 1823.

Portrait of N. A. Maykov. 1821

With the support of Shchukin and the publisher Svinin, who repeatedly helped the artist, Tropinin in September 1823 presented his works to the Council of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and was soon awarded the title of “appointed academician” for the paintings “The Lacemaker,” “Old Beggar” and “Portrait of the Engraver E. O.” Skotnikova".

"Beggar Old Man"
1823

These early works of Tropinin, continuing the line of the Ukrainian period, are firmly connected with the traditions of Russian academic art of the 18th century. This kind of connection is especially clearly manifested in the image of the “Beggar Old Man”.

Portrait of E.O. Skotnikov
1821, oil on canvas, 58.5 x 42.5 cm
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
Skotnikov, Egor Osipovich, (1780-1843), artist, copper engraver, academician.

"The Lacemaker"
1823
Oil on canvas 80 x 64

Moscow

“The Lacemaker” (1823) is one of the most popular works Tropinina. A pretty girl weaving lace is depicted at the moment when she looked up from her work for a moment and turned her gaze to the viewer, who thus becomes involved in the space of the picture. The still life is carefully and lovingly painted - lace, bobbins, a box for needlework. The feeling of peace and comfort created by Tropinin convinces of the value of every moment of everyday life. human existence. The aesthetic tastes of the era in this case happily coincided with the peculiarities of the artist’s talent, who perceives life poetically.
Tropinin painted many similar paintings.
They usually depict young women doing needlework - goldsmiths, embroiderers, spinners. Their faces are similar, the features of the artist’s female ideal are clearly visible in them - a gentle oval, dark almond-shaped eyes, a friendly smile, a flirtatious look.
Images of needlewomen from the 1820s and 1830s indicate the evolution of Tropinin’s artistic style. From the painterly style of his early works he comes to a linear-plastic one, with a clearer outline and body-like overlay of colors. The picturesque texture acquires density. Small, tightly placed strokes make the paintings look like miniatures using the enamel technique.
“The Lacemaker” is made in an exquisite range of bluish-grayish tones, in “Golden Seamstress” (1826) color scheme more active.

"Gold seamstress"
1826
Oil on canvas 81 x 64
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow

Speaking about the idealized solution of Tropinin's female images, we must also keep in mind the fact that the aesthetic tastes of the era in this case happily coincided with the peculiarity of the artist’s talent, who perceived life not critically, but poetically, who did not denounce, but affirmed. That is why work in his works appears not as a grueling, necessary activity, but as a joyful side of life, in which the wonderful qualities of female nature are revealed.

However, by creating male type portraits, Tropinin comprehends reality more soberly. This involuntarily reflected his deep understanding common people, the environment from which he himself came.
That is why the artist sometimes paid more attention and warmth to the images of Russian peasants (“Old Peasant,” 1825; “Coachman Leaning on a Whip,” 1820s; “Peasant Planing a Crutch,” 1834; “The Wanderer,” 1847) than to his own high society “heroes”.

"Peasant whittling a crutch"
1830s
Oil on canvas 76 x 56
Museum of V. A. Tropinin and Moscow artists of his time
Moscow

"An old coachman leaning on a whip"
Etude.
1820s
Oil on canvas 54.6 x 44.5
Museum of V. A. Tropinin and Moscow artists of his time
Moscow

Among his male images, the “guitarist” type was especially loved by his contemporaries.
A series of works of the same name began with “The Guitarist in a Shirt. Portrait of Morkov” (first half of the 1820s).
Morkov is presented during the performance of the romance in stage costume, repeating folk clothing.

In 1824, for “Portrait of medalist K. A. Leberecht” Tropinin was recognized as an academician of portraiture.

Portrait of K. A. Leberecht. 1824

Portrait of K. A. Leberecht. Fragment. 1824

The Council of the Academy of Arts invited him to stay in St. Petersburg and accept the position of professor.
But the cold, bureaucratic Petersburg and the prospect of official service did not attract the artist.
Several important factors played a role in the fact that Tropinin chose Moscow. And purely personal - the family of its former owner, Count I. Morkov, lived in Moscow, whose serf remained the artist’s son, and Tropinin clearly felt the sense of freedom that Moscow life gave him, as well as the artist’s desire to secure an independent professional position, which was new for the artistic life of Russia.

