O. B. Alexeeva
In recent decades, there has been a noticeable increase in researchers’ attention to portrait painting of the 18th century from the collections of provincial art and local history museums. This article is dedicated to the study of two provincial portraits by an unknown Smolensk artist of the mid-18th century from the collection of the Smolensk Museum-Reserve. The resolution of several attribution questions (determining the time of creation, source of acquisition, stylistic features, degree of influence of icon painting, parsuna, Sarmatian portrait, Rococo traditions, unified authorship, duality) leads to the conclusion that the works in question represent not only a rich historical and local material but are also interesting from an artistic perspective.
Their study is necessary for a comprehensive understanding of Russian culture in the 18th century. The 18th century is characterized in domestic history as a time of Russia’s introduction to Western European traditions, which influenced not only the daily life and morals of the Russian people but also art, particularly portrait painting. In the 18th century, portraiture became not only the leading genre and underwent stages of development, but at the same time, its basic forms were established. Alongside ceremonial portraits, chamber portraits became widespread during this time. The interest in them from domestic artists is not accidental. The culture of the second half of the 18th century is associated with Enlightenment ideas, the dissemination of which in Russia was facilitated by the establishment of noble boarding schools (the Noble Boarding School at Moscow University) and the increasing travels of the noble aristocracy abroad. As V. O. Klyuchevsky rightly noted: “…Under Peter, the nobleman went abroad to learn artillery and navigation; later he went there to acquire high-society manners. Now, under Catherine, he went to pay homage to philosophers” [1].
The Russian nobility preferred to visit France. It was France, its writers and philosophers, that had a strong influence on the educated minds of Europe. The study of French literature was actively encouraged at the Russian court. Undoubtedly, all this led to an increase in the cultural level of the nobility, changing their daily life, needs, lifestyle, and had a significant impact on the development of culture.
The changes that occurred in the cultural habits of the Russian nobility gradually formed a new attitude toward portraiture. As the nobility had more time to devote not only to self-education but also to organizing their daily life, they sought to build their ancestral estates and showed great interest not only in their external but also internal decoration. In drawing rooms and personal apartments, chamber portraits occupied a worthy place alongside ceremonial ones.
Representatives of different estates (nobles, officials, merchants) from small provincial towns, unable to invite renowned artists, often settled for the services of talented serfs and self-taught masters. Often raised on folk traditions and familiar with icon painting techniques, provincial masters of the 18th century, following fashion and the demands of the client, created original works.
Most often, in the second half of the 18th century, provincial painting used the type of portrait with a bust or waist cut, a neutral background, and depicted people in ceremonial attire with accessories.
There were also images of sitters in full growth in provincial painting of this time, often related to copying a painted original or engraving. Regardless of the professional skills acquired, provincial masters remained true to the traditions of parsuna.
In the portraits of the man in a red kaftan and the lady with a fan, tendencies characteristic of provincial painting of the mid-18th century are felt, subtly noted by Yu. G. Malkov: “On the one hand, there is a clear tendency towards already tested and established traditions created during the second half of the 17th to the early 18th century, and on the other – attempts to master new artistic constructions” [2].
The influence of parsuna is clearly traced in the clarity of the drawing, the carefully rendered details of the costume, and the schematic nature of the composition. Numerous anatomical errors in the depiction of exposed body parts indicate the master’s lack of professionalism. The artist lacked the skills to construct the human figure on a flat surface, hence the unnatural combination of the head and torso’s rotation. An X-ray of the female portrait showed the absence of any corrections along the contour line made by the master during the work on the portrait. This may indicate not the artist’s work from life, but the existence of a template that was used in creating female or male portraits and expressed not individual characteristics unique to this model but general signs of the sitter’s belonging to a particular estate. This applies to the Portrait of the Man in a Red Kaftan as well. All this brings the portraits from the Smolensk Museum closer to the works of another provincial artist – Grigory Ostrovsky.
New artistic constructions are undoubtedly linked to the Rococo direction, which became widespread in the art of the mid-18th century. T. V. Ilyina defines the social prerequisites for the emergence of Rococo on Russian soil as “the art of the court circles of the Russian aristocracy” [3].
In our case, a vivid example of the influence of metropolitan art on provincial painting is presented, which is close not only to the work of G. Ostrovsky but also to I. Y. Vishnyakov. The similarity of the author of the “Smolensk” portraits with the works of I. Y. Vishnyakov lies in the same compositional scheme, but primarily in the warm and soulful attitude toward the model, “a special intimate note, unpretentiousness, charm, great integrity, and chastity” [4]. The finely developed psychological characterization of the model is a feature of Russian Rococo portraits that distinguishes them from the heads of P. Rotari, mannered portraits of G. Groot and L. Caravaggio.
Despite numerous inaccuracies in the painting of the eyes, which differ in size and are painted at different levels, there is an overall sense of the inner life of the models, which contrasts with the static nature of the figure. Such proximity can also be found in the works of I. Y. Vishnyakov. However, there are features in the portraits that are characteristic of the works of masters of Western European Rococo. The color scheme consists of harmoniously combined light tones, with no contrasting comparisons typical of the portraits of Vishnyakov and Ostrovsky, who were raised on iconographic traditions. The portraits lack color development; the color scheme is built on the combination of local spots, which brings the manner of execution closer to other provincial masters of that time, but the light palette draws our attention to local traditions.
