The painting "The Stranger" by Ivan Kramskoy

One of the most outstanding works of the Russian school of painting of the second half of the XIX century is the picture "Stranger". Kramskoy wrote it in 1883. For the first time the picture was presented to the public in the same year at the exhibition of the Wanderers in St. Petersburg. Its original name is "Unknown". After it saw the audience, immediately appeared a lot of rumors. Who is the young lady Ivan Kramskoy portrayed in the picture? An exact answer to this question could not be obtained until today. The study of the diaries and personal correspondence of the artist also failed to clarify the situation: Kramskoy never mentioned the identity of the woman who became the main heroine of his most famous work.

The search for the prototype of an unknown girl

There are several versions of the one whose image is transmitted by the picture "Stranger". Description of the appearance of the Kursk beauty of the peasant Matryona Savvishna, who became the wife of nobleman Bestuzhev, most suited to the heroine of the canvas. Some researchers of Kramskoy's work believed that the model posing for him when writing the painting was his daughter Sophia. Some art experts believed that the prototype of the girl from the canvas is Anna Karenina, others attributed to her a resemblance to Nastasya Filippovna Barashkova, the heroine of Dostoyevsky's novel The Idiot. At the beginning of the XX century, the young lady from the picture began to be associated with the tender and mysterious Blok "Stranger".

Evaluation of critics

Many contemporaries of Kramskoy believed that the painting "Stranger" was written in order to expose the moral foundations of society, which could not serve as an example for imitation. Art critic V. Stasov called the beauty on canvas "a cocotte in a wheelchair." According to N. Murashko, the canvas was depicted "dear camellia," that is, a woman of easy virtue. Describing the "Stranger", the critic P. Kovalevsky called it "one of the frenzies of big cities."

Description of young lady

What is the picture "Stranger"? Kramskoy depicted on it a beautiful young woman, passing in an open carriage on the Anichkov Bridge. The young lady, regally looking on the background of snow-covered Petersburg, is dressed dearly and fashionably. All the details of the elegant wardrobe are unknown to the artist with special care. A luxurious coat with blue satin ribbons, trimmed with sable fur, a hat with feathers, gloves of the finest leather, a gold bracelet - all this gives out a wealthy woman.

The look of the beauty, framed by fluffy eyelashes, is arrogant, in it the contempt for others is slipping. But at the same time, one can read in her eyes the uncertainty inherent in all people who depend on the world in which they live. Despite the disparaging attitude, the girl is very beautiful, graceful, she attracts enthusiastic looks. The unknown lady obviously did not belong to the higher world. The manner of dressing in the latest fashion, as well as painted lips and plentifully bared eyebrows indicate that she was most likely the custodian of some noble lord.

The Czech find

Approximately 60 years after writing the "Stranger" in one of the private Czech collections, a sketch was unexpectedly found to this picture. On it the young lady is dressed in a dark closed dress, her hair is gathered in a high hairstyle. The woman, depicted in the sketch, is strikingly similar to the "Stranger", but her glance is even more contemptuous of those around her. Kramskoy portrayed the beauty impudent and self-satisfied, giving the expression of her face a certain caricature. It can be seen from the sketch that the master had long been nurturing the idea of creating an expository portrait, ridiculing the vices of society.

Rumors about the curse of the picture

Not only the mystery of the image of the main character attracts art lovers the painting "Stranger". The artist created a truly mystical work, because for decades it attracted to its owners troubles and setbacks.

After writing the canvas, Kramskoy suggested Tretyakov to buy it for his gallery, but he refused, being sure that portraits of beautiful women are able to draw forces from a living person. "Stranger" found shelter in private collections first in Russia, then abroad, but all its owners, she brought misfortune. The curse also hung over Kramskoy himself: a few months after the painting saw the light, two sons left their lives one by one.

After a long journey in 1925, the mysterious "Stranger" returned to Russia and still took her place in the Tretyakov Gallery, where she is still today. Since then, she has ceased to bring misfortunes to others. Fans of creativity of Kramskoye are sure that if the canvas had originally got into Tretyakov's collection, then the bad glory would not have followed it, because it was there from the very beginning.