Portrait of M and Lopukhina description. A beautiful portrait of the young Countess Maria Lopukhina. Description of Borovikovsky’s painting “Portrait of Lopukhina”

She passed a long time ago, and those eyes are no longer there
And that smile that was silently expressed
Suffering is the shadow of love, and thoughts are the shadow of sadness,
But Borovikovsky saved her beauty.
So part of her soul did not fly away from us,
And there will be this look and this beauty of the body
To attract indifferent offspring to her,
Teaching him to love, suffer, forgive, be silent"(

The modern poetess Solovyova dedicated a long poem to the canvas, in which she noticed one interesting feature of it - Mary’s blue outfit seemed to echo the color of heaven.

Who was she, this sweet, charming girl? At what time in your life was it drawn? "The portrait shows Maria Ivanovna Lopukhina(1779-1803), representative of the Tolstoy count family, sister of Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy (famous for his duels - N.D.), wife of the huntsman S. A. Lopukhin (1769-1814), daughter-in-law of the Oryol governor A. S. Lopukhin. She died of consumption" (Portrait of Maria Lopukhina - Wikipedia

Just a few lines are written about her on Wikipedia. While she “was the decoration of many secular salons. Many subsequently began to call her the Russian Gioconda” (Vladimir Borovikovsky: portrait of Lopukhina. History of creation, fb.ru/article/161740/vladimir-... copy (05/14/2017)). The beauty had a very unhappy fate. Due to the imbalance of his character, Lopukhin could not give happiness to his lovely wife. She, having experienced the horror and humiliation of insults, died three years (according to other sources - 5 years) after the wedding.

It was rumored that the girls who looked at the portrait died. This was facilitated not only by Lopukhina’s unfortunate fate, but also by the fact that Maria’s father was known as a mystic and a Freemason, however, the artist himself was also a Freemason.

Under Soviet rule, wall calendars with this work by Borovikovsky were sold in huge quantities. And this completely proves that the picture was not dangerous.

Borovikovsky received the order for the painting from the husband of Maria Lopukhina. His portrait was supposed to capture the youthful beauty of Stepan Avraamovich's future wife. Maria is only eighteen years old, and the artist could not remain indifferent to this delightful creature. He was able to convey all her tenderness and purity, the sadness in the gaze of this beauty and, as it were, even a premonition of tragedy. It’s as if the artist M.M. Gerasimov said about her: “There are faces that can be read like stories...” (Portrait of M.I. Lopukhina | Russian painting

Let's consider the features of Borovikovsky's painting.

“The portrait enchants us with the harmony of lines and shapes. All elements of the picture are interconnected. Each detail is subordinated to one idea - to highlight the beauty of the model. The color scheme chosen by the artist is as follows: mauve, pale blue, soft green. This gives the picture a special charm" (

“The expressiveness of the volumes and plasticity of the depicted forms is noteworthy. Accuracy in conveying the girl's individual traits - all this is written with extraordinary ease. Maria’s elongated eyes of a greenish tint, gentle, delicate facial features made the portrait the standard of a woman of the era of sentimentalism (Work by JI Borovikovsky “Portrait of M I Lopukhina” (comp...

I really appreciate it when you can see real velvet, real nylon or copper utensils on a painting, which is why one of my favorite contemporary artists is Alexander Shilov. In the portrait of Lopukhina, the painter also managed to convey the texture of the material. It was necessary to show her wealth and nobility. And we saw a real gold bracelet and waves of satin fabric.

"IN. Borovikovsky was a master of the brush" (Description of Portrait of Maria Lopukhina by Borovikovsky

“With bleaching strokes he mints diamonds and pearls for jewelry, with light strokes he paints fur, and with long strokes he paints flowing fabrics.
When it comes to facial sculpting, Borovikovsky
sometimes he rubs paint into the canvas with his finger, sculpting forms like a sculptor” (Works by V.L. Borovikovsky “Portrait of M.I. - Answers Ma... otvet.mail.ru/question/188590503 03/18/16 copy (05/14/2017)).

