Vasily Tropinin - biography and paintings of the artist in the genre of Romanticism - Art Challenge. Artist B

Creativity of Vasily Andreevich Tropinin

(1776-1857) Vasily Andreevich Tropinin belonged to the generation that brought forward the first Russian romantics. Tropinin was until the age of 45 a serf artist on the Ukrainian estate of Count Morkov, and combined with painting classes the duties of a confectioner and senior footman. At the whim of a landowner, he was unable to complete his education at the Academy of Arts. Tropinin's years of youth were spent on self-taught, in spite of obstacles, to master technical skills and achieve professional excellence. Count Carrot, who decided to have a painter in his house, in 1799 considered it profitable for himself to appoint a capable serf as an "outsider student" of the Academy of Arts. It was here that Tropinin studied portrait art with S.S. Schukin. At an academic exhibition in 1804, Tropinin's work "A Boy Yearning for a Dead Bird" attracted the attention of the Empress herself. Tropinin studied brilliantly and soon received silver and gold medals. President of the Academy S. Stroganov began to petition for the release of a talented young man, but did not have time: the serf Tropinin received an order from the owner to move from St. Petersburg to the new estate of Morkov - Podolia, in Ukraine. There, Tropinin was reminded that he was a serf, appointed to the post of confectioner and lackey, and also charged with making copies from paintings by Western European and Russian artists, who later decorated the count's house, as well as painting the local church, painting icons for it. Tropinin was also instructed to make picturesque portraits of the hosts. Gentle and kind by nature, Tropinin endured the vicissitudes of fate with humility, did not become hardened, did not become depressed from the consciousness of the discrepancy between his own talent and the position that he occupied, on the contrary, he perceived his stay in Ukraine as a continuation of his studies, a kind of internship. “I studied little at the Academy, but I learned in Little Russia: I painted from life there without rest, and these works of mine seem to be the best of all that I have written so far,” he later recalled. The color of these works is soft, muted - grayish, ocher, green tones predominate.

"Portrait of the son of Arseny". The artist worked on this portrait with a special enthusiasm. He pours out his soul. With intimate intimacy, he reveals his faith in the bright destiny of man, in the value of the human personality. Before the viewer appears the world of a young dream, illuminated by a particularly poignant and poignant confidence. The master seems to reveal to us his secret, a precious secret that the artist carefully keeps.. Illuminated by a quivering light, the boy's face appears. Just now he was busy with children's games and amusements, so the collar of his shirt was unbuttoned, his hair was slightly tossed, but now something attracted his attention, and he is unusually serious. . The head is turned to the left. The gaze of wide-open, focused eyes is also directed there. How much grace and nobility, inner beauty, in the appearance of this child! Everything is harmonious in this canvas: slightly raised anxious eyebrows, an affectionate but restless look, a chaste, softly contoured mouth, a rounded chin. Everything, everything to the smallest line in the canvas is filled with the artist's love for his offspring, his hope /. In 1821 Tropinin said goodbye to Kukavka forever. The return to Moscow was joyful for him. 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. Tropinin A.A. was especially bothered. Tuchkov - general, hero of 1812 and collector, P.P. Svinin, N.A. Maikov. However, Count Carrot was in no hurry to give freedom to his serf painter, whose talent and human qualities he greatly appreciated. This happened only in 1823. Tropinin's wife and son Arseniy remained in serfdom for another five years.

"Lacemaker"(1823) - one of the most popular works Tropinin. A pretty girl weaving lace is depicted at the moment when she briefly looked up from work and turned her gaze to the viewer, who thus becomes involved in the space of the picture. .

Laces, bobbins, a box for needlework are carefully and lovingly painted. The feeling of peace and comfort created by Tropinin convinces of the value of every moment of everyday human existence. Similar paintings Tropinin wrote a lot. Usually they depict young women at needlework - gold embroiderers, embroiderers, spinners. Their faces are similar, features are clearly visible in them. female ideal artist - a gentle oval, dark almond-shaped eyes, a friendly smile, a coquettish look. For this and other works in 1823 V.A. Tropinin was awarded the title of "appointed to academician".

The long-awaited freedom came only in 1823, when Tropinin was already forty-seven years old; the heyday of his talent belongs to this time. It was during this period that his own, independent artistic system arose, which in a peculiar way reworked the legacy of classicism and painting techniques of the 18th century, and the genre of intimate everyday portrait created by Tropinin finally took shape.