Due to its geographical location, Smolensk has long been a peculiar “conduit of European influence on Russian soil” [5]. As a result, it had the opportunity to be introduced to new Western trends earlier than other Russian regions. One cannot underestimate the influence of Polish art on the formation of portraiture in the Smolensk lands.
Thus, by the mid-17th century, there were about a thousand settlers from different regions of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in Smolensk. Some of them owned vast lands in Smolensk (Bernatsky, Stebelsky), and already in the late 16th century, entire family portrait galleries began to be created in the wealthy families of Polish-Lithuanian magnates. An example of this is the portraits from the collection of the Smolensk Museum-Reserve, the origin of which from the estates of Polish aristocrats is beyond doubt (portraits from the gallery of Pac and Sapieha).
Features characteristic of the Sarmatian portrait can also be identified in the works of the unknown artist. This includes the striving for accuracy in conveying individual traits and character, leading to documentarism and “the feeling of the presence of a living person” [6], the static nature of the composition, detailed rendering of wavy strands of hair, and a cold lightened palette. Some of the listed features are found in parsuna and Ukrainian portraiture, indicating their interconnection with the Sarmatian portrait.
When studying the Portrait of the Man in a Red Kaftan and the Lady with a Fan, the question of the duality of the works arose. In domestic art history, the issue of paired portraits has been weakly developed; one of the few works belongs to N. V. Trigaleva. According to her definition, “paired portraits can be considered an ensemble consisting of two (as a rule, individual) works united by a number of signs both formally-artistic and utilitarian” [7]. For example, compositional and color interrelation, unity of lighting and rhythmic structure, visual balance, use of mirror symmetry, kinship or official connections between the depicted, authorship, simultaneity of creation, origin from one family collection. Let us consider the most important, in our opinion, of them.
The author of the portraits is unknown, as there is no information on the back of the canvas about him or the depicted. The Portrait of the Man in a Red Kaftan and the Lady with a Fan were acquired by the Smolensk Museum from the municipal warehouse of the Pavlov store, a former people’s bank, in 1919. They are recorded in the acquisition book for 1920 and marked as paired. For a long time, it was believed that the portraits were mediocre and did not represent artistic value, and only recently conducted restoration allowed them to be included in the exhibition of the Art Gallery.
Documents regarding the original source of the works’ acquisition have not been found. However, archival documents on the acceptance of artistic values into the museum’s inventory, which were in the municipal warehouse and had come from former noble estates in the Smolensk province, have been preserved. It is possible that the portraits under study were among them and were removed from the noble estate after the revolution, where they occupied a place in the family portrait gallery.
In the male portrait, a young man in a military suit is depicted. The image is waist-length, against a neutral background, with the head slightly turned to the right, the left hand directed to the side and cut off by the edge of the canvas, the right is half-bent at the elbow.
The master accurately follows the nature, emphasizing the irregular features of the face: eyes that are slightly bulging and close to the bridge of the nose, an upturned nose, full lips, a double chin. In how the author of the portrait decisively directs the hand of the figure to the side while slightly turning the head in the opposite direction, there is a desire to impart dynamism to the image. The portrait conveys the author’s familiarity with Western European traditions. This is most vividly manifested in the interpretation of the young man’s gaze, which is directed opposite to the direction of the head. This technique has been used since the time of Renaissance painting, creating a sense of sharpness and intense attention of the depicted to the viewer, establishing a close connection and contact between them.
Along with the dynamism of the image, it is necessary to note a certain static nature in the depiction of the figure of the model. The Smolensk master delicately shades the scarlet color of the kaftan with dull gold of the galloon, which edges the cuffs with black velvet of the tie. One of the few accents in the overall color scheme is the white lace ruff and cuffs, which beautifully match the light powdered hair of the hairstyle.
When studying the Portrait of the Man in a Red Kaftan, the question of the time of its creation arises. In the museum catalog, it is listed as a work of the 18th century [8]. Referring to the features of the sitter’s costume, we note the red, possibly woolen kaftan, under which the artist depicted a cuirass, apparently emphasizing the military affiliation of the model. The costume corresponds to the noble fashion of the second quarter of the 18th century, described in the publication “Russian Costume 1750-1830” [9].
The cuffs are low, unlike those of the first quarter of the 18th century, of the same color as the kaftan, trimmed with golden galloon with convex buttons. The embroidery along the edges is narrow, corresponding to the galloon on the sleeves. It seems impossible to determine the branch of the military to which the depicted belonged due to the absence of an analogous costume shown by the Smolensk master.
One can conclude about the formal attitude of the artist toward the costume and the lack of demands from the client or about the model’s affiliation with the Polish home militia, whose uniform has much in common with the one we have examined, therefore, it can be assumed that the portrait was created in the mid-18th century. A serious confirmation of this is also the hairstyle of the model. It was precisely in the late first half of the 18th century that powdered hair with three curls partially covering the ear were worn.
