Ivan Firsov young painter description of the painting. Composition based on the painting “Young Painter” by Firsov

The painter's contemporaries claim that most of the works made by Ivan Ivanovich Firsov were made available to churches, cathedrals and theaters. Often the panels of this artist could be found in the interiors of houses of wealthy families. However, literally a few of his works have survived to our times, one of which is the painting “Young Painter”. Moreover, several interesting and mysterious events are connected with its history, as well as with the life of the creator himself.

I. I. Firsov: biography

The exact date of Firsov's birth is not known, but he was born around 1733 in Moscow, in merchant family. Both father and grandfather of Ivan Ivanovich were directly related to art - they were engaged in artistic woodcarving and jewelry. It was from them that the talent in the field of painting passed to the heir.

As soon as it turned out that young Firsov had a very clear predisposition to this type of activity, the family council decided to send him to work in St. Petersburg. Upon arrival, the future artist was assigned to finishing work, where he was engaged in decorating buildings and palaces.

At the age of 14 (precisely at this age), Firsov entered the service in the Office of Buildings, while learning and developing his talent as a painter. Ivan Ivanovich's talent could not go unnoticed - his work delighted Catherine II herself, and she insisted on his further education, and not just anywhere, but abroad, in France.

In 1756, Firsov entered Paris and already there was largely inspired by the works French painters. Chardin had the greatest influence on him, painting canvases depicting genre scenes: Ivan Firsov's painting "The Young Painter" is most consonant with the work of this Parisian realist.

Upon his return from France (period 1758-1760), I. I. Firsov became a court painter. He gained notoriety mainly as a result of decorative design hand-painted panels for various performances and productions. A little later, Ivan Ivanovich becomes one of the main employees of the Directorate of the Imperial Theaters.

Unfortunately, about recent years Very little is known about the painter's life. In this regard, comparing some historical data and the dates of the mention of Firsov, experts claim that he died after 1785. According to some facts, the artist could well have ended his days in a lunatic asylum, since at the end of his life he suffered from some mental disorders.

Ivan Ivanovich performed a sufficient number of works both by order of the leadership and for the nobles. However, little has survived to our times. The painting “Young Painter” at the same time tells about the talent Firsov possessed, and in the same way does not allow you to deeply feel all that his creations were imbued with. Undoubtedly the only thing is real masterpiece in area genre painting.

Description of the artwork «Young painter»

The composition on the canvas is simple and at the same time interesting with its everydayness. Three figures are in the center of attention: the youngest painter, a little girl and her mother. A boy in a blue uniform sits on a chair, putting one foot on an easel, and draws a portrait of a baby opposite him. Despite the apparent relaxed posture, he is focused and passionate about his occupation.

As for the youngest model, dressed in a bright bonnet, she looks ready to run away to do more interesting things. Such a trait as shyness also shows through in her posture - she pressed herself against her mother, who affectionately hugged her daughter by the head. The woman herself with one hand simultaneously holds and calms the little fidget, and the other shakes her finger instructively. However, there is not even a shadow of tension here - the seeming severity of the mother is not at all serious.

In addition to the people themselves, in a room filled with soft light, there are also some items inherent in the workshop of each artist: a bust, a mannequin, a box with brushes and paints, a couple of paintings on the wall.

Pastel colors that have not lost their freshness over time, the atmosphere of a cozy and calm everyday life - this is how you can complete the description of the painting “Young Painter”. Its plot is conveyed with incredible cordiality, as evidenced by the fact that the canvas was painted not to order, but “for the soul”, under the influence of certain feelings.

History of the painting

The painting "Young Painter" was completed around 1768 in Paris. This canvas opens a subsequent series of works in a similar genre. At the time of the writing of The Young Painter, in addition to Firsov, some paintings by Shibanov and Eremenev, telling about the life of peasants, can be considered similar works.

By the way, until the beginning of the 20th century, it was believed that this canvas did not create Firsov at all. "Young painter" - a painting by the artist A. Losenko, as the signature of the same name on the front side tried to testify. However, art critics did not calm down until, in 1913, during the examination, a decision was made to eliminate the aforementioned surname, under which the name of I. I. Firsov was discovered.

On this moment painting "Young painter" is stored in Tretyakov Gallery, where she got thanks to the founder of the museum - a merchant who bought the canvas from a certain collector named Bykov in 1883.

Household painting as a genre and attitude to it

Russian Academy of Arts at the time of Firsov's writing famous work, one might say, did not fully recognize the everyday genre as a kind of painting, considering it base. Maybe, given fact is also the reason why the work for a long time spent in the workshop in which Ivan Firsov worked.