The portrait of Maria Ivanovna showed the creative individuality of the author.

Shadows and penumbras play an important role here. “The brightest place on the canvas is the girl’s face. Her dress, hands, and neck echo the light tones of the sky with their whiteness. Fluffy hair and a lilac shawl are combined with muted shades of greenery, which frames the girl’s figure. All together - the gold of the hair and the complexion - create the glow of the canvas. This is Borovikovsky's find. The human body, as in an icon, radiates light and true beauty” (Works by JI Borovikovsky “Portrait of M I Lopukhina” (sochi... sochinenietut.ru/works/... copy (05/14/2017)).

There is a presentation on the Internet dedicated to the painting. And it highlights 5 features of this work. These are: the musicality of the lines, the mysterious half-smile of the heroine, light from nowhere, haze, sculptural forms.

A mysterious half-smile: “It is very difficult, almost impossible, to give an exact psychological description of the state of the heroine of the canvas. Everything here is “semi”, everything here is contrasts and contradictions,

incompleteness and ellipsis...half smile, half thoughtfulness,

half-sadness, half-tenderness... And this is quite consistent with the style

sentimentalism with its attention to secret “feelings” (copy (05/14/2017)).

Sculptural forms: “The hand of the heroine of the canvas resembles

marble sculpture (especially in contrast to the completely “live”

rose written next to it), and this is no coincidence: in this work,

undoubtedly, there is a conscious appeal to classicism with its

admiration for ancient sculptural forms" (Presentation "Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky. "Portrait of Maria Iv... ppt4web.ru/mkhk/vladimir-lukich-... copy (05/14/2017)).

Smokiness: “Borovikovsky’s masterful technique is manifested in

amazing color. He works with diverse strokes

changing size and applies glazing, resulting in

smoky coloring with amazing grace of color - art critics

found out, for example, that the blue color in this work has seven shades" (Presentation "Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky. "Portrait of Maria Iv... ppt4web.ru/mkhk/vladimir-lukich-... copy (05/14/2017)).

Light from nowhere: “When you look at this portrait, you get the feeling

That light appears as if from nothing. In fact, “from what”

Certainly. The color scheme of the canvas is delicate and iridescent. On

on exposed parts of the body, paint forms an uneven layer that can

reflect light. This is where the indicated sensation of pouring light comes from.”

Musicality of lines: “The harmony of the image is largely achieved

Due to the thoughtful “symphony” of lines, their doubling and tripling in

space of the picture. So, for example, the trunk of a birch is mirrored

repeats the slightly inclined body of the model, and the curved line of the left hand sounds like an “echo” of the trunk and branches of the nearby “background” tree" (Presentation "Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky. "Portrait of Maria Iv... ppt4web.ru/mkhk/vladimir-lukich-.. . copy (14.05.2017)).

How did contemporaries feel about this work?

Borovikovsky? First of all, they noticed the undeniable

similarities with the prototype, in addition, for them the portrait was the embodiment of the ideal of femininity. After all, in it the natural beauty of the girl is in harmony with the surrounding nature.

“This was the golden age of Russian portraiture, and Borovikovsky was considered its recognized master. A. Benois wrote: “Borovikovsky is so original that he can be distinguished among thousands of portrait painters. I would say that he is very Russian" (The mystery of the portrait of Maria Lopukhina: a painting that carried laughter..

I myself, perhaps, also appreciate this master’s work and for its Russianness too.

But in general, both in the 20th and 21st centuries, we see and understand that “Borovikovsky reflected in the picture not only the aesthetic, but also the social ideal of a woman. The image of Lopukhina combines beauty and intelligence, nobility and virtue. Thanks to his deep artistic abilities, V. L. Borovikovsky is a world-famous Russian artist" (Essay in JI Borovikovsky "Portrait of M I Lopukhina" (composition...

* - the text says romanticism, but I think this is a mistake.

Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky(1757 - 1825) was from Ukraine and began as an icon painter. Catherine II, traveling in Ukraine in 1787, caught the eye of his work and, with her blessing, Borovikovsky ended up in St. Petersburg. Studied with Lampi and Levitsky. He combined well-learned skills with a certain indescribable provincial simplicity. Formally corresponding to the characteristics of classical portraits, his works stood out for their living spontaneity. But the case with Lopukhina is special.

We don’t know what kind of creative tandem it was: a 40-year-old artist and a very young girl of marriageable age. It is not known what in the portrait is from the model itself, and what the painter added or added. The sensual subtext of this seemingly innocent work was clear to any actively watching viewer.

It’s amazing how little is known to descendants about the fate of the woman from the most famous portrait by Vladimir Borovikovsky: young Maria Lopukhina, with whom the already middle-aged artist was probably touchingly in love, because without love such masterpieces cannot be created...

Maria Ivanovna Lopukhina(1779-1803), representative of the Tolstoy count family, sister of Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy (the famous Russian adventurer Fyodor Tolstoy-American), wife of Jägermeister S. A. Lopukhin.

Five years after painting the portrait, Maria Ivanovna died suddenly of consumption. “Portrait of Lopukhina” is considered perhaps Borovikovsky’s best work.

Yakov Polonsky

“To the portrait of M.I. Lopukhina”

She passed a long time ago, and those eyes are no longer there

And that smile that was silently expressed

Suffering is the shadow of love, and thoughts are the shadow of sadness,

But Borovikovsky saved her beauty.

So part of her soul did not fly away from us,

And there will be this look and this beauty of the body

To attract indifferent offspring to her,

Teaching him to love, suffer, forgive, be silent

Description

The artist used the traditional technique of a representative portrait - surrounding the character with objects and attributes that help reveal his image.

However, Borovikovsky tried to show not Lopukhina’s social status, but the personal, intimate sides of her character. The main theme of the portrait was the harmonious fusion of man with nature, characteristic of the aesthetics of the late 18th century, which developed under the influence of sentimentalism.

The artist expresses this fusion through compositional, rhythmic and coloristic relationships. Lopukhina is depicted against the background of a landscape that is largely conventional and decorative, but it already shows the typical features of the Russian national landscape - birch trunks, ears of rye, cornflowers.

The landscape echoes Lopukhina’s appearance - the curve of her figure echoes the bent ears of corn, white birch trees are reflected in the dress, blue cornflowers echo the silk belt, and a soft lilac shawl echoes the drooping rosebuds.

The artist managed to fill the image of his model with life-like authenticity, depth of feelings and extraordinary poetry. This portrait was admired not only by contemporaries, but also by viewers of subsequent generations.

Vladimir Borovikovsky. "Portrait of M.I. Lopukhina"

From the series "Tretyakov Gallery. The Story of a Masterpiece"

Two hundred and fifteen years ago, Maria Ivanovna Lopukhina died. She is still known today thanks to the magnificent portrait of the artist Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky...

Who was she? Daughter of Count Ivan Andreevich Tolstoy, sister of the famous Fyodor Tolstoy the American. In 1797, she was married to Stepan Avraamovich Lopukhin, the huntsman and actual chamberlain at the court of Paul I. And it was in this year that the famous portrait was painted - commissioned by the groom on the eve of the wedding.

At the time of painting the portrait, Maria Ivanovna was 18 years old. My husband is only 10 years older. It was in the order of things then, as it is now.

According to memoirs, Maria Ivanovna was unhappy in her marriage. There was no love, her husband was constantly at court and paid little attention to her. The marriage was childless. And after three years of marriage, the young wife died of consumption.

The husband buried Maria Ivanovna in the Lopukhins’ family tomb in the Moscow Spaso-Andronikov Monastery. A few years later he himself rested next to her. It would seem a completely unremarkable, albeit sad story. If not for the portrait of Borovikovsky.

