Pavel Fedotov. Fresh cavalier
Pavel Andreevich Fedotov was an incredibly talented person. He had a good ear, sang, played music, composed music. While studying at the Moscow Cadet School, he achieved such success that he was among the four best students. However, the passion for painting won out over everything. Already during his service in the Finnish regiment, Pavel enrolled in the classes of the Imperial Academy of Arts under the guidance of the professor of battle painting Alexander Sauerweid.
For study, he turned out to be too adult, which another teacher of the academy Karl Bryullov did not fail to tell him about. In those days, art began to be taught early, usually between the ages of nine and eleven. And Fedotov has long stepped over this line ... But he diligently and worked hard. Soon he began to make good watercolors. The first work presented to the audience was the water-color "Meeting of the Grand Duke".
Its theme was suggested by the meeting of the guardsmen with the Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich in the Krasnoselsky camp, seen by the young artist, who joyfully greeted the high person. These emotions struck the future painter and he managed to create a masterpiece. His Highness liked the picture, Fedotov was even presented with a diamond ring. With this award, according to the artist, "artistic pride was finally imprinted in his soul."
However, the teachers of Pavel Andreevich were not satisfied with the works of the aspiring artist. They wanted to get from him the slenderness and refinement in the image of the soldiers, which the authorities demanded from the servicemen at the May parades.
One artist guessed the other
Fedotov did not like all this, for which he listened to constant remarks. Only at home did he take away his soul, depicting the most mundane scenes, illuminated by good-natured humor. As a result, what Bryullov and Sauerweid did not understand, Ivan Andreevich Krylov understood. The fabulist accidentally saw the sketches of the young painter and wrote him a letter, urging him to leave horses and soldiers forever and get down to the real thing - the genre. One artist sensitively guessed the other.
Fedotov believed the fabulist and left the Academy. Now it is difficult to imagine how his fate would have developed if he had not listened to Ivan Andreevich. And the artist would not have left the same mark in Russian painting as Nikolai Gogol and Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin in literature. He was one of the first painters of the mid-19th century to resolutely embark on the path of critical realism and began to openly denounce the vices of Russian reality.
High mark
In 1846, the artist painted the first painting in a new genre, which he decided to present to the professors. This picture was called "Fresh Cavalier". It is also known as "The Morning of the Official Who Received the First Cross" and "The Consequences of the Revel". The work on it was hard. “This is my first chick, which I“ nursed ”with various amendments for about nine months,” Fedotov wrote in his diary.
He showed the finished painting together with the second work - "The Choppy Bride" at the Academy. And a miracle happened - Karl Bryullov, who had not particularly welcomed Pavel Andreevich before, gave his canvases the highest praise. By the Council of the Academy, he was nominated for the title of academician and assigned a monetary allowance. This allowed Fedotov to continue the picture he had begun, "The Major's Matchmaking." In 1848, she appeared at an academic exhibition with The Fresh Cavalier and The Discerning Bride.
The next exhibition, along with the fame, brought the censorship attention. It was forbidden to remove lithographs from the "Fresh Cavalier" because of the irreverent image of the order, and it was impossible to remove the order from the picture without destroying its plot. In a letter to the censor Mikhail Musin-Pushkin, Fedotov wrote: “... where there is constant poverty and deprivation, there the expression of the joy of the award will reach childishness to rush with it day and night. ... stars are worn on robes, and this is only a sign that they value them. "
However, a request for permission to distribute the painting “as it was” was refused.
Here is what Fedotov wrote in his diary when he came from the Censorship Committee about the painting: “Morning after the feast on the occasion of the received order. The new gentleman could not stand it, he put on his new dressing-gown as soon as it was light and proudly reminds his importance to the cook. But she mockingly shows him the only, but even then worn and perforated boots, which she carried to clean. Scraps and fragments of yesterday's feast are scattered on the floor, and under the background table one can see a gentleman awakening, probably also remaining on the battlefield, but one of those who stick with a passport to passers-by. The cook's waist does not give the owner the right to have guests of the best tone. "Where a bad connection has started, there is a great holiday - dirt."
Pavel Fedotov gave a certain amount of his sympathy to the cook in his work. Nice looking, neat young woman, with a round, common face. A scarf tied on her head says she is not married. Married women in those days wore a warrior on their heads. Judging by the belly, she is expecting a baby. Who his father is, one can only guess.
