Description of the painting by Kramskoy “Unknown. Artist Kramskoy and the painting "Unknown

On March 2, 1883, the 11th exhibition of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions opened in the building of the Imperial Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. The painting "Unknown" by Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy became a sensation. Visitors unsuccessfully tried to guess the name of the lady depicted by the master. To all modest and not very modest questions, the leader of the Wanderers answered evasively, which only provoked the scandal-hungry public.

Woman from nowhere

One of the most famous and mysterious paintings of the Russian school of painting appeared out of nowhere. In the vast epistolary heritage of Kramskoy there is not a word about the work on the "Unknown". The diaries and memoirs of contemporaries do not clarify the situation - nothing anywhere. Some kind of mysterious "default figure" instead of a thoroughly documented creative background for the creation of a masterpiece called "Russian Mona Lisa". The conclusion suggests itself: the eminent artist, who had a wide range of customers in different strata of St. Petersburg society - from rich noble and merchant houses to grand ducal and royal palaces - deliberately painted "Unknown" in secret from everyone. For Ivan Nikolaevich, such secrecy was an unnatural thing: as a rule, he willingly shared his creative ideas.

The intrigue continued to unwind ... Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov did not begin to buy for his gallery an undoubted masterpiece of the Wanderer and permanent correspondent so valued by him and refrained from commenting.

But why? What did contemporaries see in this portrait that we do not see?

And your obedient servant tried to look at a female portrait through the eyes of the first visitors to the "picture exhibition" of 1883, who claim to be aristocratic and strictly observe secular decency.

Yes, the woman is in a wheelchair. Note - double. That is, this is either someone's departure (which is an indicator of a high position) or, at least, an expensive reckless cab driver. At the same time, the heroine is alone in the wheelchair. Although it would be fitting for a decent lady to go with someone - a husband, father, brother, finally, a friend or companion ...

An aristocrat would never allow herself such a demonstrative violation of the rules of the world. The aristocrat would not have dressed the way "Unknown" did.

And this is already a clue for the search, in which the research of specialists in the history of costume helped me 1.

Manto in memory of Skobelev

A small velvet hat "Francis" with a curled white ostrich feather, a coat "Skobelev" with sable fur, expensive leather gloves - things for 1883 are trendy. The real trend of the season, as they would say these days: the "white general" Mikhail Dmitrievich Skobelev passed away under very mysterious circumstances in the summer of 1882, and the death of the young commander continues to haunt the minds. But wearing so many expensive and fashionable things at once for a lady from high society is a bad form. A wealthy woman with a sense of style will wear one thing that emphasizes her status - and that's enough. Dressing up in the "most-most" is the manner of the nouveau riche.

Recall that the picture was written during the years of the birth of Russian capitalism, the entry into the arena of the then "new Russians" - railway magnates, bankers ... It was they and their ladies who boasted of luxury, which caused grins - upstarts amuse their complexes. Pushkin accurately said about the future:

And silently exchanged glance
He received a general verdict.

The conclusion is obvious: the lady depicted by Kramskoy either does not belong to a secular society, or has a unique opportunity to violate the rules of behavior accepted in it with impunity. The "unknown" is withdrawn from the jurisdiction of the all-powerful and cruel-hearted secular rumor and realizes her own lack of jurisdiction: the harsh sentences of the world are not for her.

This is possible in one single case: the sovereign emperor himself, who does not want to keep secret his special relationship with the "Unknown", supports the lady. It remains only to name her. This is Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova (1847 - 1922), who was close to Alexander II (1818 - 1881) for 14 years. And letters to which he always began with the words: "Hello, dear angel of my soul" 2 .

Second in wheelchair

Both the emperor himself and his favorite considered this closeness not as a sinful relationship, but as a secret marriage union, for which they received a blessing "from God." An extensive correspondence of this couple is stored in the GA of the Russian Federation: 3450 letters of Alexander II and 1458 letters of the princess.

