Artist Vasily Vereshchagin. Before the attack
Name: Vasily Vereschagin
Age: 61 years old
Activity: artist
Marital status: was married
Vasily Vereshchagin: biography
Vasily Vereshchagin is the most famous of the battle painters, a creator about whom a contemporary and critic said:
“Not just an artist, but something more. Despite the interest of his painting collections, the author himself is a hundred times more interesting and instructive.”
Childhood and youth
The biography of Vasily Vasilyevich has been associated with military affairs since childhood. The boy was born in noble family Cherepovets October 14, 1842. The father held a prominent government position and took the education of his descendants very seriously. Vasily became the third of four sons. All of them were sent to military educational institutions.
The two younger ones, Sergei and Alexander, connected their lives with the art of war, and the two older ones, Vasily and Nikolai, chose a different path, which earned their father’s wrath. Nikolai subsequently became a public figure and organizer of a new industry in the economy - butter and cheese making.
Vasily connected his life with the theater of military operations, but by no means in the way his father expected. The boy entered the Marine cadet corps St. Petersburg. In addition to outstanding military figures, the institution could boast of graduates who achieved heights in other fields: navigator and discoverer, marine painter Alexey Bogolyubov, adventurer Fyodor Tolstoy. Future master genre of battle painting Vereshchagin added to this list.
According to contemporaries, the young man had a willful character. He grew up arrogant, rude, hot-tempered, prone to demonstrative behavior, but at the same time tenacious, gifted, strong-willed.
The teachers admired the boy's talent for sketching what he saw from memory. In the future, this gift will play a significant role in the development of Vereshchagin as a creator. In parallel with his studies at a military institution, he was allowed to attend classes at the Drawing School of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists.
Vasily Vereshchagin - student at the Academy of Arts Having made his way from cadet to midshipman, he clearly decided not to continue his military career. After serving a short term with the rank of midshipman, he resigned and already in 1860 entered the Imperial Academy of Arts, where he studied intermittently until 1866.
Absences occurred in the Caucasus, where he painted from life, and in France, where Vasily took lessons from the painter Jean-Leon Gerome and attended classes at the Paris Academy fine arts. Upon returning to St. Petersburg, he graduated from the Academy of Arts and almost immediately set off on his first creative journey.
Creation
In 1867, the Governor-General of Turkestan, Konstantin von Kaufmann, invited young Vasily to accompany him as an artist. Like the war reporters of the future, Vereshchagin enlisted and meticulously documented the events surrounding him with pen and brush. Upon arrival in Samarkand he came under siege. Having set an example to the entire garrison, he rushed with weapons at the enemy, and the soldiers rushed after him to attack.
The valiant deed was awarded the Order of St. George, IV degree. This award was the only one in his life that the artist accepted. He denied distinctive signs and division into classes and ranks, especially in art. For the same reason, in the 70s he refused the honorary title of professor at the Academy of Arts.
In 1869, the battle painter returned to St. Petersburg, where, with the assistance of von Kaufman, he demonstrated his work as part of the Turkestan Exhibition. The paintings presented to the public were painted by the author in Tashkent, Bukhara, Samarkand and other cities. Soon Vereshchagin again goes to the Turkestan region, but this time his path runs through Siberia.
He visited Kyrgyzstan, Semirechye. An indelible impression was made by Western China, where there was a struggle against the rebellious Dungans. Ruined villages, ruins of houses and human remains became the subjects of his sketches.
According to one version, the work “The Apotheosis of War” was written under the influence of the story of the tyrant Valikhantor, who executed hundreds of people in the Kashgar district. Their heads were placed in pyramids by decree of the despot. According to another opinion, the premise was the legend of Tamerlane, who helped the wives of Baghdad and Damascus to punish their husbands who were mired in sin. The warrior instructed the soldiers to cut off the heads of the libertines, and then put them in 7 pyramids.
Describing the genre of the painting, Vasily Vasilyevich gloomily joked that if you remove the crows, you will get a still life. One way or another, the monumental canvas of 1871 with the inscription on the frame “Dedicated to all great conquerors - past, present and future” became one of the key works in “ Turkestan series", which Vereshchagin created in 1871-1873 in Munich. The cycle also included the “Barbarians” subseries.
In total, 81 sketches, 133 drawings and 13 paintings were created. In addition to military images, the canvases depict everyday life, nature, architecture, and colorful representatives of the local population, as, for example, in the “Portrait of a Bachi”.
The series also included the painting “Fatally Wounded,” now kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery. The picture became a kind of anti-war manifesto for Vereshchagin. Paradoxically, the war simultaneously repulsed and attracted the artist. It, its consequences, and its participants were the subject of creativity, but the horrors of death strengthened the pacifist worldview. He painted battle paintings in the name of peace.
Vernissage took place in Crystal Palace London in 1873, and a year later the work was seen by the public in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Vereshchagin considered personal exhibitions the only acceptable form of communication with the viewer, one-on-one. During the artist’s lifetime, over 60 of them took place in cities in Europe, Russia and the United States. According to contemporaries, works of art affected the audience “like severe nightmares of fever.”
The creator's phenomenal memory allowed him to write in the studio. He valued the art of photography for its realistic rendering of details. In creativity I strived with photographic precision describe an event that formed a unique style with a static composition, clear lines, and excessively bright colors. However, the artist did not recognize realism for the sake of realism. The absence of an idea in the canvas equated it to an object of decor, furniture, nothing more:
“Each of my paintings should say something, at least that’s why I paint them,” said Vereshchagin.
From Germany the artist moves to India and visits Tibet. In 1877, with the beginning Russian-Turkish war again finds himself in the thick of things and even gets shot in the leg. The destroyer Shutka, on board which the artist was sailing, came under fire from the Turks. The wound turned out to be serious, gangrene began, but a timely operation returned the man to duty.
Afterwards, the tireless traveler goes to Palestine and Syria. The reports on the trip included the “Trilogy of Executions”, “Palestine Series” and the artist’s reflections:
“I was especially struck by the fact that even in our time people kill each other everywhere under all kinds of pretexts and in every possible way. Murder in droves is still called war, and murder individuals called death penalty. Everywhere the same worship of brute force and the same inconsistency... and this is done even in Christian countries in the name of one whose teaching was based on peace and love.
One of Vereshchagin’s last series was “Napoleon in Russia,” written in 1887-1900. Among the paintings that demonstrated patriotism and national spirit, “The End of the Battle of Borodino” stood out.
This was followed by the “Hospital Series”, in the paintings of which the author depicted his second wife Lydia in the image of a nurse.
Japan was a country where the painter wanted to visit for many years. In 1903 he visited the Country rising sun and managed to bring about 20 sketches before political situation completely heated up.
Having barely started two large paintings on a Japanese theme, the painter again went to Far East- In 1904, the Russo-Japanese War began. Here in Port Arthur, the artist died on board a battleship that was hit by a mine.
