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Vasily Andreevich Tropinin (March 19, 1776, Karpovo village, Novgorod province - May 3, 1857, Moscow) - Russian painter, master of romantic and realistic portraits.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE ARTIST

Vasily Tropinin was born on March 19, 1776 in the village of Karpovo, Novgorod province) in the family of a serf, Andrei Ivanovich, who belonged to Count Anton Sergeevich Minikh. The count gave A.I. Tropinin his freedom, and all members of his family remained serfs and were transferred to Count Morkov as a dowry for eldest daughter- Natalia; Andrei Ivanovich was forced to enter the service of the new owner, who made him a housekeeper.

Around 1798, Vasily was sent to study with a pastry chef, however, Count Morkov’s cousin convinced him to send the young man, who had a natural talent and a penchant for drawing, as a volunteer to the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. Here he studied with S.S. Shchukin. During his studies at the Academy, Tropinin acquired the friendly disposition and respect of the best students: Kiprensky, Varnek, Skotnikov. At the academic exhibition of 1804, his painting “A Boy Longing for His Dead Bird” was presented, which was noted by the Empress.

In 1804, he was recalled to the new estate of Count Morkov - to the Podolsk village of Kukavka in Ukraine - and became the estate manager in place of his deceased father. Here before 1812 he married; he had a son - Arseny. Until 1821 he lived mainly in Ukraine, where he painted a lot from life, then moved to Moscow with the Morkov family.

In 1823, at the age of 47, the artist finally received freedom.

In September 1823, he presented the paintings “The Lacemaker”, “The Old Beggar” and “Portrait of the Artist E. O. Skotnikov” to the Council of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts and received the title of appointed artist. In 1824, for “Portrait of K. A. Leberecht” he was awarded the title of academician. Since 1833, Tropinin, on a voluntary basis, has been teaching students of a public art class that opened in Moscow (later Moscow school painting, sculpture and architecture).

In 1843 he was elected an honorary member of the Moscow art society. In total, Tropinin created more than three thousand portraits.

In 1969, the “Museum of V. A. Tropinin and Moscow artists of his time” was opened in Moscow.

CREATION

Tropinin's early works are restrained in color scheme and are classically static in composition. The artist's works are classified as romanticism. During this period, the master also created expressive local, Little Russian image types.

While in St. Petersburg, he was among the townspeople, small and medium-sized landowners, from whom he later began to paint portraits, which led him to realism. The author, unlike romantic portrait painters, tried to emphasize the typicality of the heroes. But at the same time, he sympathized with them, which resulted in an image of inner attractiveness. For the same purpose, Tropinin tried not to show people’s obvious social affiliation. Such works of the artist as “The Lacemaker”, “The Guitarist”, etc. belong to the “portrait type”. Tropinin portrayed a specific person, and through him tried to show everything that was typical for a given circle of people.

They seem to reflect some moments of supreme insight, when the artist, with a unique and inimitable ease and freedom, seems to be singing a song given to him by nature.

They contain freshness, unspentness mental strength, the integrity and inviolability of his inner world, love for people, a supply of goodness.

These canvases demonstrate the properties of his nature, broad, faithful to his calling, supportive of the misfortune of others, forgiving many of the hardships of everyday prose. Tropinin left people with a trace of his humane and, perhaps, somewhat simple-minded view of the world.

Over time, in his canvases, starting with the reverently soulful Portrait of a Son (c. 1818, ibid.), a purely romantic sense of the moving elements of life was established. Such is A.S. Pushkin, invisibly and visibly immersed in the creative element, as if listening to the muse, in the famous portrait of 1823 (All-Russian Pushkin Museum, Pushkin). Tropinin continues the line of typical portraiture, in particular in the famous Lacemaker (1823, ibid.), captivating with its sentimental and poetic appearance. Turning to a genre, “nameless” image (Guitarist, 1823, ibid.; and many others), he usually repeats the composition in several versions to consolidate success. He also varies his self-portraits many times.