Having studied the correspondence, the historian from St. Petersburg and the author of Rodina, Yulia Safronova, wrote a wonderful book, Ekaterina Yuryevskaya. A Novel in Letters, in which she wrote very delicately, but psychologically accurately, about this incident. From the very beginning of their relationship, the couple developed their own "love formulas":

“Katya even wrote about their mutual feeling, as about an event predetermined in heaven: “We are created to make a sacred exception.” Such constant self-hypnosis made it possible to avoid discussions of the illegality of extramarital affairs. The novel was never conceived in terms of sin, but, on the contrary, - as following God's command. At the same time, the couple understood that from the outside their relationship could be evaluated differently. Hidden from themselves, the uncertainty is visible in the obsessive repetition: "We alone fully understand all the sanctity of this feeling, which we are happy and proud of." ... In another way to answer inner doubts was to declare his feelings unique, inaccessible to anyone, and therefore not subject to general laws: "... we are the only couple who loves with such passion as we do, and who knows the joy of the cult that God inspired us." The extreme degree of isolation of oneself from the world was the declaration of everything external to be inessential, meaningless..." 3

The couple repeatedly violated the unwritten rules of behavior in the world. During the rest in the Crimea, the princess could go for a walk alone. The Empress's lady-in-waiting, Countess Alexandra Andreyevna Tolstaya, recalled with ill-concealed indignation how she once saw Princess Dolgorukova "on the road, in front of everyone ... walking" 4 . An even greater violation of social decency was the joint walks of lovers in an open carriage. On June 30, 1872, the princess wrote to the tsar: "I love driving your cabriolet, clinging all over to your beautiful body, which is mine - I would have eaten everything" 5 .

Based on this intimate recognition, Alexander II could have been located in the free space to the left of the "Unknown". It is possible that initially Kramskoy intended to depict the tsar next to his morganatic wife. Moreover, the emperor was often depicted either in a sleigh or in a carriage. In the Yaroslavl Art Museum there is a painting by Nikolai Yegorovich Sverchkov "Riding in a carriage (Alexander II with children)". Do a small mental experiment: in your own imagination, transfer the figure of the king from this canvas and seat him in an empty seat next to the "Unknown" - and may art critics forgive me such blasphemy!

The engraving with a dotted line and a chisel of the end of the first quarter of the 19th century is also known: Grand Duke Nikolai Pavlovich (future Emperor Nicholas I, father of Alexander II) with his wife Alexandra Feodorovna sits in a carriage and rules horses in a businesslike way. The august couple is depicted against the backdrop of the Anichkov Palace, where they then lived 6 . But to the left of the "Unknown" we also see the Anichkov Palace, which during the reign of Alexander II belonged to Tsarevich Alexander Alexandrovich.

There is a strong emotional arc. The art of the artist suddenly removes the dense cover that hides an important secret of the Romanov dynasty.

Change of scenery

On July 6, 1880, after the death of Empress Maria Alexandrovna, the sovereign hurried to marry the princess in the "marching" church of Tsarskoe Selo. Ekaterina Mikhailovna received the title of the Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya, and with her the children born before marriage - son Georgy (Goga) and daughters Olga and Ekaterina; another son, Boris, died in infancy. Already in September 1880, the sovereign transferred the Special Capital, which amounted to 3,409,580 rubles 1 kopeck, to the disposal of Princess Yuryevskaya 7 . Vera Borovikova, the princess's maid, recalled that Alexander II began to openly ride in the same carriage with her mistress two weeks after the wedding: "... and everyone saw in Tsarskoye Selo, but no one spoke aloud about the wedding" 8.

The high society was in shock, realizing that the emperor’s walks with his morganatic wife would not be limited.

The dynastic crisis again came close to the threshold of the Romanov dynasty. Actual Privy Councilor Anatoly Nikolaevich Kulomzin recalls: "... There were ominous rumors about the desire of the sovereign to crown Princess Yuryevskaya ... All this worried to the core. ... It was ordered to find in the archive of the Ministry of the Court the ceremonial of the coronation of Catherine I by Peter the Great. Having learned about At the same time, the heir announced that if this event happened, he would leave for Denmark with his wife and children, which was followed by a threat from Alexander II in the event of such a departure to declare the heir to the throne born before marriage from Yuryevskaya George ... "9

"Unknown" could be crowned as Catherine III.

It was necessary to prepare Russian society for what the novel What Is To Be Done?, a cult book of several generations of Russians, called "a change of scenery."

