“Portrait of Vasily Trifonovich Akentiev” is a painting by the English artist George Dow from the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace .
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| George doe | ||
| Portrait of Vasily Trifonovich Akentiev . 1828 year | ||
| Canvas, oil. 104 × 66.5 cm | ||
| State Hermitage Museum , St. Petersburg | ||
| ( inv. ERZH-2444 ) | ||
The picture is a full-length portrait of the drummer of the company of palace grenadiers Vasily Trifonovich Akentiev from the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace [1] .
Vasily Trifonovich Akentiev (Aintiev, 1787 - not earlier than 1831) - comes from soldiers' children. In military service since 1805, he served in the Life Guards Finland Regiment . He took part in a campaign in Austria in 1805, was twice wounded in the battle of Austerlitz and was considered missing for some time, then he participated in the campaign of 1806-1807 in East Prussia , in the Patriotic War of 1812 and in the foreign campaigns of 1813 and 1814 years . In 1827, he was enlisted by the drummer in the Rota of the palace grenadiers [2] and in 1831 was fired on indefinite leave with accrual of pensions [3] .
Depicted standing in the room, on the left behind the open door, in which the foliage is visible, on the right is the colonnade that goes into the distance. He is dressed in the form of a drummer of the palace grenadiers, on the chest there is an insignia of the Order of St. Anne , a silver medal “In memory of the Patriotic War of 1812” on the St. Andrew’s ribbon, a medal “For the capture of Bazardzhik” and a medal “For the capture of Paris” . A drum is standing on the floor in front of him. From behind the legs, the edge of the saber sheath is visible. In the lower right corner is the artist’s signature and date: Geo Dawe RA 1828 , a little to the left of her blue paint is printed the numbers: 170 (these numbers correspond to the number of the painting in the "Inventory of Nicholas I Pictures"). The late inscription, relating to the first half of the 1830s, is applied in black paint to the bottom left: Drummer Vasily Akentiev . On the back of the painting, the number “Descriptions of the paintings of Nicholas I” was repeated in white paint and the code E346 was red-brown, the numbers 81 were written in chalk; on the crossbar of the subframe there are two crossed-out ciphers corresponding to the numbers in the inventories of the Catherine Palace : green EDM 762 and light blue EDM 1141 [4] .
The painting was painted at the beginning of 1828 and is one of the four full-length portraits of the palace grenadiers, painted by the Dow on a separate order from Emperor Nicholas I (the Dow fee for this work was paid the following year). It was believed that the entire series was created primarily as an illustration of military uniforms, however, according to the remark of the guardian of British painting in the Hermitage E. P. Renne “the mention of the names of the most honored life guards in the order indicates that they were self-valuable as portraits” [5] .
Initially, the painting was in the restroom of Nicholas I in the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoye Selo , then it was in the Great Wing of the Catherine Palace . In 1941, after the start of World War II , the painting was evacuated, stored in the Central Repository of Museum Funds of suburban palaces in Pavlovsk, and in 1956 transferred to the Hermitage [4] . It was exhibited in the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace , then it was put into storage. After the Hall of the Military Gallery underwent a major restoration in 2003, the painting was again exhibited there [6] , located on the end wall to the right of the entrance from the Palace Church .
There are doubts that the picture, contrary to the signature, depicts precisely Vasily Akentiev. In the published list of grenadiers credited to the Company of the palace grenadiers during its formation, there are two drummers: in addition to Akentiev, there is also Andrei Leonov, transferred to the company from the Life Guards of the Izmailovsky Regiment . This list indicates that Akentiev had the Insignia of the Military Order of St. George and did not have the Badge of the Order of St. Anna , which we see in the portrait. And vice versa, Leonov had the sign of the Order of St. Anne and did not have the George Cross [2] . However, the signature was put on the picture in the first half of the 1830s, when Leonov was still in the service, and Akentyev just recently resigned, and accordingly both their colleagues and the immediate authorities who personally knew both grenadiers could see the picture, and there is no information that any of them indicated a possible error in the signature [7] .
V.M. Glinka , describing the portraits of the palace grenadiers, noted:
Looking at the portraits of the palace grenadiers, we must first of all remember that these are ordinary representatives of the valiant Russian army that defended our homeland in 1812. ... These are, as it were, the representatives of those whose heroic shadows are invisibly present in the Military Gallery, lining up closely behind each general who led them into battle. These are those without whose courage, perseverance and courage the most talented commander would not have won his glorious victories [8]
- Other portraits of the palace grenadiers by Dow
Portrait of Egor Yegorovich Getgort
Portrait of Vasily Mikhailovich Lavrentiev
Portrait of Ilya Grigoryevich Yamnik
Notes
- ↑ State Hermitage Museum. “Dow, George and the workshop.” "Portrait of Vasily Trifonovich Akentiev."
- ↑ 1 2 Grinev, 1912 , p. 193.
- ↑ Renne, 2009 , p. 109.
- ↑ 1 2 Renne, 2009 , p. 105-106.
- ↑ Renne, 2009 , p. 105.
- ↑ Podmazo, 2013 , p. 47.
- ↑ Renne, 2009 , p. 106.
- ↑ Glinka, 1988 , p. 218-219.
Literature
- Glinka V.M. Pushkin and the Military Gallery of the Winter Palace. - L .: Lenizdat, 1988 .-- 238 p.
- Grinev S.A. To the centenary of World War II. History of a company of palace grenadiers. - SPb. : Printing house of the Main Directorate of the Fates, 1912. - 393 p.
- Podmazo A. A. Images of the heroes of the Patriotic War of 1812: Military Gallery of the Winter Palace. - M .: Russian Knights, 2013 .-- 864 p. - ISBN 978-5-903389-62-9 .
- Renne E. P. British Painting of the 16th — 19th Centuries: Collection Catalog. - SPb. : Publishing House of the State Hermitage Museum, 2009. - ISBN 978-5-93572-376-7 .