VL Borovikovsky, artist: paintings, biography

Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky (1757 - 1825) was one of the most talented artists of the late XVIII - early XIX century. His portraits, gentle, sentimental and lavish, ceremonial, reveal to us the noble culture of this time, when they shed tears over N. Karamzin's Poor Liza, read the playful Life of Zvania by G. Derzhavin, admired the new syllable that A. Pushkin began to write .

Childhood and youth

The future artist was born in Little Russia in the bustling Mirgorod, in the family of Cossack Luke Borovik. The entire clan of the Borovikovskys served in the Mirgorod Regiment. Vladimir Lukich did not abandon the family tradition. But, having risen to the rank of lieutenant, he retired. Since childhood, the young man who painted has decided to paint. He saw how, having come from the service, his father, uncle and brothers, praying, began to write icons. It was from the icons that Vladimir himself began. But in 1787, when Vladimir Lukich was thirty years old, Catherine II went to the Crimea. The leader of the nobility of the Kiev province, a poet of the XVIII century. V. Kapnist invited Borovikovsky to paint the room in which the Empress was to stop. The artist Borovikovsky painted on allegorical themes. They apparently liked it, since they invited him to Petersburg. Having finished his work with the inheritance, the artist forever parted with Mirgorod.

northern capital

The first ten years, on the recommendation, Vladimir Lukich will hold in the hospitable and noisy house of architect N.A. Of Lviv. It is the cultural color of the capital. In Lvov he gets acquainted with a new direction in literature - sentimentalism. Here read the "letters of the traveler" and "Poor Lisa" of Karamzin, new verses of Kapnist sound here, poet Dmitriev reads sensitive poems, there is G. Derzhavin, and also the artist D. Levitsky, who becomes the first teacher of a newcomer in the capital. All eagerly absorbs Borovikovsky. The artist takes lessons in the studio IB. Lampi. Among the first works, one can single out a portrait of O.K. Filippova. She was the wife of a friend, a sociable and affable person, like Borovikovsky. The artist wrote it in a white morning toilet on the background of a garden with a rose in his hand. She is not jealous. He does not flirt, but simply looks calmly and affably at the viewer with large, almond-shaped eyes. A young woman is tender and dreamy.

First portraits

Borovikovsky writes casually. The artist in the mid-90s is inclined to idyllic images. Such is E.N. Arsenyev. A young "Smolanka," the Empress's maid of honor, looks at us coquettishly, portraying herself as a shepherdess. In her hand she holds the symbol of the goddess of love - an apple. They shine, they shine with mother of pearl paint, sparkling youthful fresh face, cock snub nosedly. The girl's figure stands out against the background of the trees. Borovikovsky wrote a radiant youth. The artist showed an easy and cheerful character of youth.

Lyrical work

In the capital, seven years of life ran, and before us - a mature Borovikovsky. The artist creates a lyric poem. No, perhaps, the elegy of Mary Ivanovna Lopukhina, where a young woman and nature merge into a single whole. Her posture is completely at ease, but at the same time refined and elegant. Harmony is created by the entire structure of the portrait - the melodious and melodic lines, the position of the hand repeats the shape of the tree branch over the young woman. Coloring is striking with soft blue and pearly hues, light and shadow play. A little more - and will sound the magic sounds of music. After a hundred years, Yakov Polonsky will devote a soulful portrait to the portrait. Yes, after the poet we will tell, this beauty was rescued by VL. Borovikovsky. The artist showed not only her incomparable beauty, but also the personal aspects of her character.

Portrait of a Man

Catherine the nobleman drew the painter with his extraordinary mind. Dmitri Prokofievich Troshchinsky left the most simple clerk's family. He studied at the Kiev Theological Academy, and eventually became State Secretary of Catherine the Great. With all the orders and regalia, fanned by the glory of the Suvorov campaigns, the artist portrayed him courageously. With great realism, his stern and energetic face is written.

GR Derzhavin

Gabriel Romanovich Derzhavin artist wrote twice. The first time that the poet held public office and was full of energy, which was enough for both the governor in Karelia and for poetic creativity. The second time - already departed from public affairs of a wise, very elderly person. This portrait is more interesting. There is no office entourage in it. A writing desk and everything that accompanies a similar work. In a ceremonial scarlet uniform with the orders of St. Alexander Nevsky, St. Vladimir, St. Anna and St. John of Jerusalem (Commander's cross), smiling tenderly and calmly, an outstanding Russian poet looks at us. He has seen and learned many things and told all about everything. The autumn of life has come. And the poet meets her with dignity, and soon he will see his young successor, who will turn all the Russian literature and will be pleased to meet with him. Calm wisdom looks at the viewer from the portrait. Worthy old age.

In his workshop

Leaving Russia, I.B. Lampi, the teacher of Borovikovsky, passes him his workshop. In it, the artist will live and work, leaving the house of the Lions. He has already developed his own technique, which will be honed to the end of the day, transferring his skill to the students. And his favorite was A.G. Venetsianov, who will be carried away by work in his own estate and will write his peasants. But this later, later.

Techniques and techniques of the painter

Artist Borovikovsky Vladimir Lukich for 38 years of work will create countless number of portraits. He learned to write easily and transparently, to build a composition. But the main attention he paid to the inner world of man, to his personal unique features. Everything served only as a frame for the face - and the pose, and the position of the hands, and the landscape. To the peculiarities of his letter include special overflows, pearlescence of colors, which were combined with him with academic accuracy of the drawing.

In the sixty-eighth year of his life, the painter Borovikovsky died. His biography is filled with tireless work, meetings with friends, who often were his customers. Is it because of his portraits of love and warmth.