Beideman, Alexander Egorovich

He was born in the family of a businessman, later impoverished, due to unsuccessful supply of the army during the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829.
He studied at the Larino gymnasium , after graduating from it, showing artistic inclinations, in the early 40s began to attend classes at the Imperial Academy of Arts . In 1844, a student in the painting class with Professor A.T. Markov .
At that time, compositions were written: “The Tribulation of Achilles over the slain Patroclus ”, “The Conversion of Saul ”, “The Death of Socrates ”.
In 1845 he wrote sketches on Russian historical topics: “Preparations for the assassination of St. Boris (1015), Svyatopolk the Cursed in Frenzy, The Death of Svyatopolk the Cursed, and from biblical history, The Resurrection of Lazarus . Sketches are influenced by the school of K. P. Bryullov , showing some spectacularity and theatricality.
In 1846, sketches were made: “Mother of Moses ”, “Moses taken from the water”, “ Socrates finds Alcibiades during an orgy” (on the back of the canvas a sketch of 1847 is drawn: “Stoning of St. Stephen ”).
In 1847 it was written: “Feeling the feet”, “Wand turned into a serpent”, “Carrying Christ into the grave”, “Treason of Delilah ”, “ John the Baptist lad in the desert”, “Baptism of Olga ”, “Oath of Brutus over the body of Lucretia ” . KP Bryullov liked the last composition so much that he asked him to give Beideman his professorial kiss.
In 1848 he performed sketches: “Christ at Martha and Mary ”, “Resurrection of the daughter of Jairus ”, “The daughter of Cimon breastfeeds his father in prison” and “ Esther before Artaxerxes ”.
In 1849 there was only one sketch: “The release of the criminal father at the request of his son Peter I ” At that time he was engaged in illustrations for the journal Yeralash by Mikhail Nevakhovich , where a lot of humorous drawings were made. In addition, sketches were made in a humorous spirit: "Spying on bathers by landscape painters" and "Unsuccessful celadon appeared" (caricatures of comrades).
Then, under the influence of P. A. Fedotov, he wrote scenes from Gogol 's Nose and The Cholera Disappearance.

In 1851, for a portrait from nature, he received the first silver medal. After that, he exhibited with his works at four academic exhibitions, as a competitor for gold medals.
September 27 ( October 9 ), 1853 received the 2nd gold medal for the painting on the sketch "Flight to Egypt."
In competition with strong academic artists, he could not get a big gold medal to go on a business trip to Rome from the Academy and at the end of 1855 left the Academy.
In 1855 he made sketches with watercolors and oil paints: “The Resurrection of the Son of the Widow of Naina,” “Christ Twelve Years Talking with the Teachers in the Church,” “Appearance of the Resurrected Savior to the Apostle Thomas ,” “Entrance to Jerusalem,” “Renunciation of the Apostle Peter, ” “Crucifixion in the midst of robbers”, “Apparition of Christ at Lake Tiberias ”, “Christ blesses children”, “ Sermon on the Mount ”, “Denarius”, “Descent from Tabor ”, “ Last Judgment ”, “Circumcision”, “Reconciliation of Jacob with Isaac” , “The Apparition of the Hagar Angel”, “Trinity”, “Flood”, “Diana carried by marshmallows” (watercolor) and “ The poet’s appeal to the goddess of the night ”(in pencil).
In 1856 he married Elizabeth Fedorovna (1833-1897).
Despite the lack of financial resources, in 1857 he went abroad, hoping to find a suitable job there. Was in Germany and Italy . In France , in Paris, he received an order for an Orthodox church under construction there.
In the summer of 1860, after finishing work in Paris, he returned to St. Petersburg, with paintings and many sketches begun (views of Bavaria, southern Italy and the environs of Rome, Valhalla, etc.). From the paintings - “Walking”, “Date on the terrace”, “Winder”, “Girl quenching thirst from a spring in the forest”, “Procession with holy gifts in Italy”, “Appearance of the baby Jesus Anthony of Padua ”,“ On the Grave of Mother ”,“ Savoyard ”and sketches of“ picturesque costumes of the villagers of both sexes ”.

In St. Petersburg, he painted the painting " Ruth on the Field of Boaz ", for which he was recognized as an academician of historical painting at the general meeting of the Academy of Arts on September 2, 1860.
At the request of admirers of talent and friends, he received a position as a mentor in the drawing school of the Society for the Promotion of Artists . In addition, he was invited to give drawing lessons to the Grand Dukes Alexei Alexandrovich and Sergey Alexandrovich .
On November 6 (18), 1861, he received the position of adjunct professor of a mentor as a result of winning the competition with the painting "Death of the Niobe children, struck by the arrows of the Latona children for the contempt shown to their mother."
In December 1861, he was sent to the Crimea , to Livadia, to work in the local church.
He was seriously engaged in religious painting, wrote originals for mosaics in St. Isaac's Cathedral and images for private orders, painted churches in palaces, in St. Petersburg and its environs, as well as in Crimea (Livadia).
He painted the image of the Savior for the tomb of Prince D.M. Pozharsky , made in mosaic, the images of the prophets Anna and Elizabeth.
He painted churches: at the dacha of Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich in Mikhailovka , in the engineering department and in the Alexander Hospital.
According to his drawings, the iconostasis for the temple was made in the military drawing school in St. Petersburg.
Due to the fall on the head of a plaster cast, poorly attached above the doors, he received a severe head injury and died on February 27 ( March 11 ), 1869 .

It is known that AE Beideman had many children. Some researchers believe that one of the sons became an artist.
Beideman Georgy Aleksandrovich (?) - Russian artist of the XIX century, the author of landscapes.
The famous “Swamp in the forest” (end of the XIX century) ^[2] , “New Peterhof” (1895) ^[3] , “Village on the high bank of the river”.

• At the end of April 1869, professors of the Imperial Academy of Arts A.P. Bogolyubov , I.A. Monighetti , P.A. Cherkasov , and N.P. Petrov made a posthumous exhibition of works by Beideman, arranging a win-win lottery for them in favor of the artist's family.
• The Academy of Arts has an album donated by Emperor Alexander II , which contains 150 drawings, images, written or designed by Beideman.
• His watercolor painting “The Apotheosis of the Liberation of the Peasants” is also known.
• Etchings “Cossack Court in the Black Sea” and “Three Talking Jews”. Both sheets are from Picturesque Ukraine (supplement to the journal Osnova , 1861).
• The State Russian Museum has a painting by A. Ye. Beideman, “Country Zucchini”.
• Together with Lev Lagorio and Lev Zhemchuzhnikov, he is the author of the famous portrait of Kozma Prutkov , placed in the publication of his works.

• Beideman, Alexander Egorovich // Russian Biographical Dictionary : in 25 volumes. - SPb. , 1900. - T. 2: Aleksinsky - Bestuzhev-Ryumin. - S. 658-659.
• S. N. Kondakov. Anniversary Directory of the Imperial Academy of Arts. 1764-1914 . - St. Petersburg: Partnership R. Golike and A. Vilborg, 1915. - T. 2. - P. 14. - 454 p.