Family album of Konstantin Makovsky in picturesque portraits: paintings that Tretyakov himself could not buy due to the high cost. Favorite Russian artists Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky K e Makovsky biography

“If any artist was popular in Rus', it was him. Perhaps they didn’t pray to him, they didn’t call him a god, but everyone loved him, and they loved his very shortcomings - the very thing that brought the artist closer to his time.” Alexander Benois

In his book “My Dagestan,” reflecting on human talent, the world-famous poet voiced an interesting thought: “Talent is not inherited, otherwise dynasties would reign in art...”. Perhaps this is the only thought of the great Avar with which one can disagree or challenge it.

In contrast to Rasul Gamzatov, no less interesting wisdom comes to mind: “The beauty of the branches depends on the roots”. Ironically, this idea belongs to the Soviet Avar poetess, the people's poetess of Dagestan - Faz Gamzatovna Aliyeva.

There really are few reigning dynasties in art, but there was one of them, and in Russian art, and a very talented one. So much so that everyone - both father and children - all became famous artists. Of course, this is the Makovsky dynasty. The founder of the dynasty of painters was Yegor Ivanovich Makovsky. The successors were his children - Alexandra Egorovna, Konstantin Egorovich, Nikolai Egorovich, and his grandchildren.

All of them were very famous in artistic circles, but the eldest of the sons, Konstantin, became the world famous and most expensive artist from the dynasty.

In the second half of the 19th century Konstantin Makovsky was one of the most fashionable and expensive portrait painters in Russia. His contemporaries called him “brilliant Kostya”, and Emperor Alexander II called him “my painter”. They say that it was because of K. Makovsky’s “naked Mermaids” that Alexander II first visited the exhibition of the Wanderers.

In terms of sales volumes, the works of Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky are comparable only to the paintings of one of the most prolific Russian masters.

Makovsky’s world fame was so great that it was him who the Americans invited to paint the first presidential portrait of Theodore Roosevelt.

In Russia, envious people called him a superficial artist who did not want to “dig deep,” but they could not deny the genius of their competitor’s light hand. The lion's share of his works ended up in private collections...

Mermaids. 1879, Demonstrated at the VII Traveling Exhibition in 1879

Do you know why there are practically no works by Makovsky in Russian museums? Because Russian collectors simply couldn’t afford them.

So Makovsky asked Tretyakov for his “Boyar Wedding Feast in the 17th Century” for no less than 20,000, and this was the normal price for his work. Tretyakov couldn’t afford such prices, and “The Feast” went to the American jeweler Schumann for... 60,000. At the same time, the jeweler was simply happy, ordered another canvas and began producing postcards with Makovsky’s paintings in the USA.

Boyar wedding feast in the 17th century. 1883, Hillwood Museum, Washington, USA

The painting “Boyar Wedding Feast in the 17th Century,” one of Makovsky’s best masterpieces, enjoyed dizzying success in 1883 at the World Exhibition in Antwerp and was awarded the highest award - the Great Gold Medal. The artist himself was awarded the Order of King Leopold.

While working on this painting, the artist’s wife Yulia Pavlovna (it was the bride’s face), her sister Ekaterina and eldest son Sergei posed for the artist.

In Soviet times, Makovsky was declared a “harmful” artist and was forgotten; his works were stuffed into storage rooms and then given away to friendly foreign leaders. Thus, even the Indonesian President Sukarno received several paintings from the generosity; today they are the pride of the local state art gallery.

Eastern woman (Gypsy). 1878

Arab in a turban. 1882

“The best beauties vied with each other to pose for me. I earned enormous amounts of money and lived in royal luxury. “I managed to paint a countless number of paintings,” Makovsky himself wrote. “I didn’t bury my God-given talent in the ground, but I didn’t use it to the extent that I could have. I loved life too much, and this prevented me from completely devoting myself to art.”

He also loved women. Konstantin Egorovich was a very loving man. By the time he met his first wife, he already had an illegitimate daughter, Natalya, Natalya Lebedeva, who only in 1877 received the surname Makovskaya, the fruit of his student hobby.

In 1867, he married a young, promising actress of the Alexandria Theater, Elena Timofeevna Burkova, who was educated in Switzerland. Helen brought a lot of love and sensitive sociability into his absent-minded “bohemian” life. She was fragile, sickly and could not be considered beautiful, but her appearance and her whole “manner of being” emanated an inexplicable charm.

It was a happy marriage of people with common interests and spiritual needs, but the happiness did not last long. First, almost immediately after his birth in 1871, his son Vladimir died. That same year, Elena was diagnosed with tuberculosis. Doctors said that a warm, dry climate could save her, and Makovsky took his wife to Egypt. However, nothing helped, and in March 1873 the artist was widowed. It is still unknown what the artist’s wife looked like. Perhaps she is the one in one of the next portraits?

