Bruni Fedor Antonovich paintings. The meaning of bruni fedor antonovich in a brief biographical encyclopedia

Fedor Antonovich Bruni (1799-1875) - great Russian artist of Italian origin. A bright representative of the school of painting. The real name of Fedor Bruni is Fidelio, however, after arriving in Russia, he changed his name to Russian. Fidelio Bruni was born on June 10, 1799 in Milan. His father Antonio Bruni was a painter and restorer. Together with his family, he moved to Russia, where he was a restorer of paintings and was engaged in painting on the plafond. Following the example of his father, Fedor decided to become an artist and entered the Educational School at the Academy of Arts. He turned out to be a very capable student, was soon awarded a silver medal and received the title of artist. After training, the father sent his son to Italy, where the novice painter further improved his technique.

Fyodor Bruni painted his first serious picture at the age of 22. The painting "The Death of Camilla, sister of Horace" was exhibited in the Capitol and brought Fyodor his first fame. In Russia, for the same picture, he was awarded the title of academician. No less famous paintings of the painter were: “Prayer for the Chalice”, “ copper serpent”, “Awakening of the Graces”, “Bacchante Singing Cupid”, “Sleeping Nymph” and many others. He also became known for painting St. Isaac's Cathedral in St. Petersburg. He was the curator of the art gallery of the Hermitage and was engaged in the purchase of new works for the collections of the St. Petersburg Museum. From 1855 he was rector of the Academy of Arts in the department of painting and sculpture. Died August 30, 1875. Currently, the burial of Fyodor Antonovich Bruni is located at the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

self-portrait

Bacchante Singing Cupid

Prince Oleg nails his shield to the gates of Tsaregrad

copper serpent

Awakening the Graces

Bruni Fedor Antonovich (1800 - 1875)
The famous Russian artist Fedor Bruni was born in Moscow.
His father Antonio Bruni, an Italian who moved to Russia in 1807, was a painting restorer. Shortly after his arrival in Russia, he received the position of "stucco, painting and sculptural workshop of the master at the Tsarskoye Selo palaces." The main specialty of Antonio Bruni was decorative painting. He was considered a good art teacher.
In the eleventh year, Fedor Bruni, who showed a great love for drawing, was assigned to the Academy of Arts, where he studied under the guidance of Yegorov, Ivanov (senior), and especially Shebuev. In 1818 he received the title of artist. The father decided, on the advice of Shebuev, to send his son to Italy for further improvement. The study of the works of ancient artists finally determined the direction of Bruni. Having painted several paintings, Bruni, who had not yet reached the age of 22, set to work on the first large painting (“The Death of Camilla, sister of Horace”; located in the Museum of Alexander III), which in 1824 was exhibited in the Capitol and brought her considerable fame to the author. ; in St. Petersburg, she appeared only 10 years later, and for her Bruni received the title of academician. The works of Bruni's first stay in Rome include: "Saint Cecilia", "Holy Family", "Bacchante singing cupid" (Museum of Alexander III), "T. Tasso's appointment with his sister", "Our Lady with the Eternal Child", "Sleeping Nymph" " and etc.
In addition, Bruni painted copies of Raphael's frescoes: "The Expulsion of Iliodor from the Jerusalem Temple" and "Galatea". Four large images belong to the same period: "The Virgin with the Child in Her Arms", "The Savior in Heaven", "Annunciation" and the famous "Prayer for the Chalice" (in the Museum of Alexander III).
In the early thirties, Bruni began to paint a colossal picture: "The Exaltation of the Copper Serpent by Moses", but before he had time to finish it, he was called from Rome to St. Petersburg to work in St. Isaac's Cathedral and to teach at the Academy of Arts. He arrived in St. Petersburg in 1836, painted several images over the course of two years, and arranged for the altar of the Kazan Cathedral a large picture-image of the Protection of the Most Holy Theotokos.
In 1838, Bruni found it possible to return to Rome, wrote "The Veil" there and graduated in 1840 from the "Copper Serpent" (Museum of Alexander III), which made an unusually strong impression in Rome. The following year, the painting was transported to St. Petersburg and exhibited in one of the halls of the Winter Palace. All reviews of that time are full of extraordinary praise. In this picture, Bruni showed in full force all his deep, academic knowledge of drawing.
Going to Italy for the third time, Bruni is engaged in the cardboard of those paintings that he was supposed to subsequently write on the walls of St. Isaac's Cathedral. In 1845 he brought 25 cartons to St. Petersburg; some of them were frescoed in St. Isaac's Cathedral by Bruni himself, others by various artists under his direction. On the attic of the cathedral are: "The Creation of the World", "The Flood", "The Savior Giving the Apostle Peter the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven", "The Appearance of the Lord to the Apostles after the Resurrection". In a semicircle above the attic: "The Creator who blesses everything created", "The Holy Spirit in a host of angels"; on the plafond: "The Introduction of the Firstborn Son into the Universe", "The Second Coming of the Son of God", "Prophets on the Bones" and "When the stars were created, all the angels would praise Me."
The above works were completed in 1853; in addition to them, Bruni managed to write an iconostasis for the Orthodox Church in Stuttgart.
Appointed in 1849 as curator of the art gallery of the Hermitage, Bruni devoted himself to it with love; twice he was sent abroad to buy paintings that served to replenish the Hermitage gallery.
In 1855, Bruni took the place of rector of the department of painting and sculpture at the Academy of Arts, and in 1866 the mosaic department at the Academy also came under his charge.
Bruni also painted portraits, among which the image of Princess Z. Volkonskaya in the costume of Tancred (located with Prince S.M. Volkonsky in St. Petersburg) is especially remarkable. The last years of his life, Bruni was engaged in composing cardboard for images of the Cathedral of the Savior in Moscow. To the list of his works must be added another thirty sheets of drawings from Russian history, engraved by him with strong vodka (etching).
In general, Bruni's artistic activity occupies an honorable place in the history of Russian painting, and the appearance of his and K. Bryullov's works marked an era in Russian art. Bruni is one of the few representatives of the so-called "Nazarene school" in Russia, which also had a great influence on a whole generation of German artists of the 1840s. A detailed biography of Bruni and a list of his works were compiled by A.V. Polovtsev and published by the Academy of Arts in 1907.

