Location of the painting hunters at rest. "Hunters at rest": the secrets of Perov's most famous painting


The painting "Hunters at rest" (Vasily Grigorievich Perov) Perov painted the painting "Hunters at rest" in 1871. In this work, the artist depicted three hunters resting on a halt after a successful hunt. The artist Perov must be confessed, and he himself was a passionate lover of hunting. More than once in his life, the artist saw such scenes, because he himself was a participant in all sorts of funny tales, gossip and unprecedented stories about hunting with his fellow hunters after a difficult but interesting hunt. To display such a scene on canvas, to show the different characters of the characters, without any ambiguity, one might even say so, is a topic close to the spirit of the common people. As a result, there are three hunters with prey in the picture, not two or four, but three, in general, the holy trinity against the background of an evening, somewhat dull landscape, birds are still flying in the cloudy sky, a slight breeze is felt, clouds are gathering. the texture of the still life objects The texture of the still life objects was carefully written by the artist, no doubt everyone looks alive without a hitch, there are hunting trophies, a well-killed hare, partridges, hunting rifles, a horn with a net and other hunting paraphernalia necessary for hunting. But this is not the main thing in the picture, Perov’s task in this work is still three hunters with their different characteristics. an elderly-looking hunter not quite hunting adventures, a fragment from what he says approximately: Here is an annoyance, spreading his arms to the side, he missed the second hare and he was already twice as large as the first, then I successfully shot the first one. The second comrade, who is in the middle of middle age, is also an experienced hunter, listens with irony to an elderly hunter, scratches his ear, you can say the narrator clearly causes him a sarcastic grin with his hunting, regular and untruthful tale and he clearly does not trust him, but it’s still interesting to listen he thinks. The young hunter, who on the right carefully and trustingly listens to the stories of the old hardened hunter, it is likely that he himself also wants to tell something about his partridge hunt, but the old man clearly does not allow him to say a word. The plot of the picture Hunters at rest turned out to be directly anecdotal, relative to other works by Perov. Contemporaries reacted differently to the work of the master, Saltykov-Shchedrin criticized the artist for the unnatural looking faces of the hunters, as if they were actors and not live hunters. And Stasov V.V., on the contrary, enthusiastically admired the picture, comparing it with the stories of the writer Turgenev. Whatever it was, but the picture Hunters at rest fell in love with the people, the hunters themselves speak very enthusiastically about this work. Nowadays, copies of this painting are considered a gift standard for avid hunters. Therefore, in the house of a good hunter, a similar plot always hangs on the wall, and sometimes with other faces of the characters in the picture. In the work of the artist Perov, this work and paintings: Dovecote, Rybolov and Ptitselov are associated with some departure from the highly critical paintings of the 1860s. And another picture of Hunters at rest was written by Perov in two copies, the original is kept in the Tretyakov Gallery, and a copy of the picture is in the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. Photo collages -

The picture of hunters at rest Perov painted in 1871. In this work, the artist depicted three hunters resting on a halt after a successful hunt. The artist Perov must be confessed, and he himself was a passionate lover of hunting. More than once in his life, the artist saw such scenes, because he himself was a participant in all sorts of funny tales, gossip and unprecedented stories about hunting with his fellow hunters after a difficult but interesting hunt. To display such a scene on canvas, to show the different characters of the characters, without any ambiguity, one might even say so, is a topic close to the spirit of the common people. As a result, there are three hunters with prey in the picture, not two or four, but three, in general, the holy trinity against the background of an evening, somewhat dull landscape, birds are still flying in the cloudy sky, a slight breeze is felt, clouds are gathering.

