Vasily Alekseevich Volkov (March 21, 1840, St. Petersburg - April 22, 1907, Poltava ) - Russian and Ukrainian painter and portraitist , watercolorist, peredvizhnik . State Councilor .
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Content
Biography
In 1858–1863 he studied at the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Arts . After graduating from the Academy in 1868 he moved to Ukraine and settled in Poltava.
In 1861 he received the title of teacher of drawing in gymnasiums, in 1867 - the title of class artist of the 3rd degree. In 1875-1907 He taught drawing at the Petrovsky Poltava Cadet Corps and, simultaneously, at the Institute of Noble Maidens (since 1875).
He created his own art studio. Member of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions .
He died on April 22, 1907 in Poltava from cardiac asthma. He was buried at the Monastery Cemetery of the Poltava Holy Cross Monastery.
Creativity
Author of portraits, canvases on domestic and historical themes. Known for his portraits of Emperor Alexander II and Alexander III , the Great Prince. Konstantin Konstantinovich, peredvizhniki colleagues N. Yaroshenko and L. Posen , as well as all directors of the cadet corps.
Most of the time the artist worked in Poltava, where the local art museum and collected mainly his works.
The most famous paintings:
- Ukrainian
- Nanny
- Girl with a doll
- Outskirts of Poltava
Together with his student, sculptor Leonid Posen, he made a sketch of a gravestone for the grave of I. P. Kotlyarevsky .
Gogol's image
The artist created a cycle of paintings about Gogol - “Gogol listens to a lyre” (three options: 1882, 1892, 1902), “Gogol in Vasilyevka” (1902). The picture of 1882 is kept in the Tretyakov Gallery (known as “N. V. Gogol Listens to Vasilyevka in the Kobzar”).
Images of Peter the Great and Hetman Pavel Polubotka
In 1901, the picture of Volkov “Emperor Peter the Great visits the appointed hetman Polubotka in the casemate of the Peter and Paul Fortress in 1724” appeared at the annual traveling exhibition in Moscow.
The plot of the picture is a Ukrainian historical legend. On December 18 (29), 1724, the Chernihiv Colonel and the hetman of the Right-Bank Ukraine Pavel Leontyevich Polubotok died in the Petropavlovsk Fortress, accused of numerous abuses and excess of power. Legend has made him a fighter against Moscow tyranny. They said that the emperor himself visited the dying man, and he allegedly heard the following words from him: “I know that shackles and gloomy dungeons await us, where they will die with smooth and oppression according to the custom of Moscow: but still alive, I tell you the truth, O king ! that you will surely reward the report before the King of all kings, all-powerful God, for our destruction and all the people. "
According to another version, also legendary, the dying Pavel Polubotok threw a short, sinister phrase to Tsar Peter: “Soon, very soon, God's judgment will judge Peter and Paul!” As is known, Peter the Great died on January 28 (February 8), 1725, that is, on the 41st day after Polubotka.
Public resonance caused by the picture Volkov, was quite large: articles mentioning it published magazines " Iskra ", " Niva ", "Our Journal". In addition to the exhibition catalog, where a black-and-white reproduction of the picture was placed, postcards reproducing it appeared. Such postcards at the beginning of the 20th century were quite popular, they were painted by hand and could constitute extensive thematic collections.
The fate of the original picture is unknown. According to one of the versions, immediately after the exhibition in 1901, the artist sold it to an Englishman, who was specially visiting her in Elisavetgrad. Currently, the famous painting is known only by reproduction. They point to the existence of a copy of J. Vinklyansky (1911), but it seems to reproduce not the original, but the colored postcard of 1901.