At the beginning of 1827, Pushkin commissioned Tropinin to present a portrait to his friend Sobolevsky. this somewhat naive statement contains, in essence, whole program, which characterizes Tropinin's tasks and his attitude to reality. In Tropinin's portraits, the intimate, "homely" appearance of the people of his era is conveyed; Tropinin's characters do not "pose" in front of the artist and the viewer, but are captured as they were in privacy, around the family hearth. “Sobolevsky was dissatisfied with the smoothed and pomaded portraits of Pushkin, which then appeared. He wanted to keep the image of the poet as he is, as he used to be more often, and he asked Tropinin, one of the best portrait painters of that time in Moscow, if not Russia, to draw Pushkin for him in a dressing gown, disheveled, with the coveted ring on his finger, ”says , according to Tropinin himself, one of his contemporary memoirists. This, apparently, was the original idea of ​​​​the portrait. The artist's task was only to capture the face of Pushkin with all possible accuracy and truthfulness, without asking difficult tasks. psychological analysis and revealing the inner content of the image. In a sketch drawn directly from nature, Tropinin came closest to realizing Sobolevsky's wishes. He gave an unpretentious, but, undoubtedly, quite accurate and similar image of Pushkin - "in a dressing gown and tattered," as Sobolevsky asked. But in the very appearance of the poet there was something that so distinguished him from ordinary Muscovites, the usual models of Tropinin, that the solution of the image could not enter the already established, familiar Tropinin system. Working on the portrait, Tropinin, in fact, moved very far from his original intention. This does not mean, of course, that he has departed from the truthful reproduction of nature. There is no doubt that Pushkin posed not only for a sketch, but also for a portrait, and the reconstruction of the living image of the poet was still Tropinin's main task. The similarities in the portrait are no less than in the sketch, but the very understanding of the image has become different. From the original idea, only the external attributes of “domesticity” remained - a dressing gown, an unbuttoned shirt collar, disheveled hair, but all these details were given completely new meaning: they are perceived not as evidence of the intimate ease of the posing, but rather as a sign of that "poetic disorder" with which romantic art so often associated the idea of ​​\u200b\u200binspiration. Tropinin did not write the “private man Pushkin,” as Sobolevsky asked him to do, but an inspired poet, catching in his appearance an expression of deep inner significance and creative tension. In its figurative structure, the portrait of Pushkin echoes the works of contemporary romantic painting by Tropinin, but at the same time Tropinin managed to create a romantic image without sacrificing realistic accuracy and truthfulness of the image. Pushkin is depicted sitting, in a natural and relaxed pose. Right hand, on which two rings are visible, is placed on a table with an open book. Apart from this book, the portrait does not contain any accessories associated with Pushkin's literary profession. He is dressed in a spacious dressing gown with blue lapels, and a long blue scarf is tied around his neck. The background and clothes are united by a common golden brown tone, on which the face stands out, shaded by the whiteness of the shirt lapel - the most intense colorful spot in the picture is at the same time its compositional center. The artist did not seek to "embellish" Pushkin's face and soften the irregularity of his features; but, conscientiously following nature, he managed to recreate and capture his high spirituality. Contemporaries unanimously recognized in Tropinin's portrait an irreproachable resemblance to Pushkin. In Pushkin's gaze, tense and intent, the content of the portrait characteristic is expressed with the greatest force. Genuine inspiration shines in the wide-open blue eyes of the poet. In accordance with the romantic plan, Tropinin sought to give his gaze the expression that he took in moments of creativity. In comparison with the famous portrait of Pushkin by Kiprensky, Tropininsky's portrait seems more modest and, perhaps, intimate, but is not inferior to him either in expressiveness or in terms of pictorial power. The portrait of Pushkin undoubtedly occupies one of the first places both in the iconography of the poet and in the work of Tropinin. 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. Tropininsky Pushkin is not at all mundane - he is so regally majestic that it seems impossible to disturb his thoughts. 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 similar to an antique toga.

H and the 1830s-1840s account for the largest number of portraits painted by Tropinin. They said about the artist that he rewrote "literally the whole of Moscow." He paints portraits of the first persons of the city, statesmen, nobles, merchants, actors, writers, artists.