According to art critics, the artist tried to show not Lopukhina’s social status, but the personal, intimate sides of her character. The main theme of the portrait was the harmonious fusion of man with nature, characteristic of the aesthetics of the late 18th century, which developed under the influence of sentimentalism. Maria Ivanovna is depicted against the backdrop of a Russian landscape - birch trunks, ears of rye, cornflowers. The landscape echoes Lopukhina’s appearance - the curve of her figure echoes the bent ears of corn, white birch trees are reflected in the dress, blue cornflowers echo the silk belt, and a soft lilac shawl echoes the drooping rosebuds. The artist managed to fill the image of his model with life-like authenticity, depth of feelings and extraordinary poetry.

Sometimes Maria Lopukhina is called the Russian Gioconda. Well! Quite appropriate. Borovikovsky’s portrait also has the charm of a mysterious smile and the sad look of a lovely woman. She probably knew her future. And Borovikovsky knew too. And he managed to masterfully convey this inevitability of existence...

And if this is so, then what is beauty?

And why do people deify her?

She is a vessel in which there is emptiness,

Or a fire flickering in a vessel?

Having heard about Lopukhina's beauty and her sad fate, many wanted to see the portrait. And there were rumors that some of the young romantic people who saw the portrait soon also fell ill with consumption and died suddenly. They said that Maria Lopukhina’s father, the freemason and mystic Count Tolstoy, lured his daughter’s soul into her portrait...

But there was certainly no mysticism in this. It’s just that consumption in those days was a fairly common and almost incurable disease.

But in order not to disturb, as they would say now, public opinion, the Lopukhins put the portrait in the back rooms of their house.

However, these are mostly legends: during Maria Lopukhina’s lifetime, the portrait was located in the Bogorodskoye estate near Moscow. After the sale of this estate and the death of Stepan Avraamovich, the portrait was owned by his brother-in-law, Maria Ivanovna’s brother, Fyodor Ivanovich Tolstoy the American. And already from him it passed to his daughter Praskovya Fedorovna, the wife of the Moscow civil governor Vasily Stepanovich Perfilyev. And in the governor’s house in the late 1880s, Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov first saw Lopukhina’s portrait. By the way, Perfilyev is also a very interesting person. In my own way. A close friend of Count L.N. Tolstoy, the prototype of Stiva Oblonsky in Anna Karenina. The Perfilyev couple were planted by father and mother at the wedding of the great writer. Tretyakov spent a long time trying to persuade them to sell Lopukhina’s portrait for the gallery. And in the end I persuaded...

And a little earlier, in 1885, the poet Yakov Petrovich Polonsky was visiting the Perfilyev couple, saw a portrait of Maria Lopukhina and was so amazed by it that he immediately composed a poem:

She passed a long time ago, and those eyes are no longer there

And that smile that was silently expressed

Suffering is the shadow of love, and thoughts are the shadow of sadness,

But Borovikovsky saved her beauty.

So part of her soul did not fly away from us,

And there will be this look and this beauty of the body

To attract indifferent offspring to her,

Teaching him to love, suffer, forgive, be silent...

__________________________________________________________________

In this episode of the Russian Chronicle program on Sputnik radio you will also hear:

Feather and sword. The story of the Chevalier d'Eon.

- "Evening call, evening Bell". A famous song with a complicated story.

Portrait of Maria Ivanovna Lopukhina - Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky. Canvas, oil. 53.5x72

In a series of women's paintings, Borovikovsky reveals himself as a bright representative of sentimental painting. His intimate portraits embodied the ideal woman of his time.

“Portrait of M. I. Lopukhina” is an order of her husband, the huntsman and actual chamberlain at the court of S. A. Lopukhin.

This painting - Borovikovsky's recognized masterpiece - represents the absolute embodiment of the aesthetic ideas of sentimentalism. The image of Maria Lopukhina captivates with its gentle melancholy, extraordinary softness of facial features and internal harmony, which is felt in all the artistic and pictorial elements of the picture: in the heroine’s pose, the turn of her charming head, her facial expression. All lines are harmonious and melodic, details attract attention. The canvas also depicts flowers - plucked and already slightly drooping on the stem of a rose. What is this, a sketch of nature or is there some meaning here? The symbolic meaning of flowers was well known: the beauty of their bloom is captivating, but very soon fades. Such is the beauty of a woman.

