The history of the creation of the painting is unknown to Kramskoy. Mystical paintings by Russian artists

I. Kramskoy. "Unknown".

One of Kramskoy's most unusual works, "The Unknown" (1883), still excites critics and viewers with its mystery. Who is in the portrait? It is not known, even the artist himself, either in diaries or in letters, never mentioned the painting in a word or a hint. Almost all of St. Petersburg wanted to look at the picture, enthusiastic contemporaries wrote about it (“a lama in a carriage, at an hour of walking along the Nevsky, from three to five in the afternoon, in a velvet dress with fur, with a stately swarthy beauty of a half-gypsy type ...” ), but no one has deciphered her secret.

The obscurity of the plot of "Unknown" (1883) led to mutually exclusive interpretations of the picture. Perhaps, in none of his paintings a person is present on the canvas with such tantalizing certainty and at the same time does not remain so internally mysterious and closed to the viewer. "Unknown" as if embodies the reality of the presence of the ideal in life and at the same time its unattainability.

There were many hypotheses about who the lady who served as a model for the artist was. The version about the collective image and the use of the features of various women is quite popular. There is also a rather sensational assumption that the "Unknown" is a portrait of Catherine Dolgoruky, the Serene Princess Yuryevskaya ...

In 1878, Emperor Alexander II became a father, his daughter was born. But ... his daughter was born not by the legitimate empress, but by his beloved woman, his last and most ardent love - Ekaterina Dolgorukaya. And the emperor asked I. Kramskoy to paint her portrait. The artist prepared to write it, but all this was kept in deep secrecy. Ekaterina Mikhailovna and her children were not recognized by the relatives of the emperor, and this offended her greatly. Therefore, when posing for Kramskoy, she expressed a desire to look proud and independent in the portrait, and indicated the place by which she should pass in the carriage in the picture. This is the Anichkov Palace, where the emperor's heir lived with his family.
Kramskoy worked on the portrait for a long time, reworking it many times. Two years passed and ... the customer of the portrait, Emperor Alexander II, was killed. The meaning of the work was lost. Dolgoruky with the children was sent abroad.
The portrait sadly stood in the studio and only three years after the death of the emperor, in 1883, the artist exhibited the painting at a traveling exhibition, calling it "Unknown"...

Whether she is or not, I don’t know, but this is how modern art critics dug up, comparing and researching.
Here is the original, compare and decide: is Ekaterina Dolgorukaya similar to "Unknown";)

Princess E.M. Dolgorukaya. Photo.

The 41-year-old Emperor Alexander II first saw Catherine Dolgoruky in 1859, when she was 13, while visiting their estate in Ukraine. Soon Ekaterina Mikhailovna's father went bankrupt and died, the mother with four sons and 2 daughters found herself without funds. The emperor took the Dolgoruky family under his care: he helped the Dolgoruky brothers to enter the St. Petersburg military institutions, and the sisters - to the Smolny Institute. The education of the Dolgoruky was carried out at the expense of the sovereign. In 1865 the Emperor traditionally visited the Smolny Institute. He remembered the Dolgoruky sisters and wanted to see them. 18-year-old Ekaterina Dolgorukaya struck down Alexander II, he fell in love with her without memory. Empress Maria Alexandrovna was already ill and did not get out of bed. The king completely lost his head and persistently courted Catherine.

Catherine Dolgorukaya, for the sake of her love for the Tsar, forever ruined her reputation, sacrificed not only life in the world with its inherent entertainment, but also a normal family life in general. When they and the king had a son, George, and then two daughters, she had a new sadness: her children were bastards. Alexander was proud of his son, he said with a laugh (why with a laugh?) that this child had more than half of Russian blood - such a rarity for the Romanovs! In 1874, the children were granted the title of the Most Serene Princes of Yuryevsky ...

The empress was still alive, and the tsar settled Dolgoruky with the children in the Winter Palace. The emperor's novel was condemned by the imperial family, the emperor's entourage was divided into two parties: the party of Dolgoruky and the party of the heir to the throne, Alexander Alexandrovich. Maria Alexandrovna suffered in silence. On May 2, 1880, the Empress died, and on July 6, Alexander II secretly married E.M. Dolgoruky. He thought about crowning her. She was given the title of the Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya, emphasizing that her family originates from Yuri Dolgoruky. On March 1, 1881, the emperor was killed by terrorists from the People's Will organization.