Portrait of a woman. 1878

Portrait of a woman. Early 1880s, Far Eastern Art Museum, Khabarovsk

Portrait of a woman. 1880s, National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus, Minsk

In his youth, Konstantin Egorovich had a charming appearance, a carefree, festive gaiety of disposition, a habit of making quick decisions, hard work and greed for the joys of life. He was always in good spirits, friendly, smart, well-groomed, smelling of cologne and fine tobacco, carefree, charming, dexterous, and in unusually good health.

The luxuriantly curly head thrown back with a prematurely bald forehead compressed at the temples gave the pure Russian face with a dark brown beard an open and independent look. Attention to the famous, pampered artist always acquired a tinge of enthusiastic worship. In society he was invariably pleasant and talkative; a smile appeared on their faces when Konstantin Yegorovich entered the room.

Konstantin Makovsky did not remain an inconsolable widower for long. In 1874, at a ball in the Marine Corps, he met Yulia Pavlovna Letkova , who came to enter the conservatory (she had a beautiful voice, a lyric soprano), who soon became his wife.

She was only sixteen years old, but with her ability to behave in society and mental maturity, she seemed older. Judging by the bad photographs of that time, she was very beautiful. Konstantin Egorovich fell in love at first sight and did not leave her all evening. The next day, the loving “professor of painting” hastened to invite everyone to his place to “play music.” For dinner, Konstantin Yegorovich led young Letkova by the arm and, seating her at the table next to him, said loudly so that everyone could hear: “That’s great... Be my mistress!” . Thus began their engagement...

Two weeks after the evening on Gagarinskaya Embankment, it was decided to have a wedding as soon as the bride turns sixteen. On January 22, 1875, the wedding took place in the Post Office Church. The bride was 16, the groom was 36 years old.

For a decade and a half, Yulia Pavlovna Makovskaya, the artist’s wife, was his muse, a model for portraits, historical paintings and mythological compositions.

According to family legend, the appearance of the famous portrait of the artist’s wife was accidental. Yulia Pavlovna went up to her husband’s workshop, dressed in a dark red velvet hood and a blue ribbon. Konstantin Yegorovich, enthusiastically working on some canvas, at first did not pay attention to her, and she, sulking, sat down in a chair and began absentmindedly cutting the pages of the book with an ivory knife.

The artist turned around, immediately placed the first narrow canvas that came to hand on the easel and sketched the silhouette of his wife with a book in her hands. In three sessions the portrait was completed, and the whole city was talking about it.

“This crimson dress rings like a sharp high note among the dull tones of our gray everyday life,” wrote one of his contemporaries.

In the spring of 1875, the couple went to Paris. Konstantin rented a workshop on the famous Boulevard Clichy and an apartment on Brussels, diagonally from the Viardots. Turgenev, whose portrait Makovsky had painted earlier, was their frequent guest. Artists - Russians and Parisians - gathered in Viardot's house, and artists often visited.

The Makovskys returned from Paris a year later with a newborn daughter, and at the end of the summer grief happened - the girl died of scarlet fever. The seventeen-year-old mother took the death of her first-born very hard, but youth took its toll, and soon she again began to expect an addition to the family, and to recover she went to Nice.

On August 15, 1877, in the Pereyaslavtsev house on the embankment near the Nikolaevsky Bridge, the son of Seryozha was born - the future art critic, essayist, poet, editor and publisher of Apollo, a wonderful Russian magazine, almanac.

Seryozha (Portrait of a son in a sailor suit). 1887

We can say that Sergei literally became a model for his father’s paintings from the cradle. He later recalled that for a very long time they dressed him in the children's fashion of those years and grew the curls that Konstantin Makovsky liked so much. You can recall the paintings “In the Artist’s Studio” (which Konstantin Makovsky himself called “The Little Thief”), “The Little Antiquarian”, “Seryozha”.

In 1879, Elena was born to the Makovskys, and in 1883, a son, Vladimir, was born, who was baptized by Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, brother of Alexander III. They were also destined to become models for Konstantin Yegorovich.

The workshop in which the children posed for their father was in itself a source of strong impressions: it was all hung with Persian carpets, African ritual masks, ancient weapons, and cages with songbirds. Chinese vases contained tassels, ostrich and peacock feathers, sofas were decorated with numerous brocade pillows, and tables were decorated with ivory boxes. Naturally, the children were drawn to their father’s office, and posing was not a burden to them.

In 1889, Konstantin Makovsky went to the World Exhibition in Paris, where he exhibited several of his paintings. There he met 20-year-old Maria Alekseevna Matavtina (1869-1919) and became interested in her. The fruit of this hobby was the illegitimate son Konstantin, born in 1891. The artist was forced to confess everything to his wife. And she did not forgive the betrayal.

On November 18, 1892, Yulia Pavlovna filed a petition “to grant her the right to live with three children using a separate passport from her husband and to remove the latter from any interference in the upbringing and education of children.” On May 26, 1898, the official divorce was filed. Yulia Pavlovna was only 39 years old! Konstantin Egorovich is 59 years old.