Bruni Alexander Pavlovich- academician of architecture, nephew of F.A. Bruni, was brought up at the Academy of Arts, from which he graduated in 1859. He built the Alexander Market in St. Petersburg.
His son, Nikolai Aleksandrovich, was born in 1856, St. Petersburg, studied at the Academy of Arts in the class of historical painting, in 1885 he received the title of artist of the 1st degree for the performance of the Sheep Font program. He taught at Stieglitz, from 1906 he was an academician, a mosaicist, he exhibited from 1887.

Lev Alexandrovich Bruni (1894 - 02/26/1948)
The genealogy of Lev Bruni reads like a gripping historical novel. The Bruni family of artists has been known in Northern Italy and Switzerland since the Renaissance of the 16th century.
The famous academic painter was Lev Alexandrovich's paternal great-grandfather, Fyodor Antonovich Bruni. On the maternal side - also solid artists. The brilliant watercolorist Pyotr Fedorovich Sokolov, another great-grandfather, was posed by Nicholas I himself with his family ...
Finally, one more genealogical detail: the wife of P.F. Sokolova was Yulia Pavlovna Bryullova, sister of the great Charles. In the immediate environment - the grandfather-artist, the father-architect. Lev Bruni himself later recalled that in childhood he was sure: "All people are artists."
His own natural gift was inevitable. When one of the drawings came to Alexander Benois himself, he spoke of the 14-year-old boy as an accomplished talent. Bruni's professional training was rather brief: two winters at the Academy of Arts, a year in Paris. The young artist, who is barely 20, begins to exhibit with the "World of Art" and immediately becomes known. Everything is given to him easily, everyone around him loves, calling him only Levushka. One of those who knew him recalled: "He was younger than all of us, he seemed like a boy, but he knew how to gather and push people together with their foreheads ..."
In his studio in the house on Universitetskaya embankment "evenings" regularly took place, which became a fact of the history of Russian culture. They are now spoken of as the literary and artistic circle "Apartment No.5". Artists Altman, Miturich, Tyrsa, poets Mandelstam, Klyuev, Balmont, composer Lurie, critic Punin were its constant participants. Mayakovsky, Chagall, Khlebnikov, Rozanova, Zaitsev, Tatlin appeared in apartment No.5...
Under the influence of Tatlin, Lev Bruni began to create constructivist "counter-reliefs" - abstract selections from different materials. Together with Tatlin and Rodchenko, he took part in the futuristic exhibition "Shop", where he demonstrated "a broken cement barrel and glass pierced by a bullet." But it can hardly be argued that Bruni seriously plunged into the battle, which was cheerfully waged by the supporters of the avant-garde. For him, there was no struggle in this, but there was friendly solidarity and, most importantly, the search for "living" art, which made life so rich and intense.
Later, in his unfinished memoirs, N.N. Punin admitted that if all of them "were given another piece of history, perhaps these meetings ... would be remembered as a period of time of the greatest fullness of life ..." However, "times do not choose." The year was 1916, and the time that fell to them all, with unceremonious certainty, invaded such a happy and full life.
In November, the artist was drafted into the army. And soon the "music of the revolution" sounded with ever-increasing insistence. Many succumbed to her hypnotic rhythm, but not Lev Bruni. For him, another sound was much more important - though not heard by anyone else, but for him a distinct melody of his own destiny.
In the summer of 1917 he went to the Urals, to Miass. Konstantin Balmont lives there with his family and the poet's daughter, Nina, goes to the gymnasium. The wedding of Nina Balmont and Lev Bruni will take place in the same Miass in the spring of 1919.
The world around will collapse in the chaos of civil war. They will go east - to Omsk, then Novo-Nikolaevsk. During this period of homeless wanderings, the artist will stop painting in oils. But on the other hand, he, like never before, will learn to draw everything: the shore of the lake and the sleeping wife, flower pots and the stroller of their first child surrounded by chickens and puppies ... These will not be just diary "sketches from nature" or protocol reports. This will be what in the language of art history definitions is called "easel graphics". In short, complete and self-contained works of art.
"If only you knew from what rubbish \ Poems grow without shame..." The simplest things have infinite value and beauty. This truth was revealed to Bruni with distinct clarity in those "cursed days". It turned out that in this homeless and unburdened life, he had a lot - love, the world around in the infinity of its forms and the variety of mysterious connections. And, therefore, there was something to oppose to the chaos and confusion that overwhelmed everything.
Returning to Petrograd, Bruni again closely communicates with Tatlin, even lives in his studio, where a model of a utopian monument to the Third International is being created. And illustrates the phantasmagoria of Hoffmann. In general, Lev Aleksandrovich does not become an active creator of new revolutionary art. Circumstances seemed to take him away from it. So, at the last moment, the already finished project for the November decoration of Palace Square was rejected. And Bruni himself moves to Moscow at the invitation of V. Favorsky. With his family he leaves for Optina Pustyn and lives there for a long time.

It was in the 1920s that the artist created his best works in Optina.
Nothing happens in his works, or rather, the most important thing happens: the trees bend under the weight of the first wet snow, the roofs just washed by the rain shine, the sunlight penetrates the forest thicket... Everything is one, beautifully animated and fragile. This fragility and transience just needs to be captured. And the artist responds to this silent demand.
He works continuously, life and art for him are confused, intertwined. Creativity of the highest standard becomes part of his everyday life; this must be why he treated his already completed works and their future with a kind of Mozartian carelessness.
When, in the mid-1930s, the prominent art critic A. Chegodaev decided to select several of his works for an exhibition, Lev Aleksandrovich pulled out a shabby suitcase from under the sofa. It was filled to the brim with watercolors - rumpled, with the edges folded in order to put the sheets in a suitcase, then gnawed by someone - as it turned out, a dog. One leaf was eaten by about a third. Shocked by what he saw, the art historian turned to the restorers...
Now this rescued watercolor is one of Bruni's best works among those, unfortunately, few that are kept in the Tretyakov Gallery. The pink frog froze between thin blades of grass. It is possible to argue with long thoughtfulness that in the visual arts, the analogue of sound is gesture, movement, and space is always a container of mysterious silence, and that in this work of Lev Aleksandrovich it is precisely the space of the sheet, turning into the space of the world, that has such a decisive significance ... But , it's probably better to just stop in the middle of the addictive hustle and bustle of life to look and see. And with a sharpness that is usually accessible only to children and artists, to experience surprise and delight before every drop of this world.
Author: Tanya Yudkevich
Source text: "Alphabet" No.38, 2000.
http://www.peoples.ru/art/painter/bruni/

See also: Natela Meskhi
"With whom it is good to live in Rus'.
History of a large family
(about the Bruni family tree).-
"Motherland", 1997, No. 1, p. 98-102.
Svetlana Zlobina-Kutyavina "Bruni -
normal Russian surname.
"Brownie", 1996, No. 7, pp. 26-32.

