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Petr
Petrovich Vereshchagin

Russia • 1834−1886

Peter Vereshchagin received, like his brother Basil, original art education in the family and continued it at the Academy of arts in St. Petersburg (1858-1865). However, in their artistic interests of the brothers were very different. Petr Petrovich Vereshchagin is known primarily for his landscapes. After graduation, he worked as a teacher and created a lot of landscapes.

Born on 14 Jan 1834 in Perm, in the family of the painter-craftsman Peter Prokof'evich Vereshchagin. Younger brothers - Vasily and he - together with Peter, teenagers began to learn the beautiful craft. First painting lessons the brothers received from his father. In 1843 his father died, and their mentor became their maternal grandfather, a painter and icon painter I. V. Babin. And in 1850 in prigorodnoy Slobidka settled graduate Arzamas drawing school painter A. U. Orlov. Having a great artistic talent and the ability to accurately capture a likeness, he soon achieved success as a portrait painter. Around artist rallied local talented young people, including brothers Vereshchagin.

On the advice of the artist Vasily, and then Peter and Mitrophan Vereshchagin went to St. Petersburg and entered the Academy of fine arts. The most successfully studied of Vasily Petrovich from the class of historical painting in Markov and later made a brilliant career as a historical painter. The youngest of the brothers, Mitrofan Petrovich, also studied in the class of historical painting at the Academy of arts from 1857 to 1869. The beginning of his picturesque career was quite successful, however, the latest information about back to 1871, when he received the title of class artist of the second degree. About its further fate is not known.

The eldest of the brothers - Peter enrolled in the Academy of arts in 1858, somewhat later his brothers. Chosen specialty of landscape painting, he studied in the class of landscape in Socrates Maksimovic Vorobyov, the famous landscape painter, lived for many years in Italy. The "Italian" tradition of landscape painting in St. Petersburg Academy of arts had a solid Foundation associated with names of the great landscape painters of the early nineteenth century -.F.Shchedrin, Off.F.Shchedrin, F. Y. Alexeev, F. M. Matveyev, M. N. Vorobiev. Their paintings, in varying degrees, is inherent in the attention to nature, a thorough study of color and light nuances, love easy and cute background, a sort of idyll often transferred to adored by all the masters of Russian landscape of the Italian land.

All of these features, which in the beginning of the century turned the idea of the Russian public to landscape painting, by the middle of XIX century became an academic dogma: vidoes had to develop and, of course, be taught in the Academy according to the traditions of the great masters. So very quickly the art of landscape painting was boring, dry, to the point of banality bland or too sugary. So the modest, insignificant in the eyes of academics, the genre of landscape in the Academy of arts suffered the same fate as historical, and genre painting.

S. M. Vorobiev is the son and disciple of one of the early luminaries of the Russian landscape M. N. Vorobyov was an ideal teacher academic postulates. The lessons the teachers had a strong influence on the young Peter Vereshchagin. He diligently learned all the formulas of landscape painting that helped him for a short time to build a successful and stable career. In 1860, his first exhibition, which was held at the Academy of fine arts, he showed two works depicting a perspective view of academic sculpture exhibition of that year and internal appearance of the Church on the island of Valaam.

In 1861 the etude "On the Volga", the young artist received a silver medal, and in 1862 - a large silver medal for the painting "In Baku." On the academic exhibition in 1863 exhibited his landscapes ". Spasskaya tower" and "Tolkuchy market in Moscow," and in 1864 - twelve types of remarkable places, buildings, and neighborhoods of the city of revel', written in the summer months of that year. In 1865, p. P. Vereshchagin graduated from the Academy of arts with the title of class artist of the third degree for the painting "View in Nizhny Novgorod".

Landscape painting, with its apparent simplicity, require from the painter a maximum voltage of forces, a brilliant knowledge of perspective, a serious the foundations not only of landscape and genre painting. The rules of the Academy of arts of the time prescribed in the landscape "presenting pictures to make figures and animals." Vereshchagin pretty quickly abandoned the traditional neutral background and began to include in their real everyday scenes, using his sketches from nature that represent the whole world and describe him as a brilliant draftsman. In his wonderful pencil drawings he fixed everything that could be useful in the future to create large paintings.