Over the years, the role of the spiritual atmosphere, the “aura” of the image - expressed by the background, significant details - only increases. The best example may serve as Self-Portrait with Brushes and Palette 1846 (ibid.), where the artist presented himself against the backdrop of a window with a spectacular view of the Kremlin. Tropinin dedicated a number of works to fellow artists depicted at work or in contemplation (I.P. Vitali, ca. 1833; K.P. Bryullov, 1836; both portraits in the Tretyakov Gallery; etc.). At the same time, Tropinin’s style is invariably characterized by a specifically intimate, homely flavor. These are, for example, “negligent portraits”, with models pointedly dressed, like Ravich, in non-ceremonial dress. In the popular Woman in the Window (based on M.Yu. Lermontov’s poem Treasurer, 1841, ibid.), this laid-back sincerity takes on an erotic flavor. Later it became a tradition to contrast the “homely” poetics of Tropinin’s paintings - as a special feature of the Moscow romantic school in general - the “stiffness” of St. Petersburg.

Vasily Andreevich Tropinin

TROPININ Vasily Andreevich (1776-1857), Russian painter. In portraits he strove for a lively, relaxed characterization of a person (portrait of a son, 1818; “A. S. Pushkin,” 1827; self-portrait, 1846), created a type of genre, somewhat idealized image of a person from the people (“The Lacemaker,” 1823).

Tropinin Vasily Andreevich (03/19/1776-05/3/1857), portrait painter, serf artist, who received his freedom only at the age of 47. From 1798 he studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, but, at the whim of his landowner S.S. Shchukin, he was recalled from the Academy in 1804, without completing his studies to the required course. Until 1821 Tropinin lived in Little Russia, then in Moscow. Having received freedom in 1823, Tropinin settled in Moscow.

Tropinin adopted the heritage of Russian portrait painters by the 18th century, which was reflected in his early works. Portraits of the 1820-30s, the heyday of Tropinin’s work, testify to his independent figurative concept. In them he strives for a lively, relaxed characterization of a person. These are the portraits of a son (1818), A. S. Pushkina(1827), composer P. P. Bulakhova(1827), artist K. P. Bryullova(1836), self-portrait (1846). In the films “The Lacemaker”, “The Gold Seamstress”, “The Guitarist” Tropinin created a type of genre, idealized person from the people. Tropinin had a significant influence on portraiture of the Moscow school.

V. A. Fedorov

Girl with a pot of roses. 1850

Tropinin Vasily Andreevich (1776-1857) - Russian painter. Serf until 1823

In his early works he created an intimate (in the spirit of sentimentalism), lively and relaxed image of a person in his characteristic, somewhat idealized everyday environment (I. I. and I. I. Morkov, 1813 and 1815; portraits of his wife, 1809 and son, 1818; “Lacemaker”, “Guitar Player”, “Bulakhov”, 1823).

In the 1820-1840s. his portraits were characterized by attentive characterization of the model, complexity of the composition, sculptural clarity of volumes and intensity of color while maintaining a chamber, intimate (homely) atmosphere (“K. G. Ravich”, 1825; “A. S. Pushkin”, 1827; “K. P. Bryullov", 1836; self-portrait in which the artist depicted himself against the backdrop of the Moscow Kremlin, 1846). Some elements of salon romanticism appeared in the painting “Woman in the Window” (1841), inspired by M. Yu. Lermontov’s poem “Tambov Treasurer”. The artist’s emphasis on everyday details (“Servant with Damask Counting Money,” 1850s) anticipated the development genre painting in the middle of the 19th century

Orlov A.S., Georgieva N.G., Georgiev V.A. Historical Dictionary. 2nd ed. M., 2012, p. 518.

V. Tropinin. Pushkin. 1827

TROPININ Vasily Andreevich, Russian artist. One of the founders of romanticism in Russian painting.

Born into a family of serfs. He was a serf first of Count A. S. Minikh, then of I. I. Morkov. In 1798-1804 he studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, where he became close to O. A. Kiprensky and A. G. Varnek (the latter also later became a prominent master of Russian romanticism). In 1804 Morkov summoned the young artist to his place; then he alternately lived in Ukraine, in the village of Kukavka, then in Moscow, in the position of a serf painter, obliged to simultaneously carry out the economic orders of the landowner. Only in 1823 was he finally freed from serfdom. He received the title of academician, but, abandoning his career in St. Petersburg, settled in Moscow in 1824.