Family portrait. 1882, Depicted Yu.P. Makovskaya with children Sergei and Elena

Yulia Pavlovna lived the remaining 56 years of her life in the family of her son Sergei. She was in exile, in France, helping her son write an essay about his father, which was especially difficult for him to write; he was never able to forgive him.

And Konstantin Makovsky married Maria Matavtina on June 6, 1898, and the court legitimized their children. By that time, daughters Olga and Marina were also born. Afterwards, a son, Nikolai, was born. The artist continued to use the children from his third marriage and his new wife as models.

Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky died on September 17, 1915 as a result of an accident. He was returning to his Vasilyeostrovsk workshop in a cab. The horses got scared of the tram, a new type of transport, and bolted, overturning the carriage. Konstantin Egorovich fell out of this carriage, receiving a blow to his head on the pavement, which caused a very serious injury that required surgery. After the operation he came to his senses, but his heart could not withstand too strong a dose of chloroform. Thus ended a 74-year-old brilliant life, full of work, joy and success.

Facts from the life of K. Makovsky

“For what came out of me, I consider myself obliged not to the academy, not to the professors, but exclusively to my father,” K. Makovsky wrote in his declining years.

Everything is interesting in childhood. A mangy crow funny drank from a puddle. On Lenivka, a clean man was selling delicious raspberry kvass. In a store on Tverskaya, the Italian Giuseppe Artari was laying out prints ordered from abroad.

“Admire and remember!” the father instilled in his son, and demanded that Kostya sketch street scenes in a pocket sketchbook, sketch portraits of passers-by, and at home he asked the boy, “Have you forgotten the man who treated you to kvass?” And that crow was remarkable. Come on, draw them for me... Art is a religion, art exists for this purpose, to ennoble people, making them kinder and better.”

Kostya Makovsky, from the age of four, drew everything that caught his eye, and immediately showed the ability to easily “grasp nature.” At the age of twelve he entered the School of Painting and Sculpture, where his first mentors were Scotti, Zaryanko, and Tropinin. He mastered the latter’s painting style to perfection—a copy of Makovsky from Tropinin’s portrait was indistinguishable from the original. While still at the School, he received a small silver medal from the Academy for a pencil sketch (1857).

Particularly famous in the artist’s work was the painting "Children Running from a Thunderstorm" , depicting a simple but dramatic plot from rural life.

Children running from a thunderstorm. 1872, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

The children here resemble fairy-tale characters - sister Alyonushka and brother Ivanushka. The artist was attracted by the feeling of anxiety before a thunderstorm, which united nature and children. The landscape, permeated by the wind, captures the changing state of nature: alternation of light and shadow, a variety of shades of the sky - from dark purple to golden yellow. The swaying tops of plants and running clouds emphasize the movements of children driven by the wind. The shaky bridge bends under the girl’s hasty steps - a thunderstorm will break out very soon. And below, near the ground, where marsh grasses and flowers intertwine, there is peace and quiet.

Riot of the Fourteen - on November 9 (21), 1863, the scandalous refusal of the fourteen best graduates of the Imperial Academy of Arts, headed by I. N. Kramskoy, to participate in the competition for a large gold medal, held for the 100th anniversary of the Academy of Arts.

While studying at the Moscow School of Painting, Konstantin Makovsky was the first student to receive all available awards. But later, while studying at the Academy, he, along with other students, refused to paint a competition picture on the theme of “Scandinavian mythology” - he took part in the so-called "revolt of fourteen" , and in the end did not receive a diploma. And yet, a few years later the artist was awarded the titles of academician, professor, and full member of the Academy of Arts.

Makovsky’s brush includes the largest easel canvas in Russia – the painting “Minin’s Appeal to the People of Nizhny Novgorod,” which he painted for six years.

Minin on Nizhny Novgorod Square, calling on people for donations. 1890s. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg

A particularly interesting direction in the artist’s work was the image of “Boyaryshen” and Russian beauties in national costumes - more than 60 canvases, and all of them are bright, rich and unique. Some of the most famous:

The noblewoman at the window. 1885

Down the aisle. 1884

Hawthorn, Study for the 1901 painting “Sprinkled with Hops”

Hawthorn. 1880s

"Fortune telling" (1915)

The 1880s revealed Makovsky as an author of portraits and creator of historical paintings. At the Paris World Exhibition of 1889, the artist received a Grand Gold Medal for his paintings “The Death of Ivan the Terrible” (1888), “The Judgment of Paris” and “The Demon and Tamara” (1889).

The quirks of Mikhail Vrubel

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The name of the artist Makovsky is inextricably linked with the history of the Russian art society “Peredvizhniki”. Brought up on the ideals of Bryullov’s creativity, Konstantin Egorovich is one of the prominent representatives of the academic Russian style, who actively participated in the development of the Peredvizhniki in the early stages of their existence. He went down in history as a wonderful portrait painter; his works were recognized not only in Russia, but also abroad. Makovsky is the most “fashionable” portrait painter of his era, whose brush includes portraits of Russian empresses.

