V. Borovikovsky "Portrait of M.I.

Borovikovsky V. “Portrait of M. I. Lopukhina”

The 18th century went down in the history of Russian painting as the “century of portraiture”; one of its best portrait painters is Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky.
The journey of Catherine II to Crimea in 1787 played an important role in his fate. Palaces and triumphal gates were erected along the empress's route.
For one of these palaces, which was intended to receive the Russian Empress, the Mirgorod Marshal of the Nobility commissioned V.L. Borovikovsky to paint several allegorical paintings.
The queen especially liked two of them. One depicted herself in the image of Minerva, surrounded by seven ancient Greek sages, to whom she explains her order, on the second - Peter I plowing the ground, on which again she sows seeds, in some places already bearing fruit. Having learned the name of the artist, the Empress invited him to go to St. Petersburg.

V.L. Borovikovsky was incredibly hardworking, he painted a lot of portraits, and he was commissioned to paint portraits of all members of the imperial family.
The thoughtfulness of the painting, skillful use of the brush, freshness of color, and ability to depict all kinds of fabrics and clothes put V.L. Borovikovsky is one of the famous portrait painters, although he did not receive a thorough classical education.
In the portraits of V.L. Borovikovsky's work shows the tenderness of his brush, the subtle, delicate drawing, the correctness of the forms and the always expression of thought on the face he depicts. The portrait of Maria Ivanovna Lopukhina is the most poetic and feminine of all created by the artist. At the same time, he reveals the established moral and aesthetic ideal of V.L. Borovikovsky

Image of M.I. Lopukhina captivates the viewer with her gentle melancholy, extraordinary softness of facial features and inner harmony. This harmony is conveyed by the entire artistic structure of the picture: both by the turn of the head and the expression of the woman’s face, it is emphasized by individual poetic details, such as roses plucked and already drooping on the stem. This harmony is easy to catch in the melodious smoothness of the lines, in the thoughtfulness and subordination of all parts of the portrait.

Face M.I. Lopukhina may be far from the classical ideal of beauty, but it is filled with such indescribable charm, such spiritual charm that next to it many classical beauties will seem like a cold and lifeless scheme. The captivating image of a gentle, melancholy and dreamy woman is conveyed with great sincerity and love, and the artist reveals her spiritual world with amazing convincingness.
A thoughtful, languid, sad-dreamy look, a gentle smile, the free ease of a slightly tired pose, smooth, rhythmically falling lines, soft, rounded shapes, a white dress, a lilac scarf and roses, a blue belt, ashy hair color, a green foliage background and finally a soft airy haze filling the space - all this forms such a unity of all means of pictorial expression, in which the creation of the image is revealed more fully and deeply.
M.I. Lopukhina stands in the garden, leaning on an old stone console. The contour flowing around her figure - sometimes lost, sometimes appearing in the form of a thin, flexible line - evokes in the viewer's memory the contours of ancient statues. Folds falling, converging or forming smooth breaks, subtle and spiritual features of the face - all this constitutes, as it were, not painting, but music.

Paints for primer V.L. Borovikovsky applied it in a dense, but thin and even layer, thereby achieving a unique vibration of color. When painting this portrait, the artist preferred a cold palette - lilac-yellow and white, pale blue and yellow, muted green and ashen colors.
Figure M.I. Lopukhina is surrounded by the airy haze of the landscape, but she does not merge with it, but appears as a clear plastic volume, rhythmically connected with it: the bowed torso and position of the hand seem to be echoed by the hanging branches and tree trunks depicted in the background. Subtly models shapes and dim, gliding light.

V.L. Borovikovsky had previously introduced landscape backgrounds into his portraits. But now, developed with the utmost care, they become an important component of the artist’s portrait characteristics and receive real meaning. Ears of ripe rye, delicate greenery, cornflowers - everything is intended to emphasize not only the “simplicity” of the image, but also to express its dreamy mood. (Despite the fact that art critics note some conventionality in this landscape with “rural” features.)
They also notice a certain amount of artificiality in the woman’s casually thoughtful pose. But at that time, the heroes themselves seemed to demonstrate their ability for sublime feelings and heartfelt experiences, and after them, artists (including V.L. Borovikovsky) had to depict these feelings, which were signs of a worthy and virtuous soul.
It is known that M.I. Lopukhina was never happy; a year after V.L. Borovikovsky painted her portrait, she died. But this woman concealed and carried within herself so much tenderness, love, purity of poetry, beauty of human feeling that... The poet Ya. Polonsky’s first impression of the portrait he saw was the following heartfelt poetic lines:

The portrait of Maria Ivanovna Lopukhina by Borovikovsky, one of my favorite paintings, is also in the Tretyakov Gallery.

The painting, which depicts the wife of Jägermeister S.A. Lopukhin, the young Countess Maria Ivanovna, nee Tolstaya, the sister of the famous adventurer, Fyodor Tolstoy “The American”, is often compared to the exciting and beautiful “Mona Lisa”.