The painting "Young Painter", despite this, nevertheless saw the light and is now considered the most a prime example household genre XVIII century., And its value from this only increases.

Painting in Russian painting

The main difference of the canvas lies in its some absent-mindedness. It is written with love, not obeying any generally recognized laws of the classics. Picture of a scene from ordinary life, without embellishment, excessive rigor and observance of the canons - this is what art critics characterize the painting "Young Painter". People do not pose, they are charming in their simplicity, which was completely uncharacteristic of the Russian visual arts that time.

That is why for a long time no one had associations with the fact that this work could have been done by the hand of our compatriot. Experts in the field of painting confirm that the painted picture is so unrelated to the events in Russia in the 18th century. in spirit that creates vivid impression atypicality and immediacy.

Other paintings by I. I. Firsov

However, the work in question is not all that Firsov left us as a legacy. “Young Painter” is a painting by this master in its genre, one might say, lonely, but there is one more surviving canvas. It is called "Flowers and Fruits" and represents the previously posted in Both works were written in a completely different style, but nevertheless they belong to the brush of Ivan Ivanovich, testifying to the versatility and originality of his talent.

The interesting work of I. Firsov "The Young Painter" did not immediately receive recognition from the audience, because it was presented to the audience only two centuries after it was written. And all because the artist created his own creative work at a time when painting was not yet known, not popular.

Only modern generation art lovers drew close attention to Firsov's painting. Due to its low popularity, the canvas turned out to be practically untouched and perfectly preserved.

For the first time turning my eyes to the picture, it seems to me simple and naive. But, this is only the first impression. Then, when I peer into the details of the canvas, I see before me not an ordinary artist, but a very young guy who is trying so diligently to bring out every stroke of the brush, every feature on his canvas.

Further, my attention is attracted by the model, who simply cannot sit still. She is so interested in what is happening, she is ready to jump up from her chair this very minute and run up to the artist. But, her energy and cheerfulness are kept by the standing mother, who shakes her finger and asks the girl to calm down a little.

On the floor next to young artist located his palette with paints. A plaster sculpture and a bust are painted in the background of I. Firsov's canvas "Young Painter", a picture of a noble lady hangs on the wall. At first glance, it seems that all these items are completely incompatible with each other. But, thanks to the skill of the artist, they are skillfully combined with the help of a properly selected colors and arranged composition.

The room in which the painting takes place is quite cozy and warm, conducive to true creativity. It is in such a room simple people» live full and happy lives.

Second half of the 1760s Canvas, oil. 67 X 55. The State Tretyakov Gallery.
www.art-catalog.ru
Firsov Ivan Ivanovich (circa 1733 - after 1785), painter. From the end of the 1750s. court painter. He painted icons, theatrical scenery, decorative panels.

Not all the names of Russian painters, especially the beginnings of the formation of domestic fine arts, have survived to our time. Ivan Ivanovich Firsov, an artist of the middle of the 18th century, was lucky to some extent. His authorship of the only painting that has come down to us was finally confirmed only at the beginning of the 20th century.

I. Firsov's ability to draw was hereditary - his grandfather and father painted, worked as wood carvers and were goldsmiths. Having skills in artistic crafts, Ivan Firsov Jr. was sent from Moscow to St. Petersburg to decorate the city and the imperial palaces. His talent was noted, and on the personal instructions of Catherine II, he left for Paris in 1765, where he improved his skills at the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. Apparently, Chardin, the leading master of genre scenes in France of the 18th century, turned out to be the most consonant artist for I. Firsov. The painting by I. Firsov, executed in the Chardin style, in no way detracts from the skill of the artist. Everything is extremely balanced in it and everything, even objects, as they say, is at work.

Ivan Firsov's painting "Young Painter" is one of the earliest, but already perfect designs Russian household genre.
The plot of this picture is simple. In a spacious studio filled with even light, a boy artist sits in front of an easel and enthusiastically paints a portrait of a girl. An adult woman, mother or older sister, persuades the little model to sit still and maintain a pose. At the feet of the artist stands an open box of paints, on the table are the usual props of a painting workshop: a marble bust, several books, a papier-mâché mannequin depicting a human figure.

The scene written by Firsov seems snatched from life. The artist skillfully conveys the relaxed naturalness of postures and movements.
With apt observation, characteristic of a true realist, the calm and affectionate severity of the mother, the cunning and impatience of the little model, the selfless passion of the young painter are depicted. The true fidelity of the characters creates that sense of poetic charm that permeates the whole picture.