For the first time, Pavel Fedotov paints "Fresh Cavalier" in oils. Perhaps that is why the work on it was carried out for quite a long time, although the idea was formed a long time ago. The new technique contributed to the emergence of a new impression - complete realism, materiality of the depicted world. The artist worked on the picture as if he were painting a miniature, paying attention to the smallest details, leaving not a single fragment of space empty. By the way, critics later reproached him for this.
Poor official
As soon as the cavalier was not called by critics: "unbridled boor", "soulless official-careerist." After many years, the critic Vladimir Stasov burst out with an angry tirade: “... before you is a stupid, rigid nature, a corrupt bribe-taker, a soulless slave of his boss, no longer thinking about anything, except that he will give him money and a cross in his buttonhole. He is fierce and ruthless, he will drown whoever he wants, and not a single fold in his rhinocerian skin will tremble. Anger, arrogance, heartlessness, idolization of the order as the highest and peremptory argument, life completely vulgar. "
However, Fedotov did not agree with him. He called his hero "a poor official" and even a "hard worker" "with little pay", experiencing "constant poverty and deprivation." It is difficult to argue with the latter - the interior of his home, which is at the same time a bedroom, study and dining room, is rather poor. This little man has found himself someone even smaller, over whom he can ascend ...
He, of course, is not Akaki Akakievich from Gogol's "Overcoat". He has a small award, which entitles him to a number of privileges, in particular, to receive the nobility. Thus, receiving this lowest order in the Russian award system was very attractive to all officials and their family members.
The gentleman missed his chance
Thanks to Nikolai Gogol and Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin, the official became a central figure in Russian literature of the 1830s-1850s. He was made hardly the only theme for vaudeville, comedies, novellas, satirical scenes and more. Even though they laughed at the official, they felt compassion and sympathy for him. After all, he was tormented by the powerful of this world and he had no right to vote at all.
Thanks to Pavel Fedotov, it became possible to see the image of this small performer on the canvas. By the way, today the topic raised in the middle of the 19th century sounds no less relevant. But among the writers there is no Gogol who is capable of describing the suffering of a modern official, for example, from the council, and there is no Fedotov, who, with his usual share of irony, would draw a local official with a letter of thanks in his hands from another official, higher in his rank. Cash prizes and serious awards are received by the management ...
The painting was painted in 1846. And in 1845, the awarding of the Order of Stanislav was suspended. So it is likely that the cook's laughter, which can be clearly heard from the canvas, just indicates that the broken girl knows the whole truth. They are no longer awarded and the "fresh gentleman" missed his only chance to change his life.
The genres of his paintings are varied.
Pavel Fedotov influenced the development of the fine arts and went down in history as a talented artist who made important steps in the development of Russian painting.
The genres of his paintings are quite diverse, ranging from portraits, genre scenes to battle canvases. Particular attention is paid to those written in his characteristic style of satire or critical realism. In them, he exposes human weaknesses and the very essence of humanity. These canvases are witty, and during the life of the master they were a real revelation. Genre scenes, where vulgarity, stupidity and, in general, different sides of human weakness are ridiculed, were an innovation in Russian art of the 19th century.
However, the artist's adherence to principles, along with the satirical orientation of his work, aroused increased attention from the censorship. As a result, patrons of art who had previously favored him began to turn away from Fedotov. And then health problems began: his eyesight worsened, headaches became more frequent, he suffered from rush of blood to his head ... Which is why his character changed for the worse.
Fedotov died forgotten by everyone except friends
Fedotov's life ended tragically. In the spring of 1852, Pavel Andreevich showed signs of an acute mental disorder. And soon the academy was informed from the police that "a madman who says that he is an artist Fedotov is being held at the unit."
Friends and the bosses of the Academy placed Fedotov in one of the private hospitals in St. Petersburg for the mentally ill. The sovereign granted 500 rubles for his maintenance in this institution. The disease progressed rapidly. In the fall of 1852, acquaintances procured the transfer of Pavel Andreevich to the All Sorrows Hospital on the Peterhof highway. Here Fedotov died on November 14 of the same year, forgotten by everyone except for a few close friends.
He was buried at the Smolensk Orthodox cemetery in the uniform of the captain of the Finnish Life Guards regiment. The Censorship Committee has banned the publication of the news of the death of Pavel Andreevich in print.