Describing the famous creation of Da Vinci, they often say that Gioconda is mystically mysterious, her smile is elusive, and her eyes seem to be alive, and it seems that the girl is looking straight at you... Similar sensations arise when you look at the portrait of Lopukhina.

In 1797, the famous portrait painter Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky, who was working on a portrait of the imperial family at that time, received another order. The Jägermeister at the court of Paul I wanted to photograph his beautiful bride, eighteen-year-old Countess Maria Ivanovna.

Borovikovsky V.L.

The cheerful, light young beauty made a strong impression on the forty-year-old Borovikovsky. Her natural charm and spontaneity prompted the artist to paint a portrait showing the deep, intimate sides of the girl’s character, revealing her gentle soul...

Looking at this picture, a huge range of opposing feelings and thoughts arises; the countess’s facial expression seems different every second: either the girl looks at you with the arrogance of an aristocrat, or almost childishly touchingly.

Borovikovsky achieved this effect, revealing the inner world of the heroine, by using the traditional technique of a representative portrait, when the character is depicted surrounded by attributes and objects that reveal his image.

Only earlier such portraits were intended to indicate a person’s social status, his importance and wealth. Borovikovsky placed the beautiful Mary in a wonderful garden, partly decorative and conventional, but in which the features of the Russian landscape can be traced.

Behind a gentle girl with a simple hairstyle, dressed in a light, simple dress with an azure belt, white trunks of Russian birch trees, blue cornflowers and ears of rye are visible. The naturalness of the landscape echoes the simplicity of the countess’s image, denoting the harmonious fusion of the girl’s pure soul with nature itself.

Scenery

The lines of the landscape repeat the curve of Lopukhina’s fragile figure, light birch trees are reflected in her dress, golden ears of corn in the decoration on her hand, cornflowers echo the delicate belt on her dress, and the light shawl on her shoulders exactly repeats the color of the rosebuds located in the right corner of the picture Delightful The beauties who look intently at us from the paintings of great painters will forever remain exactly like this: young, charming and full of vital energy. However, the true fate of beautiful models is not always as enviable as it might seem at first glance.

This is very easy to see from the example of this famous portrait. Maria Lopukhina, descended from the Tolstoy count family, immediately after her own wedding (she was 18 years old) posed for Vladimir Borovikovsky. The portrait was commissioned by her husband. At the time of writing, Maria looked simply gorgeous. Her face radiated so much charm, spirituality and dreaminess... There could be no doubt that a long and happy life awaited the charming model. An incomprehensible fact, Maria died of consumption when she was only 23 years old. .

After her death, the portrait began to become overgrown with mystical rumors. The deceased looked so realistically, vividly and mysteriously from the canvas that people began to think that her father, Master of the Masonic Lodge and famous mystic, Ivan Tolstoy, managed to lure his daughter’s soul into this picture.

They said that if a young girl looked at the portrait, she would soon die. According to the version of secular gossips, the picture killed at least a dozen beautiful maidens.

Meanwhile, the portrait was kept in the house of Lopukhina’s niece, the daughter of Fyodor Tolstoy, and was revered as a family heirloom. It was here that Pavel Tretyakov first saw him in 1880. The magnificent painting made an indelible impression on the patron, and he did everything to buy it for his gallery.

Since then, the terrible rumors about the portrait have ceased. Now people admired this magnificent work of Borovikovsky, filled with depth of feelings, life authenticity and extraordinary poetry …


Portrait of Lopukhina

In 1885, the poet Yakov Petrovich Polonsky wrote immortal lines about this beautiful girl, who will be admired by many, many generations in the future:

“She passed a long time ago, and those eyes are no longer there

Suffering is the shadow of love, and thoughts are the shadow of sadness,

But Borovikovsky saved her beauty.

So part of her soul did not fly away from us,

And there will be this look and this beauty of the body

To attract indifferent offspring to her,

Teaching him to love, suffer, forgive, be silent.”

Portrait of Lopukhina Once, almost a hundred years ago, the poet Polonsky saw among his friends a portrait of Maria Ivanovna Lopukhina, painted by Borovikovsky. By that time the portrait was also almost a hundred years old. The poet remained thoughtful for a long time in front of a small canvas. He knew almost nothing about this woman. I only knew that for some reason her life had turned out unhappily and that she died very young.

The poet thought: “What a miracle painting is! Everyone would have forgotten this beautiful Lopukhina a long time ago, if not for the painter’s brush...”

And poems began to form in his head:

She passed a long time ago - and those eyes are no longer there
And that smile that was silently expressed
Suffering is the shadow of love, and thoughts are the shadow of sadness.
But Borovikovsky saved her beauty...

Of course, that’s why we remember Lopukhina because Borovikovsky wrote it. Well, if we didn’t know who was depicted in the portrait, would we like him less or touch us less? Probably, not. That is why this portrait will forever excite us, because the artist not only seemed to depict the long-forgotten Maria Ivanovna Lopukhina, but created a beautiful image of a woman of sad and bright beauty, a pure and gentle soul.
THANK YOU
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Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky(1757 - 1825) was from Ukraine and began as an icon painter. Catherine II, traveling in Ukraine in 1787, caught the eye of his work and, with her blessing, Borovikovsky ended up in St. Petersburg. Studied with Lampi and Levitsky. He combined well-learned skills with a certain indescribable provincial simplicity. Formally corresponding to the characteristics of classical portraits, his works stood out for their living spontaneity. But the case with Lopukhina is special.

