Artist tropinin biography and his paintings. Tropinin Vasily Andreevich – art gallery (226 images)

(1780 – 1857)

Among the Russian painters of the first half of the 19th century, Vasily Andreyevich Tropinin is especially dear to us for the recognizable national feeling that pervades his work: artistically excellent portraits of his contemporaries, typical images of Russian life and everyday scenes.

The role of Tropinin is also great in common 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 stream of national development.

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

Tropinin's painting is characterized by extreme simplicity. The artist believed that the 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 connected with the everyday environment. Everywhere there is a type in combination with a certain action, as a rule, simple and unambiguous.

From all these canvases, without exception, emanates 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 so: “Who in life likes to look at angry, cloudy 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, Chudovskaya volost Novgorod province in a family of serfs. Only thanks to his talent, diligence and perseverance he managed to break through to success despite the unfavorable circumstances of his life.

He was an "outsider" 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 autumn of 1823, for the portrait of E.O. Skotnikov (State Tretyakov Gallery), the paintings “The Lacemaker” (State Tretyakov Gallery) and “The Old Beggar Man” (State Russian Museum), he was recognized as “appointed” to the 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" Around 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 "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 (?) circa 1812 Oil on sheet 14x12 Museum of V.A. Tropinin and Moscow artists of his time

13. Vasily Tropinin “Family Portrait of Counts Carrots” 1815 Oil on canvas 226x291 State Tretyakov Gallery 14. Vasily Tropinin “Family Portrait of Counts Carrots (under restoration)” 1815 Oil on canvas 226x291 State Tretyakov Gallery

May 3, 1857 (May 16). – Portrait painter Vasily Andreevich Tropinin died

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

Vasily Andreevich Tropinin (March 19, 1776–May 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 a headman of serfs, then a manager, and for honest service he received freedom from the count, but his children were not free, they continued to be considered serfs.

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

After viewing the drawings of the serf, the young count decided at all costs to persuade his cousin to send Tropinin to study at the Academy of Arts, and ultimately won his consent, promising his relative that he would reimburse all costs. At that time, according to the charter of the Academy, serfs could only be volunteers for an appropriate fee. For six years Tropinin studied art in plaster and painting classes. Basics artistic craft the future painter comprehended in the workshop famous artist- Professor Stepan Semenovich Shchukin. For 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 continues to be a serf, promised to get a free man for Tropinin. But, as soon as Count Irakli Morkov found out 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 altarpieces 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 the master's property. Life in burnt Moscow after the expulsion of Napoleon gradually revived. In 1813, the militia began to return from the war, in 1814 - Russian troops from foreign trips. Tropinin took up painting again. In the count's house rebuilt after the fire, he had a workshop where he painted portraits of his masters, their relatives and acquaintances of the nobles. On large canvas of the Carrot family, a father with sons-warriors and older daughters-brides are depicted, happy to meet after graduation Patriotic War.

Family of Counts Carrots, 1813, Tretyakov Gallery

In 1818, Tropinin painted a portrait of the historian Nikolai Mikhailovich Karamzin, which was engraved and opened the collection of the writer's works. Nobles following vintage fashion, again revived in their homes portrait galleries instead of canvases burned in the Moscow fire. Therefore, Tropinin painted portraits of the count's neighbors, numerous military men, his relatives (son, sister Anna), Muscovites. In these works, the mastery of the entirety of painting techniques related to portrait tasks is noticeable. 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 shade modeling, and color. Although no art exhibitions were held in Moscow, the master quickly became known as good portrait painter. The interest of lovers of the elegant in his personality aroused flattering lines in Domestic notes: “Tropinin, a serf of Count Carrot. He also studied at the Academy of Arts and has a happy gift and a penchant for painting. Its coloration is similar to the Titian's.

Very many enlightened and noble people, learning that the painter Tropinin was a serf, were extremely outraged by this. The young nobles, with whom Count Carrot had various affairs, considered it their duty to publicly demand from him that he be granted freedom to a talented serf. There is information that once in the English club a certain Dmitriev, having won against the count in 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 go of Vasily Andreevich anywhere and took care of him in his own way.