Image of the colorful life of the urban poor in the backdrop of the majestic Russian architecture will then become the hallmark of his paintings, it is through these genre patches written by all the canons of traditional academic landscapes Vereshchagin acquired a unique flavor. Another individual feature of the painting of the young artist was paying close attention to the types of ancient Russian cities. He became one of the first landscape painters, refused to write Italian types, who managed to see the uniqueness of mother nature and architecture, to change the traditionally dismissive attitude towards them. Although before the landscape turned to the Russian theme, but basically they were limited to reproduction of views of St. Petersburg and Moscow. Vereshchagin managed to convey to the public the identity of the Russian provinces and diversity of Russian nature.

1866 by p. P. Vereshchagin he taught drawing, sketching and calligraphy in the city of Lutzin Vilnius province. In 1867, for the painting "View of Dinaburg", "the Market in Nizhny Novgorod" and "view of the city from the surrounding Lucina" he was awarded the title of class artist of the second degree, and in 1868, for the painting "Tolkuchy market in Moscow" and "Kremlin" - the title of class artist of the first degree. In 1867, the artist joined the Society of lovers of the arts. In the early 1870-ies Vereshchagin wrote some of the buildings of St. Petersburg and created a series of landscapes of the Crimea. In 1873 the Academy of arts awarded him the title of academician of landscape painting for the painting "General view of Sevastopol", referring to the Crimean cycle, as well as for landscapes "Mezhigorskaya factory near Kiev", "Kiev", "Nizhniy Novgorod", "the Market in Nizhny Novgorod", "Ukraine" and "view of the Kremlin in Moscow."

In 1870, the painter left teaching and devoted himself entirely to creativity. During this period he travelled a lot. Series of his works, exhibited in 1873, conveyed the types of Mezhigorskaya faience factory in the Ukraine and Kiev. In the winter of 1873-1874 years the artist has created a series of 40 sketches with the types of the Caucasus. In 1875-1876 the years on behalf of the Partnership the Ural mining railway p. P. Vereshchagin painted a series of sketches on the river Chusovoy and other places of the Urals were built here along the railroad. According to numerous studies in the years 1876-1881 he wrote the film that convey the rugged beauty of the Ural nature, and reproduced many of the local towns. In several works recorded the construction of most rail lines.

During the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878 he was with the Russian troops in the Balkans and captured they traversed city and countryside, wrote of the city Sistovo, as well as a series of landscapes of the Danube. The collected materials Vereshchagin created a large panorama on the military theme - "the bombardment of the fortress Ruse". In the late 1870's - early 1880-ies, he again turned to the architecture of the Northern capital and has written several. At the same time he created numerous "portraits" of St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kiev, Nizhny Novgorod, Perm, Tiflis, Baku, Pskov, Vladimir, Kazan, Vyborg and other Russian cities.

Feeling confident in their chosen subject, Vereshchagin began to pay closer attention to the genre side of his paintings. Everyday scenes become more crowded, the focus of the artist to be market square or holidays. Often architectural landscape becomes a spectacular backdrop for the complex depicted in the foreground of everyday scenes.

Characterized by repeated appeal to the artist's successfully found the species reasons. One of the most striking examples of his artistic method are several versions of the painting "Market in Nizhny Novgorod". For the first time this story has interested Vereshchagin in the middle of the 1860-ies: created then the picture (which is stored now in the Museum of Nizhny Novgorod) became one of the three works, for which he received the title of class artist of the second degree. Then, in 1872, the artist has made a recurrence, which is in the Tretyakov gallery. According to the literature, known variant of 1876. Also known variation and repetition of the types of Pskov, Sevastopol, Sukhum and other cities.

Active creative period p. P. Vereshchagin was about three decades of intense and fruitful labor, and picturesque the level of his works always remained very high. Of course, like any artist, Vereshchagin did not always write masterpieces. In General, however, it remains one of the few Russian artists whose art did not know the radical drops, and the quality of work and craftsmanship only grew from year to year. Being flesh of the flesh of the Academy of arts, he was able to find my own style in one of the most traditional academic genres. Of course, in a picturesque and techniques used light and colour effects he unquestioningly followed his great predecessors. But only Vereshchagin managed to radically change the dismissive attitude to the actual Russian landscape. His peculiar and well-recognizable "portraits" of towns and regions, full close to the Russian heart of household items, rightly won wide popularity.

The artist was fortunate - he recognized early in life and not forgotten after death. In the exposition of any self-respecting Museum you can find a picture Vereshchagin, and any collector that collects academic painting, she is not ashamed to have his canvas.

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