Vereshchagin was not only a battle painter, but a talented publicist. He is the author of a dozen books and many articles, notes and essays published in the press both in Russia and abroad.
Personal life
IN personal life The artist's life, full of travel and military expeditions, found room for love relationships. The painter was married twice. It is curious that both spouses were, in one way or another, associates of his work. The first wife, Elisabeth Fischer, whom he met in Munich, helped write books.
The wedding took place in 1871, and in 1889, during a trip to the USA, Vasily Vasilyevich became interested in the pianist Lydia Andreevskaya, who was studying musical accompaniment his exhibitions. In 1894, the couple tied the knot.
Documentary film about Vasily Vereshchagin “Chronicle of War”In unions, the artist had five children. Dedicated to the events in Vereshchagin’s life from childhood memories to death in the gloomy waves of Port Arthur documentary“Chronicle of War” of the TV channel “Culture”.
Death
In 1904, the artist went to the Far East, where the battles of the Russian-Japanese War unfolded.
On March 31, he entered the outer roadstead of Port Arthur on board the battleship Petropavlovsk under the command of the famous admiral Stepan Makarov. The ship hit a mine. The artist and the ship's crew died.
Paintings
- 1871 – “Rich Kyrgyz hunter with falcon”
- 1871 – “Attacked by surprise”
- 1871-1872 – “Apotheosis of War”
- 1873 – “Fatally Wounded”
- 1874-1876 – “Taj Mahal Mausoleum in Agra”
- 1881 – “In the Turkish mortuary”
- 1884 – “Suppression of the Indian Rebellion by the British”
- 1884-1885 – “Execution of conspirators in Russia”
- 1887 – “Roman Crucifixion”
- 1899-1901 – “The end of the Battle of Borodino”
- 1903 – “In the Park”
Vasily Vasilievich Vereshchagin- one of the largest Russian realist artists. His work gained national fame and won high international authority. In the history of world art, Vereshchagin has firmly established himself as a famous battle painter.
However, the outstanding art critic V.V. Stasov rightly pointed out the narrowness and inaccuracy of this definition. And in fact, the range of Vereshchagin’s creativity is much wider than the battle genre. The artist also significantly enriched everyday, historical, landscape, portrait painting of his era. It is no coincidence that the world famous German artist of the 19th century, Adolf Menzel, amazed by the versatility of Vereshchagin’s creativity and talent, exclaimed: “This one can do anything!”
Vereshchagin was born in 1842. In 1853 he entered the naval cadet corps. At the end of the course, having spent no more than one month in the service, he retired and entered the Academy of Arts, where he worked under the guidance of A. T. Markov and A. E. Beideman. Having received a small silver medal for the sketch “The Massacre of Penelope’s Suitors” and praise from the academy for the composition, Vereshchagin, without completing the course, went abroad.
In Paris, he entered the Ecole des beaux-arts and worked under the guidance of the French artist Jerome. Returning from abroad, he went to the Caucasus and for some time in Tiflis he taught drawing in one of the women's educational institutions. The drawings of types and scenes that he brought from the Caucasus were subsequently published in the French magazines “Le Tour de Monde” and in the Russian “World Traveller”; some of them were at the academic exhibition in 1867. They have only ethnographic significance. In 1864, Vereshchagin was on the Danube and then visited the Caucasus again; Having arrived in St. Petersburg in 1865, he asked the Academy to issue him a certificate stating that he had been awarded a silver medal and that he had traveled around the Caucasus and the Transcaucasian region for artistic purposes - which was done. In 1865, he again went to Paris and stayed there for a whole year, exhibiting one of his paintings for the first time in the salon of 1866.
In 1867, Vasily Vereshchagin went to Turkestan, where he was under Governor General Kaufman; By the way, he distinguished himself in military affairs near Samarkand, for which he received the Order of St. George. Returning from Turkestan, he went abroad for the third time; lived partly in Paris, partly in Munich.
Almost all of Vereshchagin's Turkestan paintings were painted in Munich. Public special attention drew attention to “After Success”, “After Failure”, “Opium Eaters”, as well as to a photograph from the painting “Bacha with His Fans” destroyed by the artist himself. The entire collection of Turkestan paintings was exhibited by V. in London in 1873, and produced strong impression. A year later, St. Petersburg saw this collection, where it was exhibited for free. In view of the rumors and accusations of bias, V. removed from the exhibition and destroyed three paintings from this wonderful collection: “Surrounded - Pursued,” “Forgotten” and “Entered.” The entire collection consists of 121 numbers. In 1874, the Academy Council, taking into account its artistic works, elevated V. to the rank of professor, of which Vereshchagin was officially notified; but Vereshchagin, considering all ranks and differences in art to be undoubtedly harmful, refused this title. Then the academy council decided to exclude Vereshchagin from the list of its members. Vereshchagin stayed in India for two years, and in 1876 he settled in Paris, where he began painting based on sketches brought from India. The following year Vereshchagin went to the Danube; there he was under Skobelev and Gurko and received a wound while staying on the destroyer of Lieutenant Skrydlov. Then he was present at the Battle of Plevna and during the cavalry raid on Adrianople he even served as chief of staff. He traveled almost all of Bulgaria and brought him to Paris huge amount sketches and worked there to complete these war paintings for two whole years. And in 1879 and 1880. he exhibited both collections (Indian and Bulgarian) in the main cities of Europe, and in 1883 in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
There are only 32 Indian paintings, and 13 Bulgarian ones. In 1884, Vereshchagin went to Palestine and Syria, continuing to paint sketches. Returning to Europe, he in 1885 - 88. exhibited his Palestinian paintings on subjects from the New Testament in Vienna, Berlin, Leipzig and New York. Possessing remarkable talent (a brilliant colorist), V. is a strong supporter of realism in art; he takes subjects only from reality and, if he interprets them tendentiously, it is only to protest against the horrors of war. In his paintings from the New Testament, he decisively breaks any connection with the tradition of religious painting.
In any case, Vereshchagin cannot but be considered one of the most wonderful artists modern Europe. His exhibitions in Russia, Europe and America always aroused a lot of talk, and articles about him on various European languages and, including in Russian, one can say without exaggeration, they constitute an entire literature. As a writer, Vereshchagin is known for his travels and memoirs, such as “Notes, Sketches and Memoirs”, “Trip to the Himalayas”. In the magazine "Artist" Vereshchagin published an article in 1890 entitled "Realism", in which he acts as an ardent defender of realism in art
As soon as the Russo-Japanese War broke out, Vereshchagin considered it his moral duty to go to the front. The sixty-two-year-old artist, leaving his beloved wife and three young children, headed into the thick of military events to again tell people the truth about the war, to reveal it true essence. While on the flagship Petropavlovsk, he, along with Admiral S. O. Makarov, died on March 31, 1904 from the explosion of Japanese mines. And it was, in the full sense of the word, death at a combat post. An eyewitness to the Petropavlovsk disaster, Captain N.M. Yakovlev, who miraculously escaped during the explosion, said that until the last moment he saw Vereshchagin with an album where he recorded the sea panorama that opened up to his gaze.
