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Video: Hundreds of square meters of mosaics and Mikhail Lomonosov's "universal man" color theory
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
The whole world knows Mikhail Lomonosov as a genius scientist-inventor in various branches of science, a talented writer and poet. And it is very difficult to list all the talents and services to the fatherland of this “universal man”. But today I would like to focus on one of them - the talent of the artist. His creative successes in the field of mosaic art were amazing, for everything that the hand of a genius touched had a deep, thorough and professional character.
The extraordinary capacity for work, iron character and willpower, creative talent and versatile genius of the mind of Mikhail Lomonosov (1711-1765) shocked his contemporaries and amazed his descendants a lot. And now for three centuries the question has remained unchanged: "How was the son of a simple fisherman able to achieve so much in the scientific field, in the field of literature and painting?"
In the visual arts, Mikhail Vasilyevich preferred mosaic, reviving its ancient Russian roots and becoming the founder of this genre in a modern interpretation. It was he who invented the recipe for the production of colored opaque glasses, combining his knowledge of chemistry and the skill of an artist, and it was he who organized the production of smalt and adhesive solution, which began to be widely used in mosaic works of monumental applied art in Russia.
How it all began
In the mid-1750s, being a frequent visitor to the house of Count Vorontsov, Mikhail Vasilyevich somehow became interested in several mosaic paintings that he brought for his collection from Italy. One of the works, collected by an unknown author from the original painting by Guido Reni, stood out among others with an amazingly rich colorful palette. Lomonosov was intrigued by the skillful creation of the Italian master, who brought his smalt "palette" to an incredible number of shades. This allowed the Italian to masterfully copy oil painting.
The scientist immediately caught fire with the idea to create something similar and revive in Russia a genre that was very popular in the days of Kievan Rus. And at the same time, not only to revive, but also to create new material for this. And since the technology of making smalt was kept in the strictest confidence by Italian craftsmen, Lomonosov decided to unravel this secret by all means.
It took the scientist three years to create smalt, which is not inferior in quality and color palette to the Italian one - in a variety of colors and shades. To do this, he had to develop his own theory of "Three colors", based on the physical nature of light. It was he who proved that white light consists of three primary colors - red, yellow and blue, mixing which and we get the whole spectrum of the rainbow.
In 1757, MV Lomonosov presented a project to the Senate, in which he proposed to build a mosaic monument over the tombstone of Peter I, and “lay out the walls of the church with mosaic paintings”. The Senate approved the project and paid for the work.
Poltava battle
The first large-scale mosaic work in the history of Russian art is considered to be the Battle of Poltava, created by Mikhail Vasilyevich, which has survived to this day and adorns the Main Building of the Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg.
The most ambitious mosaic (309, 764 square meters), embodied in a decorative style, is assembled from a million thirty thousand cubes of smalt, up to 6 millimeters thick and 5 centimeters long. It was created by Lomonosov with 7 assistants for almost two years.
After finishing work on the mosaic, Lomonosov conceived another mosaic panel "The Conquest of Azov in 1696", however, due to a disease in his legs, he could not get down to work. And half a year later, in the spring of 1765, the genius was gone.
During his life, Mikhail Vasilyevich created about forty mosaic paintings, most of which are portraits. Twenty-three of his works have survived to this day. For the sake of curiosity, one can even compare the ridiculous initial works of Lomonosov with his mature works. Colossal progress … isn't it? It is even more difficult to believe that the time of their creation is separated by only four years.
All this is once again evidence that human talent, as a rule, is always versatile, and it can be developed in all directions, if there is a desire and a goal.
Was multifaceted and talent of the Russian poet Mikhail Lermontov, who in his 27 years left behind not only an immortal literary heritage, but also many paintings and graphic works.
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