In the female portrait, the lady holds a fan in her half-bent hands. The image is waist-length, against a neutral background, with the figure slightly turned to the left and the head almost facing forward. The master’s attention is directed to the model’s face; he attempts to convey the external resemblance and inner state of the model. The work conveys a sense of naivety, the unprofessionalism of the artist in drawing and composition. The errors in the depiction of the face and figure are the same as in the previous portrait, leading to the thought of a single author. The powdered hair is shown in a uniform rhythm of wavy strands, rendered volumetrically. Unlike the directly and accurately conveyed features of the face, the figure seems to be fitted into a pre-prepared and often used compositional scheme. This is evidenced by the clear, sometimes rough contour with which the artist outlines the silhouette of the model.
In working on the figure, the artist cannot overcome the flatness; the proportions are not observed, and the left hand is unnaturally twisted. The portrait is rendered in gray-pearl tones with a hint of pink. The face is painted with gentle brush touches. In conveying the details of the dress’s decoration, there is no lightness and transparency of the lace; the folds are not developed but merely outlined.
The lady wears a figure-hugging dress with a décolleté corset and a wide skirt. Following the fashion of the mid-18th century, the costume combines ash-gray with a pink tone. The dress seems to be woven with small flowers that do not repeat the folds and exist as if separately from the costume.
The sleeves are trimmed with a triple lace ruffle, beautifully matching the fur collar characteristic of the mid-century. The hair is powdered, and the hairstyle is adorned with a small bouquet, common in noble fashion of the 60s. Thus, it can be assumed that the portrait was created in the 60s. In 18th-century portraits, the depiction of a lady with a fan or a closed fan is rarely encountered. The mistake could have been made rather by a provincial painter, as the metropolitan artist knew the secular norms of behavior, where there existed a special language of the fan not intended for the uninitiated. The portrait, often intended for descendants, did not imply details of this kind.
Technical and technological studies, including X-ray examinations, play a significant role in determining the identity of the works. They showed that in both works, a medium-grained canvas of direct linen weave was used, the ground being the author’s, thin, two-layered: the lower layer is reddish-brown. The identity of the ground structure was confirmed by the X-ray, showing the same uniform lightening and a smooth transition from light to shadow over a monochrome underpainting. The color of the ground was used in the shadows of both portraits, and on the lace images, a short pasty stroke with a fine brush is visible. Thus, it can be asserted that the portraits were painted by one artist. The time of creation is presumably the late 1750s to the 60s. The portraits are identical in size. The source of acquisition is the same. However, there is a compositional difference in the portraits; mirror symmetry is absent.
Nevertheless, both portraits are waist-length, and the figures are maintained in a unified scale. The absence of complete compositional similarity can be explained by the fact that full consistency in paired portraits by domestic artists of the mid-18th century is practically not found, just as they themselves are a rarity not only in the province but also in the capital. Therefore, with a good combination with each other, the portraits could also be perceived well separately and exist in the interior independently of each other.
Portraits of this type in the mid-18th century were usually commissioned for a significant occasion. The fan in the hands of the young woman indicates her reaching marriageable age; perhaps the portraits were commissioned on the occasion of the conclusion of a family union, as evidenced by the age of the depicted.
The Portrait of the Man in a Red Kaftan and the Portrait of the Lady with a Fan by an unknown artist from the collection of the Smolensk Museum-Reserve bear the imprint of the time and style of the era, reflecting the peculiarities of the spread of artistic culture across various social strata of society. They represent rich local material, have artistic significance, and therefore further research work is necessary for an in-depth study of the creative legacy of the unknown 18th-century master, the author of the aforementioned portraits from the collection of the Smolensk Museum.
LITERATURE
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Klyuchevsky V. O. Course of Russian History. – Moscow, 1989. – p. 159.
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Malkov Yu. G. Portrait of Dmitry, Metropolitan of Rostov from the Collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery. – In: Russian Art of the 18th Century. Materials and Research. Ed. T. V. Alexeeva. – Moscow, 1973. – p. 137.
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Ilyina T. V., Vishnyakov I. Y. Life and Creativity. – Moscow, 1979. – p. 161.
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Ilyina T. V., Vishnyakov I. Y. Life and Creativity. – Moscow, 1979. – p. 162.
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Shirinova L. V. Historical and Artistic Preconditions for the Development of Portrait Painting in the Eastern Lands of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (Smolensk) in the 17th Century. // In: Foreign Artists and Russia. Part 1 and Part 2. – St. Petersburg, 1991. – p. 49.
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Tananaeva L. Some Features of the Development of the Old Polish Portrait (17-18 centuries). // In: Materials of the Scientific Conference (1972). Problems of Portraiture. – Moscow, 1974. – p. 159.
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Trigaleva N. V. Paired Portraits in Russian Painting of the 18th Century. On the Question. // In: Heritage and Modernity (Art of Russia). – St. Petersburg, 1992. – pp. 8-11.
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Smolensk Art Gallery. Russian and Soviet Art. Catalog. – Smolensk, 1988. – p. 34.
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Russian Costume 1750-1830. Vol. 1. – Moscow, 1960.