Art in Russia has always been a state matter. The Imperial Academy of Arts distributed government orders, pensions and subsidies, and determined the fate of artists.
Tropinin, living in Moscow exclusively with private commissions, managed to gain fame as one of the best portrait painters and create for himself an independent position that very few Russian artists possessed.
Vasily Andreevich occupied the niche in Moscow cultural life that had been empty before him, and became the most famous Moscow portrait painter, reflecting both the harmony and the contradictory nature of Moscow life in the images of his contemporaries.

Living and working in Moscow, Tropinin did not take part in academic exhibitions and, as a result, remained almost unnoticed by criticism associated mainly with the Academy and its shows. However, this circumstance did not at all prevent his recognition. Karl Bryullov, refusing to paint portraits of Muscovites, said: “You have your own excellent artist.”
In Moscow, Tropinin settled in Pisareva’s house on Lenivka, near the Bolshoi Stone Bridge. Here he painted the famous portrait of A.S. Pushkin.

At the beginning of 1827, Pushkin ordered a portrait of Tropinin as a gift to his friend Sobolevsky. In this portrait, the artist most clearly expressed his ideal of a free person. He painted Pushkin in a dressing gown, with his shirt collar unbuttoned and a tie-scarf casually tied. Particularly impressive, almost monumental, the poet’s image is given by his proud bearing and stable posture, thanks to which his dressing gown is likened to an antique toga.

This portrait had a strange fate. Several copies were made from it, but the original itself disappeared and appeared only many years later. It was bought in a Moscow money changer by the director of the Moscow archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, M. A. Obolensky, whom Tropinin painted when he was still a child.
The artist was asked to confirm the authenticity of the portrait and renew it, since it was badly damaged. But Tropinin refused, saying “that he did not dare touch the features drawn from life and, moreover, with a young hand,” and only cleaned it up.

The years 1830 - 1840 greatest number portraits painted by Tropinin.
They said about the artist that he rewrote “literally the whole of Moscow.”
He has developed a wide and varied range of customers.
Here are the first persons in the city hierarchy, government officials, private individuals - nobles, merchants, as well as actors, writers, and artists spiritually close to Tropinin.

Among them we can highlight “Portrait of S. S. Kushnikov” (1828) - the former military governor of Moscow, member of the board of the Moscow Orphanage,
and “Portrait of S. M. Golitsyn” (after 1828) - “the last Moscow nobleman”, trustee of the Moscow educational district, chairman of the board of trustees. Prince Golitsyn patronized Tropinin.

“Portrait of Sergei Sergeevich Kushnikov” 1828 Oil on canvas 76.5 x 64.7 Museum of V. A. Tropinin and Moscow artists of his time Moscow

“Portrait of Sergei Mikhailovich Golitsyn” After 1828. Oil on canvas 71 x 58.2 Museum of V. A. Tropinin and Moscow artists of his time Moscow

Vasily Andreevich Tropinin (March 19, 1776, Karpovo village, Novgorod province - May 3, 1857, Moscow) - Russian painter, master of romantic and realistic portraits.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE ARTIST

Vasily Tropinin was born on March 19, 1776 in the village of Karpovo, Novgorod province) in the family of a serf, Andrei Ivanovich, who belonged to Count Anton Sergeevich Minikh. The count gave A.I. Tropinin his freedom, and all members of his family remained serfs and were transferred to Count Morkov as a dowry for eldest daughter- Natalia; Andrei Ivanovich was forced to enter the service of the new owner, who made him a housekeeper.

Around 1798, Vasily was apprenticed to a pastry chef, however, cousin Count Morkov was convinced to send the young man, who had a natural talent and a penchant for drawing, as a volunteer to the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. Here he studied with S.S. Shchukin. During his studies at the Academy, Tropinin acquired the friendly disposition and respect of the best students: Kiprensky, Varnek, Skotnikov. At the academic exhibition of 1804, his painting “A Boy Longing for His Dead Bird” was presented, which was noted by the Empress.