Early creativity

Tropinin's early portraits, painted in restrained colors (family portraits of Counts Morkov, 1813 and 1815, both in the Tretyakov Gallery), still entirely belong to the tradition of the Age of Enlightenment: the model is the unconditional and stable center of the image in them. Later, the color of Tropinin’s painting becomes more intense, the volumes are usually sculpted more clearly and sculpturally, but most importantly, the purely romantic feeling of the moving element of life insinuatingly grows, of which the hero of the portrait seems to be only a part, a fragment (“Bulakhov”, 1823; “K. G. Ravich” , 1823; self-portrait, circa 1824; all three - in the same place). Such is A. S. Pushkin in the famous portrait of 1827 (All-Russian Museum of A. S. Pushkin, Pushkin): the poet, placing his hand on a stack of paper, as if “listening to the muse,” listens to the creative dream that surrounds the image with an invisible halo .

Portrait and genre

Already with early period the artist is actively interested and everyday genre, creating a large number of drawings and sketches of Ukrainian peasants. Genre and portrait are organically combined in his semi-figured “untitled” paintings, the most famous of which is the pretty “Lacemaker” (1823, ibid.), captivating with its naive and sentimental appearance; the type of girl from the bottom becomes the lyrical personification of Femininity as such, without losing her subtle natural persuasiveness. Tropinin more than once turned to the typical genre portrait (“Guitar Player”, 1823, ibid.; “Golden Seamstress”, 1825, Art Museum Komi Republic, Syktyvkar), usually repeating this kind of compositions in several versions (as well as their self-portraits).

In portraits of the 1830s and 40s, the role of expressive detail, in some cases the landscape background, increases, the composition becomes more complex, and the color becomes more intense and expressive. The romantic atmosphere, the element of creativity, appears even more clearly in the portrait of “K. P. Bryullov" (1836, Tretyakov Gallery) and a self-portrait of 1846 (ibid.), where the artist presented himself against the spectacular historical background of the Moscow Kremlin. At the same time, the artist’s romanticism, without ascending to the empyrean, usually remains intimate and peacefully “homey” - even where there is an obvious hint of a strong feeling, an erotic motif (“The Woman in the Window,” whose image was inspired by M. Yu. Lermontov’s poem “ Tambov Treasurer", 1841, ibid.). Tropinin’s later works (for example, “A Servant with Damask Counting Money,” 1850s, ibid.) indicate the fading of coloristic mastery, but still attract with their genre observation, anticipating the passionate interest in everyday life characteristic of Russian painting of the 1860s. x years..

An important part of Tropinin's legacy is his drawings, especially pencil portrait sketches, which stand out for their sharp observational character. The soulful sincerity and poetic, everyday, harmonious harmony of his images were more than once perceived as a specific feature of the Old Moscow art school. In 1969, the Museum of Tropinin and Moscow artists of his time was opened in Moscow.

Copyright (c) "Cyril and Methodius"

To the 240th anniversary of his birth

MASTER OF RUSSIAN PORTRAIT

Russian artist Vasily Andreevich Tropinin (1776-1857)

Tropinin lived a long life 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-19th century - fidelity to nature, an analytical view of the world - and came close to critical realism second half of the century. In Tropinin’s portraits, 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 of the mid-19th century and the depth of their reconstruction, they have no analogues in the domestic art of their time. Tropinin stood at the origins of a whole independent movement in Russian art, associated with attentive, serious analysis folk character. This direction developed in the second half of the 19th century in the work of the Itinerants.

Artist and explorer visual arts A.N. Benoit wrote about Tropinin: “What gives Tropinin especially place of honor in the history of Russian painting, this is that he sowed the seeds of that realism, on which the purely Moscow protest against alien and cold, academic, St. Petersburg art subsequently grew and became stronger. All his “garden girls”, “lacemakers”, “seamstresses”, “milkmaids”, “guitarists” and others foreshadowed with their “genre” antics and almost anecdotal flirting the subsequent wandering of Muscovites in “types” and “stories” and were a direct parallel that spontaneity of looking at nature, which was the most precious feature, for example, in Venetian’s work.”