Nikolai Alexandrovich Bruni (1891 - 1938)
Nikolai Bruni was born on April 28, 1891. A highly educated poet and artist, priest and aviator, who ended up in the Gulag in 1934 on a false denunciation as a "French spy", in 1937 built a unique monument to Pushkin from plaster, brick, and boards. In 1938, Bruni was shot.

"September 5/18. Glory to Thee, Lord! Everything is being done for the better. Already today they asked me about a candidate for my priestly place. The priest's mother came to me, though she came as if with repentance, which allowed her to deepen her thoughts to arrange a son in my place, and does not wait for the end, turning to myself. I am very glad about this; as can be seen from the explanation: the candidate is very desirable, still young - 35 years old, who accepted the priesthood ideologically, after the revolution, he himself had a secular education and was in the conservatory, possesses a good gift of words, his name is Fr. Nikolai Alexandrovich Bruni, the grandson of the artist Bruni, who painted the image "Prayer for the Chalice". At the present time he serves in the city of Klin, Moscow province, in the Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God. He is well known by Reverend Gregory. During the development of Renovationism, he was in the city of Kozelsk, Kaluga province. And he alone stood firm in Orthodoxy and still remains a firm and unshakable Orthodox and ardently zealous pastor. God grant such a deputy, he could develop the work of my small circle as a musical person, and for a large circle I could be the leader."

Starting once a memorial service, Fr. Nikolai Bruni, contrary to the church rite, sang other people's words about tired and sad people, about ships and about a dead child. It was the death of Alexander Blok that forced the priest to break the ceremony.

Famous Russian journalist and popular TV presenter Lev Ivanovich Bruni:
“I will not forget my relationship with Nikolai Alexandrovich Bruni, one of the first Russian pilots, a hero of the First World War, then a priest. He was shot in the thirties in Vorkuta.
I will not forget my kinship with Alexander Alexandrovich Ugrimov, exiled in 1922 from Soviet Russia, a hero of the French Resistance, who returned to his homeland in 1947, of course, straight to the Gulag. He, thank God, died a natural death.
Finally, I will not forget my relationship with my father, Ivan, for whom the war began on June 22, 1941 on the western border, and ended on May 9, 1945 in Koenigsberg.

Lavrenty BRUNI:
"I wanted to make a retrospective exhibition, where all the artists would gather in one space, starting with Antonio Bruni. It turns out that in every generation there is someone who glorified this name.
Do you feel any responsibility for your surname?
Responsibility is a complex that I got rid of. I even sign: Lavrenty B. This has nothing to do with Bruni. I begin my story. I'm not interested in being someone's grandson or great-grandson. I read a phrase from my grandfather: "Ancestors and the surname itself is a very heavy burden. And it is quite difficult to step over it." At first I was surprised, and then I understood what he meant, and immediately cut it off for myself.
When I was learning to draw and I needed money for a teacher, I was selling pictures on the Arbat. Then it was all just beginning, not everything went well, and there were quite a few nice people there. And it was possible to find a buyer. In the salons, after all, then only paintings by members of the Union of Artists were accepted. And my friend made me this, similar to a funeral, plate: "Artist Lavrenty Bruni." Two drunken artists passed by, who stopped, swaying, and said: "What? Are you using your last name? Not good." And I felt so ashamed ... And I tried to stop all the talk that I was an artist because of my surname.
But if there is already such a family tradition, then you can’t get away from it anywhere. Either way, you have to consider...
I am delighted with the exhibition of Lev Bruni, not only because he is my grandfather, but I just like him very much. He is an amazing artist. I look at his things as if from the outside and do not feel him as my relative - he is just a good artist"
(From an interview published
September 23, 2000
Svetlana Zlobina-Kutyavina).

The beautiful Carla Bruni is known as a charismatic top model and the third wife of the former French president. However, few people know that in the biography of Carla Bruni there was a place not only for the podium and high-profile marriage, but also for creativity. The model's full name is Carla Gilbert Bruni Tedeschi.

The future star was born in the Italian city of Turin on December 23, 1968. The penchant for creativity, perhaps, was laid down thanks to Carla's talented parents. Maryse's mother worked as an accompanist. The girl's father, Alberto Bruni, composed music for opera parts, and also worked in the industrial sector. The fact that her father was not her own, Carla was informed only after the death of Alberto Bruni. The biological father of the girl - Maurizio Remert, a successful businessman - did not support communication with the child. Bruni grew up in a large family: Carla has a brother who is not alien to creativity, and an equally talented sister who has become an actress.

The Bruni family lived in their native Turin until 1974. That year, Italy was kept at bay by a terrorist organization. The criminals abducted children. The fear of Carla's parents for their native children was so strong that it was decided to change the country of residence. So the Bruni family moves to France. Carla goes to school, learns to play the piano and guitar and seriously plans to link her future fate with art. The girl even enters the Sorbonne in the department of art history. However, fate was pleased to dispose otherwise: Bruni did not graduate from the institute, succumbing to the seductive charm of stellar life and the fashion world.

Model business

Initially, the girl did not even dream of becoming a top model. The banal desire to earn extra money led Carla to the advertising agency. Moreover, Carla's external parameters turned out to be consistent with model standards: Carla Bruni's height is 175 centimeters, and her weight is 55 kilograms. However, unexpected luck awaited the beauty: a contract with the City Models agency brought her many highly paid contracts.

