How merchants, Old Believers and self-taught artists created a new genre in Russian art: Merchant portrait

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

There is a special genre in Russian painting, which is usually attributed to primitive art - a merchant portrait. Severe dumpy old men and strict young merchants, ruddy girls in kokoshniks embroidered with pearls and energetic old women in brocade sundresses … Even if the authors of these portraits did not receive an academic education, and their names are often unknown, the naive merchant portrait has become a real encyclopedia of the life of the merchant class of the 18th century.

These are not just portraits of provincial merchants. A merchant's portrait refers to canvases created at the dawn of Russian portraiture by little-known and often not even particularly skillful artists. These painters did not get eminent customers, they could not go to Italy to improve their technique under the supervision of graduates of the Bologna Academy …

At the same time, the growth of the class self-awareness of the merchants led to the fact that the "merchant people" wanted to establish themselves, to remain in history not only by surnames in the books - they wanted to be portrayed as "noble". Popular popular prints could not satisfy their desires, because popular prints portrayed the world as an endless holiday, and the third estate saw its goal in work, following duty and the Christian faith. However, inside religious painting it was also almost impossible to reflect the class values of the merchants. At the same time, the representatives of the merchant class, who wanted to purchase portraits for family galleries, could not afford and not in terms of status were famous professional artists, but restless graduates of art schools, drawing teachers and talented self-taught artists came in handy.

So, in response to the requests of a whole social stratum, a merchant portrait appeared - direct, naive, close to the Old Russian Parsuna, where the imperfection of technology is compensated for by stunning, scrupulous detailing. Often, as in the case of the Parsuna, the artists remained anonymous. Of course, to this day, such works have been neglected by art galleries - but they have fallen in love with historians and researchers of Russian life. The merchant's portrait became a kind of intermediate link between folk and “big”, professional art.

How do the representatives of the merchant class of the 18th century appear before the audience? Artists usually portrayed their models bosom, striving for a three-quarter angle. These works often lack volume, air, understanding of human anatomy. Just as in the Protestant portrait of the Northern Renaissance, the face plays a special role, and the body is secondary. Painters usually concentrated on who they portrayed, deciding the background ascetically. Sometimes they depicted important buildings associated with the activities of the merchant, or interior elements, but most often the background was monochromatic - it did not matter.

Men preferred to order portraits only for the most important reasons. Stern people with thick beards, in dark, almost unadorned old Russian cut caftans, pose with merchant medals and other awards - some with a silver mug, some with a chest. Their figures are powerful and squat, their gazes are boring on the viewer, their foreheads are crossed with wrinkles … Women's portraits are much more interesting. The merchants appear before the viewer in the traditional costumes of the provinces where they lived, but incredibly luxurious. Here there is embroidery, and gold-woven brocade, and rows of pearls, and silver earrings …

It was merchant female portraits that became a real boon for researchers of Russian costume. However, while European academics "induced" their models with a sensual blush and delightful whiteness of the skin, anonymous merchant portrait painters were merciless to their models and strove for accuracy rather than beauty of the image. For the merchant class, wealth was more important than attractive appearance, and therefore artists document every bead and button - but they are just as attentive to wrinkles, drooping chins and warts. A merchant's portrait is perhaps one of the most democratic phenomena in art, because it asserts the right of people, ignoble and ugly, to be embodied on the canvas - as they were, without flattery and adornment.

Technically imperfect, the merchant's portrait became an encyclopedia of human types - including psychological ones. The artists managed to reflect the inner world, the character of the portrayed, their pride and tenacity, a harsh disposition or girlish modesty. It is believed that the formation of such a level of realism and psychologism of the merchant portrait was influenced by the Old Believers. Many provincial merchants of that period came from the Old Believer environment, in addition, the Old Believer portrait, inheriting the features of icon painting, already existed as a separate genre. Without being carried away by "ennobling" the appearance of their models, the artists expressed through their physical characteristics the important properties of a truly Christian personality - hard work, fortitude. Just as in Western Europe, images of merchants who donated money for religious needs were introduced into iconostases. The home gallery of merchant portraits was intended to show the descendants of the merits of the clan, to set an example of the glorious life of their ancestors.

It is interesting that the merchant portrait arose on the wave of the development of secular art, which was spurred on by the reforms of Peter I, but the images of those portrayed show a clear disregard and rejection of European fashion and the peculiarities of European etiquette. In the second half of the 19th century, the role of merchants in the life of the country increased significantly. The richest industrialists began to patronize the arts - and now famous artists, in accordance with all the canons of academic painting, painted portraits of their patrons. And those academics who were not looking for rich customers turned to the images of merchants in search of new types and characters. The naive merchant portrait has remained in the past as a charming historical curiosity.