Biography of Konstantin Makovsky

Born: July 2, 1839. The early years of the future artist’s life were spent in a creative family. Father (Egor Makovsky) is an amateur artist who became the founder of the Moscow School of Painting. Konstantin’s siblings are also artists:

Alexandra Makovskaya – landscape painter of the mid-19th century;
Nikolai Makovsky - landscape painter, master of genre painting;
Vladimir Makovsky is a master of everyday painting, a graphic artist, and a famous teacher.

The upbringing of a father who loved the art of painting with all his heart, the creative atmosphere, the influence of famous friends of his parents who often visited the Makovsky house - this is what Konstantin’s childhood was made of. It is not surprising that he subsequently connected his life with creativity, with drawing.

Twelve-year-old Konstantin enters the Moscow School of Painting, founded by his father. Seven years later he is one of the best students at the Imperial Academy of Painting. Konstantin did not graduate from the Academy. Refusing to participate in the competition, he left the educational institution without receiving a diploma, with a scandal. The participants in the famous “Revolt of the Fourteen” were: Kramskoy, Makovsky, Zabolotsky, Lemokh, Wenig and other best students of the Academy. Rebelling against the rigid, conservative views of the teachers, who demanded strict adherence to academic painting, the young artists refused to participate in the Academy Gold Medal competition and continue their studies.

Later, Makovsky joins Kramskoy in the St. Petersburg Artel of Artists. This is how the mid-sixties of the 19th century pass.

1870. Konstantin, together with his brothers and other members of the Artel, founded the Association of Traveling Exhibitions. Apart from the Artel, the Peredvizhniki became the first such large-scale independent artistic community in Imperial Russia.

Makovsky does not break cooperation with the Academy. The works of Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky are exhibited at the Academy along with traveling exhibitions of the new society. The paintings show a strong social orientation. Makovsky strives to show the simple, folk life of Russian cities.

Sharp changes in the stylistic spirit of Makovsky’s works occur later: after a trip to northeast Africa and the Balkans. Konstantin Egorovich begins to be attracted to the game of color and shape. For this, many critics of that period condemn the artist. He betrays the ideals of the “Peredvizhniki”, distracting from the problems of our time and paying attention to the internal problems of finding one’s artistic “I”, filling the paintings with decorativeness. The artist’s works are called aesthetically excellent, but “empty”, meaningless, with superficial meaning.

80 years of the 19th century. Konstantin Egorovich becomes (as Soviet critics noted) a “salon artist.” The master's works are valued in elite circles. Many aristocratic nobles, including members of the imperial family, want portraits by Makovsky. In addition to portraits, the artist also paints pictures of historical and mythological themes: “The Judgment of Paris”, “The Death of Ivan the Terrible”. The enormous popularity is confirmed by well-deserved awards: the gold medal of the World Exhibition in Paris.

Until his death (1915), Makovsky did not lose popularity. Life ends in a tragic accident: a tram crashes into the artist’s carriage. Unfortunately, the master’s grave at the Nikolskoye cemetery has not survived.

Although Konstantin Egorovich is officially called a representative of Russian academicism, the master’s style has absorbed the striking features of the influence of other directions. From an early age, a romantic trend and excessive decorativism, inspired by the work of Bryullov, were noticeable in Makovsky’s works. Long before the development of Russian impressionism, Konstantin Yegorovich’s paintings already possessed some elements of a similar style: lack of dynamics, a touch of “study”, emotional brushstrokes.

Makovsky's paintings with titles

Over his long career, the master left many paintings in the genre of historical portraits and portraits of his compatriots. I'll tell you about the artist's famous works.

The boyar is a representative of the romantic period of Konstantin Yegorovich’s work. The master was very interested in the history of Rus' of the 15th-17th centuries, often idealizing the era. The picture presents the viewer with a richly dressed young woman, probably the daughter or wife of a wealthy boyar. The heroine is wearing rich clothes, pearl jewelry, and stones. She looks slyly at the viewer, slightly opening a treasure chest with many other decorations.

Sketch by Makovsky, done in pastel. Another work of the artist’s “romantic” period in the nude genre. An unknown model sits with one leg crossed. Her face is languid, her gaze is directed into the distance. The tied-up hair gives the model a resemblance to Greek nymphs, heroines of classical ancient stories.

A picture of the Peredvizhniki period of Makovsky’s creative path. The plot is inspired by the artist’s travels across Russian provinces. The older sister carries her younger brother on her shoulders, also not forgetting a full apron of mushrooms. Probably bad weather caught them during a “mushroom hunt.” It is known that Makovsky drew children from life after meeting them in the Tambov region.