Alexander II, who had already reigned for a quarter of a century, dreamed of abdicating the throne and spending the rest of his life with Katya in Cairo or America as a private person. "Ah! How tired I am of everything, and what would I give to give up everything, go somewhere with you, angel of my soul, and live only for you" 10 .

It was at this time that the recognized coryphaeus of portrait painting Kramskoy received an order to paint a portrait of Princess Yuryevskaya. The order was asked not to advertise. That is my hypothesis. It is based on facts.

Can't see faces

In the autumn of 1880, another fashionable and very expensive metropolitan artist, Konstantin Yegorovich Makovsky (the tsar called him "my painter" 11), painted a formal portrait of the princess in Livadia. Count Sergei Dmitrievich Sheremetev, the favorite adjutant of the Tsarevich, impartially wrote about the unbearable atmosphere that developed in the imperial residence: "... he witnessed a lot that he would not want to see, and an eyewitness of a vague and gloomy era (the complete decomposition and decline of the charm of royal power) ... Makovsky at that time was making a portrait of Princess Yuryevskaya; one had to go and admire it. ... One can say that the family life of the royal family was a whole hell.

A ceremonial portrait of Princess Yuryevskaya by Makovsky, who was considered lost, was recently discovered in Stockholm and sold at auction on December 13, 2017 for a record 11 million crowns ($1.304 million).

Sergei Makovsky, the artist's son, remembered a colorful detail: the artist began the painting in Livadia, painting the model's face from nature, and finished in St. Petersburg, using the services of a model, who, for greater authenticity, posed for him in a blue hood, Princess Yuryevskaya. Apparently, Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna clearly lacked patience and perseverance. And portrait painters had to take into account this peculiarity of her.

In the private collection of Dushan Friedrich (Prague) there is a study by Kramskoy from the time of work on the "Unknown" - a young woman in a carriage in the same pose. Something like the heroine of the picture. Although the face is rougher, and the look is certainly defiantly arrogant. In the whole appearance of this model, some unbearable and impudent vulgarity is felt.

Who is pictured? Most likely a model. Perhaps - a woman of easy virtue. Kramskoy wanted to grab the pose he needed, and at the same time painted his face for memory. The master prepared in advance so that when working on the portrait of Princess Yuryevskaya, he would not waste time on working out the details. Who knows if the impatient princess will want to pose for many sessions?!

But Kramskoy did not have a chance to realize this plan.

Canceled order shadow

Well-known events followed: on March 1, 1881, Alexander II died from a bomb of the Narodnaya Volya, the throne was taken by his son Alexander III. Princess Yuryevskaya cut off her luxurious hair (a long braid reached the floor) and put it in the emperor's coffin. Under the open pressure of Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna, the inconsolable widow first left her apartments in the Winter Palace, and then completely left Russia with her children and settled in her own villa in Nice.

Kramskoy was involuntarily involved in someone else's family drama, while he treated all of its "characters" well (to Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna, too, their portraits by Kramskoy are known). The order dropped by itself - well, okay. But then what - spit and forget? Alas, this is not how an artist works! The idea that has sunk into the soul does not let go, hurts, grows into another ... In general, he begins to feverishly work on the canvas, which is already completely different.

Of course, there was now no question of any portrait resemblance of the "Unknown" with Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna.

Take another look at the "Unknown". The heroine is alone in a double wheelchair. Logically, next to her should be ... Who is the beloved man? But he is no more. Dead? What's on the canvas in the background? Anichkov Palace - the one in which Alexander III lived until recently. The heroine leaves the Anichkov Palace forever! And in her eyes there is an amazing range of feelings: pain, sadness, arrogance ... But arrogance is of a special kind: you, the crowd on the street, have no right to gossip about me, judge me ...

And I no longer want to discuss the pretentiousness of the outfits of the proud and sad beauty riding along the Nevsky. Kramskoy worked for centuries - who, centuries later, remembers the subtleties of the then fashion? Look into her face! It is foolish to say that this is someone's portrait. This is not a portrait at all. This picture is a different genre. And it was no longer Princess Yuryevskaya who was writing. Something in the heroine, perhaps from the model from the study. Something - from daughter Sophia, who often posed for her father. And most of all - from a woman about whom the artist himself thought. And don't ask who she is.

She is "Unknown".