Vereshchagin's death caused reactions all over the world. A lot of articles about the life and work of Vereshchagin appeared in the press. Among them, the article by V.V. Stasov was especially bright and meaningful. In St. Petersburg in the fall of 1904, a large posthumous exhibition of Vereshchagin’s paintings opened, and a few years later a museum named after him was created in the city of Nikolaev, the exhibition of which included some of the works and personal belongings of V.V. Vereshchagin.
I. E. Repin said heartfelt words about Vereshchagin: “Vereshchagin is the greatest artist of his time [...] he opens up new paths in art.” “Vereshchagin is a colossal personality, he is truly a hero... Vereshchagin is a super-artist, just like a super-man.”
“Whatever war anyone starts, in any case it is a stupid desire to own the world and its resources” - V. Vereshchagin
From the time of Peter I to our times, a conventional list of “100 greatest Russian artists” has been formed in Russian painting. Of course, these figures are significantly underestimated, and it seems to me that the real list of great Russian artists is not so small, and certainly exceeds this magically verified hundred. But, apparently, it just so happened among real connoisseurs and pseudo-lovers of art that there must certainly be some kind of list in which some, taking into account their popularity, fall into, while others remain beyond the line of this immensely huge “greatness” (forgive the tautology).
To be fair, you need to understand that almost always only the most “popular” became great. That is, not those who are content with the sighs of an enthusiastic audience - “I’m in admiration!”, “Beautiful!”, “lovely, lovely!”, and not those who are recognized on the street, and not even those who gather crowds of onlookers at the first -second-rate exhibitions, and only those artists for whose work ardent collectors are ready to tear each other to pieces. It is here, at this stage, that the artist’s popularity begins. Only then does the transformation of the nameless and talented artist to "great".
Speaking about great Russian artists, the brightest come to mind - Aivazovsky, Repin, Serov, Shishkin, Malevich, Vasnetsov, Vereshchagin and others no less influential and great... The creativity of each of them is invaluable and great.
But if we measure “greatness”, breaking it down into many components, then “among the worlds, in the twinkling luminaries of one Star, I repeat the name...” - Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin - “at one time the most popular person in all Russian art - not only in Russia, but throughout all over the world, which made not only St. Petersburg and Moscow, but also Berlin, Paris, London and America worry and get excited to the point of stupor" (A. Benoit)
“Vereshchagin is not just an artist, but something more,” wrote Kramskoy after the first acquaintance with his paintings, and a few years later he remarked: “Despite the interest of his painting collections, the author himself is a hundred times more interesting and instructive.”
In literature, this battle painter was Tolstoy (in War and Peace), and in painting - Vereshchagin. No, there were other famous and great ones - Roubaud, Grekov, Villevalde, Karazin, but it was with the advent of the pacifist Vasily Vereshchagin in painting that the world of war on canvas ceased to be a bright pink game, a war game in which polished and glossy soldiers frolicked at full speed.
From the memoirs of the Russian artist and art critic Alexander Benois:
“Before Vereshchagin, all the battle paintings that could be seen in our palaces, at exhibitions, in essence, depicted luxurious parades and maneuvers, among which a field marshal and his retinue raced on a magnificent horse. Here and there in these paintings, in very moderate numbers and certainly in beautiful poses, were scattered pro forma several clean dead. The very nature that surrounded these scenes was combed and smoothed in a way that in reality this could not be even on the quietest and calmest days, and at the same time, all such pictures and paintings were always executed in that sweet manner that was brought to us in the times of Nicholas the First Ladurner, Sauerweid and Raffe, who lived with us for some time. This rosy style was successfully adopted by all our home-grown battle painters (Timm, Kotzebue, Filippov, Gruzinsky, Villevalde, etc.), who wrote countless, very polished, very tasty and deadly monotonous battles.
Everyone was so accustomed to images of war exclusively in the form of an amusing, sleek and rosy holiday, some kind of fun with adventures, that it never occurred to anyone that in reality this was not how things looked. Tolstoy in his “Sevastopol” and in “War and Peace” destroyed these illusions, and Vereshchagin then repeated in painting what Tolstoy had done in literature.
Naturally, when, instead of the clean pictures of Villevalde, the Russian public saw the pictures of Vereshchagin, who suddenly so simply, cynically exposed the war and showed it as a dirty, disgusting, gloomy and colossal villainy, they screamed at the top of their lungs and began to hate and love such a daredevil with all their might..."
"Apotheosis of War", 1871
Vereshchagin is known to his contemporaries for “The Apotheosis of War” (1871). Most famous masterpiece The artist rests within the walls of the Tretyakov Gallery. There is also a note on the painting left by the artist on the frame: "Dedicated to all great conquerors, past, present and future."
The power of this painting was such that one Prussian general advised Emperor Alexander II to “order all the artist’s war paintings to be burned, as having the most harmful influence.” And for more than thirty years state museums Russia did not acquire a single painting by this “scandalous” artist.
The horror of war, depicted in detail, symbolizing death and devastation, contrary to the master’s wills, will forever remain only the brilliant canvas of a great pacifist artist. The idea itself is transparent, but not heard. And how many wars could be prevented through art, through the paintings of Vereshchagin alone. But you won’t meet the powers that be, modern conquerors stringing together their vision of a world without war in the Tretyakov Gallery.
“Some spread the idea of peace with their fascinating words, others put forward various arguments in its defense - religious, political, economic, and I preach the same through colors,” said this stern, courageous and fearless man.
History of "Apotheosis"
Initially, the painting was called “The Triumph of Tamerlane.” The idea was connected with Tamerlane, whose troops left behind such pyramids of skulls, but the picture is not of a specific historical nature.
According to history, one day the women of Baghdad and Damascus turned to Tamerlane, complaining about their husbands, mired in sins and debauchery. Then he ordered each warrior from his 200,000-strong army to bring the severed head of their depraved husbands. After the order was carried out, seven pyramids of heads were laid out.
According to another version, the painting was created by Vereshchagin under the influence of a story about how the ruler of Kashgar, Valikhan Tore, executed a European traveler and ordered his head to be placed on the top of a pyramid made from the skulls of other executed people.
In 1867, Vereshchagin left for Turkestan, where he was an ensign under Governor General K. P. Kaufman. Russia was then conquering these lands, and Vereshchagin saw enough of death and corpses, which aroused compassion and philanthropy in him. This is where the famous “Turkestan Series” appeared, where the battle painter depicted not only military operations, but also the nature and scenes of everyday life in Central Asia. And after a trip to Western China in 1869, where Bogdykhan’s troops ruthlessly pacified the uprising of local Dungans and Uyghurs, the painting “The Apotheosis of War” appeared.