" Self-portrait" Tropinin was painted by the artist in the later years of his life. Before us is an elderly master, calmly looking ahead. Tropinin, as it were, sums up the life he has lived, showing himself as a calm, despite the experienced thunderstorms, a person who has reached a strong position, stable fame, which differs significantly from the loud and fleeting success of the St. Petersburg masters. The master depicts himself at the window of the workshop with a marvelous view of the ancient Kremlin. He calmly leans on the mastbel - an ancient painter's tool, so convenient in working on a picture that requires precision drawing and a smooth painting surface. In the hands of Vasily Andreevich, a palette and brushes, he stands against the backdrop of his beloved view with the signs of his profession - this is how he will forever remain in the memory of his descendants, to whom his calm and affectionate gaze of a good-natured and hospitable Moscow resident is directed. Tropinin conveys the cold coloring of the armchair and his suit in the interior of the studio, immersed in the evening dusk, as if eternity enters the room. Outside the window, the warm light of a gentle pink sunset spreads - a Moscow evening comes, when the bells fill the city with crimson ringing and black rooks circle in flocks among the clear sky.

Vasily Andreevich Tropinin lived a long creative life. His art was in intense interaction with the aesthetic ideals of the era. He died on May 3, 1857, and was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery.

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To the 240th anniversary of the birth

MASTER OF RUSSIAN PORTRAIT

Russian artist Vasily Andreevich Tropinin (1776-1857)

Tropinin lived a long creative life. His art was in intense interaction with the aesthetic ideals of that era. Being " last son XVIII century", at the end of his life he caught the main trends mid-nineteenth centuries - fidelity to nature, an analytical view of the world - and came close to critical realism second half of the century. In the portraits of Tropinin, contemporaries noted his ability to convey the "characteristic" of each life type. The artist's paintings are of particular value also because, in terms of the accuracy of the selection of social types of Russian society in the middle of the 19th century and the depth of their recreation, they have no analogues in the domestic art of their time. Tropinin stood at the origins of a whole independent trend in Russian art, associated with an attentive, serious analysis of folk character. This direction developed in the second half of the 19th century in the work of the Wanderers.

Artist and researcher of fine arts A.N. Benois wrote about Tropinin: “What gives Tropinin a particularly honorable place in the history of Russian painting is that he sowed the seeds of that realism on which a purely Moscow protest against the alien and cold, academic, St. Petersburg art subsequently grew and strengthened. All his “garden girls”, “lacemakers”, “seamstresses”, “thrushmaids”, “guitarists” and others foreshadowed with their “genre” antics, almost anecdotal flirting, the subsequent wandering of Muscovites in “types” and “story books” and were a direct parallel that immediacy of the view of nature, which was the most precious feature, for example, in Venetian art.

Tropinin was born in the Novgorod province in peasant family and until 1823 he remained a serf of Count I.I. Carrot. In 1798, the young man, who had a penchant for drawing, became a volunteer at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, but in 1804 he was recalled by his landowner. In 1812-1818 Tropinin lived with the Morkovs in Moscow, where he completed two family group portraits.

Family portrait of Counts Carrots

Portrait of the Carrots. Etude. Early 1810s

and a portrait of the historian N.M., filled with inner significance. Karamzin.

The fire of 1812 killed many of his early work. Since 1821, the artist lived permanently in Moscow, where he quickly gained fame as a portrait painter. In 1823, Tropinin received his freedom from Morkov, and later was awarded the title of Academician of the Academy of Arts. Having abandoned official posts, he settled in an apartment with a workshop in a house on the corner of Lenivka and Volkhonka streets, where he worked most life. It was here in the winter of 1826-27 that A.S. came to pose for his portrait. Pushkin.

Tropinin portrayed Pushkin as a friend of each of us, touched something personal. Contemporaries began vying to talk about the striking similarity of the portrait with the original. The portrait fully conveys both the appearance and the spiritual essence of the poet. 1820-30s - the time of Tropinin's creative flowering. The artist was able to express some specific features of the mindset of Moscow society, which contrasted the free style of communication with the official regimentation of St. Petersburg life. Portraits of the 1820s - N.A. Maykova, P.A. Bulakhov and, especially, Pushkin - are distinguished by romantic inspiration, internal dynamics, bright emotionality of the color system. Tropinin skillfully conveyed the individuality of the models and often emphasized their special Moscow flavor with the help of sharply characteristic details (for example, the portrait of V.A. Zubov).