In terms of artistic skill, Firsov's painting is one of the most perfect works of Russian art. painting XVIII century. It is quite obvious that Firsov is a first-class artist, impeccably mastering the means of pictorial expression. His drawing is distinguished by freedom and precision; the space in which the scene unfolds is built with impeccable skill, no deliberate scheme is felt in the composition, it is natural and at the same time rhythmic. The coloring of the picture, with its pink-gray, silver scale, so well conveys the spiritual atmosphere of Firsov's heroes, is endowed with special poetic expressiveness.

In terms of its content, design and pictorial form, The Young Painter does not find analogies in Russian art XVIII centuries.
The development of genre painting in the 18th century proceeded at a slow pace. She had almost no demand among customers and did not enjoy the patronage of the Academy of Arts. Among Russian artists there were specialists in portraiture, in historical painting, there were decorators, and by the end of the century landscape painters appeared, but there was not a single master who would devote himself entirely to the everyday genre.

This state of affairs is, of course, by no means accidental. Disregard for everyday subjects is typical for the court and noble culture. It is known that Louis XIV ordered to remove the paintings of the great Dutch genre painters from the walls of the Palace of Versailles, calling them "freaks". The successes of the everyday genre in the world art of the 18th century are directly related to the development of bourgeois ideology and the rise of the social and political role of the third estate. In the Russian reality of the Elizabethan and Catherine's times, there were no conditions for the flourishing of genre painting, since the leadership cultural life The country was completely in the hands of the nobility. Everyday themes, addressed to living modernity, contradicted the official artistic guidelines with their demand for "sublime" and "heroic" in art.

Even the portrait, which was so necessary in the life of the nobility and developed despite official non-recognition, was not ranked among the “high” art. And everyday painting occupied the last, lowest place in the hierarchy of genres developed by academic theorists.
This explains the extreme paucity of everyday paintings in Russian art of the 18th century. It is noteworthy, however, that the quantitative deficiency is fully compensated for by the unusually high artistic quality of what was done by Russian masters in the field of the genre. What is the reason for this amazing phenomenon? Is it not that works on despised noble society Were everyday themes created by artists “for themselves”, with all the sincerity that arises from the inner need for creativity, without regard to the tastes of the customer and the official requirements of the Academy?

In addition to Firsov, a short list of Russian artists of the 18th century who worked in the field of everyday genre includes the portrait painter M. Shibanov with the paintings "Peasant Dinner" and "The Celebration of the Wedding Contract" and the historical painter I. Ermenev, the author of an amazingly powerful watercolor series dedicated to image of Russian peasants.
Firsov with his "Young Painter" takes chronologically the first place in this list. about fate and further work almost no information has come down to us about the artist. The name of this master appeared in the history of Russian art and occupied place of honor actually quite recently.

In the 19th century, The Young Painter was considered the work of A. Losenko and even had his fake signature “A. Losenko 1756". True, already at the beginning of the 20th century, it was quite clear to art historians that the picture had nothing to do with the work of Losenko. But her authorship remained conjectural. Various suggestions were made, tending to the fact that the author of this picture should be sought among Western European masters. The name of the famous German engraver and painter D. Khodovetsky was even named. But in 1913, at the initiative of I. Grabar, Losenko's signature was removed and under it was found - a genuine one, written in French “I. Firsove".
Archival documents testify that the Russian artist Ivan Firsov, decorator of the imperial theaters, lived and worked in Paris in the mid-1760s. It can be assumed that The Young Painter was also painted in Paris: this is indicated, in particular, by the non-Russian appearance of the characters in the picture.

Another work, signed by Ivan Firsov, has been preserved - the decorative panel "Flowers and Fruits", dated 1754 and once adorned the Catherine Palace. But in this work, rough and student-like, it is difficult to find a resemblance to the virtuoso painting of The Young Painter. It is also known that in 1771 Firsov made a number of icons and decorative paintings that have not reached us. The "Young Painter" remains alone in the work of the remarkable Russian master. Apparently, Firsov was most gifted precisely in that area of ​​art, which could find so little application in Russian reality in the second half of the 18th century.

The golden-haired minx was already tired of sitting still and leaned on her mother. The girl's pink dress and yellow shawl are in perfect harmony with her mother's clothes.

There is no need to shed tears about the past summer,
It will certainly return to our city -
There is also a lot of joy in the autumn season.
September is marching, beautiful and young.

Everyone knows that he is a real artist,
He knows how to paint landscapes and portraits.
In his friends: a warm gentle rain,
Sunrises, sunsets, singers and poets.

He is young and careless, he is in love with nature,
A little naive, like many children.
Colorize dreams downcast crowns
In crimson and gold in memory of the summer ...