Nevertheless, Count Carrot was forced to give in to public opinion: in May 1823, as an Easter gift, he presented Tropinin with a free letter. Now he could start a new free life, but it was necessary to determine the status, place of work and residence. Morkov, whose wife and son Tropinin remained in serfdom (they received freedom only five years later), invited Vasily Andreevich to stay in his count's house and promised to petition for him 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 applied to the Imperial Academy of Arts with a request to award him the title of artist. In September 1823 for submitted to the Academy paintings: portrait of E.O. Skotnikov, paintings "Lace Maker" and "Old Beggar", he received the title of "appointed" to the academics. In the painting "The Lacemaker" the problems of conveying the illusion of space, light-tonal painting are convincingly resolved. The prettiness of the model, 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, in order to receive the title of academician, an artist must make 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 professor-medalist K.A. Leberecht and was awarded the title of Academician portrait painting. Then 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 civil service.

From 1824 until the end of his life (year of death 1857), Vasily Tropinin lived and worked in Moscow. The tireless portrait work 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 notables in Moscow. The images of prominent city dignitaries made by him decorated the halls of the Board of Trustees, the Race Hunting Society, the Agricultural Society and others. His brush captured a number of heroes-winners of the Patriotic War of 1812. As an iconographic material, they were used by the English artist Dow to create 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 similarity of the poet depicted in the portrait with the living Pushkin.

In addition to portraits to order, the artist painted his friends, buddies and good acquaintances. These friendly works of the artist include portraits: engraver E.O. Skotnikov, owner of the baguette workshop P.V. Kartashev, sculptor I.P. Vitali, amateur guitarist P.M. Vasiliev, engraver N.I. Utkin. At the beginning of 1836, in winter, Muscovites solemnly welcomed K.P. Bryullov. The author of the painting “The Last Day of Pompeii” and the portrait painter Tropinin met. 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 non-resident and foreign portrait painters often came to rich Moscow to earn money, who offered their services cheaper and worked faster than an elderly artist. But the habit of daily work did not allow Vasily Andreevich Tropinin to leave the brush. He kept writing, trying various options portrait compositions, trying to compete with the masters of the salon direction. Therefore, in a fashionable spirit, the “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 designed not so much to show the viability of the customers as to demonstrate the skill of the artist, who so realistically conveyed the decoration of the room. Tropinin and in his declining years wanted to remain true to his principles of image 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 with a blooming rose, takes the tray from the table and looks playfully at the viewer. A sweet, slightly embarrassed face, an open look, smoothly combed hair and a stately figure of a girl, as well as large pink buds against the background of the dark color of the room convey the immediacy and liveliness of a young person and, of course, the romantically upbeat mood of the entire canvas.

Tropinin created a series of canvases that reflected the images of the "inconspicuous" residents of Moscow. These are beggars, retired veteran soldiers, old men and women. The artist painted them mainly for himself. However, in the respect with which they are depicted on the canvas, one can feel the genuine, unostentatious democracy and humanism of the remarkable master painter. Servant boys and boys with books, seamstresses and laundresses, gold seamstresses and lace makers, guitarists and girls with flowers - each of these images has 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 the shades of color, and the integrity of the coloristic solution. Even in European painting of those times it is difficult to find a master who would long years creative life retained the taste and quality of impeccable man-made craftsmanship.

In 1855, after the death of his wife, the artist moved to Zamoskvorechye. He bought a house in Nalivkovsky Lane. In it, an outstanding Russian portrait painter and died on May 3, 1857. Tropinin was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery in Moscow. The painter lived a long creative life and created more than 3,000 portraits in which he strives for a lively, spiritual characterization of a person as a unique personality with a romantic sense of the moving elements of life. In his portraits often great importance have expressive details, a landscape background, the composition becomes more complicated. The portraits of the son (1818), (1827), composer P.P. Bulakhov (1827), artist (1836), self-portrait (1846), paintings "Lacemaker", "Golden Sewing", "Guitarist".

An important part of Tropinin's legacy is his drawings, especially pencil sketches of portraits, which stand out for their sharpness of observation. The penetrating sincerity and the poetic and everyday, harmonious harmony of his images were more than once perceived as specific trait old Moscow art school.

At the end of his life, fidelity to nature and an analytical view of the world appeared in the paintings of Vasily Tropinin, as a result of which the artist found himself at the origins of the direction 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 impact 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 Andreyevich Tropinin lived and worked for thirty years, there is a memorial plaque. Since 1969, there has been a Museum of Tropinin and Moscow artists of his time in Zamoskvorechye. Numerous works by the outstanding master adorn 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 March 30, 1776 in the village of Karpov, Novgorod province. The serf of Count B.K. Minich, then Count A. Morkov.

The outstanding abilities of Tropinin, shown as early as childhood, prompted Morkov to assign the young man to the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg (1798), where his teacher was famous portrait painter S. S. Schukin.