An oil portrait of a typical Russian beauty through the eyes of Makovsky. The traditional Russian ideal of beauty through the hand of a master has acquired quite recognizable living features. The model’s rounded oval face, slightly touched with blush, bright, clear blue eyes. A thick blonde braid neatly frames the delicate features of her face, emphasizing the tenderness of the girl. A floral wreath, made with large strokes, adds fabulousness and sublimity to the model’s image.

The classic medieval subject painted by Makovsky acquired features characteristic of his work: strong brushstrokes, a “luminous” background, a deliberate “Russian” style and image of the models. Juliet looks like a typical Russian beauty, similar to other female models in the author’s works. The scene of a meeting between famous lovers is depicted.

A significant picture for Makovsky. Having seen the work, Emperor Alexander II was amazed by the creator’s talent and bought the canvas. Thus began the artist’s career as a “secular portrait painter.” Konstantin Egorovich is the first Russian painter to openly eroticize the traditional image of the undead mermaid, the drowned woman.

Partly autobiographical picture. The creator's youngest son, Sergei, is depicted stealing an apple prepared for a still life. The picture is somewhat “baroque”; the excessive decorativeness of the elements is unusual even for Makovsky’s “romantic realism”.

A typical representative of the impressionist realism of Konstantin Egorovich. The work depicts a young girl sitting alone in the shade of a large tree. The play of chiaroscuro, thanks to energetic strokes, creates a diffused effect of sunlight passing through the tree branches. The picture is filled with calm, lyrical mood, the face and image of the model are familiar to the artist.

The picture shows a lonely, inconsolable widow. The early, post-academic period of Konstantin Egorovich’s creativity. The dark tones of the outfit emphasize that the loss of the heroine is completely fresh, unmourned. The model's profile confirms the typical external image for the artist's work: a straight nose, black eyebrows - Makovsky's Russian beauty.

The last hours of the life of the great Ivan the Terrible, based on the story of the English diplomat Horsey. In addition to the dead tsar, the seventh wife of the ruler, Boris Godunov, Tsarevich Fyodor, and Vasily Shuisky are also present here.

“Minin’s Appeal to the People of Nizhny Novgorod”, 1896

A monumental large-scale painting by Makovsky depicting Kuzma Minin, the Nizhny Novgorod zemstvo elder, calling on the townspeople to donate their belongings and goods to the needs of the people's militia. This canvas is a long-term painting. The artist wrote (including the sketching stage) the work for 26 years.

Biography

He was one of the three sons of Yegor Ivanovich Makovsky, an outstanding artistic figure in Moscow, a collector, one of the founders of the famous Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Both brothers - Konstantin and Nikolai - as well as sister Alexandra became artists, and another sister - Maria - became a singer. As a child, one of Vladimir’s teachers was the famous Vasily Tropinin.

Makovsky’s very first paintings, starting with the genre sketch “The Boy Selling Kvass” (1861), written at the age of 15, revealed his great abilities both in observing the events of the life around him and in transferring them to the canvas. In 1861, he entered the MUZHVZ - a school, one of the founders of which was his father. He graduated with a prize for the painting “Literary Reading” (1865).

Many of Makovsky’s paintings became milestones in his creative and professional development. For the canvas “Peasant Boys Guarding Horses” (1869) he received the title of “class artist of the first degree”, and for “Nightingale Lovers” (1973) he was promoted to academician of painting.

Pedagogical activities occupied a lot of time in the master’s life. For 12 years he taught at the Moscow School of Painting and Painting, from 1882 to 1894, and for the next 24 years at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, becoming in 1895 the rector of the Higher Art School at the Academy of Arts.

The famous artist died in February 1920 in Petrograd.

"Game of Grandmas" (1870)

The artist married early, and in 1869 his first son was born, who later also became an artist - Alexander Makovsky. Vladimir Egorovich, whose paintings already had a distinct genre affiliation, has since paid a lot of attention to children's themes. Among such paintings of his, a painting stands out, which became the first purchased by the famous collector Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov. This became for Makovsky a symbol of his final recognition as a painter.

Peasant children play the game that is most accessible to them. It uses babkas - small bones from the skeleton of domestic animals - cows or pigs. This is a competition in accuracy: those bones that are hit with a special cue ball (a headstock weighted with lead) become the player’s prey.

...Now the main thing for them is the game, to which they devote themselves with all passion. One sits, concentrating on counting the spoils, while others carefully await the next throw. Makovsky, whose paintings are distinguished by meticulousness in everyday details, is also accurate in psychological nuances. All players have their own temperament, their own character. The common denominator is gentle humor and optimism, ineradicable even by the poverty of clothing and the dilapidation of the surrounding buildings.

Makovsky's early paintings are distinguished by excessive elaboration of details, which sometimes interferes with a holistic perception. In the future, the artist’s brush will gain greater freedom, and the palette will become more integral, which will avoid some of the diversity inherent, in particular, in the picture we examined.

"The Nightingale Lovers" (1873)

This canvas represented Russian painting at the World Exhibition in Vienna, where it received great attention from the audience.