We don’t know what kind of creative tandem it was: a 40-year-old artist and a very young girl of marriageable age. It is not known what in the portrait is from the model itself, and what the painter added or added. The sensual subtext of this seemingly innocent work was clear to any actively watching viewer.

It’s amazing how little is known to descendants about the fate of the woman from the most famous portrait by Vladimir Borovikovsky: young Maria Lopukhina, with whom the already middle-aged artist was probably touchingly in love, because without love such masterpieces cannot be created...

Maria Ivanovna Lopukhina(1779-1803), representative of the Tolstoy count family, sister of Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy (the famous Russian adventurer Fyodor Tolstoy-American), wife of Jägermeister S. A. Lopukhin.

Five years after painting the portrait, Maria Ivanovna died suddenly of consumption. “Portrait of Lopukhina” is considered perhaps Borovikovsky’s best work.

Yakov Polonsky

“To the portrait of M.I. Lopukhina”

She passed a long time ago, and those eyes are no longer there

And that smile that was silently expressed

Suffering is the shadow of love, and thoughts are the shadow of sadness,

But Borovikovsky saved her beauty.

So part of her soul did not fly away from us,

And there will be this look and this beauty of the body

To attract indifferent offspring to her,

Teaching him to love, suffer, forgive, be silent

Description

The artist used the traditional technique of a representative portrait - surrounding the character with objects and attributes that help reveal his image.

However, Borovikovsky tried to show not Lopukhina’s social status, but the personal, intimate sides of her character. The main theme of the portrait was the harmonious fusion of man with nature, characteristic of the aesthetics of the late 18th century, which developed under the influence of sentimentalism.

The artist expresses this fusion through compositional, rhythmic and coloristic relationships. Lopukhina is depicted against the background of a landscape that is largely conventional and decorative, but it already shows the typical features of the Russian national landscape - birch trunks, ears of rye, cornflowers.

The landscape echoes Lopukhina’s appearance - the curve of her figure echoes the bent ears of corn, white birch trees are reflected in the dress, blue cornflowers echo the silk belt, and a soft lilac shawl echoes the drooping rosebuds.

The artist managed to fill the image of his model with life authenticity, depth of feelings and extraordinary poetry. This portrait was admired not only by contemporaries, but also by viewers of subsequent generations.

Vladimir Borovikovsky. "Portrait of M.I. Lopukhina"

From the series "Tretyakov Gallery. The Story of a Masterpiece"

V. Borovikovsky. Portrait of M.I. Lopukhina. 1797

She passed a long time ago, and the same eyes are gone
And the smile that silently expressed
Suffering is the shadow of love, and thoughts of sadness,
N o k r a s t e e B o r o v i k o v s k i y s p a s .
So part of the soul is not on the body,
And this will be the beauty of the body
T h e r e a n d t h e s t u r t i n g s t a r t e r a c t u r e s ,
Teach to love, to suffer, to forgive, to be silent.

The Russian poet Yakov Polonsky dedicated these wonderful lines 100 years after the portrait of Maria Lopukhina was painted by the artist V. Borovikovsky.

The portrait of M.I. Lopukhina is often called the most poetic creation of all the portraits of V. Borovikovsky. It shows a subtle, delicate drawing, correctness of forms and penetration into the very depths of the spiritual world of his heroine, an expression of not only deep thoughtfulness, but also sadness... However, no matter how high the pictorial qualities of the portrait, no matter how characteristic of its era its concept , Borovikovsky’s work could not have retained the power of its artistic impact to this day if the image itself were not marked by features of deep and genuine vitality. He managed to embody in the image of Lopukhina such an intense life of feelings that his predecessors did not know in Russian portraiture. At the same time, the whole picture and the image of the girl exudes a feeling of simplicity, like a unity of man and nature, without giving the model heavy accessories, some expensive feathers and jewelry - as was then customary in the depiction of ceremonial portraits. A loose white dress, tied under the chest with a blue scarf, a soft lilac shawl, she does not have a wig, but natural hair. Everything is laconic and simple, as was typical of the new style and direction in art of that time - the end of the 18th century, and this style was called “sentimentalism”.

The landscape background, emphasizing the closeness to nature, matches the dreamy mood of the young woman. The portrait is striking in its amazing harmony of image and means of expression. In the picture, everything is depicted in harmony, in the harmony of all the details: a shady corner of the park, cornflowers among the ears of ripe rye, slightly withered roses, the relaxed pose of a young woman, and a lovely face filled with amazing charm. In the morning freshness of her skin, in the languor of her gaze, in her dreamy smile, even in some irregularity of Lopukhina’s features, there is genuine beauty, spiritual and lyrical beauty.