The texture of the still life objects was carefully written by the artist, no doubt everyone looks alive without a hitch, there are hunting trophies, a well-killed hare, partridges, hunting rifles, a horn with a net and other hunting paraphernalia necessary for hunting. But all this is not the main thing in the picture, Perov's task in this work is still three hunters with their different characteristics. The most pronounced figure in the picture Hunters at Rest is, of course, an elderly-looking hunter, passionately telling his comrades about his obvious or not quite adventures on the hunt, a fragment from what he tells approximately: Here is an annoyance, spreading his hands to the side, he missed the second hare and it was already twice as large as the first one, I successfully shot the first one. The second comrade, who is in the middle of middle age, is also an experienced hunter, listens with irony to an elderly hunter, scratches his ear, you can say the narrator clearly causes him a sarcastic grin with his hunting, regular and untruthful tale and he clearly does not trust him, but it’s still interesting to listen he thinks. The young hunter, who on the right carefully and trustingly listens to the stories of the old hardened hunter, it is likely that he himself also wants to tell something about his partridge hunt, but the old man clearly does not allow him to say a word. The plot of the picture Hunters at rest turned out to be directly anecdotal, relative to other works by Perov. Contemporaries reacted differently to the work of the master, Saltykov-Shchedrin criticized the artist for the unnatural looking faces of the hunters, as if they were actors and not live hunters. And Stasov V.V., on the contrary, enthusiastically admired the picture, comparing it with the stories of the writer Turgenev. Whatever it was, but the picture Hunters at rest fell in love with the people, the hunters themselves speak very enthusiastically about this work. Nowadays, copies of this painting are considered a gift standard for avid hunters. Therefore, in the house of a good hunter, a similar plot always hangs on the wall, and sometimes with other faces of the characters in the picture. In the work of the artist Perov, this work and paintings: Dovecote, Rybolov and Ptitselov are associated with some departure from the highly critical paintings of the 1860s. And another picture of Hunters at rest was written by Perov in two copies, the original is kept in the Tretyakov Gallery, and a copy of the picture is in the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.

The picture Hunters at rest Perov painted in 1871. In this work, the artist depicted three hunters resting on a halt after a successful hunt. The artist Perov must be confessed, and he himself was a passionate lover of hunting.

More than once in his life, the artist saw such scenes, because he himself was a participant in all sorts of funny tales, gossip and unprecedented stories about hunting with his fellow hunters after a difficult but interesting hunt. To display such a scene on canvas, to show the different characters of the characters, without any ambiguity, one might even say so, is a topic close to the spirit of the common people.

As a result, there are three hunters with prey in the picture, not two or four, but three, in general, the holy trinity against the background of an evening, somewhat dull landscape, birds are still flying in the cloudy sky, a slight breeze is felt, clouds are gathering.

The texture of the still life objects was carefully written by the artist, no doubt everyone looks alive without a hitch, there are hunting trophies, a well-killed hare, partridges, hunting rifles, a horn with a net and other hunting paraphernalia necessary for hunting. But all this is not the main thing in the picture, Perov's task in this work is still three hunters with their different characteristics.

The most pronounced figure in the picture Hunters at Rest is, of course, an elderly-looking hunter, passionately telling his comrades about his explicit or not quite adventures on the hunt, a fragment from what he approximately says: Here is an annoyance, spreading his hands to the side, he missed the second hare and it was already twice as large as the first one, I successfully shot the first one.

The second comrade, who is in the middle of middle age, is also an experienced hunter, listens with irony to an elderly hunter, scratches his ear, you can say the narrator clearly causes him a sarcastic grin with his hunting, regular and untruthful tale and he clearly does not trust him, but it’s still interesting to listen he thinks.

The young hunter, who on the right carefully and trustingly listens to the stories of the old hardened hunter, it is likely that he himself also wants to tell something about his partridge hunt, but the old man clearly does not allow him to say a word.

The plot of the picture Hunters at rest turned out to be directly anecdotal, relative to other works by Perov. Contemporaries reacted differently to the work of the master, Saltykov-Shchedrin criticized the artist for the unnatural looking faces of the hunters, as if they were actors and not live hunters. And Stasov V.V., on the contrary, enthusiastically admired the picture, comparing it with the stories of the writer Turgenev.

Whatever it was, but the picture Hunters at rest fell in love with the people, the hunters themselves speak very enthusiastically about this work. Nowadays, copies of this painting are considered a gift standard for avid hunters. Therefore, in the house of a good hunter, a similar plot always hangs on the wall, and sometimes with other faces of the characters in the picture. In the work of the artist Perov, this work and paintings: Dovecote, Rybolov and Ptitselov are associated with some departure from the highly critical paintings of the 1860s.

Vasily Grigorievich Perov created many amazing paintings. Among them is the painting "Hunters at Rest". Although the artist painted it at the end of the 19th century, connoisseurs of painting are still happy to look at the canvas, which depicts real people, their facial expressions and gestures are conveyed.

Creative biography - the beginning of the journey

The artist Vasily Grigorievich Perov lived in 1833-82. The exact date of his birth is unknown, tentatively it is the end of December 1833 - the beginning of January 1834. Grigory Vasilievich - the illegitimate son of Baron Grigory (George) - the provincial prosecutor. Despite the fact that after the birth of the child, the parents got married, he still did not have the right to a title and a surname.

Once Vasily's father invited an artist to them. The boy loved to watch the work of the painter, and this caused him great interest in creativity. Despite the fact that due to smallpox, which the child had had, his eyesight deteriorated, Vasily still studied diligently and independently engaged in drawing.