Tropinin was born in the Novgorod province into a peasant family and until 1823 remained a serf of Count I.I. Morkova. In 1798, the young man, who had a penchant for drawing, became a volunteer student at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, but in 1804 he was recalled by his landowner. In 1812-18, Tropinin lived with the Morkovs in Moscow, where he completed two family group portraits

Family portrait of the Counts Morkovs

Portrait of Morkovs. Etude. Early 1810s

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

A fire in 1812 destroyed many of his early works. 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. Refusing 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 with each other to talk about the striking similarity of the portrait to the original. The portrait fully conveys both the appearance and spiritual essence of the poet. 1820-30s - time creative flourishing Tropinina. The artist was able to express some specific features mentality of Moscow society, which opposed free style communication of the official regulation of St. Petersburg life. Portraits of the 1820s - N.A. Maykova, P.A. Bulakhov and, especially, Pushkin - are distinguished by romantic inspiration, internal dynamics, and bright emotionality of the color system. Tropinin masterfully conveyed the individuality of the models and often, with the help of sharply characteristic details, emphasized their special Moscow flavor (for example, the portrait of V.A. Zubov).

Remaining until the mid-19th century the main Moscow portrait painter, Tropinin created more than three thousand portraits, depicting representatives of the Moscow nobility, merchants, creative intelligentsia (sculptor I.P. Vitali, watercolorist P.F. Sokolov, actor P.S. Mochalov, playwright A. V. Sukhovo-Kobylina). In 1832, the artist moved to the left wing of the same estate - to Lenivka. The unique result of Tropinin’s work and his inextricable 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 a 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 small house surrounded by an orchard on Bolshaya Polyanka (not preserved). Tropinin died in 1857 and was buried at the Vagankovskoye cemetery.

At house number 9 on Volkhonka Street there is a memorial plaque dedicated to Tropinin. Surprisingly, the plaque 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 lane, 10). The museum's collection includes several thousand items. In addition to paintings by Tropinin, there are works by I.P. Argunova, F.S. Rokotova, D.G. Levitsky, V.L. Borovikovsky and other artists.

Vasily Tropinin Museum

Video about the museum:

http://vk.com/video159262563_171446529

“Candy artist” may sound a little impolite. But not in relation to Tropinin! He honed his skills in the St. Petersburg confectionery, where he was sent from the count's estate to study, because products for good houses required both culinary and artistic taste. Tropinin's works can still be seen on candy boxes!
Romantic portraits - the Lacemaker, the Guitarist, the curly-haired Arseny, the artist's son - rhyme completely with chocolate. For their warm color, Dutch style, clear, naturalistic drawing of cute characters, these images were also loved in Soviet time. The artist painted many simple people - peasants, townspeople, artisans, and in each he saw an inherent peculiarity and beauty.

However, Tropinin had an Academic School; he managed to study in St. Petersburg, but was recalled by Count Morkov to his estate in Ukraine, along with his family. He was a servant, architect, shepherd and artist under the count. Such versatility of activities turned out to be useful for the artist, as he himself admitted in his memoirs. He painted the count's acquaintances, the courtyard servants, and the poor. He was released from serfdom already known. He presented his work in St. Petersburg, received the title of academician and a teaching position in an art class. During his life he painted more than a thousand portraits.

Tropinin V.A. Portrait of Alexander Fedorovich Zaikin. 1837. From the collection of the Primorsky Art Gallery

Tropinin V.A. Portrait of A.F. Zaikin. Etude. Around 1837. From the State Collection historical museum

Self-portrait

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

“Portrait of A.V. Vasilchikova"

Portrait of Konstantin Georgievich Ravich. . 1823

“Portrait of N.I. Morkova”

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

Portrait of a sister

Portrait of the artist's son

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

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

“Portrait of Alexander Alexandrovich Sapozhnikov”

Portrait of E.V. Meshkova, née 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 works mentioned are “The Lacemaker”, “The Guitarist”, “Portrait of a Son” and the portrait of Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin - included in most textbooks, known throughout the world, was painted by the artist Tropinin in a serfdom. You can demonstrate and realize your talent and work anywhere. And quite successfully, as we see in the example of Vasily Tropinin.