In the State Tretyakov Gallery "Unknown" appeared only in 1925 - after the nationalization of one of the private collections.

1. Kirsanova R.M. Portrait of an unknown woman in a blue dress. M.: Kuchkovo Pole, 2017. S. 370, 390.
2. Safronova Yu.A. Ekaterina Yurievskaya. A novel in letters. SPb. 2017. S. 107.
3. Ibid. S. 121.
4. Ibid. S. 172.
5. Ibid. S. 163.
6. Rovinsky D.A. Complete Dictionary of Russian Engraved Portraits. T. I: A - D. St. Petersburg. 1886. Stlb. 34. No. 86.
7. Safronova Yu.A. Ekaterina Yurievskaya. A novel in letters. SPb. 2017. S. 162.
8. Ibid. S. 226.
9. Kulomzin A.N. Experienced. Memories. M.: Political Encyclopedia, 2016. S. 313, 329.
10. Safronova Yu.A. Ekaterina Yurievskaya. A novel in letters. SPb. 2017. S. 122.
11. Makovsky S.K. Portraits of contemporaries. M.: Agraf, 2000 // http://e-libra.ru/read/229599-portrety-sovremennikov.html

Of the Russian artists, Ilya Repin is considered the most mystical. One painting "Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan" is worth something, not to mention the famous portraits, after which almost all the people who posed for the great artist died soon after.

However, Ilya Repin himself considered his first teacher to be the no less famous and talented Russian artist Ivan Kramskoy, whose paintings, especially Mermaids, are also, to put it mildly, not devoid of mysticism.

The itinerant artist Ivan Kramskoy was simply fascinated by the work of Nikolai Gogol, his story “May Night, or the Drowned Woman” was especially struck. Of course, such a work simply could not but attract artists, and many of them illustrated this work, trying to convey in pictures that amazing and mysterious Ukrainian life, which the greatest Russian mystic writer described in his book.

However, the artist Kramskoy in his painting "Mermaids" decided to compete with Gogol in conveying the fantastic beauty and mystery of a moonlit night, when underwater beauties come out to the shore of a mysterious pond. However, for a long time he failed to capture this bewitching, almost mystical attraction of Gogol's May night. The artist rereads the work many times, trying with all his heart to plunge into that atmosphere, but he constantly complains about how difficult this thing is - the mysterious moonlight. Later, he will write in his diaries that he almost broke his neck in this picture, but he nevertheless “caught” the moon - and, in the end, a really fantastic canvas came out.

Kramskoy's painting "Mermaid" turned out to be not only fantastically attractive, but also mystically mysterious. Critics praised her highly, but soon even the most enthusiastic of them fell silent. The fact is that at the first exhibition of the Wanderers, this picture was hung next to the Savrasov landscape "The Rooks Have Arrived." At night, the landscape crashed to the floor. Someone then even joked that the mermaids did not approve of such a neighborhood. But soon the jokes were gone. The picture "Mermaids" caused some kind of mystical chill and horror among the visitors of the exhibition.

After the exhibition, both paintings, that is, Rooks and Mermaids, were acquired by Pavel Tretyakov for his gallery. And then he was faced with the fact that it is difficult to find a place for Kramskoy's painting. At first they hung her in the hall, but from there, according to the servants, at night it began to smell damp and cool, and even singing was heard. The cleaners refused to enter the room for this reason, they were afraid.

Tretyakov himself did not suffer from mysticism, which is why at first he did not attach much importance to this. However, he soon began to notice that as soon as he stayed in this room, next to Kramskoy's "Mermaids", it was as if all the vitality was being pumped out of him, he felt tired, lethargic, drowsy. In addition, visitors to the gallery began to complain about the picture, saying that it was impossible to look at the "Mermaids" for a long time without some kind of internal shudder, and sensitive young ladies - they completely fainted from this picture.

And although there was no evidence of the relationship of such fainting with the picture, Tretyakov, on the advice of his old nanny, hung "Mermaids" in the far corner, where sunlight did not fall on her. Since then, visitors have stopped complaining about the picture, and she herself (or her mermaids suffering from sunlight) calmed down and did not cause anyone any more trouble.