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 legacy of the Russians portrait painters XVIII century, but at the same time he managed to develop a unique pictorial style. With great warmth and love, he reveals the inner world of the people he portrays.

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

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 a portrait of the medalist Lebrecht, distinguished by harmony and completeness of execution. In total, Tropinin left more than 3 thousand works, having a significant impact on the portraiture of the Moscow school.

RUSSIAN ART. 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, he passed into the possession of Count I. I. Morkov as part of the dowry for Minich's daughter, Natalia. His father, who was the manager of the count, received his freedom for faithful service, but without children. Tropinin, as a boy, attended a city school in Novgorod, and then, when the ability to draw became obvious, he was sent as an apprentice confectioner to the house of Count Zavadovsky in St. Petersburg.

They started talking about Tropinin as a “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 of the Academy, Tropinin got 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 in the Imperial Hermitage. Copies of Tropinin show his interest in Dutch and Flemish masters- Rembrandt, Jordans, Teniers. If Tropinin was close to Grez 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, searches in the field of the genre.

In the spirit of Zhukovsky's elegiac poetry, “A Boy with a Pity. Portrait of Irakli Morkov” (1810s).

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

The portrait is dominated by the mood of melancholy meditation. The landscape, as is often the case in romantic poetry, explains internal state hero.
In the pictorial style and in the portrait concept of Tropinin in the 1810s, many features are preserved. Art XVIII century - a rocaille range of softened complementary colors, with a predominance of a golden tone, a soft moving brush, a transparent, shimmering texture.

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

A boy releasing a goldfinch from a cage. 1825

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

The years from 1813 to 1818 were very fruitful for the artist. Moscow was recovering after the invasion of Napoleon.
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, ordered his portrait to Tropinin.

Portrait of I. I. Dmitriev. 1835

These early portraits, half-length against a neutral background, date back to the tradition of Russian chamber portraits of the 18th century.
Gradually, the circle of Tropinin's 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, a general, a hero of 1812 and a collector, P. P. Svinin, N. A. Maikov, especially worked for 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, in September 1823 Tropinin presented his works to the Council of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and was soon awarded the title of “appointed to academician” for the paintings “Lacemaker”, “The Beggar Old Man” and “Portrait of the Engraver E. O Skotnikova”.

"Poor old man"
1823

These early works by 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 evident in the image of the “Poor old man”.

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

"Lacemaker"
1823
Oil on canvas 80 x 64

Moscow

The Lacemaker (1823) is one of the most popular works Tropinin. A pretty girl weaving lace is depicted at the moment when she briefly looked up from her work and turned her gaze to the viewer, who thus becomes involved in the space of the picture. A 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 being. The aesthetic tastes of the era in this case happily coincided with the peculiarities of the artist's talent, who perceives life poetically.
Similar paintings Tropinin wrote a lot.
Usually they depict young women at needlework - gold embroiderers, embroiderers, spinners. Their faces are similar, they clearly show the features of the artist's female ideal - a delicate oval, dark almond-shaped eyes, a friendly smile, a coquettish look.
Images of needlewomen of the 1820s and 1830s testify to the evolution of Tropinin's artistic style. From the pictorial style of his early works, he comes to a linear-plastic style, with a clearer contour and body overlay of colors. The picturesque texture acquires density. Small, densely laid strokes make the paintings look like enamel miniatures.
"Lacemaker" is made in an exquisite range of bluish-grayish tones, in "Golden Embroiderer" (1826) color scheme more active.

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

Speaking about the idealized solution of the Tropinin female images, one must also bear 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 occupation, but as a joyful side of life, in which the beautiful qualities of female nature are revealed.

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

"Peasant, planing 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 type of “guitarist” was especially loved by his contemporaries.
The beginning of a series of works of the same name was laid by “Guitarist in a Kosovorotka. Portrait of Carrot” (first half of the 1820s).
Carrots are presented at the time of the performance of the romance in stage costume repeating folk clothes.

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

Portrait of K. A. Leberecht. 1824

Portrait of K. A. Leberecht. Fragment. 1824

The Council of the Academy of Arts suggested that he 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 Tropinin's choice of Moscow. And purely personal - the family of its former owner, Count I. Morkov, lived in Moscow, whose serf was the artist's son, and Tropinin clearly felt the feeling of freedom that Moscow life gave him, as well as the artist's desire, new to the artistic life of Russia, to secure an independent professional position.

