Russian Painting Series: Portraits

Author: Quan Shanshi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Portraiture is a fertile ground for Russian oil painting. After oil painting was introduced from Western Europe in the 18th century, it first took root here. Ivan Nikitin (1690—1741), a student sent by Peter the Great to Italy, was the founder of Russian national oil painting. He was renowned for his portraits, with his masterpiece being "Portrait of Peter the Great" (1722). In the late 18th century, three famous portrait painters emerged in Russia: Feodor Rokotov (1735—1808), Dmitry Levitsky (1735—1822), and Vladimir Borovikovsky (1757—1825). They created a series of portraits for the court and the aristocracy. The court and the upper class commissioned portraits to display their authority and status, or to cultivate elegance and embellish their appearances. Portraiture for the elite became a trend. The subjects of these portraits were often dressed in fine attire and posed stiffly, while the painters frequently employed classical academic techniques. Portraits of this era were filled with pretension and artificiality—both the patrons and the artists found this aesthetic appealing. Occasionally, there were exceptions, such as Borovikovsky's "Portrait of Lopkina" (1798). The subject, a member of the elite and well-educated, exudes a poetic charm and an emotional artistic appeal. Borovikovsky broke away from the old conventions, shattering the outdated notion that only noble beauty was idealized. By the late 18th century, the winds of the Enlightenment began to blow, and painters like Rokotov, Levitsky, and Borovikovsky depicted intellectuals and ordinary people, paving the way for the democratic spirit of portraiture in the first half of the 19th century. However, the portrait works of this period are not included in this collection.