Natalia Shvets
Reproduction of Pavel Fedotov's painting "Fresh Cavalier"
“I wanted to get there several times, why all these differences are happening. Why am I a titular counselor, why am I a titular counselor? Maybe I'm not a titular advisor at all? Perhaps I am some kind of count or general, but this is the only way I seem to be a titular adviser. Perhaps I myself do not yet know who I am. After all, there are so many examples from history: some simple one, not that a nobleman, but just some philistine or even a peasant - and suddenly it turns out that he is some nobleman or a baron, or whatever ... "
So it seems that with these words the small face of Gogol's Poprishchina, clenched into a fist, suddenly smoothes out, blissful contentment spreads over him, a lively shine lights up in his eyes, and he becomes taller, and the figure is different - as if he had thrown off his shoulders together with a worn-out uniform, a feeling of one's own insignificance, oppression, one's own wretchedness ...
The plot of the painting "Fresh Cavalier"
Just why did we remember the Gogol hero, considering Fedotov's painting "Fresh Cavalier"? Here we have an official who celebrated the receipt of the order. In the morning after the feast, having not yet slept properly, he put on his new dressing gown and stood in a pose in front of the cook.
Fedotov, apparently, was occupied with a completely different plot. But what is a plot for a true artist! Isn't this a reason, not a purely accidental opportunity to sculpt such characters, to reveal such aspects of human nature, in order to make people compassionate, resent, despise those they encounter as living creatures in a hundred and two hundred years ...
Both Poprishchin and Fedotov's "cavalier" are kindred, close to us. One manic passion possesses their souls: "- Maybe I am not a titular councilor at all?"
It was said about Fedotov that for some time now he began to live as a recluse. He rented some kind of kennel on the outskirts of Petersburg, damp, with the owner's half of the fumes coming, the children crying behind the wall - and it works in such a way that it’s scary to look: in the evening and at night - with lamps, during the day - in sunlight.
When one of his old acquaintances expressed his surprise, Fedotov eagerly began to talk about the advantages of his present life. He did not notice the inconveniences, they simply did not exist for him. But here, on the 21st line of Vasilievsky Island, his natural inclination for observation finds constant food, there is more than enough material for creativity - his heroes live all around.
It was now that he was determined to start working in oils, to present his first canvases to the public. Of course, these will be pictures of manners, scenes that he spied on in life: one called "The Consequences of the Revel", the second "The Humpbacked Groom" (as the paintings "Fresh Cavalier" and "Choosy Bride" were originally called).
During the short hours of rest Fedotov suffered from pain in his eyes. He put a wet towel to his head and thought about his heroes, first of all about the "gentleman". The life of officials was familiar to him from childhood, from his parents' house in Moscow.
Here, in St. Petersburg, there is a different spirit - that of the capital. New acquaintances of the artist from those who served in different departments, as if they were born officials. How they sit down at a party, take a chair, how they talk with the janitor, how they pay off the cabman - in all manners, gestures, one could guess their rank and possible promotion. On their faces, when they are cowardly in the department in the morning, wrapped in shabby overcoats, reflects one service concern, fear of reprimand, and at the same time some kind of self-satisfaction. It is contentment ... The desire for all kinds of abstract benefits, they regard, of course, stupidity.
And among them there are funny ones, at least his "gentleman".
Description of the main character of the picture
Fedotov arranged the picture in such a way, saturating it with details so that one could read it as a story about the life of this person, a detailed story and, as it were, leading the viewer into the depths of the picture, so that the viewer was imbued with the very atmosphere of what was happening, so that he felt like an eyewitness - as if by chance the door to opened it to a neighbor - and this is what appeared to his eyes. It's tempting and instructive at the same time. Yes, the scene presented to the eyes should teach. The artist believed that he could correct manners, influence human souls.
When friends once gathered at Fedotov's, and among them the writer A. Druzhinin, the artist began to explain and interpret the meaning of the canvases, as he himself understood them: "an indiscriminate life." Yes, both in "The Consequences of the Revel" and in "The Humpbacked Bridegroom" every spectator should see the harm from an ill-considered life.
Until her gray hair, the bride was sorting out the grooms and now she has to opt for a hunchbacked celadon. And the official! Here he stands in the pose of the Roman emperor, moreover, barefoot and in papillotes. The cook has such power over him that she laughs in the face and pokes almost in the nose with her holey boot. Under the table, a sleeping companion is a policeman. On the floor are the remains of a feast and a rare guest in the house - a book. Of course, this is Bulgarin's Ivan Vyzhigin. “Where a bad connection starts, there is dirt on a holiday,” concluded Fedotov ...
