Russian portrait painters

 

The visual arts were slowly developing in Russia. The 18th and early 19th centuries did not produce any great Russian painters, with the exception of the portraitists Rokotov (17357-1801), Levitsky (1735-1822) and Borovikovsky (1757-1825). They asserted the significance of human personality with the complex spiritual world.

Fyodor Rokotov is considered to be the portraitist of man's alter ego. He used colour to provide his images with unique feelings. Rokotov tried to render the richness of the spiritual life of his models. He endowed them with the nobility of the human countenance and form. His portraits of Alexandra Struiskaya (1772), and Prince Baryatinsky, of the early 1780s, are examples of this.

Dmitry Levitsky's portraits are full of life and emotion. The rich beauty of his bright paintings have much in common with Gavriil Derzhavin's poetry. They are united by optimistic perception of life, and admiration for the variety of its forms. Levitsky befriended with the most outstanding personalities of his day. He was Nikolay Novikov's "dear friend". He was close to the famous circle of Derzhavin. At that time Levitsky created his best portraits, among them is the portrait of Countess Ursula Mniszek, of 1782. The painter managed to render the shimmer of light over the satin fabrics, powdered hair, extremely delicate lace and the beautiful face. Exquisite white and blue tones create an elegant image of the society beauty.

Vladimir Borovikovsky, the last of the great Russian portraitists of that epoch, entered the upper cultural circles of Russia as well. His favourite genre was portrait with its harmony and contour rhythm. Borovikovsky's work coincided with the development of Sentimentalism in Russian culture. Fascinated with the idea of the ideal delicate female soul, Borovikovsky endowed his figures with his own ideals and created romantic images. The portrait of Princesses Gagarin, of 1802, is one of his best-known works. In his remarkable works of art Borovikovsky envisioned the romantic ill painting of the nineteenth century.