Inspired by the horror of war
The artist did not admire his paintings at all. His works are tragic in that O they tell the story, but not the way it is told. With the thirst of a scientist, researcher, historian, war reporter and only then an artist, he penetrated into the very heart of military operations. He was not just an observer, but a participant in the battles, being a courageous example of what a real war reporter should be:
“To fulfill the goal that I set myself, namely: to give society pictures of a real, genuine war cannot be done by looking at the battle through binoculars from a beautiful distance, but you need to feel and do everything yourself, participate in attacks, assaults, victories, defeats, experience hunger, cold, illness, wounds... We must not be afraid to sacrifice our blood, our meat - otherwise my paintings will be “wrong.”
“Mortally wounded” 1873. On the frame there are the author’s texts at the top: “Oh, they killed, brothers! ... killed... oh my death has come!..." Vereshchagin received his baptism of fire at the age of 25, in Samarkand.
In 1867, he gladly accepted the invitation of the Turkestan Governor-General, General K. P. Kaufman, to be an artist with him. Arriving in Samarkand after its capture by Russian troops on May 2, 1868, Vereshchagin withstood a heavy siege of this city by rebel local residents with a handful of Russian soldiers. Vereshchagin's outstanding role in this defense earned him the Order of St. George, 4th class (August 14, 1868), which he wore with pride, although he generally denied any awards:
“During the eight-day siege of the Samarkand citadel by crowds of Bukharts, ensign Vereshchagin encouraged the garrison with a courageous example. When on June 3 the enemy approached the gate in huge masses and, rushing at the guns, had already occupied all the huts, Ensign Vereshchagin, despite the hail of stones and murderous rifle fire, rushed with a gun in his hands and captivated the brave defenders of the citadel with his heroic example.”
At the fortress wall. "Let them come in." 1871, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg 
“After failure” 1868, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg The artist returned from Samarkand in a depressed mood. The waning valor and demonstrated heroism gave way to disappointment and emptiness. From then on, from the siege of the Samarkand citadel, ideas about life and death, war and peace became the all-consuming meaning of most of the artist’s works, burned “ deep feeling historian and judge of humanity." From now on, he has something to say, if only they would hear it.
But they didn’t want to hear. They saw, they saw, but they didn’t want to hear. Despite world recognition and popularity, in Russia the artist was treated coolly, and after one of the exhibitions in St. Petersburg he was accused of anti-patriotism and sympathy for the enemy. Many of the paintings caused displeasure at the top. So, the President of the Academy of Arts Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich ordered the provocative captions to the paintings to be replaced. And Emperor Alexander II, having surveyed the exhibition, said sadly: “All this is true, it all happened like that,” but did not want to see the author. Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich, the future peacemaker Emperor Alexander III, expressed his opinion about the artist:
“His constant tendentiousness is disgusting to national pride and one can conclude from them: either Vereshchagin is a brute or a completely crazy person.”
However, this did not prevent a month later the Imperial Academy of Arts from awarding Vereshchagin the title of professor, which Vereshchagin refused.
Vereshchagin was not afraid of the court's hostility. He wrote to his friend Stasov: “All this... shows that I am on a sound, unhypocritical path, which will be understood and appreciated in Russia.”
In 1871, Vereshchagin moved to Munich. In his desires to tell the world about the real horrors of war, he encountered no obstacles. He is greeted with standing ovations in Berlin, in the Crystal Palace of London, in Paris and other European cities. The exhibited paintings, emphasizing the absurdity and criminality of the war, caused a real storm of discussion, stirring up public opinion.
His popularity can be judged from the figures: his exhibition in St. Petersburg in 1880 was visited by 240 thousand people (in 40 days), in Berlin - 140 thousand people (in 65 days), in Vienna - 110 thousand (in 28 days ). Many modern pop stars have never dreamed of such fame.
After luck. 1868, State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg Then Vereshchagin lived in India for almost two years, also traveling to Tibet. In the spring of 1876, the artist returned to Paris.
Having learned in the spring of 1877 about the beginning of the Russian-Turkish war, he immediately went into the active army and took part in some battles.
In June of the same year, he was seriously wounded: Vereshchagin asked to serve as an observer on board the destroyer Shutka, which was laying mines on the Danube. During an attack on a Turkish ship, they were fired upon by the Turks and a stray bullet pierced through the thigh.
“In anticipation that we were about to sink, I stood with one foot on the side; I hear a strong crash under me and a blow to my thigh, and what a blow! - like a butt.
The wound turned out to be serious; due to improper treatment, inflammation began and the first signs of gangrene appeared. He had to undergo surgery to open the wound, after which he quickly recovered.
Night halt great army. 1896-1897, State Historical Museum, Moscow 
They attack by surprise. 1871, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow The last war and the death of V.V. Vereshchagin
From 1882 to 1903 Vereshchagin travels a lot: India, Syria, Palestine, Pinega, Northern Dvina, Solovki, Crimea, Philippines, USA, Cuba, Japan, continuing to create, create, surprise.
And again humanity does not hear him. Another bloodshed is on the way. The Russo-Japanese War was the third and last in his life. Fit, slender, but already completely gray, the grandfather goes to the front again. The artist has only a few days left to live...
V.V. Vereshchagin in Port Arthur (to the right of V.V. Vereshchagin is Commander-in-Chief A.N. Kuropatkin) Before us about last day Vasily Vereshchagin received the memories of the journalist and part-time artist N.I. Kravchenko. :
“For Easter, I went from Mukden to Arthur. I drove for quite a long time, about forty hours, and when I arrived there, the train of Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich was already there, which, when leaving, I saw in Mukden. We were obviously moved at night. Vasily Vasilyevich came from Russia on this train, and lived in it when the train was in Mukden.
In Arthur they told me that “Vereshchagin has arrived.” Then, they say, he often visited Admiral Makarov on the Petropavlovsk as an old good friend, as a comrade in arms.
IN last time I saw Vasily Vasilyevich on March 30. Sitting in the Saratov restaurant, I had breakfast and looked through the glass onto the street...
- Gentlemen, Vereshchagin is coming! - someone shouted.
And almost instantly all eyes turned to the slender, light figure V.V., in a blue suit jacket, walked past with quick steps. His beautiful white beard shone silver under the rays of the hot sun. On his head was a lambskin cap.
He walked straight to mailbox; you could see how he put a large package there, looked into the hole and then, with the same measured, calm step, walked back to the station.”
As it turned out, this was one of the artist’s letters to Emperor Nicholas II. But this became known much later. In his letters, Vereshchagin fears most of all that the tsar might decide to “have mercy” on Japan and make peace with her, “without punishing her completely.” To bring Japan to “humility”, to wash away the “insult” it had caused to the Tsar - this, in his opinion, is required by Russian prestige in Asia. He bombards the Tsar with advice on the immediate construction of cruisers, bridges, sending long-range cannons to Port Arthur, sending troops to the borders of India, etc. etc. How the tsar reacted to the military advice of his civilian correspondent is unknown: there are no marks on the surviving original letters. According to historians, these letters clearly revealed not the pacifist sentiments of the aged patriotic artist, but rather the tsar’s call for toughness and steadfastness.