The artist, when drawing a portrait of Lopukhina, used the traditional method of a representative portrait - surrounding the character with objects and attributes that help reveal his image. However, Borovikovsky tried to show not Lopukhina’s social status, but the personal, intimate sides of her character. Maria Lopukhina stands in the garden, leaning on an old stone console. Her face may be far from the classical ideal of beauty, but it is filled with such indescribable charm, such spiritual charm that next to it many classical beauties will seem cold and prim. The captivating image of a tender, melancholy and dreamy young woman is conveyed by the artist with great sincerity and love. There is practically no affectation and coquetry in the image of Maria, only naturalness and calmness; in her pose one can see dignity, the ability to hold oneself, this is evidenced by the proud posture developed in girls from childhood. Thoughtful, languid, sad-dreamy, but at the same time open and bold look, gentle smile, free ease of a slightly tired pose, smooth lines, soft, rounded shapes, a simple white dress, ashy hair color, green foliage background and, finally, soft airy haze filling the space - all this plays into creating a beautiful and unforgettable image for the viewer.

The portrait of Maria Lopukhina was one of Borovikovsky’s most vital and successful portraits, in the sense that he really managed to convey the direct human appearance of this young woman, something alive and magnetically attractive, and at the same time dramatic in her face and gaze. Especially in the look. Borovikovsky, along with some other painters (Fyodor Rokotov, Dmitry Levitsky), mastered the technique of “painting a look,” not just empty eyes, but with meaning, with inner expression. Lopukhina looks at the viewer thoughtfully, but also slightly absentmindedly, as if immersed in her thoughts, in her spiritual life. And one can feel in her lively, spiritual face that this girl is beautiful not only in external beauty, but has both a mind and a heart. The artist managed to reflect all this in the portrait; he put part of his soul into his work. To all this we can add that the portrait is technically perfect in terms of painting skills - Borovikovsky mastered the technique of “glaze” painting. That is, the underlying layers are visible through the upper colorful layers of the painting. This gives a special elegance, a special colorfulness to the color. The portrait is generally beautiful in color scheme. The color scheme and its color scheme are harmoniously built on a combination of faded, delicate tones. This is expressed in the color of the landscape background of the backdrop, in its soft light green tones, and in the soft lilac color of the shawl, and in the blue color of the belt tied at the waist, and in Lopukhina’s white dress. But these are all details, albeit very important ones. The main thing is that the artist managed to fill the image of his model with life-like authenticity, depth of feelings and extraordinary poetry.

However, in the time of Pushkin, young girls were frightened by the portrait of Maria Lopukhina, since she lived a short and unhappy life, and three years after painting the portrait she died of consumption. Many people saw something mystical in this, as if the portrait had taken the life of a young woman. Her father Ivan Tolstoy was a famous mystic and master of the Masonic lodge. That is why rumors spread that he had managed to lure the spirit of his deceased daughter into this portrait. And that if young girls look at the picture, they will soon die. According to the salon gossips, the portrait of Mary destroyed at least ten noblewomen of marriageable age. The rumors were put to rest by philanthropist Pavel Tretyakov, who purchased the portrait for his gallery. Since then, this portrait has been admired not only by contemporaries, but also by viewers of subsequent generations.

The portrait of Lopukhina was in the collection of relatives for a long time; it was kept by her niece Maria, the daughter of her older brother Fyodor Tolstoy, the “American.” The portrait was highly valued as a family heirloom. And it was in this house that Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov saw the portrait. How he managed to acquire a family heirloom is now impossible to know for sure. This happened already at the end of the 1880s, and it was then that the painting ended up in the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery. It must be said that Pavel Tretyakov bought relatively few works by Borovikovsky, but the portrait of Lopukhina is a real pearl among them. When visitors to the Tretyakov Gallery come to the Borovikovsky hall, they immediately pay attention to him. The portrait almost never leaves the gallery walls. He visited only two exhibitions, and even then within Moscow. Many viewers come to the Tretyakov Gallery to admire the portrait of Maria Lopukhina. There is so much charm in the appearance of the young lady, the magnetism of her gaze attracts lovers and connoisseurs of painting. There is also a certain mystery in this portrait, a secret that is impossible to fully comprehend.

ARTIST

Vladimir Borovikovsky was 40 years old at the time of creating the portrait of Lopukhina. He is a mature man, a recognized master, the author of many portraits and icons. Moreover, in 1795 he received the title of academician of painting, and was literally loaded with orders from the capital. In 1797, the artist also received an order for portraits of the imperial family; that year was very significant for him. He had already lived in St. Petersburg for several years, where he arrived in 1788 from Mirgorod. In Mirgorod, Borovikovsky not only learned the basics of icon painting, but also managed to serve in the army, retiring as a lieutenant. Having an officer rank subsequently made it much easier for him to communicate with prim St. Petersburg residents. Among other things, the artist’s origins were of a fairly high level; he was a nobleman - together with his family he was included in the noble genealogy book of the Ekaterinoslav province.