However, the artist is especially attracted by the nuances in the model’s condition, her elusive beauty, the deep sadness of her soul, which he conveys thanks to the almost imperceptible elements of symbolism and the subtle color scheme of the portrait.

According to art connoisseurs, “Portrait of Maria Ivanovna Lopukhina” is one of the author’s masterpieces. It is precisely this that can be considered the beginning of a new stage in portrait painting - when the artist denotes not the social position and significance of the hero of the picture, but his personal characteristics - mood, intimate experiences. This is expressed in the depiction not of attributes in the interior, but of the surrounding nature.

On Borovikovsky’s canvas is Maria Lopukhina, a young girl of 18 years old, she is from a noble family, the daughter of retired general Ivan Andreevich Tolstoy, the wife of Stepan Avraamovich Lopukhin. Maria had just gotten married, and this portrait was a gift from her husband. The portrait fascinates and enchants at first sight.

The girl is depicted against the background of nature, blurred and as if in a haze, through which Russian motifs are visible - birches, flowers, clouds. Maria is in a white, simple dress with a blue belt, covering her figure in the “Greek” fashion, with a shawl casually thrown over her.

Her sweet, charming face is young, fresh and gentle, she has a dreamy look directed specifically at you, and a light, mysterious smile. According to the author, the whole picture should create a feeling of harmony and unity of nature and man.

The beauty of the girl gracefully and naturally merges with the beauty of the landscape. How a tilted birch tree harmonizes with the natural and smooth curve of a girl’s figure, how cornflowers respond to the color of a belt, how golden ears convey the curve of a hand, the color and texture of a bracelet.

Borovikovsky managed to convey not only a striking resemblance to the original, but also to fill the canvas with poetry, expressed in the airiness of writing and a delicate range of colors. Using muted silver, pale blue, and soft green colors as a basis, the author achieves a special lyricism and sensuality of the image.

According to the artist’s contemporaries and art critics of our time, the portrait of Lopukhina is the ideal of a woman of the Russian type, to which, according to the canons of sentimentalism, Borovikovsky gave features of tender sensitivity, and the image of nature - as an integral part of the female soul, her essence.

Thanks to Borovikovsky’s portrait, the mysterious beauty of Maria Lopukhina has been preserved to this day. But the girl’s fate turned out to be harsh to her; Maria died at the age of 23 from consumption.

It’s interesting that after her death, rumors spread throughout the city that it was this portrait that killed the recently healthy and cheerful girl. On the sidelines they whispered that supposedly any girl who looked at this portrait would die, because the spirit of the deceased was embodied in it. Most likely, these rumors are associated with Maria’s father; he was a member of the Masonic lodge, was fond of mysticism and had a huge influence on the minds of those around him.

To some extent, Borovikovsky is “to blame” for these rumors - this is the power of his artistic talent, its impact on people, how high the aesthetic component of the portrait is, what is the vitality and authenticity of the heroine depicted in it.

Only almost 100 years later these rumors stopped disturbing people. After the famous Russian businessman and collector Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov acquired the painting for the collection of his gallery.

Master of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky is an artist who is usually classified as belonging to the era of sentimentalism. It was a time when it was fashionable to cry over poetry, to be touched by beautiful flowers and birdsong, to admire sunrises and sunsets.

A time when decent girls had to faint in time, to show in every possible way the subtlety of feelings and spiritual vulnerability, defenselessness, fragility and tenderness of the creature. It was during this period that M.I. Lopukhina was created." Borovikovsky very subtly managed to remind contemporaries and viewers of subsequent eras about how good it is to be human.

Works of a famous artist

The works of Vladimir Lukich are quite recognizable. His paintings are easy to distinguish from heroes of a slightly earlier time. Even the most ceremonial, solemn and brilliant images are softened and warmed by some subtle inner experience. Slightly sad and excited, listening to something and dreaming.