A nightingale trill was heard outside the window, and three peasants listened, interrupting their simple feast. One, standing, froze, looking out the window, trying to look out for the little birdie. The second one, who has obviously drunk more than his friends, counts down the sounds of the nightingale's song with waves of his palm. The third, the most respectable one, listens, thoughtfully pinching his beard. Everything here is full of life and sound: the light from the window, the poses and gestures of the characters, the pot-bellied hot samovar, a simple but “deliciously” painted still life.

There is a well-known review of this painting by the great Dostoevsky, who highly appreciated the kindness and attention to the common man emanating from the painting, which had not only a Russian, but also a universal human scale.

"Condemned" (1879)

Gradually, the artist’s subjects lose the humor and ironic attitude towards the characters inherent in his early paintings. The canvases acquire drama and ambiguity. These are several versions of the picture depicting commoners who have taken the path of revolutionary struggle, and the attitude of representatives of different strata of the Russian people towards such figures.

The young man is escorted out of the courthouse by an armed escort. Relatives are waiting for him at the exit, including his mother, father, a young girl and an elderly man. Apparently, the main character comes from peasant or urban poor origin. His fiancée and her father belong to the wealthier class. The artist does not show obvious benevolence towards the convict; there is no visible sympathy for him among those around him. He brought only suffering to his loved ones - the mother folded her hands imploringly, admonishing her son, the father sobbed inconsolably.

And the revolutionary himself does not look like an unyielding hero-sufferer for the people. In his gaze there is loss and lack of conviction that he is right. Makovsky, whose paintings are an accurate reflection of the prevailing mood in society, shows a change in attitude towards the methods of fighting the existing system, which radical parties and movements like “People's Will” resorted to.

"Rendezvous" (1883)

Children are a topic that Makovsky often worked on. Vladimir Egorovich, whose paintings at first are only a reflection of childish spontaneity, admiring the beginning of a new life, later talks about different, often dramatic, sides of childhood in Russia at that time.

In poor families, it was customary to give children away “to the people.” The child often became a powerless servant or apprentice, loaded with backbreaking work. Receiving from the owner only pitiful food and unsettled shelter, the children ceased to be a burden for the family, losing family comfort and growing up early. This path was especially common and familiar to peasant families, who gave the boy to serve in the city.

It is precisely this child’s fate that Makovsky narrates. can take many pages, although there are only two characters on the canvas. The peasant woman walked a long way with a small bundle and a stick in her hands. She brought her son a kalach to please her child. The woman looks with pity at the barefoot boy, dressed in a dirty apron - obviously, he works in some workshop and got a few minutes of free time to meet with his mother.

The artist’s painting style has also changed - there are no detailed and carefully painted details that distract attention and fragment the image. The gloomy coloring does not serve to express the joy of a short meeting, but to reflect the difficult mood of a lost childhood.

"On the Boulevard" (1886)

Makovsky often said that an artist has only a few minutes at his disposal, during which he must manage to tell something that might take a writer many pages. In the 1880s, the master achieved the highest skill in creating such novellas. One of these peaks both in terms of pictorial skill and content is the canvas “On the Boulevard”. During this period, V. E. Makovsky’s paintings contain only two characters, but they are enough for an in-depth analysis of social problems of enormous scale.

Before us is a small story about a dramatic break in the life of a young family. It seems that they came from a village where they were preparing to live, like their parents, in the ordinary labors and joys of the peasant way of life. But my husband was drawn to the city, to work, to a new, “beautiful” and interesting life. And after some time, the wife came to visit her husband. Now they are strangers. He has managed to imbue himself with the city spirit - he carefully monitors his appearance, in his hands is a small accordion - it is clear what he likes most about city life.

The girl is still very young, but she already understands what may await her in the future, where she sees complete hopelessness. This painting by Vladimir Makovsky emanates melancholy; it is a unique reflection of the private drama of two little people, and demonstrates the scale of the national problem of the destruction of the usual way of life, which has developed over centuries, and is now being destroyed as industrial centers develop.

Heritage

Vladimir Egorovich was distinguished by his enormous diligence and creative fertility. The result of his many years of work was a genuine encyclopedia of the most typical phenomena of Russian reality at the turn of two centuries. He addressed themes of various scales - from everyday scenes to mass political actions - and embodied them with true artistic skill.

Historians of Russian art note that towards the end of his life V. E. Makovsky became a supporter of more conservative views on the development of painting, having a negative attitude towards the search for new themes and means of expression. But the scale of this figure in Russian fine art does not become smaller from this.

Konstantin Makovsky is a famous Russian artist who painted many paintings of boyar Rus' in the 17th century. The furnishings of the boyar mansions, the clothes of the heroes of the paintings, and the boyars and boyars themselves are reproduced so faithfully that from the artist’s paintings one can study individual chapters of the history of Rus'.

The precision in the writing of individual details and motifs of patterns woven by the hands of Russian embroiderers, or clear ornaments on carved cups and bowls surprises and delights viewers of the past and present.