Art in Russia has always been a matter of state. The Imperial Academy of Arts distributed state orders, “pensioners” and subsidies, determined the fate of artists.
Tropinin, living in Moscow exclusively on private orders, managed to win the fame of one of the best portrait painters, to create for himself an independent position, which very few Russian artists possessed.
Vasily Andreevich occupied in the Moscow cultural life that niche that had been empty before him, and became the most famous Moscow portrait painter, who reflected in the images of his contemporaries both the harmony and the inconsistency of Moscow life.

Living and working in Moscow, Tropinin did not take part in academic exhibitions and, as a result, remained almost unnoticed by criticism, mainly associated with the Academy and its shows. However, this circumstance did not prevent his recognition at all. 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 commissioned a portrait from Tropinin for a gift to his friend Sobolevsky. In this portrait, the artist most clearly expressed his ideal of a free man. He painted Pushkin in a dressing gown, with his shirt collar unbuttoned and a tie-scarf carelessly tied. A special impressiveness, almost monumentality, is imparted to the image of the poet by a proud posture and a steady 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, and the original itself disappeared and appeared only many years later. It was bought in a Moscow exchange shop by the director of the Moscow archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs M. A. Obolensky, whom Tropinin wrote when he was still a child.
The artist was asked to confirm the authenticity of the portrait and renovate it, as it was badly damaged. But Tropinin refused, saying "that he does not dare to touch the features drawn from life and, moreover, by a young hand," and only cleaned it up.

During the 1830s and 1840s, there were the largest number portraits painted by Tropinin.
They said about the artist that he rewrote “literally the whole of Moscow”.
He has a wide and varied range of clients.
Here are the first persons in the city hierarchy, state people, private individuals - nobles, merchants, as well as actors, writers, and artists spiritually close to Tropinin.

Among them, one can single out the “Portrait of S. S. Kushnikov” (1828) - the former military governor of Moscow, a member of the council 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) into the family of a serf, Andrei Ivanovich, who belonged to Count Anton Sergeevich Minikh. The count gave A. I. Tropinin 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 a new owner, who made him a steward.

Around 1798, Vasily was sent to train as a confectioner, however, cousin Count Morkov persuaded 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. Schukin. 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 Yearning 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 manager of the estate instead of his deceased father. Here until 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 Carrot family.

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

In September 1823, he presented the paintings "The Lacemaker", "The Beggar Old Man" 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 the "Portrait of K. A. Leberecht" he was awarded the title of academician. Since 1833, Tropinin has been working on a voluntary basis with 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 attributed to romanticism. During this period, the master also creates expressive local, Little Russian images-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 characters. But at the same time, he sympathized with them, which resulted in the image of internal attractiveness. For the same purpose, Tropinin tried not to show obvious social affiliation of people. Such works of the artist as "Lacemaker", "Guitarist" and others belong to the "portrait-type". Tropinin portrayed specific person, and through it I tried to show everything typical for this circle of people.

They seem to reflect some moments of higher insight, when the artist, with a unique and already unique ease and freedom, seems to sing a song given to him by nature.

In them - freshness, unspent mental strength, integrity and inviolability inner world, love for people, stock of goodness.

In these canvases, the properties of his nature are manifested, broad, true to his vocation, supportive of someone else's misfortune, forgiving many of the hardships of everyday prose. Tropinin left people a trace of his humane and, perhaps, somewhat ingenuous view of the world.

Over time, in his canvases, starting with the reverently sincere Portrait of his son (c. 1818, ibid.), a purely romantic feeling of the moving elements of life is affirmed. Such is the invisibly-visibly immersed in the creative element, as if listening to the muse of A.S. Pushkin in 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 her sentimental and poetic appearance. Turning to the genre, "nameless" image (Guitarist, 1823, ibid; and many others), he usually, consolidating his success, repeats the composition in several versions. 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 the Self-Portrait with Brushes and Palette 1846 (ibid.), where the artist imagined himself in front of a window with a spectacular view of the Kremlin. Whole line Tropinin dedicates works to fellow artists depicted in work or in contemplation (I.P. Vitali, c. 1833; K.P. Bryullov, 1836; both portraits in the Tretyakov Gallery; and others). At the same time, a specifically intimate, homely flavor is invariably inherent in Tropinin's style. Such, for example, are “robe portraits”, with models emphatically dressed, like Ravich, in an informal dress. IN popular woman in the window (based on the poem by M.Yu. Lermontov The Treasurer, 1841, ibid.), this laid-back sincerity acquires an erotic flavor. Later, it became a tradition to contrast the "domestic" poetics of Tropinin's paintings - as a special feature of the Moscow romantic school as a whole - with the "primness" of St. Petersburg.