In St. Petersburg, Borovikovsky was patronized by one of the most educated people of that time - the architect, poet and musician Nikolai Alexandrovich Lvov. Himself a good draftsman and engraver, Lvov had a noticeable influence on the development of the young painter and introduced him to the circle of St. Petersburg artists.

Thanks to him, Vladimir Lukich met Dmitry Levitsky, who by that time was a recognized portrait painter. Borovikovsky undoubtedly used Levitsky’s advice, and in his early works he even imitated him. But until the beginning of the 90s, the main direction of Borovikovsky’s work was icon painting, fortunately Lvov helped him receive lucrative orders to participate in the design of new churches, of which there were many being built at that time.

In the early nineties, Vladimir Lukich painted thirty-seven icons for the main cathedral of the Boris and Gleb Monastery in Torzhok, but their location is unknown. According to contemporaries, when executing them, the master moved away from the traditional icon painting style and painted images in a manner close to secular painting.

In the fall of 1795, the artist was awarded the title of academician of painting for his portrait of Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich. From that time on, portraiture finally took the main place in his work. Thanks to Borovikovsky, we can admire not only portraits of members of the imperial family and the highest dignitaries of Russia, but also see many representatives of literature and art of the 18th century. By 1797, he had already established himself as a fairly popular artist and received an order for portraits of the daughters of Emperor Paul the First, and then Empress Maria Feodorovna, and later painted the emperor himself.

And so, in this significant year for him, 1797, the artist received an order to create a portrait of Maria Lopukhina from her husband - apparently, immediately after the wedding, Stepan Avraamovich Lopukhin wanted to give his young wife a good gift.

Portrait of the artist V.L. Borovikovsky Ivan Bugaevsky-Blagodatny

Maria is 18 years old, she is a completely young person and pretty. Of course, the artist was extremely captivated by her appearance; he could not remain an indifferent contemplator. This young woman concealed within herself so much tenderness, poetry, purity and beauty of human feeling, and at the same time, sadness and, as it were, a premonition of tragedy. And tragedy happened - Maria, three years after painting the portrait, suddenly died of consumption, which at that time was an incurable disease. Most likely, while posing for the artist, she was already suffering from some initial signs of the disease, and he knew and saw this. It is known from the testimony of contemporaries that Borovikovsky was very worried about her illness. And as an artist, he simply could not help but succumb to the magic and charm of her image. The motif of flowers is felt in the picture - as a symbol of the blossoming, young age of the heroine. After all, she herself is like a tender plant in full bloom, and the author’s artistic flair is felt here. Borovikovsky was clearly captivated by her when he painted this portrait. It is felt that the artist put part of his soul into this work. But also part of my sadness.

It seems that the artist was painting a portrait somewhere in the park. In fact, this is a decorative background, like all other works of Borovikovsky written on landscape backgrounds. This was the tradition of creating a portrait in the era of Sentimentalism at the end of the 18th century. Usually the background and other details were added to the image later - as a rule, the posing gave the artist no more than two or three sessions, and this happened either in the house of the owner or hostess, or in the workshop. If, in the case of drawing a portrait of Lopukhina, the session took place in the artist’s studio, then, of course, a certain intimacy was involuntarily created, perhaps that is why so much feeling and attractiveness is reflected in the portrait, in the girl’s face and in her entire appearance. But it is not known for certain where exactly the sessions took place, how many there were, and what the artist and his model talked about at that time. There is no evidence of this left.

The personal life of the artist himself did not work out; he did not start a family. Most likely because he was a talented painter, he poured himself into his work, and was constantly in an intense spiritual search. He painted not only secular paintings, but also carried out numerous orders for icons and iconostases in provincial and metropolitan churches.

In subsequent years, Borovikovsky went into mysticism, and in 1802 he joined the Masonic lodge “The Dying Sphinx,” which already included his artist friends. Already in his later years, in 1819-24, he joined the sect of Baroness Ekaterina Fedorovna Tatarinova - the “Union of Brotherhood”. This was a religious, mystical community. Such a life required complete spiritual and physical dedication. Members of the sect read church books and sang spiritual psalms. And then their communication ended with the so-called rejoicing, or rejoicing. That is, when people, men and women, dressed in white loose clothes, began to perform ritual dances, they spun and uttered so-called prophecies.

The artist's notes, in particular, those relating to that time, have been preserved. He kept a diary where he daily described his stay in this Tatarinova sect. And he mentioned whose portraits of church leaders he painted, what religious works he created...

The lines of his creativity - religious and secular - are his two hypostases, they are inseparable. From the notes it is clear that, at first, while in the sect, he felt some kind of unity of people who were also trying, through doubts and spiritual quests, to find unity with God, with religion. And he tried to find himself in this in his own way - by searching for new religious images. But over time, the artist apparently experienced disappointment while in this sect; this was even expressed in his notes. Borovikovsky wrote about it this way: “Everything seems alien to me: only arrogance, pride and contempt. Not a single one is sincere to me now. And I don’t see a single one that I would like to imitate.” This is a clear evidence of his bitter disappointment and suffering - in the society where he found himself, he found neither true faith, nor sincerity, nor true friendly participation. It was not easy to leave this sect; there were some laws and circumstances. But soon Tatarinova’s sect was banned and closed. And by 1824, almost all members dropped out of it.