Memoirs of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich:
Admiral Stepan Osipovich Makarov “Cloudy morning March 31st. At night, our destroyer “Strashny” was lost in an unequal struggle. This sad news was conveyed to us by the returning “Bayan”, who, under heavy fire, managed to save only five from the “Terrible” crew. Makarov could not come to terms with the idea that there, at the site of the death of the "Terrible", there could still be a few people from the destroyer's crew left, helplessly struggling with death. He wanted to make sure for himself, hoping to save his own, even with a fight... and “Bayan” was ordered to go forward to indicate the place of death of “Terrible”. Our squadron began to leave the harbor, and the Petropavlovsk, to which I moved with the headquarters of Admiral Makarov from the Diana, was already about 7 o’clock. went out to the outer roadstead in the morning; the remaining battleships were somewhat delayed in the internal roadstead.
The admiral's entire headquarters was on the bridge.
Soon the Bayan signaled that it had noticed the enemy, who, a little later, opened fire on the Bayan.
Admiral Makarov decided to go forward, and our detachment began to respond to enemy fire. As we approached, the Japanese turned and began to quickly move away. A little later, another enemy squadron appeared on the horizon. Seeing significantly superior enemy forces in front of him, Admiral Makarov decided to turn back to be closer to the coastal batteries. We turned and walked at a fast pace towards Arthur. The enemy stopped in some kind of indecision. Already under the protection of coastal batteries, Petropavlovsk slowed down, and the crew was released to have lunch; The officers began to disperse little by little. Those who remained on the bridge were: Admiral Makarov, the commander of the Petropavlovsk, Captain 1st Rank Yakovlev, Rear Admiral Mollas, Lieutenant Wulf, the artist Vereshchagin and me.
I stood with Vereshchagin on right side bridge. Vereshchagin made sketches from the Japanese squadron and, talking about his participation in many campaigns, said with great confidence that he was deeply convinced that where he was, nothing could happen there.
Suddenly there was an incredible explosion... The battleship shuddered, and terrible power a stream of hot, suffocating gas burned my face. The air was filled with a heavy, acrid smell, as it seemed to me - the smell of our gunpowder. Seeing that the battleship was quickly listing to starboard, I instantly ran to the left side... On the way, I had to jump over the corpse of Admiral Mollas, who lay with a bloody head next to the corpses of two signalmen. Jumping over the railing, I jumped onto the bow 12″ tower. I clearly saw and realized that there had been an explosion in our cellars, that the battleship was dying... The entire starboard side was already in breakers, water was noisily flooding the battleship in a huge wave... and the Petropavlovsk, moving forward, quickly plunged its nose into the depths of the sea.
At the first moment I had the desire to jump from the tower onto the deck, but, realizing that I could break my legs, I quickly lowered myself on my hands, holding onto the upper edge of the tower, and threw myself into the water ... "
On that day cousin Nicholas II, Prince Kirill, and about 80 other people were rescued. The rest - more than 650 people - are still considered missing.
The death of Petropavlovsk had an extremely negative impact on the combat activities of the Pacific squadron. This tragedy shocked not only Russia, but the whole world. Indeed, along with the death of the talented leader and organizer of the defense of Port Arthur, Vice Admiral S. O. Makarov, one of the greatest artists The Russian Empire, adamantly celebrating life outside of war and world peace.
Officers and crew of the battleship Petropavlovsk in July 1904 Facts about Vasily Vereshchagin
In America, he was offered honorary citizenship and dreamed that he would become the founder of the American school of painting.
With his first wife, Vereshchagin undertook an ascent to the Himalayas. They then climbed very high without any equipment, the accompanying ones fell behind, and the young couple had to spend a cold night, they almost died. The British, by the way, were very frightened by this Vereshchagin journey. They believed that he, as a scout, sketched military paths. The newspapers then wrote that Vereshchagin was paving the way for Russian bayonets with a brush.
In France, Vereshchagin met the battle painter Meissonnier. He talked about working on the painting “Napoleon in 1814.” To paint a war-damaged road from life, the artist covered a special platform with a layer of clay, drove a fake cannon on wheels along it several times, made horse footprints with a horseshoe, and sprinkled everything with flour and salt to create the impression of shiny snow. “How do you solve such problems, Monsieur Vereshchagin?” – he asked. “I don’t have such problems,” Vereshchagin replied. “In Russia, in peacetime, it’s enough to take any road, and it will turn out to be rutted and impassable, just like after a battle.”
In front of Moscow, awaiting the deputation of the boyars. 1891-1892, State Historical Museum, Moscow In everyday life, Vereshchagin was a difficult person. Everything in the house was subject to his schedule. At 5-6 o'clock in the morning the artist was already in the studio. No one was allowed to go there - a tray with breakfast was pushed through the slightly open door. If the plates clinked, he immediately lost his temper. He had a fantastic performance. They gossiped that Vereshchagin had slaves sitting in his basements and drawing for him.
He was an idealist both in life and in work. I didn’t lie myself and criticized others for it. About Ivanov’s painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People,” Vereshchagin writes: “How can you paint Palestine, sitting in Italy, without seeing this sun, the reflection of this haze from the earth? We all know that John the Baptist did not wash, did not cut his hair, did not scratch his beard for 30 years. And we see a handsome man with washed curls, with aristocratic fingers...”
For excessive realism, for the fact that Vereshchagin portrayed Jesus Christ as a historical character, our Church banned the import of a series of his gospel works into Russia. And the Archbishop of Vienna cursed the artist and forbade the residents of Vienna to attend his exhibition. But this only sparked interest. When Vereshchagin showed these paintings in America, the impresario compiled the documents in such a way that the entire series began to belong to him. In 2007, one of the paintings, “The Western Wall,” was sold at auction for $3 million 624 thousand.
A document drawn up in bad faith, according to which all rights to the rarest paintings by Vereshchagin were transferred to the rogue impresario who organized his exhibition in America, has not yet been challenged historical homeland!
Defeated. Memorial service. 1878-1879, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow The artist Metelitsa was supposed to sail on that battleship. He got sick. And Makarov, an old friend from the cadet corps, invited Vereshchagin to go on a campaign. The exploded ship sank to the bottom in 2 minutes.
There are no remains of the artist, nor a monument at the site of his death. By an evil irony of fate, the graves of all of Vereshchagin’s relatives also disappeared under the water of the Rybinsk Reservoir when the land flooding program was adopted.