______________________

Most Serene Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Yuryevskaya (nee Princess Dolgorukaya)

****

"I love you, my dear Katya"

Another photo for comparison, kindly provided by one of the readers of the diary. Here is a slightly different angle, perhaps even more similar to the one used by Kramskoy...

And here is another story about a woman who could be Kramskoy's model. True, art historians note that the story is not confirmed by any documentary evidence and it is not at all clear where her “legs grow from”.
But the story, even being a myth, is beautiful in its own way.

In the Fatezhsky district of the Kursk province, there was the estate of the columned noblewoman Bestuzheva. She had considerable relatives in St. Petersburg and a mansion there.
The nephew of the landowner, an officer, having retired and returning home from the Caucasus to St. Petersburg, stopped by his aunt.
Young Bestuzhev was struck by the extraordinary attractiveness and beauty of her maid, a peasant woman taken from a neighboring village. Because of this, he lingered on the estate ... Having secured the consent of his chosen one, the nephew turned to his aunt with a plea to let the maid go with him, whom he decided to marry after introducing her to her parents.

After listening to an unusual request, the landowner was indignant - how can a pillar nobleman marry a simple peasant ?!. But he stood his ground so zealously that, although not immediately, he nevertheless won.
In St. Petersburg, young Bestuzhev introduced his chosen one to his parents. There were no special objections, for the bride also captivated the groom's parents. They began to teach her etiquette, dancing, she turned out to have a pleasant voice. At the same time, they also taught ordinary literacy.
After the wedding, the happiness of the young people was sometimes overshadowed by the fact that misunderstandings arose "in public" because of the unusual beauty and attractiveness of Matrena Savvishna. Her "prisoner" was the painter Ivan Kramskoy. He sometimes visited their family. The beauty, of course, could not but interest Kramskoy as a painter.
... One winter day in inclement weather, when a piercing wind blew from the sea bay, Kramskoy came to the Bestuzhevs "for a light". He was met by the husband of Matrena Savvishna, who helped the guest take off his coat and hat, and then led him into the hall and ordered that hot tea be served. Soon Matrena Savvishna entered the hall, unusually excited, ruddy. When her husband helped her take off her fur coat, she said impatiently several times: "Oh, what a meeting I just had!"
Right there, over tea, she told her husband and guest that she had met her former mistress, a landowner from the Fatezh district. She, in turn, recognized her former maid and, apparently, decided that Matrena Savvishna should immediately shower her with thanks for allowing her to leave with her nephew. But the former maid drove by with such an independent and proud look, they say, I don’t know you and don’t want to know ...
The story made an indelible impression on Kramskoy. In the picture he decided to paint, it would certainly be necessary to express not only her attractiveness, but to show at least to some extent the inner world of this charming young woman. To what extent the artist succeeded, art critics argue to this day.
But family life did not work out, her husband happened to challenge too zealous gentlemen to a duel. Three times there were such duels, but they all ended in reconciliation. However, they could not but spoil relations in the family. In addition, their son fell ill and died. All this prompted the relatives of the spouse Matrena Savvishna to file a petition with the church for the dissolution of the marriage, which was carried out.
Upon learning of this, Kramskoy considered it his duty to see off Matryona Savvishna - she decided to return to her native village to her older sister. At the same time, they agreed that she would write to him. For a long time there was no news. Kramskoy himself wrote a letter to the village, but received no answer. Arriving in Fatezh, Kramskoy learned the sad news: on the way, Matryona Savvishna fell seriously ill and died in Fatezh, in the Zemstvo hospital.
According to the order that existed in those years, only townspeople were buried in the city cemetery, Matrena Savvishna was buried in the cemetery in the village of Milenino, closest to the city.
During his stay in Fatezh and in his native village of Matrena Savvishna, Kramskoy made several sketches, according to which such famous paintings as "A Man with a Bridle", "Woodworker" and "Rural Smithy" were subsequently painted.