A woman of the era of sentimentalism was supposed to be pale and thoughtful, even a little sad. This is how Maria Ivanovna appears in the famous masterpiece created by Borovikovsky. The portrait of Lopukhina conveys the most tender and subtle features of this woman. And today this masterpiece can be admired within the walls of the famous Tretyakov Gallery.

The image of a Russian beauty

Maria was the daughter of the retired general Count Tolstoy and the sister of the equally famous Fyodor Tolstoy. She was not the object of adoration by numerous fans. Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin did not have time to dedicate poetry to her.

But this beauty was the decoration of many secular salons. Many subsequently began to call her the Russian Gioconda. The same charm of a mysterious gaze and an enigmatic smile is present in the image of this charming woman.

Borovikovsky portrayed her not as a goddess, but as a poetic muse. The portrait of Lopukhina conveys exactly those features of this Russian beauty that so attracted the men around her. The tenderness, sensitivity and subtlety of the image are quite skillfully depicted on the famous canvas.

The tragic fates of Russian beauties

But the fate of the Russian woman was not always cloudless. And an example of this is Maria Ivanovna Lopukhina, who was married to the huntsman of the imperial court Stepan Avraamovich and had a very unhappy fate. By that time he had already retired. Due to the imbalance of his character, Lopukhin could not give happiness to his lovely wife.

She, having experienced the horror and humiliation of insults, died of consumption three years after the wedding. Thus ended the difficult and tragic life, the fate that Maria Ivanovna Lopukhina experienced. Borovikovsky’s portrait so skillfully and accurately conveyed her bright appearance that it evoked a lively response in the soul and poetry of the famous man who dedicated his lines to her. “...But Borovikovsky saved her beauty. So part of her soul did not fly away from us...”

The most famous masterpiece of Vladimir Lukich

The famous and talented artist Vladimir Borovikovsky painted a lot of paintings. The portrait of Maria Ivanovna Lopukhina is not his first and not his last creation, but it so happened that this particular painting became the most famous and celebrated. Absolutely everyone freezes in front of this canvas. People of any age peer into her image. There is something special about her.

This young and uniquely tender woman lived only twenty-three years. Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky painted Lopukhina’s portrait when she was only eighteen years old. He seemed to almost conjure her with his reverent and skillful brush: stay like this - amazingly tender, warm, alive. Don't fade!

Vladimir Borovikovsky. Portrait of Lopukhina. Description of the famous painting

Maria Ivanovna is depicted in a light and delicate robe, which emphasizes her special grace. Next to Lopukhina’s gentle, slightly bent down hand is the bowing head of a lush rose, and, holding their breath, the viewer feels that this flower will soon begin to drop its petals.

The tender and living beauty of this woman will also fade away, end, interrupted by inexorable death. And the poems dedicated to this portrait have been and will continue to be heard for many years to come, praising the imperishable beauty and elegance of the Russian beauty. And this amazing ability to save beauty is one of the most important and touching features of Vladimir Lukich’s work.

No matter who the person is and no matter how simple he looks, his face is less beautiful than the image preserved by the portrait of Maria Lopukhina. Borovikovsky remembered this when creating each of his masterpieces, and all his canvases keep a piece of his soul and the warmth of his brush.

The unique talent of a famous artist

Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky knew how to convey something very personal, reverent and poetic in his portraits. At the time of the creation of the painting depicting Maria Ivanovna, he was about forty years old. By that time, he had already established himself as a very talented and popular artist, who even painted images of the daughters of Emperor Paul the First and Empress Maria Feodorovna.

And so, in one thousand seven hundred and ninety-seven, he received an order from Lopukhin. Borovikovsky’s portrait was supposed to capture the youthful beauty of Stepan Avraamovich’s future wife. Maria is only eighteen years old, and the artist could not remain indifferent to this delightful creature. He was able to convey all the tenderness and purity. There is sadness in the gaze of this beauty and even a premonition of tragedy.