Then the father sent the child to the Arzamas art school, where he studied from 1846 to 1849. A. V. Stupin led the school, he spoke flatteringly about the young talent and said that Vasily had talent.

Not graduating from college due to a conflict with a fellow student, the young man moved to Moscow, where he entered the School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.

Awards, paintings

In 1856, for the portrait of Nikolai Grigorievich Kridener Perov, he was awarded a small medal. Then there were the works "Arrival of the police officer", "Scene on the grave", "Wanderer". For the painting "The First Order" the artist was awarded a small medal, and for the "Rural Procession at Easter" he was presented with a large gold medal.

Then the painter created many more beautiful canvases, including his famous painting "Hunters at rest", "Troika", "Sleeping children", "Arrival of a schoolgirl". His last works are "The Wanderer in the Field", Fishermen", "The Old Man on the Bench", "Yaroslavna's Lament".

About the famous painting

The painting "Hunters at rest" was painted by V. I. Perov in 1871. If in the first half of the period of his work the artist reflects the bleak scenes of folk life (“Seeing the dead man”, “Workshop boy”, Troika”, etc.), then in the second he increasingly depicts hunters, bird-catchers, fishermen who so much like what what they are doing.

The artist himself was very fond of hunting, so this topic was familiar to him. Now the painting "Hunters at Rest" is in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, and a copy created by the author in 1877 can be seen by visiting the State Russian Museum.

Who is depicted on the canvas - real prototypes

The hunters at Perov's camp are non-fictional characters. If you pay attention to the canvas, you will see the narrator on the left. In his guise, the artist conveyed the image of D. P. Kuvshinnikov, who was a famous Moscow doctor, a great lover of rifle hunting.

Vasily Grigorievich Perov did an excellent service to the physician, glorifying him even more. After the painting was presented at a traveling exhibition, D. P. Kuvshinnikov became very popular in artistic, theatrical, and literary circles. Artists, writers, artists began to gather in his apartment.

The skeptic hunter on the canvas also has his own real prototype. In the image of this man, Perov captured the doctor V.V. Bessonov, who was a friend of Kuvshinnikov.

The youngest hunter was drawn from Nikolai Mikhailovich Nagornov. This 26-year-old youth was a colleague and friend of Bessonov and Kuvshinnikov. A year later, the young man married Leo Tolstoy's niece.

Now that it is known who these hunters are at Perov's halt, looking at the picture, peering into its smallest details will be even more interesting.

Description of the plot of the picture

Three hunters are depicted in the foreground. Apparently, they have been wandering through the forest since early morning in search of prey. Their trophies were limited to a duck and a hare. The hunters were tired and decided to make a halt.

Small islands of snow are visible in the background. On the front and side - withered grass, bushes on which green leaves have not yet blossomed. Most likely, this is the end of March or the beginning of April. It is already getting dark, but men do not feel good in each other's company, as common interests, conversations unite.

Hunters at rest - a description of these brave men

The artist was able to convey facial expressions, his characters. Looking at them, it becomes clear what they are talking about, thinking.

So, the man sitting on the left, the prototype of which was D.P. Kuvshinnikov, is the oldest. It is clear that he is a seasoned hunter. The man talks about his exploits. By the way his hands are tense, it is clear that he says that he somehow met a bear and, of course, emerged victorious from this fight.

It can be seen that the middle-aged man, who is located between the two hunters, is sarcastic about the friend's story. Apparently, he heard this bike more than once. This hunter lowered his eyes and barely suppressed a smile so as not to laugh, but does not want to betray his older friend and does not tell the young hunter that this story is a fiction. Here they are, hunters on a halt. The cost of a fictional story is low, but the youngest hunter does not know this.

He listens so attentively to the narrator that he does not see what is happening around him. He even forgets to smoke - the hand with the cigarette froze - the young man follows the verbal plot so tensely. Apparently, he has only recently joined this company and does not yet know all the tales that his new friends can tell.

You think about all this, looking at the picture that the author wrote so realistically. The hunters at rest, though frozen in one position, but it seems that now they will get up and go towards new adventures.

Event date: 09/01/2015 Organizer: Faculty of Art History Speaker: Valentin Golovin

"Hunters at Rest" by Vasily Perov is one of the most textbook and replicated in various forms of Russian paintings. Any textbook text has a special history and a special reflection. The text takes on new meanings and the old, pictorial "replicas" are no longer perceived in the context of the cultural traditions of the time of painting.

