How Pavel Tretyakov competed with the emperor to create the most famous art gallery in Moscow
Before the revolution, patronage of the arts was considered not only charitable, but also beneficial for the donor himself, and the point here was not taxes at all. According to…

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Monet is a spot, Manet is a people: How to distinguish two masters of impressionism
Their acquaintance began with a big conflict, but later they became great friends. Monet — Manet is a story of long-standing friendship based on great respect and mutual assistance. When…

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What snacks are hidden by "Madonna della Loggia" Botticelli
Madonna della Loggia, one of the most discussed works by Sandro Botticelli, will leave his native Uffizi and go on a tour of Russia with three stages: - from September…

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luxurious vase

Secrets of “Ladies with an Ermine”: What does the cute animal in the painting of Leonardo da Vinci hide

“The Lady with the Ermine” (1489-1490) is one of the most important works of all Western art, the subject of the greatest rarity of the genius Leonardo da Vinci and one of the four famous female portraits of the master. Modern art critics are sure – the white animal in the picture appeared for a reason.

Transformation of the picture
To date, only a small part of the picture has remained genuine, the rest has been repeatedly retouched: the entire background was darkened, the dress was changed, and the transparent veil worn by the woman was repainted in combination with hair color. Another adjustment of the unknown restorer was the addition of dark shadows between the fingers of her right hand (upon careful examination of the two lower fingers it is noticeable that they are significantly inferior to the others). However, the most important discovery of the picture was that the Italian artist did not write the work in one stage, but in three clearly distinguishable stages. Continue reading

How the main romantic of Germany Caspar Friedrich spoke about God with atmospheric landscapes

Caspar David Friedrich is one of the leading figures in the German romantic movement. His mysterious, atmospheric landscapes and seascapes proclaimed human helplessness against the forces of nature and did much to validate the idea of ​​the Exalted as the central problem of romanticism.

Family drama

Human helplessness and melancholy, high feelings of the hero in the paintings are caused by sad events in the life of the artist himself. By coincidence, Frederick knew death very early: his mother, Sophie Dorothea Behli, died in 1781, when Caspar was only seven years old. At the age of thirteen, Caspar David witnessed how his brother Johann Kristoffer fell through the ice of a frozen lake and drowned. According to some reports, Johann Kristoffer died, trying to save Caspar David, who also nearly drowned. His sister Elizabeth died in 1782, and the second sister, Mary, died of typhus in 1791. Sad circumstances with loved ones, as well as the immersion of the artist himself in spiritual and mystical poetry, influenced his work and served as the basis for the confirmation of Caspar David Friedrich as the leader of German romanticism. Continue reading

The tragedy of the author of the most famous portrait of Chekhov: How he lost his family and paintings, and why he got to Solovki Osip Braz

Over several centuries of development, Russian culture has presented the world with a galaxy of brilliant painters, whose works are included in the world treasury of fine art. Among them are distinguished artists and undeservedly forgotten. One of the last is the talented master of the portrait genre Osip Emanuelovich Braz, the author of the famous portrait of A.P. Chekhov from the Tretyakov Gallery. The name of the Russian artist, academician and collector, unlike his creations, few people know for very objective reasons, subject to the trends of the time in which the painter lived and worked.

Osip Braz in his works masterfully combined realism with elements of impressionism and modernism, he was rightfully considered one of the outstanding Russian portrait painters of the early 20th century. However, the artist fell not only on creative success, career growth and a happy family union, but also false arrest, confiscation of the collection, and years of imprisonment spent on Solovki, and the loss of two sons and the death of his wife, which he only survived for a year. Continue reading

Symbolism of the most mysterious stone: Women with pearls in the paintings of famous artists
The dual nature of pearls has inspired artists at all times: pearls have been used for centuries as attributes of vanity, purity, innocence and even generosity. According to the National…

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Why did the famous socialist realist Heliy Korzhev begin to write mutant-turliks and paintings on biblical motifs
In recent years, in the world of art, interest in the work of Soviet artists has revived. And there was a time when their work was written off to a…

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“Love Letter” by Jan Vermeer: Why the lute is central to the picture
Cristobal Balenciaga once said that “a good fashion designer should be an architect for patterns, a sculptor for form, an artist for design, a musician for harmony, and a philosopher…

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