The last year after leaving the sect and, in fact, the last year of his life, Borovikovsky was engaged in secular painting, but also worked on two images for the St. Anthony Church of Kharkov University. They remained unfinished: apparently, he was already feeling unwell, sick. His student Alexey Gavrilovich Venetsianov, then a famous Russian artist, helped in the work on these two icons. These icons have not survived to this day, or perhaps they have survived, but their location has not been discovered to date.

Borovikovsky painted several beautiful portraits of figures of the Russian Orthodox Church. The master worked a lot on decorating the interior of the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg, creating six images for the Royal Doors and four images for the iconostases.

There is practically only one famous portrait of the artist himself - a portrait of the work of his student Bugaevsky-Gragodarny, small in size. It is clear that Borovikovsky was a purely outwardly handsome person, with a very pleasant, soft, kind look. A person who is on a spiritual quest.

The life of the wonderful artist Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky was cut short on April 4, 1825. He was buried at the Smolensk cemetery in St. Petersburg.

Borovikovsky's paintings are kept in the Tretyakov Gallery, the Russian Museum, the Hermitage, the Kiev Museum of Russian Art, and in many Russian museums. And also abroad - in the Louvre, in Paris, in Hamburg, in private art collections.

LIFE AND FATE

Maria Lopukhina (1779-1803) - a representative of the Tolstoy count family, the sister of the famous adventurer and duelist Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy, the wife of the huntsman S.A. Lopukhin. She was the eldest daughter of Count Ivan Andreevich Tolstoy and Anna Fedorovna Maykova. Maria's father served in the Semenovsky regiment, rising from sergeant to brigadier and major general. And, in addition, he was known as the leader of the Kologriv nobility. Maria Ivanovna had four sisters: Vera, Anna, Alexandra and Ekaterina, as well as two brothers - Fyodor and Peter. But perhaps the most odious figure in this family was Fyodor Tolstoy, Maria’s older brother, nicknamed “The American,” famous for his duels and adventures. Who didn’t he shoot with? I even tried with Pushkin. But the poet then performed the famous trick, began to eat cherries and spit out the seeds - they say, he’s busy, I don’t have time for a duel right now. This episode was used as the basis for the plot of Pushkin’s story “The Shot”.

Maria Ivanovna in 1797 married Stepan Avraamovich Lopukhin, a huntsman and actual chamberlain at the court of Paul the First, essentially an unremarkable officer. However, the Lopukhins were representatives of prominent Russian noble families, very famous people. In the same year, shortly after the wedding, a portrait of Maria was commissioned by her husband from the artist V. Borovikovsky. He was already a very popular and fashionable painter, and, apparently, Lopukhin turned to him not simply, not by chance.

Maria was barely 18 years old. According to the traditions of that time, the marriage was arranged, and contemporaries spoke of this marriage as unhappy for both parties. The husband was 10 years older than his wife, which is not so much, but apparently this marriage was unequal both emotionally and in terms of feelings, as often happened in matched marriages, and the husband did not have to expect special love from such a young girl . They were destined to live together for very little time. The marriage was childless. And it didn’t last long - the young wife died of consumption three years later. And, perhaps, not only from consumption, but from the lack of love, which she dreamed of, like every girl of her age.

So the fate of Maria Lopukhina was unhappy. Her husband buried her in the Lopukhins’ family tomb in the Spas-Andronnikovsky Monastery in Moscow. This is the current museum and Center for Ancient Russian Art named after Andrei Rublev. A few years after her death, her husband also died and was buried in this tomb next to her. There is a mystery in his imminent death - maybe he loved Maria so much that he could no longer live without her.

This is the life and fate of Maria Lopukhina in brief. But if you delve deeper into the history of not only this lovely girl, but also her family, amazing and interesting things will be revealed. Not only the tragedy of Mary’s short life is revealed, but also the fate of other people close to her.

All four of Mary’s sisters successfully married worthy people and formed their own families. So, despite Maria’s childless marriage, the Lopukhin family continued in descendants. The most famous family story is connected with the personality and fate of Maria’s older brother, Fyodor the “American.” In 1803, he went with Krusenstern on a trip around the world, as a volunteer, of his own free will, at his request. But during the voyage, Fedor proved himself to be a very undisciplined guest of the ship, and for repeated misdeeds and too free behavior he was landed on the shore of the Russian colony. After living there for some time, Fyodor Tolstoy visited the Aleutian Islands, where he was forced to live among the wild local tribes. And then he returned to Russia by land, after which he received the nickname “American.” He was a charismatic and very adventurous person, brave and desperate. In addition, after his numerous duels, Fyodor Tolstoy was stripped of his officer rank and demoted to soldier. But during the Patriotic War of 1812, he fought bravely as a warrior in the militia and regained his officer rank.

