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Five
Faces of a Grand Duchess
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by Dmitry Levitzky |
by Vladimir Borovikovsky |
by Johann F. A. Tischbein |
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Portraits
always were very interesting for me. It was a kind of game to
read the person's life from his\her face. The real artist is
able to tell about his model much more than any dry historical
document. Sometimes a picture can push one for searching
information about the people, who seems interesting. It
happened with me, when I saw the portrait of Grand Duchess
Maria Pavlovna. At first it was Levitzky picture, then I saw
the Borovikovsky one and thought how has the life changed that
little girl. Perhaps, the second portrait had been painted
just before her marriage in 1804 year. Two her older sisters
has died by that time during child birth. She should to go the
same way: magnificent wedding, leaving her big family, going
to far country and changing all her life. Maria doesn't look
scared at all, her eyes are full of fervour. The next image
shows a young woman, just married and waiting for her first
child. She didn't know yet about soon Napoleon war and necessity
to move from her new home to other country running from
danger. English painter working on the portrait in 1822 saw
the mother of four children. Maria looks still charming and
young as many years before. She has learnt a lot for these
years, met the brightest minds of her time, lived full
intellectual life. The trace of all this is seen on the last
picture, which was made just before her leaving this world.
She is 75 years old, but the time was kind to her face. Her features
are right and it's hard to call her old woman.
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| by George
Dawe |
by Friedrich Durck |
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Grand
Duchess Maria Pavlovna (1786-1859)
- the third daughter of Emperor
Pavel
I. She was known for her patronage of arts and her
will to learn. In her childhood, Maria suffered from small pox
and her face had harsh solid lines, but when she matured she
became so attractive that she was called ‘the pearl of the
family’. She had lots of boyish habits, which worried her
mother, Empress Maria Fedororvna, and her tutors.
Catherine
II, the Great wrote that her granddaughter Maria
‘behaved like a real dragoon – she was afraid of nothing
and all her games were resembling of a boy’s. Her favorite
pose was to put her hands on her hips.’ By dint of great
effort her tutors managed to overcome her ‘bad manners’
but they didn’t eradicate her open, happy character and her
inclination towards serious knowledge, which was considered a
man’s job. In 1804, Maria married Charles Frederic of Saxe-Weimar,
heir to Grand Duke Saxe-Weimar. While in Weimar she took
lessons from the professors of the Jena University and met
Goethe, Schiller, Wieland and other outstanding German minds
of the time. Schiller acknowledged in her a great talent for
music and painting and a real love for reading. Goethe called
her one of the best and most outstanding women of his time.
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Many thanks to
www.abcgallery.com
www.russianartgallery.org
www.elibron.com |
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