The first photo shoot, in which the aspiring model participated, was held as part of an advertising campaign for the fashion brand Guess. Photos of Carla Bruni impressed fashion critics so much that subsequent job offers were not long in coming. Eminent fashion houses wanted to get Bruni as the face of their products. Carla's life was full of magazine covers and advertising posters, spotlights of cameras and microphones of journalists dreaming of an interview with a beauty. Iconic French and Italian designers considered it a pleasure to invite Bruni as a model on the catwalk.

In the early 1990s, Carla turned out to be one of the highest paid models in the world: in two years, the girl managed to earn $ 7 million. Bruni collaborated with Prada and Max Mara, Dolce&Gabbana and Chanel, Christian Dior, Givenchy... the list is endless. Brands, from the name of which the fashionistas' spirit freezes, were at the feet of Bruni.

The style of Carla Bruni did not leave the lips of women and men, the beauty was imitated and envied. However, not everything was given as easily as it seemed from the outside: behind such a dizzying glory was painstaking work and hard efforts on oneself. Carla clearly understood that the world of fashion, so cute on the outside, inside is a constant tough struggle for a place under the spotlight sun.

The girl carefully monitored her form, her health, ate exclusively low-calorie foods and ran three kilometers daily. Only thanks to incredibly tough discipline and unbending willpower, Karla managed to hold out on the fashion pedestal for a long time.

Music and poetry

It seemed that the fun was just beginning, but already at the age of 29, Carla was bored with the fashion world. Bruni, having experienced all the charms and hardships of the glory of the first beauty, decided to end her modeling career. The question of what to do next was not in front of the girl: musical education reminded of itself. Carla Bruni decided to sing.

The first record of the beginning singer Bruni was released in 2003. It is worth noting that the vast majority of the compositions were composed by Carla on her own. The album Quelqu "un m" a dit ("Someone told me") received no less praise than Carla's first appearance on the podium. The success turned out to be both simply unexpected and incredibly stunning: the circulation of copies sold reached a million copies, and Carla Bruni's songs were heard on all TV channels and radio stations. A year later, Bruni received the title of "Best Singer of the Year" - the highest award that performers in France can only dream of.

The subsequent albums of Carla Bruni also caused a storm of enthusiasm among the fans, and the song "Loneliness" (Soledad) led the charts in France and abroad for several weeks. Carl also had a passion for acting. The model took part in the shooting of 17 films, among which are "Midnight in Paris" and "Paparazzi" by Alain Berberyan.

Personal life

The personal life of Carla Bruni developed no less brightly than her modeling and stage career. Among the boyfriends, the beauties were listed, and even, at that time, the former owner of a construction company. In 2003, Carla becomes a mother for the first time. The son of the model Orellan was born from a young man named Raphael Enthoven. Bruni was ten years older than her lover. This union, despite the difference in age, seemed strong, but the idyll lasted only four years. In 2007, the couple broke up.

In the same year, rumors began to spread in the press about Carla Bruni's connection with the current head of the country, who at that time had divorced his second wife and was completely free. In 2008, the lovers got married. For Carla Bruni, this was the first official marriage. Family life did not change the way of life that Carla used to lead. The woman still recorded songs, starred in films and video clips, and even sometimes participated in model shows. The husband of Carla Bruni did not at all oppose such an active creative life of his wife and supported his beautiful wife.

In this marriage, which turned out to be really happy, the daughter of Carla Bruni Julia was born. Despite the busy schedule of the mother, the children of Carla Bruni were never left without parental warmth and attention. Carla once admits to reporters that only children and family seem to her the most important thing in the life of both an ordinary woman and the first lady.

Carla Bruni now

Until recently, the model, actress and singer continued to be actively engaged in creativity, organized charity projects and shone with new ideas. A couple of years ago Instagram and other social networks flew around photos of Carla, in which the woman does not look like herself. The facts indicated that the reason for the strange appearance of Bruni was unsuccessful plastic surgery or carelessly made "beauty injections".

Already in 2017, Carla Bruni pleased fans with the news that preparations were underway for the release of a new music album, which would be called French Touch. This time, the model and singer will perform not her own songs, but covers of the compositions of cult world stars: ABBA, The Clash and others. A video clip for the song Enjoy The Silence has already appeared on the network.

Discography

2003 - Quelqu "un m" a dit
2007 - No Promises
2008 - Comme si de rien n "était
2013 - Little French Songs

Fedor Bruni was born on June 10, 1799 in Milan, in the family of a Swiss Italian, artist and restorer Antonio Bruni, who later, in 1807, came to Russia from Italy. Antonio Bruni in the reign of Paul I was a restorer of paintings and a ceiling painter. There are his works performed in the Mikhailovsky Palace; subsequently he was engaged in work in Moscow, commissioned by Prince Kurakin.

In 1818 he successfully graduated from the Academy and went to Rome. Here Bruni became close to the circle of Zinaida Volkonskaya, visited the home of the diplomat and art lover G. I. Gagarin, and closely communicated with many Russian artists. The themes of his works are antique and biblical subjects, as well as portraits. Commissioned by Prince Baryatinsky, the painting "The Death of Camilla, Sister of Horace" (1824, Russian Museum) was exhibited in the Capitol and was a success. On behalf of the Academy, Bruni made two copies of the Vatican frescoes, wrote several works on the themes of ancient mythology: "The Awakening of the Graces" (1827, State Tretyakov Gallery), "Bacchae and Cupid" (1828, Russian Museum), etc. In 1836, Bruni returned to St. Petersburg and received the title of professor of the Academy of Arts. In St. Petersburg, he carried out many church orders, in particular for the Kazan Cathedral. Bruni is the author of a unique natural drawing "Pushkin in a coffin" (Institute of Russian Literature of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Leningrad), which he then reproduced in lithography. In 1838, the artist again went to Italy to work on the painting he had conceived, The Copper Serpent (1841, Russian Museum). In this work, the great professional skill of the artist, the impeccable mastery of drawing, the plasticity of the human body from complex angles, was revealed. However, the idea of the painting (the death of people as a punishment for disobedience to God) is quite reactionary, and the pictorial construction is traditionally conventional.

In 1840, Bruni graduated from The Copper Serpent, which made an unusually strong impression in Rome. The following year, the painting was transported to St. Petersburg and exhibited in one of the halls of the Winter Palace. All reviews of that time are full of extraordinary praise. In this picture, Bruni showed in full force all his deep, academic knowledge of drawing.