Despite his adventurous character and love for the “free life,” Fyodor Tolstoy was a great lover of literature, literature, art, and was friends with many Russian writers and poets. In particular, with Batyushkov, with Pushkin, with Pushkin’s uncle Vasily Lvovich, with Baratynsky, with Vyazemsky, with Griboyedov. Griboedov immortalized his image in his immortal comedy “Woe from Wit” with the following words: “But we have a head, the like of which is not found in Russia, You don’t need to name it, you’ll recognize it from the portrait: A night robber, a duelist, He was exiled to Kamchatka, He returned as an Aleut, And strong unclean.” What Griboedov was basing his last phrase on is now unknown. But the poet knew better.

Fedora’s sister, Maria Ivanovna Lopukhina, a representative of the ancient Tolstoy family, which gave Russia many statesmen, remained known exclusively thanks to the beautiful portrait of Borovikovsky. Perhaps, if her life had lasted longer, she would have left other interesting and significant memories to the world and her descendants.

The image of Maria Lopukhina is very consonant with Lermontov’s poem, which is not addressed to her, but is so close to her appearance and her unhappy fate.

SURROUNDING WITH A HAPPY SOUL,
GIVE YOUR COMPLETE ATTENTION,
Bright youth, calm old age,
The heart of a non-malicious world...

Master of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky is an artist who is usually classified as belonging to the era of sentimentalism. It was a time when it was fashionable to cry over poetry, to be touched by beautiful flowers and birdsong, to admire sunrises and sunsets.

A time when decent girls had to faint in time, in every possible way to show the subtlety of feelings and spiritual vulnerability, defenselessness, fragility and tenderness of the creature. It was during this period that M.I. Lopukhina was created." Borovikovsky very subtly managed to remind contemporaries and viewers of subsequent eras about how good it is to be human.

Works of a famous artist

The works of Vladimir Lukich are quite recognizable. His paintings are easy to distinguish from heroes of a slightly earlier time. Even the most ceremonial, solemn and brilliant images are softened and warmed by some subtle inner experience. Slightly sad and excited, listening to something and dreaming.

A woman of the era of sentimentalism was supposed to be pale and thoughtful, even a little sad. This is how Maria Ivanovna appears in the famous masterpiece created by Borovikovsky. The portrait of Lopukhina conveys the most tender and subtle features of this woman. And today this masterpiece can be admired within the walls of the famous Tretyakov Gallery.

The image of a Russian beauty

Maria was the daughter of the retired general Count Tolstoy and the sister of the equally famous Fyodor Tolstoy. She was not the object of adoration by numerous fans. Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin did not have time to dedicate poetry to her.

But this beauty was the decoration of many secular salons. Many subsequently began to call her the Russian Gioconda. The same charm of a mysterious gaze and an enigmatic smile is present in the image of this charming woman.

Borovikovsky portrayed her not as a goddess, but as a poetic muse. The portrait of Lopukhina conveys exactly those features of this Russian beauty that so attracted the men around her. The tenderness, sensitivity and subtlety of the image are quite skillfully depicted on the famous canvas.

The tragic fates of Russian beauties

But the fate of the Russian woman was not always cloudless. And an example of this is Maria Ivanovna Lopukhina, who was married to the huntsman of the imperial court Stepan Avraamovich and had a very unhappy fate. By that time he had already retired. Due to the imbalance of his character, Lopukhin could not give happiness to his lovely wife.

She, having experienced the horror and humiliation of insults, died of consumption three years after the wedding. Thus ended the difficult and tragic life, the fate that Maria Ivanovna Lopukhina experienced. Borovikovsky’s portrait so skillfully and accurately conveyed her bright appearance that it evoked a lively response in the soul and poetry of the famous man who dedicated his lines to her. “...But Borovikovsky saved her beauty. So part of her soul did not fly away from us...”

The most famous masterpiece of Vladimir Lukich

The famous and talented artist Vladimir Borovikovsky painted a lot of paintings. The portrait of Maria Ivanovna Lopukhina is not his first and not his last creation, but it so happened that this particular painting became the most famous and celebrated. Absolutely everyone freezes in front of this canvas. People of any age peer into her image. There is something special about her.

This young and uniquely tender woman lived only twenty-three years. Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky painted Lopukhina’s portrait when she was only eighteen years old. He seemed to almost conjure her with his reverent and skillful brush: stay like this - amazingly tender, warm, alive. Don't fade!

Vladimir Borovikovsky. Portrait of Lopukhina. Description of the famous painting

Maria Ivanovna is depicted in a light and delicate robe, which emphasizes her special grace. Next to Lopukhina’s gentle, slightly bent down hand is the bowing head of a lush rose, and, holding their breath, the viewer feels that this flower will soon begin to drop its petals.

The tender and living beauty of this woman will also fade away, end, interrupted by inexorable death. And the poems dedicated to this portrait have been and will be heard for many years to come, praising the imperishable beauty and elegance of the Russian beauty. And this amazing ability to save beauty is one of the most important and touching features of Vladimir Lukich’s work.