Luxurious clothes embroidered with pearls, amazingly beautiful headdresses of that time, beautiful boyars decorated with precious necklaces, boyars in brocade caftans - in everything one can feel with what love for Russian national beauty and culture, for the rich heritage of our ancestors, these pictures were painted . You can stand near each of them for a long time - admire the Russian patterns and feel pride and at the same time sadness, sadness that much has been lost, has not been preserved and is not preserved today. Therefore, such paintings, which contain unique evidence of the culture of the Russian land, are especially valuable to us.

Biography of the artist Konstantin Makovsky

Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky (1839 - 1915) was born into a family where there was an atmosphere of art worship. Many famous cultural and artistic figures visited their house. The artist’s father, Yegor Ivanovich Makovsky, was one of the largest collectors in Moscow in the second quarter of the 19th century. His hobby was works of fine art, mainly ancient engravings.

And Konstantin Egorovich, having inherited his father’s passion, collected all the masterpieces of Russian ancient craftsmanship, but these were “beautiful antiquities.” He skillfully arranged some things in living rooms and workshops, and then used them in his paintings, while others he simply displayed in his large old ebony cabinet, so that he could later admire and admire the beauty and skill of Russian masters.

On the cornice of the fireplace stood ancient household utensils: silver ladles, cups, washstands, fans - items from boyar times. Ancient boyars, multi-colored sundresses, pearl-studded armbands, kokoshniks embroidered with pearl lace - all this can be seen in the artist’s paintings. And besides the things lovingly collected by Konstantin Yegorovich, people who gathered around him also took part in his paintings. Sometimes scenes from boyar life were played out, which were then transferred to canvas. And this undoubtedly aroused the keen interest of the audience, because through Makovsky’s paintings they became familiar with the history of Rus' and the culture of their ancestors.

The artist’s daughter in her memoirs told how “... luxurious “living pictures” of boyar life were staged...”. Sometimes there were up to 150 people invited to these evenings, among whom were representatives of ancient families, descendants of those whom the artist depicted. They “...cleverly and beautifully dressed in brocade and...” in order to reproduce in them the scene conceived by the artist. This is how the paintings appeared - “The Wedding Feast”, “The Bride’s Choice” and many other paintings.

Paintings by Konstantin Makovsky

On the canvases of K.E. Makovsky created images of beautiful women, the artist’s contemporaries, in bright, luxurious costumes from his own collection. You look at the picture and feel as if the Russian pattern is glowing, the embroidered sundress of the Russian beauty is glistening with silk and silver. And if you pay attention, you will see that in each picture the hawthorn girls are wearing completely different headdresses. Indeed, the artist’s collection of kokoshniks and hats was his richest and most valuable acquisition.

Collecting Russian antiquities K.E. Makovsky continued to study throughout his life. By collecting masterpieces of Russian masters, the artist became familiar with the history of Russia and, admiring them, was inspired by new ideas. Now his paintings evoke in us not only admiration for the rich heritage of our ancestors, but also a desire to learn more and more about our homeland.

Writer E.I. spoke about how K.E. Makovsky used his collection in his work. Fortunato, who was lucky enough to be his model.

K.E. Makovsky was not only an artist. Communicating with major historians, he himself became a great specialist in the field of Russian antiquity. K.E. Makovsky sought to preserve the artistic heritage of Russia. Therefore, it is no coincidence that in 1915 he became a member of the Society for the Revival of Artistic Rus', whose main task was the preservation, study and promotion of Russian antiquity.

It is bitter and sad that the collection, collected over half a century, which occupied such an important place in the artist’s life, which became a reflection of an entire era in Russian culture, will be put up for auction just six months after his death. In September 1915, K.E. Makovsky was hit by a street car on one of the streets of Petrograd. Having received a severe head injury, the artist died two days later. Sudden death ruined all the plans...

More than 1,000 items were listed at the auction, some of them went to the capital's museums: the Russian Museum, the Hermitage, the Museum of the Baron Stieglitz School of Technical Drawing, and Moscow museums. Many items were bought by representatives of Moscow antique firms. Authentic suits, silver cups, ladles, glasses passed into the hands of prominent Moscow collectors.

But not everyone admired K. Makovsky’s paintings and his style of work.

At the beginning of his creative career, K. Makovsky shared the views of the Itinerant artists; he painted peasant children (“Children Running from a Thunderstorm,” “Date”), but already in the 1880s the artist irrevocably moved away from them and began organizing personal exhibitions.

In 1883, he created the painting “The Boyar Wedding Feast in the 17th Century”, followed by “The Choice of the Bride by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich” (1886), “The Death of Ivan the Terrible” (1888), “Dressing the Bride for the Crown” (1890), “The Kiss rite" (1895,). The paintings were a success both in Russia and at international exhibitions. For some of them, at the 1889 World Exhibition in Paris, K. Makovsky was awarded a gold medal.