In 1849, Bruni was appointed curator of the art gallery of the Hermitage, Bruni lovingly took care of it; twice he was sent abroad to buy paintings that served to replenish the Hermitage gallery. In 1855, Bruni took the place of the rector of the department of painting and sculpture at the Academy of Arts, and in 1866 the mosaic department at the academy also came under his charge. Bruni also painted portraits, among which the image of Princess 3. Volkonskaya in the costume of Tancred is especially remarkable.

The last years of his life, Bruni was engaged in composing cardboard for images of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow. The list of his works includes thirty etchings from Russian history. In general, Bruni's artistic activity occupies an honorable place in the history of Russian painting, and the appearance of his and K. Bryullov's works constituted a whole era in Russian art.

Ludmila Markina

DYNASTY

Journal number:

In the permanent exhibition of the Tretyakov Gallery next to the works of K.P. Bryullov hangs a male portrait, which attracts with its expressiveness. The author of the image is a student of the "great Karl" Fyodor Moller. The canvas shows a brown-eyed brunette with a mop of hair and fluffy sideburns. The pale face is set off by a white starched shirt, a black silk tie emphasizes the elegance of the figure depicted. The gold chain and tailcoat of the Order of St. Stanislaus speak of the wealth of the owner and his recognition in society. An overcoat thrown over the shoulders gives some romantic negligence to the image. Who is this person?

Before us - artist Fedor Antonovich Bruni, as they say in encyclopedias, "a bright representative of the academic style." Fidelio, as his family called him, was the son of a Swiss citizen, Italian Antonio Baroffi-Bruni (1767-1825). In the rank of chief officer of the Austrian troops, Bruni Sr. participated in the Swiss campaign of A.V. Suvorov, a brave warrior was wounded during the assault on the Devil's Bridge (1799). You can imagine his appearance of those years from a self-portrait (1800s, Russian Museum), which was kept for many years in the family of the artist's descendants. Antonio portrayed himself in the uniform of an official of the Swiss Republic. On his chest is the insignia "For Virtues and Merits", received in 1804, and the "Golden Medal of Honor" awarded to Bruni from the canton for the painting he executed.

In 1807 or at the beginning of 1808 A. Bruni moved to Russia. First, Antonio settled in Tsarskoye Selo, where he painted the interiors of the Alexander Palace and restored paintings. From 1811 he began to teach drawing at the Imperial Lyceum. As the home legend says, the young lyceum student A.S. Pushkin visited the teacher's house.

Antonio Bruni, master of the "stucco, painting and sculpture workshop at the Tsarskoe Selo palaces", became the founder of a dynasty of artists in St. Petersburg. At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century, there were several similar art corporations in Russia, in which, according to tradition, mastery lessons were passed on from the elder to the younger. For example, the Scotty or Brullo families. Similar "firms" existed in Italy since the Middle Ages and actively developed in the Quattrocento era. The features of the medieval guild organization of labor implied an extensive system of narrow specialties. So, some artists painted mainly landscapes, others were preferably ornamentalists, and still others were virtuoso masters of multi-figured compositions. At the same time, each of the masters had a wide range of possibilities as a painter-decorator. In addition, the presence of a peculiar, time-tested "palette" of ready-made solutions and samples of paintings, their carefully designed iconography distinguished the work of these painters, giving them a certain freedom in artistic practice.

Antonio Bruni worked in a close creative alliance with other countrymen (B. Medici, A. Vigi, F. Toricelli, G. Ferrari), who received profitable orders for interior design of imperial palaces, for example, the Mikhailovsky Castle for Paul I, the Pavlovsk Rose Pavilion . The Italians often entered into collective contracts with the court department. Thanks to the patronage of friends in 1815, A. Bruni received the title of "appointed for two picturesque paintings", and then an academician of painting for "paintings representing the suffering of Job." In 1817, the painter moved to Moscow, where he carried out orders for the princes Kurakins and Baryatinskys. Since 1820, Antonio Bruni began to teach drawing at the University Noble Boarding School. The last documentary news about the master is dated March 1825: the artist received a two-month leave to perform paintings in the Lgovsky district of the Kursk province. Apparently, it was about the estate of Maryino, Prince I.I. Baryatinsky.

One of the works, which is a group portrait of the Baryatinsky family and was called Harvest in Soviet times, is kept in the Kursk Regional Museum of Local Lore. The decorative panel “Cupids”, made in the grisaille technique, was transferred from Maryin to the Tomsk Regional Art Museum.

Fidelio Giovanni Bruni, born in December 1801 in Milan, showed an early ability to draw. According to tradition, he received his first art skills from his father, and then was assigned to the Imperial Academy of Arts as a "friend's student" of pensioner Julius Pompeius Litta. The Italian count, being in the past the general commissar of the Austrian troops, willingly helped the son of A. Bruni, his colleague and countryman. In the historical class of the Academy, Bruni, whose Russian name was Fedor, received an excellent education from the professors of the State Institute. Ugryumov, V.I. Shebueva, A.E. Egorova and A.I. Ivanova. Within the walls of the Academy, he met the Brullo brothers - Fedor, Alexander and Karl. The latter became a sort of lifelong rival to Bruni.

The artist's earliest self-portrait (1813-1816, Russian Museum) belongs to this period. Outwardly similar to his father, the young painter is depicted with brushes in his hand. All attention is focused on the face: a high forehead, a well-shaped nose, swollen youthful lips. In the classical clarity of features, the outline of the head, the interpretation of the hair framing it like a crown, a shade of narcissism shines through. In this work, a romantic idea of the artist-creator was manifested.