No matter who the person is and no matter how simple he looks, his face is less beautiful than the image preserved by the portrait of Maria Lopukhina. Borovikovsky remembered this when creating each of his masterpieces, and all his canvases keep a piece of his soul and the warmth of his brush.

The unique talent of a famous artist

Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky knew how to convey something very personal, reverent and poetic in his portraits. At the time of the creation of the painting depicting Maria Ivanovna, he was about forty years old. By that time, he had already established himself as a very talented and popular artist, who even painted images of the daughters of Emperor Paul the First and Empress Maria Feodorovna.

And so, in one thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven, he received an order from Lopukhin. Borovikovsky’s portrait was supposed to capture the youthful beauty of Stepan Avraamovich’s future wife. Maria is only eighteen years old, and the artist could not remain indifferent to this delightful creature. He was able to convey all the tenderness and purity. There is sadness in the gaze of this beauty and even a premonition of tragedy.

The portrait of M. I. Lopukhina is often called the most poetic creation of V. L. Borovikovsky. One can, perhaps, even evaluate it as the highest achievement of sentimentalism in Russian painting. The cult of naturalness, tender feelings, and the desire to merge with nature inherent in this direction are expressed here with particular completeness.

In the portrait, everything is in agreement, in harmony with each other: a shady corner of the park, cornflowers among the ears of ripe rye, fading roses, the relaxed pose of a young woman, a simple dress loosely fitting her figure, and, of course, a lovely face filled with amazing charm. In the morning freshness of her skin, in the languor of her gaze, in her dreamy smile, even in some irregularity of Lopukhina’s features, there is genuine beauty, spiritual and lyrical beauty, inherent in Russian women. Borovikovsky’s painting technique is just as emotional and transparent. The brush easily touches the canvas, enveloping everything in an airy haze, thin fluid layers of paint, however, form volumes with great plasticity, the distribution of colors changing into one another is subject to an elegiac musical rhythm.

Acquired by P. M. Tretyakov between 1885-1890.

The history of Russian art knows works that are, as it were, turning points in the development of our portraiture. Among such landmark works is the portrait of M. I. Lopukhina, painted by Borovikovsky in 1797.

Just as the masters of ceremonial portraits surrounded their characters with attributes indicating their rank and social significance, Borovikovsky surrounded Lopukhina with images of objects that helped reveal her image. Such a coincidence in technique should not surprise us: after all, Borovikovsky himself was an outstanding master of representative portraiture. But in this case, in the portrait of Lopukhina, the “circumstances” are called upon to play a completely new, hitherto uncharacteristic role—to reveal not the social significance and social position of the person being portrayed, but the deeply intimate aspects of his character.

The figure of Lopukhina is surrounded by a landscape, and the main theme of the portrait is the fusion of man with nature. This theme was especially characteristic of the aesthetics of the late 18th century. True, there is still a lot of conditionality in its solution - the rural nature depicted by Borovikovsky is perceived as a decorative estate park (Lopukhina also rests on a marble parapet). But how can one fail to note that, almost for the first time in Russian art, the artist’s attention is attracted here by the typical features of the national Russian landscape - white birch trunks, cornflowers, golden ears of rye. The national type is also emphasized in the person of Lopukhina. Borovikovsky in this portrait approaches the figurative embodiment of the Russian ideal of female beauty, as it developed at the end of the 18th century under the influence of the ideas of sentimentalism.

Lopukhina is dressed in a simple white dress with straight folds, reminiscent of an antique chiton. The modesty of her outfit seems to contrast with the decorative pomp of the ceremonial portraits. A shawl is thrown over Lopukhina's shoulders. The tilt of the figure is rhythmically repeated in the lines of the landscape; With this technique, the artist again emphasizes the idea of ​​the unity of nature and man. The lyrical mood of the portrait is also expressed in its color, light and airy, built on the muted sound of white, lilac, silver and soft green tones, permeated with bluish reflexes.

However, no matter how high the pictorial qualities of the portrait, no matter how new and characteristic of its era its concept was, Borovikovsky’s work could not have retained the power of its artistic impact to this day if the image itself were not marked by features of deep and genuine vitality . Borovikovsky not only created here a type characteristic of Russian culture of the 1790s and inspired by poetic femininity, but also managed to embody in the image of Lopukhina such an intense life of feeling that his predecessors in Russian portraiture did not know.

The artist’s thought penetrates into the very depths of his heroine’s spiritual world. It is impossible not to cite here the poem that the poet Ya. Polonsky dedicated to this portrait:

She passed a long time ago, and those eyes are no longer there
And that smile that was silently expressed
Suffering is the shadow of love, and thoughts are the shadow of sadness.
But Borovikovsky saved her beauty.
So part of her soul did not fly away from us,
And there will be this look and this beauty of the body
To attract indifferent offspring to her.
Teaching him to love, suffer, forgive, be silent.

In the portrait of Lopukhina, Borovikovsky succeeded in something that his literary contemporaries did not achieve - neither Karamzin in his “Poor Liza”, nor the poets of Karamzin’s circle: Borovikovsky found artistic means for the truthful expression of a person’s emotional life.