Napoleon and Marshal Lauriston (“Peace at all costs!”). 1899-1900, State Historical Museum, Moscow The hero of the film White sun deserts" Pavel Vereshchagin at the end of the film leads a longboat that explodes. However, there is no information about whether the customs officer received such a surname from the directors and screenwriters of the film on purpose, or whether it was just a coincidence.
For a long time the artist harbored the idea of painting a large series of paintings dedicated to the Patriotic War of 1812, for which he studied archival materials, visited the battle sites. “I had one goal,” he wrote, “to show in the paintings of the twelfth year the great national spirit of the Russian people, their dedication and heroism...” So, in memory of this event, some of the most famous paintings Vereshchagin: “Napoleon and Marshal Lauriston”, “Before Moscow awaiting the deputation of the boyars”, “Napoleon I on the Borodino Heights”, etc.
Napoleon I on the Borodino Heights. 1897, State Historical Museum, Moscow The hero of Dreiser's novel "Genius", the artist Eugene, experienced strong influence Vereshchagin. “Throughout his entire subsequent life, the name of Vereshchagin continued to serve as a huge stimulus for his imagination. If it’s worth being an artist, then only this one.”
V.V. Vereshchagin wrote about twenty books: “Essays on a trip to the Himalayas”, “On the Northern Dvina. On wooden churches”, “Dukhobors and Molokans in Transcaucasia”, “At war in Asia and Europe”, “Writer”, articles “Realism” and “On progress in art”.
Rich Kyrgyz hunter with a falcon. 1871, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow Upon learning of Vereshchagin’s death, St. Petersburg Vedomosti was one of the first to publish a short appeal:
“The whole world shook at the news of tragic death V. Vereshchagina, and friends of the world say with heartache: “one of the most ardent champions of the idea of peace has gone to his grave.” All of Russia mourns Makarov; Vereshchagina is mourned by the whole world".
One of latest works Vereshchagina:
Portrait of a Japanese priest, 1904 “I have loved the sun all my life and wanted to paint the sun. And after I had to experience the war and say my word about it, I was glad that I could again devote myself to the sun. But the fury of war haunts me again and again.”
Found a mistake? Select it and press left Ctrl+Enter.
Vasily Vasilievich Vereshchagin(October 26, 1842, Cherepovets - April 13, 1904, Port Arthur) - Russian battle painter, traveler and military man.
Features of the artist Vasily Vereshchagin: considered paintings “without an idea” to be meaningless; visited three wars in his service, but in painting he was a pacifist artist - he showed in his canvases the inhumanity of war; painted a lot of exotic landscapes and genre works during his many travels.
Famous paintings by Vasily Vereshchagin:“Apotheosis of War”, “Taj Mahal Mausoleum in Agra”, “Fatally Wounded”.
The Cherepovets district of the Novgorod province, where the artist Vasily Vereshchagin was born, has long been famous for its “iron industry.” In these places, rich in iron ore, nails were forged, which were then exported to England - Cherepovets steel was highly valued in Europe. One of the artist's earliest memories was “the sound of hammers on anvils in a long row of forges along a mountain cliff”, on which the Vereshchagins' estate stood. This is not a random memory: it seems that Vasily Vasilyevich himself was forged in one of these forges. Iron character. Nerves of steel. Sharp mind. All my life this diehard man overcome something. Suffering from seasickness, he served in the midshipmen. Sincerely hating violence, he participated in almost all military campaigns that fell in his lifetime. Being a selfless patriot of his country, he painted canvases for which he was declared a provocateur and an enemy of the state.
How steel was hardened
Vasily Vereshchagin was born in Cherepovets in 1842. When he turned three, the family settled in the family nest - the village of Petrovka, which Vereshchagin Sr. owned along with two other villages in the Novgorod and Vologda provinces. The leader of the local nobility, he lived on income from the forges of his serfs, and also floated timber, which these places were extremely rich in. It was a measured, well-fed and rather boring life. Remembering his father, Vasily Vereshchagin noted that he was a homebody and had "typically bourgeois mind". He inherited his character from his Tatar mother - a smart, educated, unusually beautiful and somewhat hysterical woman.Vasily showed an early interest and ability in drawing, but his parents were not going to encourage this tendency: “The son of a pillar nobleman, 6th genealogy book, to become an artist - what a shame!”. Among the Vologda and Novgorod nobility military career was considered not only prestigious, but also obligatory. It has been a long-standing tradition here to designate sons as naval sailors. Wealthy landowners cajoled admissions committee Marine Corps, it would seem that the fate of Vasily Vereshchagin was predetermined even before his birth.
In 1850, he was accepted into the Alexander Youth Cadet Corps in Tsarskoye Selo, and three years later he was enrolled in the St. Petersburg Naval Cadet Corps.
Already as a teenager, Vasily Vereshchagin did not mince his words and knew how to stand up for himself. However, the hazing and cynicism that reigned in the cadet “barracks comradeship” quickly disappointed him. And after the first overseas cruise on the frigate “Kamchatka” (the young man had turned 15 by that time), he completely doubted that he was created for the fleet: cadet Vereshchagin developed severe seasickness. However, he was ambitious, did not tolerate criticism, and therefore tried to become the first in everything. Of course, Vasily made particular progress in drawing, which he became more and more interested in.
Riot of fifteen
In the senior classes of the Naval Corps, drawing was no longer taught, and one of the former teachers advised him to enroll in the drawing school of the St. Petersburg Society for the Encouragement of the Arts.The teachers immediately noticed the talent of the volunteer Vereshchagin. One day, after praising another piece of work, the school director asked: “You won’t be an artist anyway?”. And I received an unexpected answer: “On the contrary “I want nothing more than to become an artist.”.
Cautious attempts to convince my father that being an artist is also a worthy occupation for a man were met with hostility. Even my mother considered this choice career suicide. “The profession of a painter will not lead you to best houses capitals, she believed, not without reason. — And wearing epaulettes you will be accepted everywhere.”.
However, Vereshchagin had already decided everything. Having passed final exams in the Marine Corps with the best grades in his graduation, he applied to the Academy of Arts.
Alas, Vasily Vereshchagin came to the Imperial Academy in not its best times. A quarter of a century later, Alexander III will begin to reform the local education system, expel retrograde teachers and invite the Itinerants. In the meantime, the Academy is infinitely far from the ideals of creative freedom that Vereshchagin so strived for. Here, as in the army, everything is done according to the regulations. Mentors, with sergeant-major tenacity, force students to redraw ancient scenes a thousand times, almost in formation lead them to watch the “old masters” and demand blind admiration for mossy authorities.
More and more doubting the need to study at the Academy, Vereshchagin secured for himself something like a “sabbatical leave” and left for the Caucasus in search of fresh impressions and lively nature. Soon after this, the “Revolt of the Fourteen” broke out - fourteen of the best students of the Academy (with Ivan Kramskoy at the head) left its membership. Had Vereshchagin stayed in St. Petersburg a little longer, this event would probably have gone down in history as the “Revolt of the Fifteen.”