Kramskoy's painting "Stranger"

Ivan Kramskoy painted another mystical picture - "Unknown", or "Stranger". At first glance, there is nothing unusual in this portrait. Unless the artist's contemporaries could not determine from whom this beauty was painted. The portrait painter himself only grinned, but refused to name the woman, joking that there might not be one at all.

Tretyakov refused to buy "The Stranger" by Kramskoy, why - no one knows. There are different versions, but given that the philanthropist did not suffer from mysticism, it is hard to believe that he listened to the then widespread opinion that portraits of beauties can have a detrimental effect on men. Most likely, Tretyakov simply had a fantastic intuition, which told him that the "Unknown" was not yet "ripe" for his gallery.

And the picture began its mystical journey through private collections, becoming more and more notorious. Its first owner was immediately abandoned by his wife, the second had a mansion burned down, the third somehow quickly and strangely went bankrupt. Soon they began to say that the "fatal" picture of Kramskoy was to blame for all the troubles.

By the way, the artist himself also suffered from it. After the completion of this mystical portrait, his two sons somehow strangely die one after another ...

Soon the "Stranger" went abroad, but here it continued to bring only troubles and misfortunes to its owners. And only in 1925 she returned to Russia and, having taken her rightful place in the Tretyakov Gallery, finally calmed down. Here, it turns out, where her pier was ...

Plot

A young woman rides in an open carriage along Nevsky Prospekt near the pavilions of the Anichkov Palace. To the right behind her is the Alexandrinsky Theater. The woman’s costume is in the latest fashion of the 1880s: a velvet hat “Francis” with a curled ostrich feather, a Skobelev-style coat of dark velvet lined with sable, thin gloves made of Swedish (that is, suede-like) leather.

"Unknown", 1883

Such tendentious attire was defiant and even indecent at that time. The aristocracy gradually became poorer and could no longer afford to follow fashion so zealously. On the contrary, in high society it was customary to deliberately lag behind the new trends in clothing. Emphasized fashionableness could be afforded by the ladies of the demimonde: courtesans and kept women.

The critic Stasov even called her a cocotte in a stroller. The fact is that at that time the respectable lady did not travel alone. This was done either by prostitutes or by women who sought emancipation and challenged society with their demonstratively independent behavior. For example, Anna Karenina behaved the same way.

Study for a painting found in a private collection in Prague

The look of the Unknown combines arrogance, royalty and sadness. Such an inexplicable combination, together with the absence of the woman's name, creates a mystery.

Context

Before the exhibition of the Wanderers, at which the public was supposed to get acquainted with the "Unknown", the artist was extremely excited. Even left the vernissage. And when he returned, he was greeted by an enthusiastic crowd. Kramskoy was picked up and carried in his arms. And everyone tortured - who is depicted in the picture?

Ekaterina Dolgorukova

The mysterious silence of the painter gave rise to a lot of legends. According to one version, Kramskoy wrote "Unknown" from his daughter Sophia. According to another, this is a certain peasant woman Matryona Savvishna, who, against the will of her mother, was taken as a wife by the nobleman Bestuzhev. Allegedly, Kramskoy met her in St. Petersburg and was fascinated. Another hypothesis says that this is Ekaterina Dolgorukova, the mistress of Alexander II, from whom the emperor had four children.

"Girl with a cat", 1882. Portrait of Sophia, daughter of Kramskoy

None of the hypotheses stand up to scrutiny. There were no diary entries of Kramskoy or letters left, where the name of the muse would be clearly mentioned.

The fate of the artist

Ivan Kramskoy came to painting from photography. There were no knowledgeable people in the Voronezh province who could teach Ivan how to draw. And his father, a clerk in the Duma, had no extra money either. To earn a living, Kramskoy got a job in a photo studio, where he retouched pictures using watercolors.

At the age of 19, he moved from the Voronezh province to St. Petersburg, where, after a year of the same photoshop work, he entered the Academy of Arts. There he met like-minded people who would later form the association of the Wanderers. In the meantime, 14 students staged a riot, demanding that they be allowed to choose their own plots, and not write mythological canvases.

Self portrait (1867)

Later, it was Kramskoy who was the ideologist of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions. He promoted the ideas of the social role of the artist and his responsibility, insisted on the need for realism on canvases.