In 1818, F. Bruni took the exam for a gold medal, but his program "Samson and Delilah" did not receive the proper award. Lucky Karl Brullo was awarded the gold medal. "It's a pity for Bruni," Silv wrote. Shchedrin, “there must be such misfortune that there is no luck in anything.” Indeed, the young Fidelio in 1819 had to go on an internship in Italy on the meager funds of his father. Without an academic scholarship, he constantly needed to earn money. Finding himself in the "fatherland of his ancestors", Bruni worked selflessly, but the circumstances were such that the artist did not receive anything either for the first large historical painting "The Death of Camilla, Horace's Sister" (1824), or for the second - "Saint Cicily" (1825, both are in the timing). In 1825, Father Fidelio died, and again the artist was faced with the issue of pension maintenance. He continued to work, copying Raphael's frescoes "The Triumph of Galatea" and "The Expulsion of Eliodor from the Jerusalem Temple" (both - 1827, NIM RAH). The novice artist was patronized and helped by the secular beauty Princess Zinaida Volkonskaya. F. Bruni became an active member of her Roman circle.

Only three years later, fortune finally changed. At the beginning of 1828, a decree of Emperor Nicholas I followed, who “deigned to leave the artist Bruni in foreign lands for five years to improve in painting and to produce him during this time 300 chervonets a year from the State Treasury for maintenance.” “I rejoice sincerely,” wrote the landscape painter Silv. Shchedrin, - that God took pity on the heart of Bruni. Everything seemed to be going great, but suddenly...

Bruni fell in love with a young Roman woman. As the family legend says, one day he accidentally saw a sixteen-year-old Italian woman on the balcony of the fashionable London Hotel in Plaza de España. It was love at first sight and for life. Angelica Serny, the daughter of a wealthy French man, the owner of the hotel, and a Roman beauty, inherited a bright appearance from her mother. In addition, she was smart and well educated. Although she sympathized with Bruni, it was impossible to get consent for the marriage of her parents with a poor artist from Russia, who was 12 years older than her. But Fidelio, which means "Faithful" in translation, did not give up his dream and pursued it, devoting his work to it.

The enamored artist painted at that time paintings on the subjects of ancient mythology: “The Awakening of the Graces” (1827, State Tretyakov Gallery) and “Bacchae Singing Cupid” (1828, Russian Museum). Bruni's canvases are attracted by the sensual beauty of the goddesses, their delicate sweet bodies and the relaxed postures of the graces. The passionate bliss of the priestesses, who evoked love, but did not feel it, corresponded to the mood of the creator, whose heart was broken.

Bruni planned to show his "Bacchae" to the Roman public at an exhibition in the Capitol in the spring of 1830, but censorship difficulties arose. In an art review, Stepan Shevyrev wrote: “The chaste rules of the society that established the exhibition limited the number of Russian works. Bruni wanted to exhibit his charming Bacchante, who would soon appear in the capital of the Neva: if she were accepted, then this Bacchante alone could prove that the young Russian brush is not safe for the experienced glory of the Romans and French. But she was not taken for half-nakedness and in respect for Lent.

For many years, Bruni experienced the pangs of love before he was able to marry Angelica Cerni. And then there was added the painful jealousy of the artist-creator. Karl Bryullov, who completed The Last Day of Pompeii in 1833, received fantastic success and recognition from the European public. Bruni conceived a huge canvas "The Copper Serpent". In 1834, "according to the well-known successes in pictorial art and excellent copies and his own works located in Russia," the artist was awarded the title of academician. Finally, in 1835, the long-awaited wedding took place, which was attended by pensioners of the Russian colony in Rome: architect F.F. Richter, painter A.A. Ivanov and engraver F.I. Jordan. The Bruni spouses lived a long and happy life, they were buried together at the Vyborg Roman Catholic cemetery in St. Petersburg.

In the spring of 1836, Bruni, by order of the emperor, was to return to Russia. Along with him was his young darling. Usually quite skeptical of ladies, A.A. Ivanov wrote to his father: “I would advise my sisters to get acquainted with his wife. Please tell this to Katerina and Maria Andreevna. They will find in her a very well-mannered and amiable woman. And besides, they will always have the pleasure of seeing a sample of Roman beauty. She sings and plays the piano superbly." In St. Petersburg, the family settled in the house of the Academy; Fedor Antonovich, professor of the 2nd degree, taught. He took part in the work on the murals of the church of the Winter Palace. In the tragic days of 1837, it was Bruni who made the drawing “A.S. Pushkin in a coffin”, the lithograph from which has become world famous.

In August 1838, the Bruni couple again went to Italy together. But now the artist occupied a different position: he was a man of means, favored by the emperor, working on a huge canvas that promised to become a world masterpiece. In the absence of Bryullov, Bruni took a leading position in the colony of Russian pensioners in Rome.

In December 1838, Tsarevich Alexander Nikolayevich visited Rome, he visited the sights of the Great City, was interested in the contents of antique shops, visited the art studios of artists and sculptors. Painter A.A. Ivanov wrote to his father in St. Petersburg: “The sovereign heir was in the workshops of Bruni, Gaberzettel, me, Markov and Moller, and asked the rest of the works to make an exhibition. All have been exposed. The heir was pleased. V.A. Zhukovsky explained through Bruni that the heir wanted to make various orders. All this ended with the approval of the work for everyone.

Indeed, for the international artistic environment of Rome, a typical phenomenon was the organization of expositions timed to coincide with the visits of important persons of European courts. Such an exposition was first carried out by Russian masters in December 1838. We find confirmation of this fact in the Travel Journal and in the epistolary heritage of Alexander Nikolaevich. “December 9/21. His Imperial Highness was pleased to make the workshop of the Russian painter Bruni happy. The Worship of the Serpent in the Desert is a picture that promises, according to experts, to make the name of the artist glorious. The Tsarevich also liked the image of the Mother of God with the eternal Child, which Bruni is currently busy with.”

The plot "The Mother of God with the Child Standing in Front of Her" was commissioned in 1834 by Senator GN. Rakhmanov. The March issue of Khudozhestvennaya Gazeta for 1837 said: “Four large paintings are now in the workshop of Mr. F. Bruni commissioned by Senator Rakhmanov for one Greek-Russian church, of which three are completely finished: “The Virgin and Child”, “ The Savior in the Heliport" and "The Savior in Heaven". The canvas “The Virgin with the Child standing in front of Her” is one of the first of the so-called “Byzantine direction”, one of its main features is the presence of a golden background.