guitar player

Lacemaker, 1823. 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 type of painting - the famous “The Lacemaker” (1823). The nature of the genre determined and the very nature of the composition. It was as if we, together with the artist, looked into where this beautiful young girl was working. And at our unexpected visit, she, as if for a moment, took her mind off her bobbins and looked at us carefully, as is typical in Tropinin’s portraits .But in her gaze there is neither coquetry nor curiosity. On the contrary. In these broad open eyes- some kind of hidden world, 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 visible as a small fragment, lost in the wide folds white fabric - base. This picture is not about social characteristics labor, and about it creative beginning, giving birth to beauty, enriching the world around us. A thin nose, beautiful outlines of swollen lips, small curls of hair coming out 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 entirely from the feeling of beauty that the artist brought into the painting of her face, and into this smooth, exquisite curve of her hand, these fingers, easily, gracefully fingering 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 in harmony with the muslin scarf, as if woven from sun rays, and the hands, finely painted with transparent glaze, and the very object of her work - all this is flooded with light here. It can be said that the portrait lives and breathes, revealing, as the critic of that time wrote, “a pure, innocent soul”
(M. Petrova. Master of Russian portrait)

Boy with a gun. Portrait of the prince 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 Grieving for His Dead Bird” was presented, which was noted by the Empress.

Girl with a candle

Portrait of Zh.Lovic. 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.

A boy with a pity. . 1820s.

Girl with a doll, 1841. Russian Museum

Portrait of N. I. Utkin. 1824

An old coachman leaning on a whip. Study. 1820s

Portrait of S.K. Sukhanov

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

V. Tropinin. A poor old man.

Old soldier. 1843

The Robber (Portrait of Prince Obolensky). 1840s

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The first Moscow portrait painter of the last century was convinced that a portrait of any person is painted “for the memory of people close to him, people who love him.” A former serf, he declined flattering official offers, but tried not to refuse anyone who made private requests to paint a portrait for family or friends. What was drawn for the memory of those who loved it constituted our memory, our idea of ​​the good-natured, talented, famous and little-known people of the past century. People, as it turned out, close to us.

It is definitely difficult to say how much income from his serf Vasily Tropinin did Count Irakli Ivanovich Morkov, who distinguished himself during the capture of Ochakov and during the storming of Izmail, who received a diamond sword and a huge estate in the south of Ukraine after the Polish campaign. But over the course of many years, he stubbornly gave birth to requests from the most famous and influential people to give freedom to the artist, who was already appreciated by everyone. As if it was necessary for him that the talent noted by the Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna herself, the talent before which the great Karl Bryullov bowed, would serve at the table during dinner as the chief footman. Contemporaries noted that Tropinin Vasily Andreevich enjoyed the count's great confidence. Apparently, Irakli Ivanovich knew the value of this good-natured and eccentric person, endowed not only with great talent, but also with endless humility and patience. Everyone knew the price. The marriageable daughters argued among themselves which of them would receive a serf artist as a dowry. Irakli Ivanovich responded to this that no one would get it. And only in 1823, when the artist turned 47 years old, on the feast of the Resurrection of Christ, after matins, which was celebrated at Count Morkov’s house, Tropinin was given a vacation pay instead of a red egg, however, alone, without his son. Only five years after the death of the count, his heirs gave his freedom to Arseny Vasilyevich, the beloved son of Vasily Andreevich, the one whose portrait, among others, made him famous as a wonderful artist.

The artist was born a serf in the village of Karpovka, Novgorod province, which belonged to Count Minich. Then Count Irakli Ivanovich Morkov became his master, who received Tropinin as a dowry for his wife, Minich’s daughter.

Tropinin's early passion for drawing and his abilities were so obvious that even then, in childhood, they attracted the attention of Count Morkov's friends. Many advised the Count to send Tropinin to study painting. But the more urgent the advice, the more he resisted. To St. Petersburg, but to become a pastry chef, that was the decision. Only in 1798, at the request of a close relative of Count Morkov, who undertook to pay his own money for Tropinin’s failure to study painting, was he sent to the Art Academy as a free student (according to the Academy’s charter at that time it was forbidden to accept serfs) to S.S. . Shchukin, student of D.G. Levitsky. Tropinin studied easily and successfully, and in 1804, at a student exhibition, he exhibited a portrait of a boy who grieved for a dead bird. His work was very much liked by the academic authorities, as well as by Empress Elizaveta Alekseevna. Count Morkov, warned of possible requests for the release of a talented serf, urgently recalled Tropinina to his Little Russian estate in the village of Kukavka. It was there that the serf Vasily Tropinin earned the count’s “great trust”: as they say, and “ the Swede, and the reaper, and the player on the pipe" Occasionally he is allowed to write what he wants. Most of Tropinin's early works have not survived; they burned in Morkov's Moscow house during the Moscow fire of 1812.