Valentin Vadimovich Golovin - Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor, Head of the Center for Research on Children's Literature of the IRLI (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

On September 1, 2015, the Faculty of Art History hosted the first open research seminar in the academic year dedicated to Vasily Perov's painting "Hunters at Rest" - one of the textbook and most replicated paintings in various forms of Russian painting. Any textbook text has a special history and a special reflection. Over time, he acquires new meanings and loses old ones; picturesque "replicas" are no longer perceived in the context of the cultural traditions of the time of painting. As part of his lecture "Hunters at Rest" by Vasily Perov. Replicas of a textbook painting” Valentin Golovin (Ph.D., Professor, Head of the Children's Literature Research Center of the Institute of Russian Literature (Pushkin House) of the Russian Academy of Sciences) offered the seminar participants a real and cultural commentary on this famous painting.

Vasily Perov. Hunters at rest (1871). Tretyakov Gallery

At the beginning of his speech, the lecturer spoke about approaches to understanding textbook texts in general. Any textbook work, whether it be a canvas or a literary text, is replete with details that we are used to not noticing; An example of this is the painting "Unequal Marriage" by V. Pukirev. The lecturer drew attention to the fact that the groom depicted on the canvas wore the Order of St. Vladimir of the 2nd degree, which means that he fell into the top ten officials of Russia: no more than twenty people wore this award at a time. He also pointed out the high cost of the bride's gloves and the size of her ruby, and concluded that when trying to analyze the work, the details can radically change the idea of ​​​​it.

Another illustration of this thesis was a fragment of a painting in a private collection, which depicts Cossack trophies piled in a heap. During the attribution of these items, it turned out that among them, along with the Circassian leather whip and the sheath of the Caucasian silver dagger, there was a smooth-bore ladies' saddle pistol, as well as a ladies' saddle, which means that the Cossack dealt not only with the gentleman, but also with the lady . This allows us to understand the subtext of the picture, which can significantly affect its perception.

An important task facing the researcher of a textbook work of art is not to succumb to the temptation to consider it as an ethnographic source, which it is not. For example, in the well-known painting by G. Myasoedev “The Bride’s Look”, judging by the costumes of the characters, at least three women are from different parts of the empire. In addition, the bride in this form could take place, except perhaps in the southernmost parts of the country. By and large, what is depicted in this picture could not actually happen.

All the above theses about textbook texts are also important for the analysis of Perov's painting "Hunters at Rest". Soon after its appearance in 1871, the picture received positive reviews from M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, V. V. Stasov, F. M. Dostoevsky, but now it is so replicated that it is considered bad manners to talk about it: in some monographs dedicated to Perov , the canvas is not even mentioned. This does not mean at all that the modern public is able to count the "replicas" that the artist put into the picture. On the contrary, extensive literature on art criticism often introduces new, erroneous meanings into the canvas. In order to separate facts from myths, the lecturer suggested asking several questions about the painting. Let's consider them below.

Who is in this picture?

According to one version, Perov portrayed his acquaintances in the picture - Dmitry Kuvshinnikov (narrator), Vasily Bessonov (lying) and Nikolai Nagorny (listening). For the first time this assumption appeared in 1962 on the pages of the almanac "Hunting Spaces". The source was a letter from Nagornov's daughter: “D. P. Kuvshinnikov was one of my father's closest friends. They often went hunting for birds. My father had a dog, and therefore gathered with us: Dmitry Pavlovich, Nikolai Mikhailovich and Dr. Bessonov V.V. They are depicted by Perov ("Hunters at Rest"). Kuvshinnikov D.P. tells, father and Bessonov are listening. Father - carefully, and Bessonov - with distrust ... ".

Since there is a portrait of Bessonov by Perov, as well as a photograph of Kuvshinnikov (who may have become the prototype of the hero of Chekhov's story "The Jumper"), we have the opportunity to compare them with hunters and talk about (dis)similarity - but nothing more.

Where is the action taking place?

To answer this question, you need to pay attention to the details of the landscape and hunting trophies. The costume of a commoner hunter can also serve as a clue here, or rather one of its details: the so-called buckwheat hat, similar in shape to a buckwheat pie, for which it got its name - the northern Russian headdress.

In the foreground of the picture are a hare and a black grouse. At the same time, the black grouse lives somewhere in the Voronezh province, and the hare does not jump further than Ladoga and Onega. Thus, we have a southern border (black grouse) and a northern one (hare), from which it follows that the action takes place somewhere in central Russia.

When does it happen?

In monographs, one can find a variety of assumptions about what time of the year the action takes place, from early spring to late autumn. In fact, there are clear indications for this: according to the law that was in force from 1774 to 1892, the hunting season began on St. Peter's Day, that is, on July 12, and the dog hunt began approximately on September 8.