Having visited the atelier of F. Bruni, Grand Duke Alexander Nikolaevich wrote in a letter to his father-emperor: “I saw Madonna at his place, which I liked very much.” In the biographical sketch-obituary of A.I. Somov confirmed that the heir to the throne had indeed acquired the painting “Our Lady” from F. Bruni. The interpretation of the image of Mary is indicative. As a true graduate of the Imperial Academy of Arts, Bruni pays great attention to the expressiveness and spirituality of gestures. The baby, as if anticipating his fate, stops and, in fright, touchingly grabs his mother by the thumb of his left hand. According to family legend, the compositional decision was inspired by the artist's fiancee Angelica Cerni and her younger brother, who stood in front of her on the balcony balustrade. Bruni, like Raphael once did in The Sistine Madonna, perfectly used the motive of moving towards people to reveal the image of Mary. The Mother of God, depicted strictly from the front, does not hug the Son and does not try to demonstrate a cordial connection with Him - She anticipates His fate and decides on her mournful path.

In the artistic heritage of F.A. Bruni also comes across images of Mary with the Child of a different iconography: “The Virgin and Child Resting on the Way to Egypt” (1838) or “The Virgin and Child in Roses” (1843, both - State Tretyakov Gallery). The image of the Madonna goes back to the Italian models of the Renaissance. “The artist strove for the same dispassion,” wrote a contemporary, “for the same sacred peace of the face, which Raphael’s Madonnas are especially distinguished for.”

Note that these paintings came to the Tretyakov Gallery already in Soviet times. Relationships P.M. Tretyakov and F.A. Bruni were not subjected to special study, but meanwhile they are worthy of attention. The work of Bruni, a staunch supporter of academicism, for obvious reasons, could not be in the sphere of collecting interests of Pavel Mikhailovich. Contemporary Tretyakov artists were very skeptical about Bruni. For example, M.I. Scotty wrote from Rome to N.A. Ramazanov in February 1858: “What, did you get the rest of the work in the Church of the Savior? Is it true that Neff and Bruni took all the painting? Aren't the old people ashamed, damned greed, and poor and talented youth what will they do, I spoke with V.I. Grigorovich about this and scolded the old people, he finally agreed with me.

The negative attitude of academic youth towards the rector (since 1855) Bruni was clearly manifested during the funeral of A.A. Ivanova. “When Bruni took the handle of the coffin,” wrote M.P. Botkin S.A. Ivanov to Rome from Moscow on July 27, 1858 - they began to scold the Academy and people who forced them to write dishonest articles dishonestly for money. Thus, they forced Bruni to flee shamed.

Tretyakov showed interest in Bruni's work in the late 1860s. The only letter from the artist to the collector dated January 11, 1867 has been preserved in the Department of Manuscripts of the State Tretyakov Gallery: “Dear Sir Pavel Mikhailovich! Your wish will be fulfilled - the painting "The Image of the Savior" will be immediately sent to your address in Moscow. For now, let me testify my sincere gratitude for your attention. As for the desire to have a drawing from me for your album, I will deliver it to you with great pleasure. It is currently difficult to say which drawing was discussed, since this year Bruni presented two drawings to the gallery - “Christ Surrounded by Apostles” and “Caught in a Thunderstorm in the Desert”.

Despite the fact that F.A. Bruni did not belong to people close to Tretyakov in his artistic views, the collector nevertheless understood his role as a person significant for Russian painting. In the winter of 1871, Tretyakov, while in St. Petersburg, agreed with Fyodor Antonovich and instructed A.G. Goravsky to paint his image. Just in the late 1860s - early 1870s, Pavel Mikhailovich began to purposefully acquire and commission portraits of "persons dear to the nation." Unfortunately, the portrait of F.A. Bruni by A.G. Goravsky was not included by the author-compiler in the book devoted to the study of the Tretyakov portrait gallery. Meanwhile, the letters of the artist A.G. Goravsky to P.M. Tretyakov, where the work process is described in detail. The first message refers to February 20, 1871: “Dear Pavel Mikhailovich! Immediately after your departure, I set to work on a portrait of Fyodor Antonovich Bruni and have already used three sessions for drawing with charcoal, because I have changed places. Turning and lighting is now chosen in his office, on the right side of the light, that is, the way you gave me the project, and beat off three more sessions with paints. Extremely important is the artist's testimony that Tretyakov not only commissioned a portrait, but also made a preliminary “sketch project” with his own hand. Fulfilling the idea of the customer, Goravsky embodied on the canvas a kind of typological fusion of front and chamber. The size of the work (105.4 x 78.5 cm), the generational cut of the figure, the image of the model in everyday clothes - all this corresponded to other portraits of the Tretyakov series.

“The portrait is small in scale, but difficult to perform,” wrote A.G. Goravsky. - I will imagine rest, sitting freely, in his usual position with his hands down and holding a pencil with thoughtfulness, in his working black velvet coat and, as usual, with disheveled hair, which he will not cut until I finish the portrait. Truth and simplicity, but nothing is supposed to be forced.”

When working on the portrait, Goravsky encountered a number of difficulties. So, “due to his post, he had to travel in vain, because, in addition to him (Bruni. - L.M.) desires, official duties forced him to leave the court to follow the sovereign emperor in inspecting monuments, and in general regarding the artistic. And then the sessions were stopped due to Bruni's illness. “After the smallpox, he already began to leave the yard,” Goravsky reported to Tretyakov, “and said: “I’m sunbathing from the spring air, then there will be more interest for painting.” I thanked him, because by this he expressed even more desire to pose.”

In addition to personal circumstances in the life of the model, the artist had to take into account the technical features of the execution of the canvas. The painter could not always paint "raw", it took time for the paint layer to dry. Goravsky wrote in a letter dated March 18: "...according to my calculation, sessions on wet paint were left." On April 3, the artist wrote that the portrait "remains to dry thoroughly in the sun and again take up the face, because now the whole bouquet of the picture is more visible." In the same letter from Goravsky we read that he needs five more sessions. The artist asks Pavel Mikhailovich not to rush him with the end of the work. At the end of the year, in a letter dated December 28, Goravsky argues with Tretyakov about the price for a finished portrait of Bruni. Pavel Mikhailovich offered 350 rubles, and Goravsky asked to increase the fee to 400 rubles.

