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Orest Kiprenskii was
one of Russia's leading painters of the first half of the XIX
century, who also achieved international recognition. His
self-portrait was placed in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence along
with the portraits of the worlds' greatest masters.
It is believed that Orest
Kiprenskii was an illegitimate son of the
landowner Alexei Dyakonov and one of his serfs. Orest was born on
the 24th of March, 1782, in the village Koporye, near St. Petersburg
on a grange, owned by his father. He was raised in the family of
Adam Shvalber, a serf. Although Kiprenskii was born a serf, he was
released from the bondage upon his birth and his father helped him
to be admitted to the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg in 1788.
In the Academy of Arts Orest was trained to become a historical
painter, which was considered to be the highest achievement for an
artist. After graduating from the Academy in 1803, he was left there
as a pensioner for three more years to help him to fulfill the
necessary requirements to win the Major Gold medal. Winning the
first prize enabled the young artist to go abroad to study art in
Europe. Orest was to create a big historical picture to achieved the
goal.
Prince
Dimity Donskoy after the Kulikov Battle (1805) became the
picture, for which the Academy awarded him the Major Gold medal. A
year before, in 1804, at the Academy's exhibition he showed the
Portrait
of A. K. Shvalber (1804), which was a great success. The
portrait so impressed his contemporaries, that later a group of
experts, members of the Naples Academy of Arts, expressed an opinion
that the picture was a production of one of the great masters of the
past - Rubens, Rembrandt or Van Dyke. Kiprenskii had to ask for
letters from the members of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts
supporting his authorship.
During the following years
Kiprenskii created a lot of portraits,
among the best are
Portrait
of the Princess A. V. Scherbatova and the
Prince P. P. Scherbatov (c.1808),
Portrait
of A. A. Chelischev (c. 1809),
Portrait
of Count V. A. Perovsky (1809),
Portrait
of Countess Ye. P. Rostopchina (1809),
Portrait
of Denis Davydov (1809).
During Napoleon's invasion of 1812, he created several graphic
portraits of people who fought with the French. Portrait
of Peter Olenin (1792-1868) was finished just before 18-year-old
Peter with his 19-year-old brother Nicholas went to fight the Battle
of Borodin, where Nicholas was killed and Peter severely wounded. In the post-war period
Kiprenskii created masterpieces of
portraiture such as Portraits of D. K. Khvostova and V. S. Khvostov
(1814),
Portrait
of A. I. Molchanova with Daughter (1814), Portrait
of Count S. S. Uvarov (1815-1816),
Portrait
of the Poet V. A. Zhukovsky (1815) and others.
Only in 1816, Orest
Kiprenskii managed go to Europe to study the art
of old masters. He spent seven years in Italy and created historical
pictures there: Tomb of Anacreon (1821), several genre pictures
Young
Gardener (1817),
Girl
Wearing the Poppy Wreath, also known as Portrait of Mariucci
(1819) , Gypsy Girl with a Twig of Myrtle (1819) and others. And of
course he kept painting portraits in various techniques, among the
best are
Portrait
of the Princess S. S. Scherbatova (1819),
Portrait
of the Prince A. M. Golitzin (c.1819),
Portrait
of E. C. Avdulina (1821 - 1823). In Italy he met a little girl Anne
Maria Falcucci (Mariucci), to whom he became attached. He bought her
from her dissolute mother and made her his ward. On leaving Italy,
he gave her to a Catholic convent. After his return from Italy
Kiprenskii continued to paint portraits,
his favorite genre. The most notable were
Portrait
of Count D. N. Sheremetyev (1824),
Portrait
of O. A. Ryumina (1826),
Portrait
of the Prince N. P. Trubetzkoy (1826),
Portrait
of A. F. Shishmarev (1827),
Self-portrait
(1828),
Sibyl
of Delphi (Portrait of N. S. Semenova.) (1828),
Portrait
of A. A. Olenina (1828), Portrait
of Alexander Pushkin (1827).
In 1828, Kiprenskii came back to Italy. The reason for his second
trip was the letter from his friend in Italy S. Galberg, which
informed him that he lost track of Mariucci. Kiprenskii found
Mariucci, she had been transferred to another convent.
In Italy he went on working. He created The Sibyl of Tibur (1830), a
big canvas in the historical genre, but the painting was not
successful. There were several remarkable genre pictures:
Naples Boys (1829), Naples Girl with a Bowl of Fruits (1831),
Readers
of the Newspaper in Naples (1831) and portraits: Portrait of F.
A. Golitzin (1833) and
Portrait
of the Sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen (1833). In July 1836,
Kiprenskii was able at last to take Mariucci from the convent and
marry her. He died from pneumonia three months later on the 5th of
October 1836 and was buried in Rome. His daughter Constance was born
after his death.
Bibliography:
Orest Kiprensky. by V. Zimenko. Moscow. Iskusstvo. 1988.
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