Video: The scandalous story of "Jumping": because of what Levitan was going to challenge Chekhov to a duel
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Known landscape painter Isaac Levitan and writer Anton Chekhov for a long time they were close friends who were united by sincere and trusting relationships. But after the publication of Chekhov's story "The Jumping Girl" a scandal suddenly broke out: in the heroes everyone easily recognized the artist and his beloved, married lady Sophia Kuvshinnikova … The whole Moscow bohemia discussed the plot from real life that was brought to the public, Chekhov's story was called "lampoon", and Levitan was going to challenge his friend to a duel.
In the 1880s. among Moscow bohemians, the name of Sofia Kuvshinnikova was widely known - she was the owner of the literary and artistic salon, which was attended by I. Repin, A. Chekhov, M. Ermolova, V. Gilyarovsky, A. Yuzhin and many other famous artists, artists and writers. Once a young artist Isaac Levitan was brought to the tower (the apartment was located under the roof of the fire tower). Despite the more than ten-year age difference, the owner of the salon began a romantic relationship with him.
Chekhov's younger brother described Kuvshinnikova as follows: “This was not a particularly beautiful woman, but an interesting woman in her talents. She dressed beautifully, being able to sew an elegant toilet for herself from pieces, and had the happy gift of giving beauty and comfort to even the most dull dwelling, which looked like a barn. " O. Knipper-Chekhova agreed: “There was a lot in Kuvshinnikova that could please and captivate. She did not stand out for her beauty, but she was certainly interesting - original, talented, poetic and graceful. It is quite understandable why Levitan was carried away by her."
Sophia Kuvshinnikova was married to a police doctor who was patient and closed his eyes for a long time to her affair with Levitan. She was an amateur artist, and under the pretext of painting lessons she often left with her teacher to the Volga for sketches. The hero of Chekhov's story, the artist Ryabovsky, also gave lessons to Olga Ivanovna, the wife of Dr. Osip Dymov, they also went to the Volga for sketches, and there was a long romance between them. Many visitors to Kuvshinnikova's salon recognized themselves in the rest of the characters.
Chekhov made excuses as best he could: “You can imagine,” he wrote in a letter in 1892, “one of my acquaintances, a 42-year-old lady, recognized herself in the twenty-year-old heroine of my Jumping Girl, and all Moscow accuses me of libel. The main evidence is the outward resemblance: the lady paints, her husband is a doctor and she lives with the artist."
However, the similarity was not only external: excerpts from her letters were quoted almost literally, Chekhov's jumper used Kuvshinnikova's favorite expressions in her speech, she was just as extravagant and original, although much more frivolous and superficial than her prototype. The writer tried to laugh it off: "My jumper is pretty, but Sofya Petrovna is not so beautiful and young."
Levitan was so angry that he wanted to challenge Chekhov to a duel, but his acquaintances dissuaded him from this rash decision. For several years, their communication ceased. Levitan's relationship with Kuvshinnikova was also doomed. The artist enjoyed great success with women, and in 1894 he began a new romance, which also almost ended tragically: entangled in feelings for Anna Turchaninova and her daughter, Levitan tried to commit suicide.
After 1894Levitan and Kuvshinnikova never saw each other, but Sofya Petrovna always remembered him with warmth and gratitude. And the relationship between friends managed to improve. The writer T. Schepkina-Kupernik was able to reconcile Chekhov and Levitan, who arranged a meeting for them and made them shake hands with each other.
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