Maybe they won't kill you!
The artist Vasily Vereshchagin spent about a year in the Caucasus, during which he drew, painted, collected ethnographic material, and even taught. In letters home, Vereshchagin reported that “Tiflis is a godsend for a painter”. However, when an unexpected inheritance fell upon him - 1000 rubles bequeathed by his uncle - he decided that it was time to visit Europe.Vasily Vereshchagin went to Paris, where he hoped to study with Jean-Leon Gerome, whose paintings he admired back in St. Petersburg. By that time, Jerome was a recognized authority among his colleagues, a holder of the Legion of Honor, and he was also a “fashionable painter,” and it was very prestigious to study with him. However, another disappointment awaited Master Vereshchagin in his workshop: the same ancient subjects, the same devotion to tradition as at the Academy of Arts.
Jerome's attacks on the impressionists in general (and in particular the campaign of persecution against Edouard Manet, in which Jerome actively participated) finally convinced Vereshchagin that he could not learn anything new and progressive here. Soon he returned to Tiflis, recalling: “I escaped from Paris as if from a dungeon. And he began to draw in freedom with some kind of frenzy.”.
At this time, the commander of the Turkestan Military District, General Kaufman, was looking for an artist who would accompany him on trips around Central Asia. Vereshchagin seized this opportunity. In addition to the thirst for new experiences and passion for travel, he was driven by another motive - “to find out “What is a true war, about which I have read and heard a lot and was close to in the Caucasus”. Fate “smiled” on him: the Emir of Bukhara, who was in Samarkand, declared a “holy war” on the Russians.
The battle for Samarkand was short-lived. The emir's troops, having suffered serious damage, retreated, giving Russian soldiers the opportunity to enter the city without hindrance. Most Russian troops soon left Samarkand, Vereshchagin remained in the fortress with a garrison of 500 people. Soon the local population, incited by the mullahs, moved to attack. When the emir pulled the remnants of his troops to the defenseless (as it seemed to him) fortress, they numbered tens of thousands.
The assault lasted almost a week. Exhausted, dispirited soldiers were ready to retreat under the onslaught of a countless enemy. However, when the fortress wall was broken, warrant officer Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin not only managed to repel the attack, but also raised his fellow soldiers to counterattack. He later described his thoughts as follows: “My first thought was - they’re not going, we need to go ahead; the second is a good opportunity to show how to move forward; third - but they’ll probably kill you; fourth - maybe they won’t kill you!”. Vereshchagin shot, stabbed, chopped, rushed into hand-to-hand combat, took weapons from the gnarled fingers of his fallen comrades, and shot again. According to the artist’s recollections, he got off “cheaply” that day: “One bullet knocked the hat off the head, the other broke the barrel of the gun, just at chest height.”. Soon reinforcements arrived. For heroism shown during the defense of the Samarkand fortress, Vasily Vereshchagin was awarded the St. George Cross. But the main thing is that one week of the Samarkand siege played a decisive role in the formation of his views and determined his entire future life. To last breath one of the most important battle painters in the history of painting paradoxically hated war and everything connected with it.
Hello weapons
Like Hemingway, Vereshchagin believed that it is worth writing only what you know from personal experience. He physically could not sit still and simply did not know how to stay away. In 1877, when the Russian-Turkish War began, he went to the front - at his own expense, without government pay - was seriously wounded and almost lost his leg. Turkestan, the Balkans, Palestine, the USA, the Philippines, Cuba, Japan - the artist kept up everywhere. And everywhere he found suitable subjects for his paintings - blood flowed everywhere. Vereshchagin was devoted to the theme of war, but contrary to centuries-old tradition, he painted it without ceremonial voluptuousness, sparkling epaulettes and bravura marches. Dirt, fear, death, mountains of skulls - unlike many court battle-players, he knew the real price of glorious victories.The artist Vasily Vereshchagin sought to penetrate to the very essence of things: he nurtured the subjects of his paintings for a long time, and again and again returned to the places where he acquired his first impressions. It was important for him to show that every medal has reverse side. That courage and generosity often go hand in hand with panic and betrayal in war. That conquests are impossible without sacrifices and losses. He painted in cycles and was terribly worried if he had to sell a painting separately. All of his work (in addition to painting, Vereshchagin published travel notes and prose) was an integral anti-war statement, the right for which he suffered to the fullest. One day the artist swore in his heart: “I won’t paint any more battle paintings - that’s it! I take what I write too close to my heart; I cry (literally) for the grief of every wounded and killed person.”. He, of course, did not keep his word.
Almost from the first exhibitions of Vereshchagin’s paintings, few doubted that Vasily Vasilyevich - genius artist. But his trustworthiness raised questions. Compatriots (especially those in epaulettes) were unnerved that Vereshchagin preferred “decadent” subjects instead of depicting the glory of Russian weapons. There were rumors that after reading the Turkestan series ( , , ) in 1874, the future Emperor Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich said: “His constant tendentiousness is disgusting to national pride and one can conclude one thing from them: either Vereshchagin is a brute or a completely crazy person.”.
Similar replicas with some variations were later accompanied by the Balkan cycle ( , , ).
In 1900, Vasily Vereshchagin was nominated for Nobel Prize world - the first in history. His “always tendentiousness” was appreciated by the world as it deserved. By that time the artist was already in considerable resentment towards his homeland. And he said that offering his paintings to someone in Russia is now the same for him as standing on the porch.
The author is burning
The artist Vasily Vereshchagin burned his paintings at least three times. He was impulsive, quick-tempered, extremely touchy and completely intolerant of criticism. In letters to Vladimir Stasov, Vereshchagin called himself "Leyden jar", knowing the property of accumulating “electricity” and sparking with discharges. By the beginning of the 20th century on planet Earth it was not easy to find an organization, denomination or individual person with whom Vereshchagin would not quarrel. He didn't get along with his colleagues. In 1874, the artist refused the title of professor at the Academy of Arts. Later he rejected the offer to participate in exhibitions of the Itinerants, explaining that there was no falsehood in his paintings and such company was of no use to him. In a letter to Stasov, Vereshchagin stated that in general “does not want to know any of the Russian artists”, making something like a discount only for Ivan Kramskoy, about whom he wrote that “This brilliant sexton is perhaps better than others, but even he is jealous like a devil”. His “military” paintings offended patriots; a series of biblical paintings, written after a trip to Palestine, offended Vatican cardinals and diligent Catholics. His 19-year relationship with his first wife, Elizabeth, ended in a breakup in 1890. The artist called his father (again in a letter to Stasov) “wicked , an unworthy, out-of-mind old man". By the way, Vereshchagin also quarreled with Stasov himself more than once.It happened that the “Leyden jar” hit people who showed Vereshchagin the most friendly and sympathetic attitude. In addition to Stasov, among them was Pavel Tretyakov, whose quarrel with whom Vereshchagin later greatly regretted. In 1903, five years after Tretyakov’s death, Vasily Vasilyevich lamented: “How stupid it was of me to be so rude to such wonderful man. I’m still ashamed and punished.”.