Source © Dmitry Kramarenko

www.old.kurskcity.ru/events/kram-n.html

1. IVAN KRAMSKOY

Unknown. Etude. 1883 Private collection of Dushan Friedrich, Prague

Unknown 1883 Tretyakov Gallery

Calling his painting "Unknown", the clever Kramskoy fixed an aura of mystery forever behind it. Contemporaries were literally at a loss. Her image caused anxiety and anxiety, a vague premonition of a depressing and dubious new - the appearance of a type of woman who did not fit into the old system of values. “It is not known who this lady is, decent or corrupt, but an entire era sits in her,” some stated. In our time, Kramskoy's "Unknown" has become the embodiment of aristocracy and secular sophistication. Like a queen, she rises above the foggy white cold city, driving in an open carriage along the Anichkov Bridge. Her outfit - 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 clutch, a gold bracelet - all these are fashionable details of a women's costume of the 1880s. years, claiming expensive elegance. However, this did not mean belonging to the high society, rather the opposite - a code of unwritten rules excluded strict adherence to fashion in the highest circles of Russian society.

"A lady in a carriage, at an hour of walking along the Nevsky, from three to five in the afternoon, in a velvet dress with fur, with a majestic swarthy beauty of a half-gypsy type ..." in the capital city of "Unknown".

Almost all of St. Petersburg came out to look at this mysterious lady. Proudly leaning back in the carriage, looking at the audience with a tantalizing gaze of half-open twinkling eyes, enticing with a delicate rounded chin, the elastic smoothness of her matte cheeks and a lush feather on her hat, she rode under the pearly sky of a huge canvas, as in the middle of the world.
Date of creation of the work: 1883

Unable to calm his excitement, Kramskoy decided to leave the exhibition, where his "Unknown" was first shown, and return by the end of the opening day. A noisy crowd met him at the entrance and carried him in their arms. The success was complete. With the keen eye of an artist, he noted that everything is here: princes and officials, merchants and contractors, writers and artists, students and artisans...

Tell me who is she? - friends pestered the artist.

- "Unknown".

Call it what you want, but tell me where did you get this treasure?

Invented.

But did he write from nature?

Maybe from nature...

Many artists have painted mysterious women over the centuries. But everyone had prototypes. They could guess, argue about them, but in the end the secret was revealed. Even the carefully concealed image of Botticelli's "Madonna" gained fame, it turned out to be Simonetta Vespucci, a noble lady, someone else's wife, the passionate love of Giuliano Medici. Even the Sistine was painted from life, which Raphael admitted, albeit slyly: “To paint this portrait of the Madonna, I needed to see many.” How can one explain such a daring challenge from Kramskoy, who, emphasizing the absolute incognito of his model, called her - Unknown?

On this score, I have two versions: either the nature of the Unknown was initially ugly, and the artist in the portrait gave her almost ideal features, or something else connected them. One thing can be said with certainty: of course, Kramskoy's "Unknown" is a masterpiece. But... a masterpiece of a special kind. With his life, separate from all other works of the artist.

http://www.exposter.ru/kramskoi.html

Picturesque study for the painting "Unknown", which is kept in Prague, in a private collection (1883).

This is perhaps the most famous work of Kramskoy, the most intriguing, which remains misunderstood and unsolved to this day. Calling his painting "Unknown", the clever Kramskoy fixed an aura of mystery forever behind it. Contemporaries were literally at a loss. Her image caused anxiety and anxiety, a vague premonition of a depressing and dubious new - the appearance of a type of woman who did not fit into the old system of values. “It is not known who this lady is, decent or corrupt, but a whole era sits in her,” some stated. Stasov loudly called Kramskoy's heroine "cocotte in a carriage." Tretyakov also confessed to Stasov that he liked Kramskoy's "former works" more than the last ones. There were critics who connected this image with Leo Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, who descended from the height of her social position, with Fyodor Dostoevsky's Nastasya Filippovna, who rose above the position of a fallen woman, the names of the ladies of light and demi-light were also called. By the beginning of the 20th century, the scandalousness of the image was gradually covered by the romantic-mysterious aura of Blok's "The Stranger". In Soviet times, Kramskoy's "Unknown" became the embodiment of aristocracy and secular sophistication, almost like the Russian Sistine Madonna - the ideal of unearthly beauty and spirituality.