Golovin is inclined to the version that Perov depicted precisely a dog hunt, and the action takes place in late autumn. An argument in its favor is the fact that the hare begins to shed in September, ends in November, and at the same time, the summer fur remains on its back and on the head for the longest time, which can also be seen in the picture: the hare's molting movement, which can to be only autumn, masterfully written out by Perov, who himself was a hunter.

Who are they hunting? (Is it gun hunting or canine hunting?)

First, let's explore the version of dog hunting. It is indicated, in fact, by the presence of a dog, which could turn out to be a greyhound (judging by the ears and tail) and a hare that was hunted with dogs. The hunter-narrator is dressed in a loose caftan to the knees, he is wearing a black lambskin hat, which was very fond of fans of dog hunting, he has binoculars on his chest, necessary for looking out for the beast, and at the same time, the narrator does not have a harness with a powder flask. Finally, there is a horn in the picture - an indispensable attribute of canine hunting.

Now let's move on to the gun hunting version. Golovin suggested that the picture does not depict a greyhound, but a popular in those days and very expensive setter from the Laverak breed. This breed, which had ceased to exist by the beginning of the 20th century, was described in detail by Leonid Sabaneev, a specialist in Russian hunting dogs. In his work, he points out that in the 1860s. in Moscow and St. Petersburg, it was the former English Setters that were most often encountered.
Such dogs had protruding ears, very sloping (oblique) shoulders, hair, starting from the back of the head, slightly wavy, long and silky, and the dressing dog on the front legs to the paws and on the gachas was quite thick. It was believed that the more knees are bent in such dogs, the better they are, and also that good setters carry their tail very low, dragging, and therefore a tail lowered down is better than a raised one. And although the breed of the dog depicted in the picture is not easy to determine, since in the picture we see only the croup and tail of the dog, while its muzzle remains invisible to us, we have to admit that it fits this description in many ways.

There are other arguments in favor of the gun hunting version. Firstly, black grouse were caught, which were not hunted with greyhounds. Secondly, there are guns (moreover, of the famous English company Enfield, which is also interesting, very expensive and easy to use), which are not required for dog hunting: it requires a dagger, which is not here. Finally, the hare, which, although hunted with dogs, is intact in the picture, which contradicted the rules of dog hunting, which were observed unquestioningly. According to these rules, the killed hare should be chopped off (poke a dagger between the shoulder blades), cut off (cut off his front legs and give them to the dogs) and trimmed (insert by the hind legs into the saddle) - you can learn about this, in particular, from "Hound Hunting" Nekrasov.

Consider other details of the picture. We see a flask covered with leather, a half-eaten cucumber, a loaf and a slice of bread, a chicken bone and a stack, probably silver (hunting required this), from which they most likely drank vodka - the hunters' ritual drink. However, there are also less obvious details here: for example, a crow that dives in the immediate vicinity of the dog. It is rather difficult not to notice a diving crow, but the hunters are so passionate about the story that they do not pay any attention to the bird.
Now let's turn to the characters themselves. The hunter-narrator is dressed in a quilted caftan, trousers, and an immaculately white shirt, and his tie is tied in the "artist's" type, which Perov was very fond of and wore to about twelve of his characters. He is wearing hunting leather boots with a very low heel (by the way, high boots were never worn for dog hunting). Finally, the narrator has a very early form of binoculars, from the first half of the 19th century, which may indicate his experience.

The next character (the listener) is dressed expensively and soundly. He wears boots with gigantic heels, which was extremely inconvenient during hunting, on the head of the listener a cap made of patent leather, which was called uniform (it had to be wiped with a special napkin to make it shine), a tie tied in an Epicurean manner, and also an expensive English capsule and no less expensive shotgun. It is interesting that his left hand is smoking, although the cigarette is in his right: he lit a fire, but he was so carried away by the conversation that he completely forgot to light it.

Finally, the last character is dressed, according to Turgenev, like a coachman. Stasov, in turn, wrote about "the face of a laughing peasant, winking a little and baring his white teeth," which "looms in the very middle of the picture from under the crumpled and holey buckwheat, which has shifted to the side on his forehead." As a rule, this is not visible in reproductions, however, in Perov's original painting on buckwheat, you can really see a fair amount of holes. The situation comes to mind when they threw up someone's hat and fired at it. This detail is no less eloquent than the grin of a commoner hunter and his gesture, expressing mockery of the master.

All this - an unlit cigarette, a diving crow, mockery and much more - let us know that the artist captured the climax of the unfolding situation.

At the end of his speech, Golovin noted that, despite the triviality and kitschism of the painting "Hunters at Rest", he considers this work a model of lifelikeness.

Alina Novik

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