For a long time listed as a "painting unknown artist", only in the twentieth century the picture received the name of its real creator.
It turned out to be Firsov I.I.
In the eighteenth century, when this painting was created, the Academy of Arts did not recognize genre painting. Only images of the gods and heroes of antiquity could be exhibited as a "worthy canvas."
And Firsov I.I. he painted scenery for the first operas, decorated magnificent holidays.
The plot of the picture is simple and uncomplicated. A young artist draws a girl in his workshop, which is all occupied with art objects. The window, curtained with a rich green velvet curtain, shows us that the action takes place in a rich estate. In the corner stands a marble bust of a lovely girl, on the wall, behind it hangs a portrait, but this is not formal portrait, it is clear that this is a portrait of a woman with a guitar, perhaps even the work of the youngest talent. Otherwise, he would have hung in the state rooms of the nobleman. Another picture hangs nearby, but what is depicted on it is impossible to make out. Nearby is a mannequin in order to put on him the puffy dresses of the ladies of that time, so that the artist can draw all his folds, ruffles and bows without interference.
On foreground the painter himself. He sits at an easel on which the painting he is working on is fixed. The picture shows a girl sitting right there.
The golden-haired minx was already tired of sitting still and leaned on her mother. The girl's pink dress and yellow shawl are in perfect harmony with her mother's clothes. A young woman, wearing a scarf on her head, is dressed in a red-striped dress with a white skirt. A woman in a position, it is also hard for her to stand, but she understands the importance of the moment and reassures her daughter.
A charming genre painting shows us the artist's studio in times long gone, and we would like the young man to receive recognition equal to his talent.

For a long time, A. Losenko was considered the author of the painting “Young Painter”, a little later, art historians recognized the authorship for by German artist D. Khodovetsky, relying on the dissimilarity of the outfits of the characters depicted in the picture with Russian traditional costumes of the middle of the 18th century. Only by 1913, thanks to the activities of the researcher I. Grabar, it was proved that the painting “The Young Painter” was painted by the Russian master Ivan Ivanovich Firsov in 1760.

Firsov can certainly be called the founder of genre painting. Unfortunately, during the life of the artist, this style of art was not popular and was not recognized by the official Academy of Arts for a long time. Perhaps it was precisely in connection with the denial of genre painting by the public of that time that the canvas “Young Painter” is the only painting by I.I. Firsov, which has come down to our days.

It is well known that great artist was a pioneer not only in painting, Ivan Ivanovich was directly involved in the design of the first Russian opera. This deserving respect outstanding person far ahead of the time in which he lived and created his unrecognized masterpieces.

According to the surviving historical sources, the painting "Young Painter" was painted by the artist during a trip to France. Even the relatively recently discovered authentic signature of the master is written in French.

The image of a small room, dimly lit by a single window with heavy dark green curtains, immerses the viewer in the creative atmosphere of the workshop of a very young artist. Perhaps a boy of thirteen earns his living by selling portraits, but more likely, he is simply honing the skills he acquired in the gymnasium. It is felt that the young portrait painter devoted quite a lot of time to his painting, he clearly wants to stretch his muscles, stiff from sitting work, and the baby model is clearly tired. A girl in a simple coral dress with a white apron and high hair over a headdress in the tone of the outfit persuades the baby, ready to be capricious at any moment. A girl with wheat-gold hair in a puffy peach-colored dress agrees to pose again, cuddling up to her senior mentor.

The young artist paints a portrait diligently, trying to achieve the greatest similarity, and the visible result of his work is quite good. Judging by the size of the wooden easel, the oil-stained towel, and the open chest of art supplies, one can judge that young talent is in his workshop.

The walls are decorated with two framed portraits, perhaps by a young artist, or more professional craftsmen serving as a stimulus and example.

Near the window is a table topped with a heavy, plaster or marble mannequin. Often artists use such busts, putting on them luxurious headdresses, popular among wealthy ladies of that time, in order to convey as accurately as possible the grace of numerous laces and folds of expensive fabrics.

Probably, the portrait is very important for the family of the golden-haired baby. For the convenience of the child, even a stand for small legs is brought. The woman, judging by the position of her hand, is clearly saying something instructive, is pregnant, it is definitely hard for her to stand, but despite the inconvenience, she continues to be near the girl, who wants to jump up quickly and see her image on the canvas.

Who knows, maybe Firsov's painting is autobiographical, the artist simply embodied on canvas one of his memories. creative youth. There is a desire to sincerely wish the young painter creative success and public recognition, so that the next picture, which delighted the whole world, belonged to his brush.