Tropinin's early works have a special sophistication and at the same time shy timidity in expressing feelings, glowing with touching tenderness towards the world. Their painting is thin-layered and transparent. The most interesting work from the surviving group of early works is “ Portrait of Natalia Morkova" - sketch for a large group portrait of the Morkov family.

His golden hair is messy, his brown, lively eyes are averted. In 18th-century art, children were depicted as small adults with wooden figurines and doll faces. In the next century, art, as it were, opens up childhood, trying to understand the vast world of a child who lives with bright, pure feelings.

Already in the 1820s, Vasily Andreevich was famous in Moscow as a noteworthy artist. And a year later, having freedom, Tropinin was elected academician of the Academy of Arts. ON THE. Ramazanov writes: “Tropinin had orders for 14,000 rubles in St. Petersburg, but northern Palmyra, sung by more than one St. Petersburg poet, did not like Vasily Andreevich very much, who said: “I was all under the command, but again I will have to obey either Olenin or to one or the other... No, to Moscow!” Tired of a life of servitude, Tropinin rejected all offers of official service; he now wanted to lead the life of a private person and be independent. A successful early official career did not allow the talent of his teacher S.S. to develop to its full potential. Shchukin. And Tropinin did not want to repeat his path. There are no commissioned official works in Tropinin’s legacy. Having settled in Moscow, the artist soon became the first Moscow portrait painter. Here he painted about three thousand portraits. It was an honor to order portraits from him of artistic Moscow, small noble Moscow and merchant Moscow. Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin came to him either on Lenivka or on Tverskaya (it is not precisely established) to pose. Tropinin had a great influence on the Moscow school of painting; he stood at the origins of the formation of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Brothers Vladimir and Konstantin Makovsky studied with him.

People came to Tropinin from other cities and from distant landowners' estates. According to the same Ramazanov, Karl Bryullov refused to paint portraits of Muscovites, citing Tropinina as an excellent artist. When the English master D. Dow was working on a gallery of portraits of heroes of the war of 1812 for Winter Palace, then Tropinin wrote Muscovites who did not want to go to St. Petersburg to pose. Doe then used these portrait studies in his works.

Popularity did not affect the formation of Tropinin’s character. He painted portraits at clients' homes, later finishing them in his studio. The prices for his portraits were low; Tropinin valued copies from old masters at a higher price. Just like Fedotov and Venetsianov, Tropinin was not abroad, but did not complain about it: “Perhaps it turned out for the best that I was not in Italy; if I had been there, perhaps I would not have been unique.” But Tropinin knew Western European art well; he studied private collections in St. Petersburg and Moscow, as well as the richest collection of the Hermitage.

Of all the masters, the first half of the 19th century century Tropinin most of all retains connections with the art of the 18th century. One of his favorite artists was J.-B. Dreams, his works Tropinin I copied a lot. He also copied the works of the Austrian artist J.-B. Lampi, teachers V.L. Borovikovsky, " Portrait of Agasha's daughter» D.G. Levitsky. The connections between Tropinin’s art and the “heads” are undeniable Italian master P. Rotary. The whimsical, playful, flirtatious Rococo style and the gentle grace of the art of sentimentalism - Tropinin has it all. The aromas of the art of the gallant century linger in his work for a long time.

Tropinin's nature was also close to the hedonism of 18th-century art, which affirmed pleasure, pleasure as the highest goal and the main motive of human behavior, his intoxication with the beauty of the forms and colors of the real world. All his " lacemakers», « goldsmiths», « spinners" And " laundresses"as if covered with a thin veil of light eroticism.

They are affectionate, smiling, flirtatious. Tropinin's revelations are that he loves. He admires his natures as the most amazing creations of nature. Tropinin uses a system of contrasts - complex turns of the figure, when the shoulders are turned strongly in three quarters, the face is almost in the front, the eyes are slanted to the left or right, the result is a helical line, creating the impression of playing with the viewer. Most famous work this series - the painting by Vasily Andreevich Tropinin "" - became business card Tropinina.

