Taras Shevchenko's muses: women who inspired the great kobzar

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

Taras Grigorievich Shevchenko is a talented poet, fashionable artist, lover of rum and cigars, a true connoisseur of theater, a welcome guest at balls and in aristocratic salons and a passionate admirer of the female sex. And the most interesting, educated and chic women simply could not help but reciprocate him - they loved him, worshiped, idolized and became muses for him …

The name of Taras Shevchenko (1814-1861) is widely known in the world - the great Ukrainian poet, artist, educator, who came from the common people and rose to the heights of world recognition. But no matter how many labels were attached to a genius, he was, first of all, a man with his weaknesses and addictions. Throughout his life, he fell in love passionately and selflessly, painted portraits, dedicated poems and poems, dreamed, suffered, lost faith in love and fell in love again. Female images in Shevchenko's work occupied a special place both in literature and in the visual arts.

Muses of the great poet and artist

The first love in childhood always leaves an indelible mark on the life of every person. So 13-year-old Taras had a 10-year-old friend-consoler Oksana Kovalenko. This is not to say that it was the first love - just childish affection and sympathy. And Oksana's first kiss, as a manifestation of pity and sympathy for the orphan boy, tasted like bitter tears.

Shevchenko as a 15-year-old serf "Cossack" leaves with Pan P. Engelhardt in Vilna to study with the portraitist Jan Rustem. Pan intended to make a home painter out of the serf Taras. Fourteen years later, having already become a famous artist and poet, Shevchenko came to his native village. Oksana was married to a serf and had two children. They never saw Taras again, but he recalled with tender sadness all his life that kiss and the bright image of Oksana's girlfriend.

Taras met the Polish woman Yadwiga Gusikovskaya in Vilna in 1830. The young man fell in love with Jadwiga with all ardor, she reciprocated. Their relationship was far from platonic. The girl taught Taras the Polish language, introduced him to the work of Adam Mickiewicz, and sewed shirts for her lover with her own hands.

But Jadwiga and his brother leave Vilna before the Polish uprising of 1830-1831 in Warsaw.

Taras, bought out in 1838 from a landowner for an unprecedented ransom of 2,500 rubles, became a student at the Academy of Arts, a favorite student of Karl Bryullov. He then bought freedom for the future genius. Taras settled in a small rented room with a friend of the artist Ivan Soshenko. The 15-year-old niece of the mistress of the house, Amalia Klobert, was very fond of Ivan, and he was thinking about marrying her. And Taras, not knowing about the secret feelings of a friend, and being already an experienced lover, seduced the girl. Friends quarreled and Shevchenko had to move out of the apartment. The affair with Amalia quickly ended and did not have a continuation. Although they saw each other after the poet's exile, the old feelings were gone.

In 1843 Shevchenko, after graduating from the Academy of Arts, returned to Ukraine. At that time, he was a very popular portrait painter and popular poet, and was included in many houses of provincial aristocrats. So at one of the receptions at the landowner Volkhonskaya Taras met the colonel's wife Anna Zakrevskaya and the governor-general's daughter Varvara Repnina. Both of them liked the talented and famous young man, but Taras gave his heart to the young flirt, 21-year-old Anna. Their mutual romance behind the back of Anna's elderly husband lasted long enough. It was rumored that the result of their secret dates was the birth of a daughter. The husband tormented Anna with jealousy and suspicion.

And the poet Taras is sent into exile for seditious creativity. There he writes several dedications to Anna, saturated with love and tenderness. And after returning from exile, she learns that Anna died before she was 35 years old.

And Varvara Repnina, who at first sight unrequitedly fell in love with Shevchenko, all these years struggled with her feelings: passion and jealousy. Taras could not reciprocate her. On the one hand, due to the age difference, since Varvara was six years older; on the other hand, Taras did not like the thinness and angularity of the princess. He saw only a "beautiful soul" in her. And Repnina, suppressing despair and extinguishing passionate fire, decided to become a guardian angel for her beloved. She was the only woman who was not afraid to write to the exiled in exile. And with her connections she tried to alleviate the fate of the poet.

In the Novopetrovsk fortress, where the rebel was exiled, the commandant's wife Agat Uskov became the only joy for Shevchenko. She was for him a sincere companion and another love. Although platonic. Taras kept his heartfelt feelings secret. But rumors spread throughout the garrison about an unusual friendship between the exiled soldier and the commandant. Uskova immediately stopped meetings and all sincere conversations. Ten years of a soldier's life have completely crippled the poet's life. Instead of a refined society, there was a company of drunken officers, instead of beautiful ladies - grimy Kazakh women.

After a ten-year exile, 45-year-old Taras had to live in Novgorod, where he again became the focus of local ladies. But only one conquered the subtle and sensitive soul of the poet - Katenka Piunova, a 15-year-old provincial actress, for whom Shevchenko, who was in love, was ready for anything. As Pygmalion, he created his Galatea: he was engaged in her education, taught the Ukrainian language, in every possible way contributed to her advancement in theatrical activity. And then, as expected, he asked her parents for her hand. The girl, although she accepted the courtship, gave a decisive refusal. Painfully old he seemed to her. And one more woman had to erase Taras from his life.

One of the last women of Shevchenko was the 19-year-old civilian servant Lukerya Polusmak. And again the poet was tempted by youth and beauty. Firmly deciding to marry her, Taras spared no effort or money: he conducted educational conversations, bought expensive clothes, jewelry, painted a portrait from her, dedicated poetry. It was even going to the wedding, and the dress was sewn, and the date was set. But Lukerya did not like the poet, only because of wealth she went for him. The denouement came very soon, when Taras saw his bride in the arms of the teacher whom he hired to teach her. After the breakup, Lukerya married a drunkard without waking up, gave birth to a bunch of children. Did she realize her mistake? Maybe yes. Otherwise, I would not have come to the grave of the great talented person in Kanev 44 years after his death, and would not have left a comment there in the book of records:

The talented artist and poet had many more mistresses, whose names are known. Looking into his work, we see that it is all permeated with female images both in literature and in painting. - said Ivan Franko (1856-1916), -

None of those women whom the genius loved could see behind the "external severity and sullenness of his romantic, passionate and vulnerable soul." It was not destiny for Taras to warm his soul at the hearth of the family. And as biographers say:

But be that as it may, fate was still favorable to him in his work: he became a famous artist, academician, poet of genius and gained world fame. This is evidenced by 1384 monuments erected around the world in recognition. To the 200th anniversary of the birth of Kobzar in Moscow after restoration the Shevchenko monument was openedestablished in 1964.