Probably, Tretyakov did not like the portrait of Bruni by Goravsky. As the artist himself wrote on February 14, 1872: "I remember your words that the portrait of Bruni in your collection is not as important as Glinka." Therefore, the interest of the collector in the portrait created by F.A. Moller in 1840 in the Roman workshop of Bruni. For a long time this image was carefully kept in the family of the painter Bruni in St. Petersburg. In 1888 I.F. Chenet, “an agent of Russian artists,” informed Tretyakov that relatives “do not sell the portrait of the father painted by Moller.” However, after three years, the youngest son of the painter was forced to turn to the famous collector himself. “Dear sir Pavel Mikhailovich,” Julius Bruni wrote, “I am writing these lines to you because the circumstances are such that I am forced to sell the works and the portrait of my father. I have a buyer, but before deciding, I turn to you. They offer me for both things (a portrait and a drawing of the Copper Serpent. - L.M.) three thousand rubles, but, to my grief, they will be taken away from Russia, which will be very sad. Architect Yu.F. Bruni offered to come to Moscow for further negotiations. Apparently, Tretyakov answered in the affirmative, but, as was his custom, negotiated a concession of a thousand rubles. This fact is evidenced by the receipt preserved in the archive: “For the drawing of my own work by my father F.A. Bruni (Bronze Serpent) and a portrait of his father, painted in oil by Professor F.A. Moller received two thousand silver rubles in full. September 4, 1891."

Julius Fedorovich Bruni (1843-1911) inherited his father's talent. He graduated with honors from the course at the Imperial Academy of Arts as an architect. In the 1860s he trained in Northern and Southern Germany, France and Italy. Upon returning to Russia in 1868 Yu.F. Bruni got a good place in the civil service. The young architect is assigned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs with secondment to the Technical and Construction Committee. Until 1871, he was an over-staff architect at the Board of Trustees of Institutions of the Office of Empress Maria, in 1875 he was assigned to the IV Department of His Own Imperial Majesty's Chancellery. Of course, the position and authority of the father played in the promotion of the career ladder. Julius Fedorovich was considered not only an architect, but also a gifted watercolorist, he successfully worked in the field of applied art, was a master of planning and interior decoration. His son George chose a different kind of art - he became a musician, and his granddaughter Tatiana - a theater artist.

About the eldest son F.A. Bruni - Nicolae (18391873) - little is known. He died at the age of thirty-three, having outlived his father by only two years. His portrait, executed by Fyodor Antonovich in the late 1840s (TG), has been preserved. The gentle angelic face of the boy is masterfully inscribed in an oval shape. Delicate outline, soft curls to the shoulders, plump lips - all this gives the model a unique charm and charm.

The history of the Bruni family spans a whole century and spans several generations. Although at that time many masters of foreign origin worked in Russia, talented representatives of the Bruni family took their definite place in the Russian artistic culture of the 19th century. It is important that this kind of artists did not die out in the twentieth century. It was continued by the artists Lev Alexandrovich (1894-1948) and Ivan Lvovich Bruni (1920-1995).

Markina L.A. Painter Fedor Moller. M., 2002. S. 54.
There is a difference in the date of birth of the artist. The first biographer F.A. Bruni A.V. Polovtsev gives the date 10. 06. 1799 (Polovtsev A.V. Fedor Antonovich Bruni. Biographical sketch. SPb., 1907). On the basis of archival documents cited by A.G. Vereshchagina, the date 27. 12. 1801 is currently accepted ( Vereshchagina A.G. Fedor Antonovich Bruni. L., 1985. S. 8-10, 216).
Silv's letter. F. Shchedrin from Naples on March 26, 1826 to Rome to the sculptor S.I. Galberg // Italian letters and reports of Sylvester Feodosievich Shchedrin. 1818-1830. M., 2014. S. 291.
Vereshchagina A.G. Decree. op. S. 63.
Silv's letter. F. Shchedrin from Naples on March 13, 1828 to Rome to the sculptor S.I. Galberg // Italian letters and reports of Sylvester Feodosievich Shchedrin. 1818-1830. M., 2014. S. 382.
Vereshchagina A.G. Fedor Antonovich Bruni. L., 1985. S. 86.
Letter from Rome to the publisher // Literary newspaper. 1830. No. 36. S. 291.
In 1936, in connection with the closure of the cemetery, the burial, together with the tombstone, was transferred to the Tikhvin cemetery (Necropolis of the masters of art) of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.
Vereshchagina A.G. Decree. op. S. 239.
Botkin M.P. A.A. Ivanov. His life and correspondence. SPb., 1880. S. 112-113.
Markina L.A. Rome - "Academy of Europe" // Art Bulletin. SPb., 2015. S. 15-27.
Yaylenko E. The myth of Italy in Russian art of the first half of the 19th century. M., 2012. S. 282.
Makarov b. Journal of travel abroad and some things from Gatchina. Manuscript. 02/19/1927. Partially published: Staraya Gatchina. 1927. No. 78 // OR of the State Tretyakov Gallery. F. 31. Unit. ridge 2371. L. 3.
Polovtsev A.V. Fedor Antonovich Bruni: Biographical sketch. SPb., 1907. S. 126, 128.
Art newspaper. 1837. No. 6. S. 105.
Correspondence of Tsarevich Alexander Nikolaevich with Emperor Nicholas I. M., 2008. S. 203.
Bee. 1875. No. 35. S. 426.
Vereshchagina A.G. Decree. op. S. 86.
Roman paintings by F.A. Bruni // Art newspaper. 1837. No. 15. S. 239.
Markina L.A. Painter Michael Scotty. M., 2017. S. 282.
German Archaeological Institute in Rome. Unpublished letters of M.P. Botkina S.A. Ivanov.
Letters from artists to Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov. 1856-1869. M., 1960. S. 177.
Portrait gallery of "persons dear to the nation" P.M. Tretyakov. M., 2014.
Letters from artists to Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov. 1870-1879. M., 1968. S. 41.
There.
There. S. 44.
There.
There. S. 49.
There. P. 60. This information conflicts with the dating of the portrait. Signed on the arm of the chair: "A. Goravsksh 20 III 1871.
There. S. 67.
OR GTG. F. 1. Unit. ridge 4209. L. 1.
OR GTG. F. 1. Unit. ridge 751. L. 1.
OR GTG. F. 1. Unit. ridge 750. L. 1.