Remaining the main Moscow portrait painter until the middle of the 19th century, Tropinin created more than three thousand portraits, depicting representatives of the family Moscow nobility, merchants, creative intelligentsia(sculptor I.P. Vitali, watercolorist P.F. Sokolov, actor P.S. Mochalov, playwright A.V. Sukhovo-Kobylin). In 1832, the artist moved to the left wing of the same estate - to Lenivka. A peculiar result of Tropinin's work and his inseparable connection with Moscow are expressed in "Self-portrait against the backdrop of the Kremlin."

It is believed that the window depicted in the painting is the window of the artist's workshop on Lenivka. Since 1833, he began to study with students of the public art class that opened in Moscow (later the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture). In 1843 Tropinin was elected an honorary member of the Moscow art society. In 1855 he bought a surrounded orchard a small house on Bolshaya Polyanka (not preserved). Tropinin died in 1857 and was buried at the Vagankovsky cemetery.

There is a plaque dedicated to Tropinin at house number 9 on Volkhonka Street. Surprisingly, the board was installed on a house built twenty-one years after Tropinin's death on the site of the main house of the estate, in which the artist did not live. In 1969, a museum of Tropinin and Moscow artists of his time was opened in Moscow (Shchetininsky per., 10). The museum's collection includes several thousand items. In addition to Tropinin's paintings, there are works by I.P. Argunova, F.S. Rokotova, D.G. Levitsky, V.L. Borovikovsky and other artists.

Museum of Vasily Tropinin

Museum video:

http://vk.com/video159262563_171446529

"Candy artist" sounds maybe a little impolite. But not in relation to Tropinin! He honed his skills at the St. Petersburg confectionery, where he was assigned to study from the count's estate, because products for good houses required both culinary and artistic taste. Until now, Tropinin's work can be seen on candy boxes!
Romantic portraits - the lacemaker, the guitarist, the curly-haired Arseniy, the artist's son - completely rhyme with chocolate. For warm colors, Dutch style, understandable naturalistic drawing of cute characters, these images were also loved in Soviet time. The artist painted many ordinary people - peasants, philistines, artisans, and saw in everyone inherent feature and beauty.

However, Tropinin had an academic school; he managed to learn in St. Petersburg, but the count-owner Morkov was recalled to the estate in Ukraine, along with his family. He was a servant, architect, shepherd and artist under the count. Such versatility of occupations was useful to the artist - he himself admitted in his memoirs. He also wrote count acquaintances, and courtyards, and the poor. From serfdom was released already known. He presented his works in St. Petersburg, received the title of academician and a position as a teacher in an art class. During his life he painted over a thousand portraits.

Tropinin V.A. Portrait of Alexander Fedorovich Zaikin. 1837. From the collection of Primorskaya art gallery

Tropinin V.A. Portrait of A.F. Zaikin. Etude. Around 1837. From the collection of the State Historical Museum

self-portrait

. “Portrait of F.P. Krasheninnikov" (1824)

“Portrait of A.V. Vasilchikov"

Portrait of Konstantin Georgievich Ravich. . 1823

"Portrait of N.I. Morkova"

V.A. Tropinin. Portrait of A. I. Tropinina (the artist's mother). 1820

Sister portrait

Portrait of the artist's son

V.A. Tropinin. Portrait of the artist's son(?) at the easel. 1820s

V.A. Tropinin. Portrait of K.P. Bryullov. 1836

"Portrait of Alexander Alexandrovich Sapozhnikov"

Portrait of E.V. Meshkova, nee Bilibina

Portrait of the writer L. N. Kozhina. . 1836.

Portrait of E.V. Mazurina
1844, oil on canvas, 67.2 x 57.2 cm (oval)
Museum of V.A. Tropinin and Moscow artists of his time, Moscow

The most famous mentioned works are "Lace Maker", "Guitarist", "Portrait of a Son" and a portrait of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin - included in most textbooks, known in the world, was painted by the artist Tropinin in a serf. You can show and realize your talent and work anywhere. And quite successfully, as we see in the example of Vasily Tropinin.