In 1804, he was recalled to the new estate of Count Morkov - to the Podolsk village of Kukavka in Ukraine - and became the estate manager in place of his deceased father. Here before 1812 he married; he had a son - Arseny. Until 1821 he lived mainly in Ukraine, where he painted a lot from life, then moved to Moscow with the Morkov family.

In 1823, at the age of 47, the artist finally received freedom.

In September 1823, he presented the paintings “The Lacemaker”, “The Old Beggar” and “Portrait of the Artist E. O. Skotnikov” to the Council of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and received the title of appointed artist. In 1824, for “Portrait of K. A. Leberecht” he was awarded the title of academician. Since 1833, Tropinin, on a voluntary basis, has been teaching students of a public art class that opened in Moscow (later the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture).

In 1843 he was elected an honorary member of the Moscow art society. In total, Tropinin created more than three thousand portraits.

In 1969, the “Museum of V. A. Tropinin and Moscow artists of his time” was opened in Moscow.

CREATION

Tropinin's early works are restrained in color and classically static in composition. The artist's works are classified as romanticism. During this period, the master also created expressive local, Little Russian image types.

While in St. Petersburg, he was among the townspeople, small and medium-sized landowners, from whom he later began to paint portraits, which led him to realism. The author, unlike romantic portrait painters, tried to emphasize the typicality of the heroes. But at the same time, he sympathized with them, which resulted in an image of inner attractiveness. For the same purpose, Tropinin tried not to show obvious social affiliation of people. Such works of the artist as “The Lacemaker”, “The Guitarist”, etc. belong to the “portrait type”. Tropinin portrayed specific person, and through him I tried to show everything that was typical for a given circle of people.

They seem to reflect some moments of supreme insight, when the artist, with a unique and inimitable ease and freedom, seems to be singing a song given to him by nature.

They contain freshness, unspentness mental strength, integrity and indestructibility of it inner world, love for people, a supply of goodness.

These canvases demonstrate the properties of his nature, broad, faithful to his calling, supportive of the misfortune of others, forgiving many of the hardships of everyday prose. Tropinin left people with a trace of his humane and, perhaps, somewhat simple-minded view of the world.

Over time, in his canvases, starting with the reverently soulful Portrait of a Son (c. 1818, ibid.), a purely romantic sense of the moving elements of life was established. Such is A.S. Pushkin, invisibly and visibly immersed in the creative element, as if listening to the muse. famous portrait 1823 (All-Russian Museum Pushkin, Pushkin). Tropinin continues the line of typical portraiture, in particular in the famous Lacemaker (1823, ibid.), captivating with its sentimental and poetic appearance. Turning to a genre, “nameless” image (Guitarist, 1823, ibid.; and many others), he usually repeats the composition in several versions to consolidate success. He also varies his self-portraits many times.

Over the years, the role of the spiritual atmosphere, the “aura” of the image - expressed by the background, significant details - only increases. The best example is Self-Portrait with Brushes and Palette 1846 (ibid.), where the artist presented himself against the backdrop of a window with a spectacular view of the Kremlin. Whole line Tropinin dedicates his works to fellow artists depicted at work or in contemplation (I.P. Vitali, ca. 1833; K.P. Bryullov, 1836; both portraits in the Tretyakov Gallery; etc.). At the same time, Tropinin’s style is invariably characterized by a specifically intimate, homely flavor. These are, for example, “negligent portraits”, with models pointedly dressed, like Ravich, in non-ceremonial dress. IN popular woman in the window (based on M.Yu. Lermontov’s poem Treasurer, 1841, ibid.) this casual sincerity takes on an erotic flavor. Later, it became a tradition to contrast the “homey” poetics of Tropinin’s paintings – as a special feature of the Moscow romantic school as a whole – with the “stiffness” of St. Petersburg.