Both the prince and the peasant
However, the difficult character of Vasily Vereshchagin did not prevent the world from admiring the power of his talent.If the artist was reproached for a lack of patriotism or excessive theatricality (allegedly inherited from Master Jerome), it was solely for political reasons.
Already in 1880, his exhibition in St. Petersburg was visited by 200 thousand people. And in 1881, the artist Vasily Vereshchagin hit the “jackpot” in Vienna. The exhibition, which took place for 28 days in the building of the Künstlerhaus Society of Artists, was accompanied by unprecedented excitement. “The exhibition of paintings by V.V. Vereshchagin is a spectacle unprecedented in Vienna, they wrote in the newspapers. — From 9 o'clock in the morning until 10 o'clock in the evening, a continuous mass of people not only fills the entire building of the Kiinstlerhaus, which houses the exhibition of paintings, but also on the street at the entrance throughout the whole day you see several hundred people waiting to enter the exhibition. And if you finally manage to somehow get into the hall of the Vereshchagin galleries, you will, not without surprise, see here representatives of aristocratic families next to workers, members of the highest bureaucracy, important dignified generals interspersed with petty burghers and ordinary line soldiers. In Vienna this phenomenon is unprecedented, because in none of the European big cities the classes of society are not separated as in Vienna. But Vereshchagin’s exhibition had a kind of leveling effect: the prince, the peasant, the millionaire banker, and the simple worker - all vying with each other in a hurry to deposit 30 kreutzers in the cash register in order to quickly look at the works of a powerful talent.”.
In subsequent years, interest in Vereshchagin around the world did not wane - Vienna was followed by Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, and London.
After total European success, Vasily Vereshchagin traveled twice to the USA and Cuba, where he painted several paintings on the theme of the American-Spanish War. In the States, he was warmly received by President Theodore Roosevelt, and the exhibition organized by the Art Institute of Chicago was a huge success.
In 1903, Vereshchagin, despite the “bad feeling,” undertook a trip to Japan. The old soldier’s instinct did not let him down - a year later the Russian-Japanese War began. Of course, Vereshchagin again failed to stay away; at the end of February 1904, he left for the front.
On March 31 (April 13), the battleship Petropavlovsk, with the artist Vasily Vereshchagin on board, was blown up by a mine. Of the entire crew of 650 people, no more than sixty managed to escape. According to the testimony of survivors, a few minutes before the explosion, Vasily Vasilyevich climbed onto the deck with a camping album - he died with his main weapon in his hands.
“Vereshchagin is mourned by the whole world”, wrote in the newspaper St. Petersburg Vedomosti. The most convincing evidence of the correctness of these words, perhaps, was the obituary published in "Newspaper ordinary people» . “Vereshchagin wanted to show people the tragedy and stupidity of the war, and he himself fell victim to it”, wrote in 1904 in this Japanese newspaper.
Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin (1842-1904) - Russian painter and writer, one of the most famous battle painters.
Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin was born on October 14 (26), 1842 in Cherepovets (now the Vologda region) in the family of a local leader of the nobility. He had three brothers. All were assigned to military educational institutions. The younger ones, Sergei (1845-1878) and Alexander (1850-1909), became professional military men; eldest, Nikolai (1839-1907) - public figure.
Vasily, at the age of nine, entered the naval cadet corps. After graduating from this institution, after short period Service, the newly promoted midshipman retired and entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, where he studied from 1860 to 1863 with A. T. Markov, F. A. Moller and A. E. Beideman. Leaving the Academy, he went to the Caucasus, where he stayed for about a year. Then he went to Paris, where he studied and worked under the guidance of Jerome (1864-1865)
In March 1865, Vereshchagin returned to the Caucasus and continued to paint from life.
In the fall of 1865, Vereshchagin visited St. Petersburg and then returned to Paris to continue his studies. He spent the winter of 1865-1866 studying at the Paris Academy. In the spring of 1866, the artist returned to his homeland, completing his official training.
In 1867, he gladly accepted the invitation of the Turkestan Governor-General, General K. P. Kaufman, to be an artist with him. Arriving in Samarkand after it was captured by Russian troops on May 2, 1868, Vereshchagin received a baptism of fire, having withstood with a handful of Russian soldiers a heavy siege of this city by rebel local residents. Vereshchagin's outstanding role in this defense earned him the Order of St. George, 4th class (August 14, 1868), which he wore with pride, although he generally denied any awards:
At the beginning of 1869, with the assistance of Kaufman, he organized a “Turkestan exhibition” in the capital, where he demonstrated his works written in Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara, in the Kazakh steppes and the city of Turkestan. After the end of the exhibition, Vereshchagin again travels to the Turkestan region, but through Siberia.
This time the artist traveled through Semirechye and Western China. Among Vereshchagin's works dedicated to Semirechye and Kyrgyzstan - A rich Kyrgyz hunter with a falcon, views of mountains near the village of Lepsinskaya, the valley of the Chu River, Lake Issyk-Kul, snowy peaks Kyrgyz ridge, Naryn on the Tien Shan. Vereshchagin created five sketches in the mountains near Issyk-Kul, the brightest of them is “Barskaun Passage”. He made sketches in the Boom Gorge, visited Lake Alakol, and climbed the high passes of the Alatau ranges.
At that time, in Western China, Bogdykhan’s troops were pacifying the Dungans (Chinese Muslims), who had raised the banner of rebellion in Shaanxi province seven years earlier. A little later, the Dungan rebellion engulfed the Kuldzha region. On the streets of New Kuldzha (Hui-Yuan-Cheng) and Chuguchak there were mountains of ashes and piles of human bones. Vereshchagin painted with bitterness the ruins of local cities. Famous painting“The Apotheosis of War” was created under the impression of the story of how the despot of Kashgar, Valikhan Tore, executed a European traveler and ordered his head to be placed on the top of a pyramid made from the skulls of other executed people.
IN artistically Vereshchagin's impressions from his personal participation in this defense and other military operations during the conquest of Turkestan, as well as from his second trip there in 1869, gave him material for such bright paintings, such as “Let them enter”, “Entered”, “Surrounded”, “Pursue”, “Attacked by surprise”, etc., which were included in the huge “Turkestan series”, made by the artist in Munich in 1871-1874 and which had enormous success in Europe and Russia.
In 1871, Vereshchagin moved to Munich and began working on paintings based on oriental subjects. At the same time it began life together with his first wife Elizaveta Fischer (due to Vereshchagin’s skeptical attitude towards church rituals they got married only in 1883 in Vologda).
This is part of a Wikipedia article used under the CC-BY-SA license. Full text articles here →
