Farewell to Tobiah with his father - a painting by the French artist Adolf William Bouguereau from the collection of the State Hermitage Museum , the only painting by Bouguereau in Russian museums.
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| Adolphe William Bouguereau | ||
| Farewell to Tobiah with his father . 1860 | ||
| fr. Les adieux de Tobias avec son père | ||
| Canvas, oil. 153 × 119 cm | ||
| State Hermitage Museum , St. Petersburg | ||
| ( inv. GE-4426 ) | ||
The picture illustrates the Old Testament plot described in the Book of Tobit (5: 9-18). The scene depicts the departure of Tobiah , the son of Tobit , to collect a debt from Hawaii, the son of Gavriev, in the Rags of the Mizhi: the blind Tobit holds his left hand in a blessing gesture over the head of Tobiah bowing before him. To their left is the companion of Tobias, the archangel Raphael , who pretended to be a man named Azariah. On the right mother Tovia Anna is crying. At the bottom right is the artist's signature and date: W. Bouguereau 1860 .
As follows from the signature, the picture was painted in 1860 and immediately bought by N. A. Kushelev-Bezborodko , and the very next year it was shown to the public in St. Petersburg at the exhibition “Paintings and Rare” under the name “Tobit, blessing his son” works of art belonging to members of the imperial house and private individuals of St. Petersburg ” [1] . After the owner’s death, the painting, like all works from the Kushelev-Bezborodko collection, was transferred to the Museum of the Academy of Arts by will and became part of the special Kushelev gallery [2] ; in the gallery catalog of 1868 she was listed under the name "Departure to the path of the son of Tobiah" [3] ; in 1922 it was transferred to the State Hermitage Museum [4] . It is exhibited in the General Staff building in the halls dedicated to the Paris Salon.
A well-developed preparatory drawing of charcoal on cardboard is known, having exactly the same dimensions as the finished picture; This drawing was exhibited at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and is in a private collection. A separate drawing of Tobiah was also exhibited there, where the character's pose and folds of his clothes also correspond to the Hermitage painting [5] .
The main researcher of the Department of Western European Fine Art of the State Hermitage Museum, Doctor of Arts A. G. Kostenevich , describing the picture, noted:
In the relief-like “Farewell of Tobiah ...” everything is subordinated to an extremely impersonal approach. Behind each fold of clothes is a meticulous study of the art of Antiquity and Renaissance , everything is calibrated and reliably distanced from the viewer by some kind of coldly majestic Byzantism. Such is academism in a “chemically pure” form, the category of honed but lifeless craftsmanship [6] .
Canvas, oil. 124 × 100 cm.
Museum of Fine Arts of Dijon
Earlier, in 1856, Bouguereau painted the painting “The Return of Tobiah”. All the characters involved in it are repeated in the Hermitage painting. This work was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1857; currently kept at the Dijon Museum of Fine Arts .
Notes
- ↑ Kostenevich A.G. Art of France 1860-1950. Painting. Picture. Sculpture: in 2 volumes. - St. Petersburg: Publishing House of the State Hermitage Museum, 2008. - T. 2. - P. 16.
- ↑ Berezina V. French painting of the first half and middle of the XIX century in the Hermitage. Scientific catalog. - L .: Art, 1983 .-- S. 82.
- ↑ Berezina V. French painting of the first half and middle of the XIX century in the Hermitage. Scientific catalog. - L .: Art, 1983 .-- S. 245.
- ↑ State Hermitage Museum. - Bouguereau, Adolphe William. "Farewell of Tobiah with his father."
- ↑ Kostenevich A.G. Art of France 1860-1950. Painting. Picture. Sculpture: in 2 volumes. - St. Petersburg: Publishing House of the State Hermitage Museum, 2008. - T. 2. - P. 15-16.
- ↑ Kostenevich A.G. Art of France 1860-1950. Painting. Picture. Sculpture: in 2 volumes. - St. Petersburg: Publishing House of the State Hermitage Museum, 2008. - T. 1. - P. 78.