Despite all the difficult circumstances of life, he believed in the initially good nature of people, in the possibility of degeneration of the most evil and vicious of them; moral filth, vulgarity, he believed, - a consequence of disrespect for oneself.
With his art, he dreamed of returning a person to a person.
Friends liked the picture about the official to the extreme for its vitality, naturalness. Speaking details that did not overshadow the whole, humor and this feature - to captivate, lure into the depths of the picture, to make you feel the atmosphere of the event. It seemed to them that Fedotov's moralizing, edifying interpretation did not reveal the entire meaning of the canvas. And time has confirmed it.
Fedotov exhibited his paintings to the public in 1847. The success of Revel was so great that it was decided to remove the lithograph from the canvas. This made Fedotov unusually happy, because everyone can buy a lithograph, which means that the picture will be able to influence many - this is what he was striving for.
It didn't work out. Censorship demanded to remove the order from the official's robe, the attitude towards which was considered disrespectful. The artist tries to make a sketch and realizes that the meaning, the whole point of the picture, is lost. He gave up lithography.
This story became known outside of artistic circles, and when Fedotov exhibited the canvas for the second time in 1849 - and at that time the public's mood was fueled by the events of the French Revolution - they saw in the picture a kind of challenge to the bureaucratic apparatus of tsarist Russia, exposure of the social evil of modern life.
The critic V.V. Stasov wrote: “Before you is an old-fashioned, stiff nature, a corrupt bribe-taker, a soulless slave of his boss, no longer thinking about anything, except that he will give him money and a cross in his buttonhole. He is ferocious and ruthless, he will drown anyone and whatever you want - and not a single fold on his rhinoceros skin will tremble. Anger, arrogance, heartlessness, idolization of the order as the highest and peremptory argument, a completely vulgar life - all this is present on this face, in this pose and figure of an inveterate official. "
... Today we understand the depth of the generalization given by the image of the "gentleman", we understand that the genius of Fedotov, undoubtedly, came into contact with the genius of Gogol. We are pierced by the compassion and "poverty of a poor man" for whom happiness in the form of a new greatcoat turns out to be an unbearable burden, and we understand that on the basis of the same spiritual poverty, or rather, complete lack of spirituality, oppression of an unfree person, mania grows.
"Why am I a titular counselor and why on earth am I a titular counselor? .." Oh, how terrible this face is, what an unnatural grimace it distorts!
Gogolevsky Poprishchina, who cut his new uniform into a mantle, is removed and isolated by society. Fedotovsky's hero will probably prosper, rent a lighter apartment for himself, take another cook, and, of course, no one, even in their hearts, will say, "Crazy!" And meanwhile - look closely - the same inhuman face of a maniac.
The passion for distinction, for rank, for power, lurking latently and growing more and more into a poor, squalid life, eats up and destroys a person.
We peer into "Fresh Cavalier" Fedotov, a whole layer of life is exposed. The physiognomy of past centuries is outlined with plastic clarity, and in all the depth of generalization a pathetic type of self-righteousness arises before us,
Fresh Cavalier (Morning of the official who received the first cross) is the first oil painting he painted in his life, the first completed painting.
Many, including the art critic Stasov, saw in the depicted official a despot, a bloodsucker and a bribe-taker. But Fedotov's hero is a small fry. The artist himself insisted on this, calling him "a poor official" and even a "toiler" "with little pay", experiencing "constantly scarcity and deprivation." This is too frankly evident from the picture itself - from mismatched furniture, mostly "white wood", from a plank floor, a tattered dressing gown and mercilessly worn boots. It is clear that he has only one room - a bedroom, an office, and a dining room; it is clear that the cook is not his own, but the master's. But he is not one of the last - so he grabbed the medal, and went broke for a feast, but still he is poor and pitiful. This is a small man, all the ambition of which is only enough to show off in front of the cook.
Fedotov gave a certain amount of his sympathy to the cook. A not bad-looking, neat woman, with a pleasantly rounded common people face, with all her appearance showing the opposite of the ragged owner and his behavior, looks at him from the position of an outsider and unblemished observer. The cook is not afraid of the owner, looks at him with a sneer and hands him a torn boot.