(1872)

He was known and appreciated as a portrait painter. Kramskoy himself was tired of this series of orders. Several times he turned to Pavel Tretyakov with a request to provide him for a year - during this time the painter planned to implement his creative ideas, not related to portraits. But alas, the philanthropist and collector did not find understanding.

Kramskoy did not live long, and died while working on a portrait of Dr. Rauchfus: the artist suddenly leaned over and fell - an aortic aneurysm. Ivan Kramskoy was 49 years old.

"Unknown" is the most famous work of the artist Ivan Kramskoy. Having given the picture the name "Unknown", Kramskoy forever endowed his work with mystery and understatement.

Description of the painting by Ivan Kramskoy “Unknown”

The painting depicts a young woman driving in a carriage along the Anichkov Bridge in St. Petersburg. The lady is dressed in the latest fashion: she is wearing a Francis hat trimmed with elegant light feathers, Swedish gloves made of the finest leather, a Skobelev coat decorated with sable fur and blue satin ribbons, a muff, a gold bracelet - all these are fashionable details of a women's costume from the 1880s, claiming expensive elegance. However, this did not mean belonging to the high society, rather the opposite - a code of unwritten rules ruled out strict adherence to fashion in the highest circles of Russian society.

Ivan Kramskoy, "Unknown", 1883, oil on canvas, 75.5 x 99, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Most likely, before us is the lady of the demimonde. Criticism called her “cocotte in a carriage”, “expensive camellia” and “one of the fiends of big cities”, since the woman’s features in the picture have some demonic character: she is strong-willed, but refined and sensual, with a deep and penetrating look.

The painting "Unknown" was painted in the style of realism and stands on the border of a portrait and a thematic painting. At the very first exhibition in which the picture participated, it was a huge success, and acquaintances tried to find out from Ivan Kramskoy who was depicted in the picture. Kramskoy declined to answer.

Who is in the picture

Ivan Kramskoy kept the secret of the identity of the "Unknown" to the end: he did not leave any information about who this woman was in any records.

There are several versions of who it is:

That the portrait was painted from Maria Yaroshenko - the wife of the artist Yaroshenko;

That the portrait is a collective image of a lady in the 1880s;

That this is the Georgian princess Varvara Turkestanishvili, who, allegedly, was the favorite of Alexander I and the maid of honor of Empress Maria Feodorovna;

What is this - a portrait of Ekaterina Dolgoruky, the Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya.

And the most common version - what is it Matryona Savvishna Bestuzheva, a former Kursk peasant woman who married Bestuzhev.

In particular, the Kursk Encyclopedia (compiled by Goizman Sh.R., Kursk, 2004-2016) contains the following information:

“In the 1870s, K. was friendly with the Bestuzhev family, in particular, with Matryona Savvishna Bestuzheva, which came from peasants with. Milenino Fatezhsky district. However, under pressure from his relatives, Bestuzhev annulled the marriage, and Matryona Savvishna decided to return home. When parting with her, K. agreed on a correspondence, but, without waiting for the letters, he went to Fatezh himself and learned the sad news: on the way M. S. Bestuzheva fell seriously ill and died in the Fatezh Zemstvo hospital. According to the order that existed in those years, only townspeople were buried in the city cemetery, therefore M.S. Bestuzhev buried in the cemetery of her native village. During his stay in Fatezh and in the village. Milenino K. made several portrait sketches of fatezhans and rural landscape sketches, which were later used to paint such famous paintings as "Woodsman" (1874, Tretyakov Gallery) and "Country Smithy", "A Man with a Bridle" (1883, Museum of Russian Art) , Kiev) and others. K. also painted a portrait M. S. Bestuzheva, which later became widely known under the name "Unknown" (1883, Tretyakov Gallery). This portrait (see illustration for the article) was painted by him under the influence of the story Matryona Savvishna about a chance meeting with his mother-in-law, a former lady of Fatezh, on one of the St. Petersburg streets.

Etude

Ivan Kramskoy, "Unknown. Etude”, 1883, Collection of Dr. Dushan Friedrich (Prague)

There is also a sketch of the "Unknown", it is in a private collection in Prague. In this version, arrogance, insolence, satiety are read in the eyes of a woman, which are not in the final version.

