How the cruelty and injustice of the world fit into one picture about a little boy: "Savoyard" by Perov

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

At the first glance at this picture, the most tender and sentimental feelings will surely arise. Especially this extinct and already too grown-up look of the boy … I just want to feel sorry for the little hero, certainly help him and protect him from life's misfortunes. Vasily Perov managed to create a compassionate plot of the picture, which he painted during his Paris trip.

Trip to Paris

Vasily Perov is the illegitimate son of the Tobolsk prosecutor, a representative of the ancient Baltic noble family of Baron G. K. von Kridener (Krudener). Although the marriage was concluded after the birth of the boy, he never received his father's surname. For a long time, the future artist was listed in the documents as Vasiliev, by the name of his godfather. The surname Perov came from the nickname given to the boy by his teacher for his graceful handwriting.

In 1862, the Academy of Arts awarded Vasily Perov a gold medal and the right to a paid trip abroad. During this period, he visits Western Europe, several German cities and Paris. In addition, Perov visited many museums in Berlin, Dresden and Paris and studied the works of old masters. Yes, the artist worked hard and hard, but in a foreign land the inspiration seemed to have left him. Each stroke was difficult. Perov was bored abroad. Even a letter has survived, in which he appeals to the Academy with a request for permission to return early:

He needed Russia for inspiration, for the embodiment of ideas, for life. With all this, being far from the homeland, the artist tried to study local customs and customs. He often goes to fairs and celebrations. During his foreign practice, the artist masters the painterly tone, which gives his works a deep emotional and psychological expressiveness, the rigidity of the contours, the isolation of figures and objects inherent in early works disappear in them. Perov depicts street heroes and squares, organ grinders and itinerant jugglers, acrobats and dancers, and more … he had a chance to portray a deeply emotional image of the Savoyard.

Who is Savoyard?

In the Parisian period, Perov creates images of the disadvantaged and oppressed, trying to attract public attention to them and arouse ardent sympathy for them. During one of these street works, the artist caught the eye of a little Savoyard. The Savoyards are the children of the poor, who were sent by their parents to rich Germany to wander and earn a living in hungry years, showing tricks with trained animals who know how to guess, pulling out notes with "happiness." The Savoyards liked the ladies who dreamed of receiving a "note of happiness" from a street boy, but in return for this "happiness" young vagabonds received only small coins thrown out of the window. But the life of the Savoyards, like any street children, was not easy: they lived on the street, often united in gangs or nailed to a gypsy camp. On behalf of the Savoyard, Beethoven's song to the verses of Goethe "The Marmot" was performed.

In 1805, Ludwig van Beethoven set poetry to music. And the classic song “Marmotte” (French Marmotte) was born, which we know in several versions of the translation. Here is one of them:

The Savoyards were loved by artists, they can be found in the paintings of such painters of the 18th-19th centuries as A. Watteau, A. Van Dijk, V. M. H. Leibl, J. E. Freeman, I. Johnson, K. E. Makovsky. One of the most touching paintings with the Savoyard is, of course, the work of the Russian painter Perov.

Perov's painting

The canvas by Vasily Perov depicts life itself in all its unsightly cruel truth: a homeless boy, abandoned in a huge city and left to himself. The artist depicted a boy in a moment of great fatigue, with an emaciated, adult, who had seen a lot of the face like an old man's. On his forehead (this is the brightest spot in the picture, by the way) you can read a story about a difficult fate. The appearance of the tramp was painted with special zeal: frayed trousers, worn shoes, an extinct look, dirty hands and hair. The hat, designed more for collecting mercy, is empty - another sad sign in the current tragedy. All this makes the heart of the viewer burst with sympathy and pain for the fate of the boy in a cruel world.

The artist managed to convey the extreme degree of exhaustion of a child, a difficult fate and the tragedy of life itself. The background is masterfully rendered with the subject in mind: a dark background and ragged walls. Heavy-duty pavements and high ceilings emphasize the Savoyard's fragility and defenselessness. He has a broken flute in his hands - the result of a collision with local competitors for a place on the street. The boy's faithful friend - a marmot, hungry, with disheveled hair and emaciated no less than the owner, clings to the boy in order to somehow warm up. He is his faithful companion, the only living being who shares the boy's dysfunctional life.

Thus, Vasily Perov, a significant figure in 19th century painting, managed to create a deeply emotional image of a vagrant boy. The image of the Savoyard boy in the picture exposing the level of poverty in society and the social problem of child labor is permeated with an aching sadness. Little "Savoyard" Perov told a big story about the injustice and cruelty of the modern world. Will society be able to perceive the author's message? Will people be able to revive their callous hearts at the sight of childhood suffering? I really hope that in the coming years, painting will be called upon to depict the beautiful, positive, laudatory, and there will be no place for sad and gloomy subjects.