Prices for his paintings were always high. P.M. Tretyakov sometimes could not acquire them. But foreign collectors willingly bought paintings from the “boyar” cycle, so most of the artist’s works left Russia.

Thanks to this success, K.E. Makovsky became one of the richest people. Throughout his life he was surrounded by luxury that no Russian artist had ever dreamed of. Makovsky fulfilled any order on any topic with equal brilliance. It was the latter that caused misunderstanding and even condemnation among many. Some, apparently, were jealous of the success, others believed that people with their everyday lives should be present in the paintings. But such paintings were not sold so readily, and many believed that Makovsky wrote on topics that were in demand, that is, for the sake of his own enrichment.

However, he always lived as he wanted and wrote what he wanted. His vision of beauty simply coincided with the demands and demands of those people who were willing to pay a lot of money for his paintings. His easy success became the main reason for the negative attitude of the Itinerant artists towards him and his work. He was accused of using art and his talent for material benefits.

K.E. Makovsky began his artistic journey together with the Itinerant artists, exhibiting paintings on the theme of the life of the people. However, over time, his interests changed, and from the 1880s he became a successful salon portrait painter. The fact that this happened for the sake of material wealth cannot be believed. After all, his numerous collections and multifaceted talent speak about this. But it cannot be denied that Makovsky did not seek recognition abroad. In addition, Europeans were interested in Russian history, so his works sold quickly.

In his personal life, Makovsky was also happy. His pleasant appearance, sociability, and the always open and smiling look of his clear eyes made Konstantin Egorovich always a welcome guest. He was married three times. His first wife Lenochka Burkova, an actress at the Alexandrinsky Theater, lived a short life with him. A charming and gentle girl brought a lot of joy and warmth into his life. But illness took her away from earthly life early.

Carefree and greedy for the pleasures of life, Konstantin Yegorovich quickly consoled himself when he saw a girl of extraordinary beauty at the ball - Yulenka Letkova. The girl was only sixteen years old, and the charming painter was thirty-six. Soon the wedding took place. Having lived twenty years of a happy family life, Konstantin Yegorovich painted many paintings, most of which contain a sweet image of his young wife. For many years, Yulia Pavlovna Makovskaya was his muse and model for portraits.

In 1889, Konstantin Makovsky went to the World Exhibition in Paris, where he exhibited several of his paintings. There he became interested in the young Maria Alekseevna Matavtina (1869-1919). In 1891, an illegitimate son, Konstantin, was born. I had to confess everything to my wife. Yulia Pavlovna did not forgive the betrayal. A few years later, a divorce was filed. And Konstantin Egorovich continued his happy family life with his third wife, whom he also used as a model. He also often depicted his children from both his second and third marriages on his canvases.

The master was born in 1839 in the family of a talented man and a good artist, Yegor Ivanovich Makovsky. The artistic environment in which Konstantin was brought up left its mark on all the children from this family. The boys became famous artists, and their sister Maria became an actress.

Konstantin easily and successfully studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. His parents’ friends were famous artists - V. Tropinin and, which undoubtedly influenced the master’s work.

Konstantin just as successfully entered the Imperial Academy of Arts, studied well, and while still a student began to participate in exhibitions. But he did not receive an academic diploma, since, together with some other students, he did not work on canvases on the mythology of the Scandinavian countries.

Makovsky was characterized by a realistic depiction of reality, but he was also not alien to the romantic direction and the tendency to use rather magnificent decorative details and elements. Nevertheless, his canvases look very organic and complete; they reveal thorough academic training and the undoubted talent of a painter and draftsman.

Acquaintance and joint work with a logical image led to the creation of the “Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions” with some other famous artists. These artists quickly became known as the Itinerants. Makovsky continued his series of works that depicted ordinary people engaged in their ordinary, everyday activities.

The themes of the works and especially the artistic means of realizing the plan, the color scheme of Konstantin’s paintings were greatly influenced by his travels to Serbia and. The paintings acquire multicolor, rich coloring and are often distinguished by a complex multi-figure composition. The master is fascinated by historical events, which he greatly idealizes for the sake of greater visual appeal.

Also during this period, Makovsky successfully painted a large number of portraits. Among them are unusually beautiful images of Maria Volkonskaya and the wife of Tsar Alexander III, Maria Fedorovna, in their youth. The last picture is a ceremonial image, fully reflecting the mass passion of the aristocracy for pseudo-Russian motifs. The queen's rich jewelry and her tiara, strongly reminiscent of a kokoshnik, clearly demonstrate the artist's highest skill.

These same features are also characteristic of other works by the master depicting Russian people of past eras. They are extremely idealized, but very beautiful and attractive, masterfully executed.

The life of a talented artist was interrupted suddenly. A 76-year-old foreman died when his crew was hit by a tram. He left behind many beautiful paintings that demonstrate his high level as an artist. In his paintings there remains a whole era, stormy and energetic, a time when new Russian art was being formed and memorable, epoch-making canvases were created.