A pictorial study for the painting is kept in a private collection in Prague, convincing that Kramskoy was looking for the ambiguity of the artistic image. The etude is much simpler and sharper, the said and more definite than the picture. It shows the audacity and imperiousness of a woman, a feeling of emptiness and satiety, which are absent in the final version. In the painting "Unknown" Kramskoy is captivated by the sensual, almost teasing beauty of his heroine, her delicate dark skin, her velvet eyelashes, the slightly haughty squint of her brown eyes, her majestic posture. Like a queen, she rises above the foggy white cold city, driving in an open carriage along the Anichkov Bridge. Her outfit - 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 clutch, a gold bracelet - all these are fashionable details of a women's costume of the 1880s. years, claiming expensive elegance. However, this did not mean belonging to the upper world; rather, on the contrary, a code of unwritten rules ruled out strict adherence to fashion in the highest circles of Russian society.

The refined sensual beauty, majesty and grace of the "Unknown", a certain alienation and arrogance cannot hide the feeling of insecurity in the face of the world to which she belongs and on which she depends. With his painting, Kramskoy raises the question of the fate of beauty in imperfect reality.

The heroine is dressed in the latest fashion (the season of 1883) - this is what experts in the history of the costume say.

The pink frosty haze is written out so masterfully that it seems to bring a feeling of cold to reality. Kramskoy knew how to paint light and air when he wanted to.

The place of action is beyond doubt - this is Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg. Well-known buildings were drawn by Kramski, on the one hand, quite sketchy, and on the other, quite recognizable.

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 ...

"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 in the department at the address: Moscow, Lavrushinsky lane, 10, hall 20.

"Unknown" - a portrait of a beautiful, but somewhat agitated woman against the backdrop of Nevsky Prospekt.

I. E. Repin told in his memoirs that when this painting appeared at the XIth exhibition of the Wanderers, everyone was literally intrigued - who is this woman?

Neither the first biographers nor his daughter Kramskaya-Junker confirm any of the assumptions - who is this woman? And there were many versions. The artist's daughter claimed that the portrait was painted from different models, and this image is collective. Some said that the artist saw this beauty on the street, in a passing carriage, others said that this was the image of Anna Karenina (a few years before the appearance of Kramskoy's painting, Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina was published).

Although the literary images of women that would serve as a prototype for the picture could be named and named. In many works of Russian writers and poets, the image of a woman opposing society was very popular. And in the picture, the beauty is perceived just like that.

Perhaps Kramskoy also touched on this topic. The artist, as it were, looks at his model from the side, forcing the audience to think out who she is, what her fate is, what kind of feelings are hidden behind this beauty and the arrogant look of the half-lowered look of beautiful eyes. But among the sketches of Kramskoy, one was also found, which depicts a young woman sitting in a stroller. She looks defiantly at the passers-by.

Her appearance - disheveled hair and not quite a fresh toilet, causes ridicule. Is this how the artist originally wanted to portray a beauty? Kramskoy deliberately calls the portrait "Unknown", as if he knew that he would stop the audience and make them think about her fate. The picture caused a lot of talk with its riddle. Who is she?

Many agreed that Kramskoy portrayed a rich kept woman. V. Stasov came up with a definition - "Kokotka in a stroller", and P. Tretyakov did not want to buy this work. And in the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery, it appeared as a result of the nationalization of private collections only in Soviet times in 1925, when the scandalous image of the "Unknown" was gradually forgotten, and the picture of the unknown became the embodiment of aristocracy.

Kramskoy once said to Repin: “It’s not a matter of writing this or that scene ... of life. It will be a simple photograph from nature, a sketch, if it is not illuminated by the philosophical worldview of the author and does not carry a deep meaning of life ... ". This is what the artist was probably thinking about when drawing a portrait of a beauty, about her life ...

Kramskoy was a gifted portrait painter. His ability to convey the inner world of the person depicted in the portrait seemed supernatural to many. Kramskoy paints the paintings "Moonlight Night", "Inconsolable Grief", "Unknown". Three women, three destinies.

The unknown is different in that the woman's face is close to the viewer. You can see the dullness of velvety skin, and the shadows from long eyelashes, and tears in the eyes, which are masked by a cold and proud expression, the pink frosty haze is written out so masterfully that it brings a feeling of cold in reality.

Some call the image of the unknown magical. Look at the picture, every detail on it makes us wonder who she is, we look at the soft blue of her velvet suit, decorated with

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.