Where is the painting "Unknown"

The painting "Unknown" by Ivan Kramskoy is part of the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery and is exhibited at the department at the address: Moscow, Lavrushinsky lane, 10, hall 20.

One of the most outstanding works of the Russian school of painting of the second half of the 19th century is the painting "The Stranger". Kramskoy painted it in 1883. The painting was first presented to the public in the same year at the exhibition of the Wanderers in St. Petersburg. Its original name is "Unknown". After the public saw it, a lot of rumors immediately appeared. Who is the young lady that Ivan Kramskoy depicted in the picture? The exact answer to this question could not be obtained until today. The study of the diaries and personal correspondence of the artist also failed to clarify the situation: Kramskoy nowhere mentioned the identity of the woman who became the main character of his most famous work.

The search for the prototype of an unknown girl

There are several versions about whose image the picture "The Stranger" conveys. The description of the appearance of the Kursk beauty peasant woman Matryona Savvishna, who became the wife of the nobleman Bestuzhev, is most suitable for the heroine of the canvas. Some researchers of Kramskoy's work believed that the model posing for him when painting the picture was his daughter Sophia. Some art critics were of the opinion that Anna Karenina was the prototype of the girl from the canvas, others attributed her resemblance to Nastasya Filippovna Barashkova, the heroine of Dostoevsky's novel The Idiot. At the beginning of the 20th century, the young lady from the picture became associated with Blok's gentle and mysterious "The Stranger".

Critics' score

Many contemporaries of Kramskoy believed that the painting "The Stranger" was written in order to expose the moral foundations of society, which could not serve as an example to follow. Art critic V. Stasov called the beauty on canvas "cocotte in a stroller." According to N. Murashko, the canvas depicted a "dear camellia", that is, a woman of easy virtue. Describing "The Stranger", critic P. Kovalevsky called her "one of the fiends of big cities."

Description of the young lady
What is the picture "The Stranger"? Kramskoy depicted on it a beautiful young woman driving in an open carriage along the Anichkov Bridge. The young lady, looking regal against the backdrop of snowy St. Petersburg, is dressed expensively and fashionably. All the details of the elegant wardrobe of a stranger, the artist prescribes with great care. A luxurious coat with blue satin ribbons, trimmed with sable furs, a hat with feathers, gloves made of the finest leather, a gold bracelet - all this betrays a wealthy woman in her.

The look of the beauty, framed by fluffy eyelashes, is arrogant, contempt for others slips in it. But at the same time, in her eyes one can read the uncertainty inherent in all people who depend on the world in which they live. Despite the dismissive attitude, the girl is very beautiful, graceful, she attracts admiring glances. The unknown young lady clearly did not belong to high society. The manner of dressing in the latest fashion, as well as made-up lips and profusely furrowed eyebrows, indicate that she was most likely the kept woman of some noble gentleman.

Czech find

Approximately 60 years after writing "The Stranger", a study for this painting was accidentally discovered in one of the private Czech collections. On it, the young lady is dressed in a dark closed dress, her hair is gathered in a high hairstyle. The woman depicted in the sketch is strikingly similar to the "Stranger", but contempt for others is even more visible in her eyes. Kramskoy portrayed the beauty as impudent and self-satisfied, giving the expression of her face a kind of caricature. The sketch shows that the master had long nurtured the idea of ​​creating a revealing portrait that ridiculed the vices of society.

Rumors about the curse of the painting

Not only the mystery of the image of the main character attracts art lovers to the painting "The Stranger". The artist created a truly mystical work, because for decades it has attracted misfortunes and failures to its owners.
Having painted the canvas, Kramskoy offered Tretyakov to buy it for his gallery, but he refused, being sure that portraits of beautiful women are capable of drawing strength from a living person. "Stranger" found shelter in private collections, first in Russia, then abroad, but it brought misfortune to all its owners. The curse hung over Kramskoy himself: a few months after the picture saw the light, 2 sons passed away one after another.

After long travels in 1925, the mysterious "Stranger" returned to Russia and nevertheless took its place in the Tretyakov Gallery, where it is located to this day. Since then, she has ceased to bring misfortune to others. Admirers of Kramskoy's work are sure that if the canvas had originally ended up in the Tretyakov collection, then it would not have been pulled into disrepute, because that's where it should have been from the very beginning.