"Where a bad connection started, there is dirt on the great holiday," Fedotov wrote about this picture, apparently hinting at the pregnancy of the cook, whose waist is suspiciously rounded.
The owner, on the other hand, has decisively lost what allows him to be treated with any kind of affection. He was filled with swagger and anger, bristled. The ambitiousness of the boor, who wants to put the cook in his place, rushes out of him, disfiguring, really, not bad features of his face.
The pathetic official stands in the pose of an ancient hero, with the gesture of an orator bringing his right hand to his chest (to the place where the ill-fated order hangs), and with his left, rested on the side, deftly picking up the folds of a spacious robe, as if it were not a robe, but a toga. There is something classic, Greco-Roman in his very position with the body resting on one leg, in the position of the head slowly turned towards us in profile and proudly thrown back, in his bare feet protruding from under his robe, and even shreds of papillots sticking out of his hair is like a laurel wreath.
One must think that the official felt himself to be just such victorious, majestic and proud to the point of arrogance. But the ancient hero, ascended among broken chairs, empty bottles and shards, could only be ridiculous, and humiliatingly ridiculous - all the squalor of his ambitions crawled out.
The disorder that reigns in the room is fantastic - the most unbridled revelry could not have produced it: everything is scattered, broken, upside down. Not only is the smoking pipe broken - so the strings of the guitar are torn off, and the chair is mutilated, and herring tails are lying on the floor next to the bottles, with shards from a crushed plate, with an open book (the name of the author, Faddey Bulgarin, carefully written on the first page, - another reproach to the owner).
Of Pavel Fedotov's paintings, I like "The Fresh Cavalier" the most. This picture also has other names: "The morning of the official who received the first cross" and "Aftermath of the feast".
Every time I look at this picture, as if I see it for the first time. She, like a book, always opens up to me in a new way. But one thing is invariable - the impression. I am surprised, amazed, admired by the artist who was able to create such an epoch-making work on a small piece of canvas!
Fedotov P.A. Fresh cavalier. 1846. Oil on canvas. 48.2 × 42.5
State Tretyakov Gallery.
I try to imagine how he painted with a small brush the surroundings of the picture, details, faces ... how he managed to convey his own feelings to the image! It happens, and it is difficult to express your thought in words, but here everything is said only in paints!
I stand in front of the picture, I look at it, I notice how people approach it. Some silently consider and move on, this is at best. At worst, when advanced lovers of painting stop, and they often go in pairs, and exchange not their impressions of the painting, but their knowledge, gleaned from various critical sources, most often from notes about the painting of Vladimir Vasilyevich Stasov.
The famous art critic of the 2nd half of the 19th century, Vladimir Stasov, in his work "25 Years of Russian Art" (1882), spoke of The Fresh Cavalier in this way:
"Look this official in the face: before us is a skilled, stiff nature, a corrupt bribe-taker, a soulless slave of his boss, thinking of nothing else, except that he will give him money and a cross in his buttonhole. He is fierce and ruthless, he will drown anyone and whatever you want - and not a single fold on his face of rhinoceros skin will tremble.Anger, swagger, completely vulgar life - all this is present on this face, in this position and figure of an inveterate official in a dressing gown and barefoot, in papillotes and with an order on his chest ".
I respect and appreciate Vladimir Vasilyevich very much, I agree with his opinions about the many paintings of Russian artists, but I do not agree with the interpretation of "The Fresh Cavalier". Moreover, I am protesting against her. Where did Stasov look in the picture as evidence of those negative qualities that he attributed to the Fresh Cavalier?
Is the Fresh cavalier a "corrupt bribe-taker"? I would be a bribe-taker, I would not live in poverty. Is he a "soulless slave of his boss"? No, this is just Stasov's unsubstantiated assumption. Where did the critic see "anger, arrogance and vulgarity"? This is not the case, otherwise the Fresh Cavalier would not have arranged an invited party for his comrades. Is the fresh gentleman ferocious and ruthless? It is unlikely that a fierce and ruthless person would have sheltered a retired soldier, a dog, a cat and a bird. And then, where did Stasov get that Fresh Cavalier had "rhinoceros (rhinoceros) skin"! Pure invention.
Art critic Stasov did not think that people always listen to the opinions of authority figures, trust their opinion, knowledge, and from their words they begin to judge what they see (and even what they have not seen).