guitar player

Lacemaker, 1823. State Tretyakov Gallery

"The genre itself as a new phenomenon in Russian art, and the position of the artist himself, his attitude, his understanding of the purpose and objectives of the genre were most clearly manifested in one of the very first works of this kind of painting - the famous "Lacemaker" (1823). The nature of the genre determined and the very nature of the composition. We, together with the artist, looked, as it were, to where this beautiful young girl works. And on our unexpected visit, she, as if for a moment, was distracted from her bobbins and attentively, as is typical of Tropinin’s portraits, looks at us But there is neither coquetry nor curiosity in her gaze. open eyes- some kind of secret world of her own, some kind of fullness of feelings and thoughts that are closely intertwined in her soul, like this thin, transparent lace, which is not put on display as evidence of her work, but is seen as a small fragment lost in wide folds white fabric - the basis. This picture is not about social characteristics labor, but about it creative beginning that gives birth to beauty, enriching the world around us. A thin nose, beautiful outlines of swollen lips, small curls of hair protruding from behind the ears, and some kind of deeply hidden temperament, the power of life in these eyes and in this look. And this girl herself is, as it were, woven from the feeling of beauty that the artist brought to the painting of her face, and to this smooth, exquisite bend of her hand, these fingers, easily, gracefully sorting through the bobbins, and into this fabric, falling in beautiful breaks. And the girl’s face, touched by a gentle blush, and the pistachio tint of her dress, beautifully harmonizing with a muslin scarf, as if woven from the sun’s rays, and her hands, finely painted with transparent glaze, and the very subject of her work – all this is flooded with light here. It can be said that he lives, breathes por-tert, revealing, as the then critic wrote, “a pure, innocent soul” "
(M. Petrova. Master of the Russian portrait)

Boy with a gun. Portrait of a book. M. A. Obolensky. Around 1812

Portrait of the writer V. I. Lizogub. 1847

At the academic exhibition of 1804, V. Tropinin's painting "A Boy Yearning for His Dead Bird" was presented, which was noted by the Empress.

Girl with a candle

Portrait of Zh.Lovich. Etude. 1810s

Portrait of P. I. Sapozhnikova. 1826

Portrait of E. I. Naryshkina. No later than 1816

Portrait of Levitskaya-Volkonskaya. 1852

Portrait of A. I. Tropinina, the artist's wife

Woman at the window (treasurer) 1841

Portrait of E. A. Sisalina

Portrait of D. P. Voeikov with his daughter and the Englishwoman Miss Forty. 1842

Portrait of E.I. Korzinkina

Goldsmith

"Girl's Head"

Girl with a canary.

Boy with regret. . 1820s

Girl with a doll, 1841. GRM

Portrait of N. I. Utkin. 1824

An old coachman leaning on a whip Etude. 1820s

Portrait of S.K. Sukhanov

PORTRAIT OF THEODOSIY BOBCHAK, HEAD OF THE VILLAGE OF KUKAVKA. 1800s

V. Tropinin. Poor old man.

Old soldier. 1843

Robber (Portrait of Prince Obolensky). 1840s

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. 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 - rocaille scale of softened additional colors, with a predominance of golden tone, soft movable brush, 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 painting. portrait XVIII century.
Gradually, the circle of Tropinin's customers is expanding. He paints portraits of heroes 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, Tropinin presented his works to the Council of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts in September 1823 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 Tropinina continuing the line 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 Tropinin's most popular works. A pretty girl weaving lace is depicted at the moment when she briefly looked up from 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 human existence. The aesthetic tastes of the era in this case happily coincided with the peculiarities of the artist's talent, who perceives life poetically.
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 artistic manner Tropinin. 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) the color scheme is 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 “guitarist” type was especially loved by 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).
Morkov is presented at the time of the performance of the romance in a stage costume that repeats 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 took in the Moscow cultural life the niche that was empty before him, and became the most famous Moscow portrait painter, reflecting 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 Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge. Here he wrote famous portrait 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 distinguish “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

(1780 – 1857)

Among the Russian painters of the first half of the 19th century, Vasily Andreevich Tropinin is especially dear to us for the national feeling recognizable by the heart 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 domestic art, in the making realistic method. Charm creative individuality the artist is deeply connected with the Russian culture of his time, his artistic heritage- 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, in full force the talent of the artist unfolded, 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, into 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. Tropinin Vasily "Family Portrait of Counts Carrots" 1815 Oil on canvas 226x291 State Tretyakov Gallery 14. Tropinin Vasily "Family Portrait of Counts Carrots (under restoration)" 1815 Oil on canvas 226x291 State Tretyakov Gallery