How the serf "The Queen of Spades" painted Nevsky Prospect and became famous throughout the country: Vasily Sadovnikov

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

The unfamiliar Petersburg of the past - quiet, cozy, somehow sunny, views of the Nevsky and the interiors of rich houses … Watercolors and lithographs by Vasily Sadovnikov are not striking, although they fascinate with many details and impeccable drawing. But his life itself, at first glance, is just as calm, is striking. The serf of the Queen of Spades, self-taught, who became a popularly beloved artist in the middle of the 19th century …

Vasily Sadovnikov was born in 1800 - and he was born into a family of serfs. However, he was fortunate enough to be in the service of Princess Golitsyna herself and, thanks to her early artistic abilities, to attract the attention of her high-ranking son. The hostess was a harsh but fair woman, and everyone was honored to meet her. It is her researchers who consider the prototype of the old countess in Pushkin's "The Queen of Spades". Golitsyna occupied an exceptional position in St. Petersburg, and not only wealth and nobility were the reason for this. Her very tough character and sharp mind made those around her awe-inspiring.

Even the Moscow Governor-General D. V. Golitsyn, a man, no doubt, endowed with considerable power, almost trembled in her presence and did not allow himself to say an extra word. He dared not challenge any of his mother's decisions. But he could not help patronizing the young talented serf. The Governor-General loved art and felt obligated to support gifted people. Many wealthy people adhered to similar views at that time, which played a decisive role in the fate of Vasily Sadovnikov.

Vasily Sadovnikov's elder brother, Peter, had already shown himself in creativity by that time - he had become a rather successful architect. He was a student of the famous Russian architect and graphic artist A. N. Voronikhin and, probably, taught his brother (later Peter achieved the title of academician of architecture). It is also believed that the Sadovnikov brothers mastered painting under the guidance of an unknown professional painter, because even at the beginning of their career they were known as good draftsmen. In addition, the Sadovnikov brothers were among the Golitsyns' household servants in St. Petersburg, which means that from a young age they absorbed the majestic beauty of this city.

Vasily Sadovnikov initially achieved success as a self-taught artist. In 1830, Literaturnaya Gazeta announced the release of lithographs dedicated to Nevsky Prospekt. Among the artists who worked on it, there is Vasily Sadovnikov. While working on lithographs, he met many artists and engravers of various origins, with whom he further maintained friendly and professional relations.

In 1838 he received his freedom - after the death of his mistress. By that time, he had long been a happy husband and father. Together with him, his wife Margarita and three children - Tatiana, Anna and Sergey received free freedom. Sergei followed in the footsteps of his father and uncle, but in a sense he even surpassed them - he nevertheless achieved official admission to the Academy of Arts, worked as an architect and already at the end of the 19th century received the title of academician.

Further training for Sadovnikov is a very complicated question. His life was connected with the Academy of Arts, but, apparently, he was not its student. According to the most common version, in his mature years he managed to get into the Academy of Arts as a volunteer, an apprenticeship to the painter M. N. Vorobyov. Vorobyov's class for free-comers was considered very promising in those years, besides, he had a good command of lithography, which could become a completely suitable craft for an artist who had an unenviable origin. However, in a petition for the award of the title of artist, which Sadovnikov submitted to the Academy in the same 1838, he indicates that he "was engaged in perspective painting by himself."

To receive the title of artist, Sadovnikov presented his most famous work - "Panorama of Nevsky Prospect", a sixteen-meter watercolor, which was later translated into lithographic stone and published by the publisher Prevost. Several engravers worked on the lithography of the panorama, given its colossal dimensions. The publication of Sadovnikov's works allowed him to become a favorite not only of the nobility, but also of the urban class. His lithographs adorned the rooms of merchant and bourgeois houses.

The accuracy of the work was simply amazing. Sadovnikov worked as a documentary filmmaker, many of his drawings seem more like colored photographs, so precise was his eye and confident hand. At the same time, Sadovnikov's drawings were devoid of dryness - on the contrary, he inhabited the views of Petersburg with many people of different classes, busy with their own affairs. Also, the artist has reached an amazing level in the depiction of interiors and scenes of everyday life. Even now, disputes continue about the genre of the works of Sadovnikov, who worked, in fact, at the junction of landscape and genre painting.

Sadovnikov devoted almost his entire life, all his creative powers to Petersburg, but there was a place in his heart for other parts of Russia as well. He traveled a lot - and in all his trips he never stopped drawing - hundreds of drawings and sketches with brief notes about the weather, mood, thoughts … In Tambov he sketched with interest the interiors of peasant huts.

In 1852, the former serf became an academician of the Academy of Arts. His fame became all-Russian, his name sounded in circles close to the imperial, he painted the interiors of the Winter Palace …

In those years, a turning point came in his work. Jewelry precision was replaced by a bold pattern, worn out, muted shades - by a bright color scheme. But it was still the very Petersburg of Pushkin and Gogol.

Vasily Sadovnikov lived for almost eighty years. His life was quiet, filled with joyful creative work - and at the same time could serve as a plot for a fascinating film. Sadovnikov's works are kept in the Hermitage, the Museum of the Academy of Arts and several other museums throughout Russia - small portals to Russia of bygone times.

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