He repeated this work several times. Here Tropinin is already a mature master. The errors in anatomy and negligence that were in the early works have disappeared. " Lacemaker» are distinguished by the clarity and precision of the silhouette, the sculptural roundness of the forms. Numerous thin translucent layers of paint allowed Vasily Andreevich Tropinin to achieve a delicate effect of porcelain transparency in appearance, which, when illuminated, begin to glow from the inside. The details are carefully and lovingly painted: hair curls, bobbins, scissors.

Portraits of Tropinin are often shallow in depth psychological characteristics, but very reliable in conveying a person’s everyday environment. Tropinin's work is comparable to the so-called Biedermeier movement, which developed in the art of Germany, Austria and a number of Scandinavian countries in the 20-40s of the last century, glorifying the ideal family life, the affection of family members for each other, admiring the arranged life not for show.

Tropinin I liked intimate portraits. He always cared about the naturalness of the model’s pose, advised to pay attention “so that... the face does not worry about sitting this way, placing his hand that way, etc., try to distract him with conversation and even distract him from the thought that he is sitting for a portrait.” His images expressed in portraits are distinguished by an individual and natural originality of pose, spiritual and benevolent openness.

One of the best portraits of Tropinin - portrait of Bulakhov.

The sketchy manner of painting, carelessness and artistry of the letter correspond to the gentle character of the person depicted. He is presented in the homely appearance of a private person, which is emphasized by his clothing - a robe with squirrel fur. But the magazine “Bulletin of Europe” in the hands of Bulakhov suggests that he is not alien to intellectual pursuits. Loungewear was perceived as the antithesis of a tailcoat; it was “the loose clothing of a free man.”

From the more prim and strict style The life of bureaucratic Petersburg, the capital, the residence of the emperor, Moscow was distinguished by its freedom. Many writers chose to live in Moscow; it was a city of artistic bohemia. Moscow was famous for its hospitality and its eccentrics. Moscow ladies often dressed with tasteless fancy and pomp. An example of this Countess N.A. Zubova, Suvorov’s beloved daughter, from Tropinin’s portrait.

Her bright red headdress with white feathers seems straight out of a Baroque painting. Nevertheless, this outfit matches her monumental figure, the healthy complacency of her nature, the entire brutality of her appearance and does not make her funny or absurd. But one should not think that Tropinin’s talent was inaccessible to the aristocracy of spirit, inner world intellectual model. With long, liquid strokes he paints a thin, intelligent face famous historian Karamzin.

He enlarges the face, gives it strictly from the front, abandoning complex turns, details of the situation, elements of “everyday prose” in the portrait.

Tropinin lived in the heyday of romantic feelings for life. He, personally acquainted with Karl Bryullov and Pushkin, admired their work and empathized with their worldviews, which, naturally, affected their writing. Portrait of A.I. Baryshnikov under a tree against the backdrop of an evening landscape, a sort of reflective English dandy; portrait of Bryullov against the backdrop of smoking Vesuvius, portrait of V.M. Yakovleva with a stamp of disappointment and fatigue on her face.

But in general, romantic influences were alien to Tropinin’s sober character; he perceived them rather externally, paying tribute to the mood of the era. The most successful portrait of this group of works is portrait of A.S. Pushkin.

The portrait was commissioned from the artist by Alexander Sergeevich himself and presented as an unexpected gift to his friend S.A. Sobolevsky. Tropinin put a lot of his own feeling into this portrait. Creativity and freedom - the ideas that underlie the guiding idea of ​​the portrait of Pushkin, were sacred to the artist himself, who with incredible difficulty overcame the entire class ladder of the hierarchical Russian society.

In 1855, calm in Lately Vasily Andreevich's life was darkened by the loss of his beloved wife Anna Ivanovna, whom he married in Kukavka about half a century ago. Soon after the funeral, he moved to a house he bought across the Moscow River. And two years later, “on May 5th at 10 o’clock in the morning, artists, friends, relatives and admirers of Vasily Andreevich Tropinin converged on Polyanka and came to his small, cozy and beautiful house. Never before had there been such a large gathering of people in the home of a venerable artist, who spent his entire life modestly, nobly, vigilantly, and actively; many two, three people close to him came to talk with him and listen to his wise speeches; - and on this day there was a crowd that was silent... We escorted the deceased to the Vagankovo ​​cemetery. Snow and hail rushed in our faces; the capricious northern spring seemed to want to remind us that we were burying our northern artist, who never melted in the Italian sun and therefore died in full memory...” recalls Shikhanovsky.