Fedotov's "Fresh Cavalier" is a vivid example of this. From school we used to hear that Fedotov in his paintings exposes and castigates the vices of the society in which officials, military men, merchants, aristocrats live ... This is how they taught our teachers, and the same teachers taught us. We began to perceive people like the Fresh Cavalier as careerists and opportunists, we deny them purely human feelings, for we are pre-set for denial and condemnation. An official, therefore, a soulless bureaucrat, has an order, which means that he has served and cringed, curls his curls, which means he is a frivolous rake, not tidied up in a room, which means that he is a drunkard and a drunkard, holey boots means a quitter.
Armed with stereotypes, we start from them when assessing the picture. In this case, it is appropriate to recall another quote from Stasov: "You can regret them, but it is tricky to recover from them. They are not to blame for the fact that they were given such an upbringing and taught them from an early age to such a way of thinking that extinguished all their lordship and initiative of thought. ".
What do we see at the first glance at the painting "Fresh Cavalier"? We see in the center of the image a man on his hips with an order on his robe; note the expression on his face; pay attention to the holey boot that the girl pokes in his face; we see her mocking face; we observe a disorder in our home, we look at a cat who fights an already tattered chair ... These bright details form in us a feeling of condemnation, for which we are already prepared.
You can not walk past the paintings and you can not inspect them in passing. Any painting by any artist requires respect for itself through careful examination. And, what is important, you have to trust your own feelings and impressions, and not judge from the shoulder, keeping someone else's opinion in your head.
Especially such careful scrutiny is demanded by the paintings of Pavel Andreevich Fedotov. They should be considered for a long time and carefully, because Fedotov knows how to speak and explain the plot of any little thing. This was noted by Karl Bryullov, who spoke very well of Fedotov's work. It was Bryullov who gave a positive assessment to Fedotov's paintings, presented at the exam at the Academy of Arts. Bryullov has never spoken so flatteringly about a single Russian artist. None of the professors dared to object to the great Karl, and the Council of the Academy of Arts unanimously recognized Fedotov as an academician in "painting home scenes".
With the light hand of Stasov, the painting "Fresh Cavalier" began to be considered a classic of critical realism. Each of the subsequent critics added to Stasov's response a few words of his own confirming this idea. In a monograph about the artist it is written: "Fedotov rips off the mask not only from an official, but also from an era. Look with what superiority, with what irony and sober understanding of reality, the cook looks at her master. This art of exposure has never been known to Russian painting."
I do not think that the artist painted his picture from the standpoint of severe civil denunciation. He did not denounce his hero, but sympathized with him, understanding his behavior. In a letter to the censor M.N. Fedotov wrote to Musin-Pushkin: "... where poverty and deprivation are constant, there the expression of joy from the award will come to childishness to rush with it day and night. [Where] stars are worn on robes, and this is only a sign that they value them." ...
I believe that the person in the center of the picture is a happy person! And he does not hide his happiness. Fifteen years of service have finally been crowned with an award, and even though the Order of Stanislav 3rd degree is the lowest order in the hierarchy of imperial orders, it evokes a genuine feeling of joy in the newly made cavalier. The order for him is an indicator of his significance: he was noticed, singled out, awarded, which means that he was not lost among millions of similar officials, but in plain sight!
The fresh cavalier is an employee of the St. Petersburg council, or rather, an official of the police department. This can be judged by the uniform uniform with lapels hanging on the back of the chair, and the cap with a red band and piping. And also - on the newspaper lying on the table. This is "Vedomosti of the St. Petersburg City Government and the Metropolitan Police" - a subscription daily newspaper of the city government of St. Petersburg.
The mess in the room is the consequences of the feast that the Fresh Cavalier threw at his home. Drinks, refreshments, fun, guitar with torn strings - the feast was a success, it can be clearly seen in the picture. Of course, Fedotov was not without a grin - he depicts a retired soldier with St. George's crosses, still not awakened after yesterday's washing, under the table.
The St. George Cross is by statute higher than the Order of Stanislav, but by placing the St. George Cavalier under the table, Fedotov emphasizes the importance of the Order for the Fresh Cavalier, who considers his order more important. And it can be understood.
The Order of St. George was given for military exploits, but the Fresh Cavalier has the right to believe that he was also awarded for exploits, only for labor. We can imagine what kind of work this petty official had if he was singled out from the general bureaucratic mass and presented for a reward!
Fedotov has no trifles in the picture, everything works to reveal the image. Even a book thrown on the floor can add an expressive touch to a portrait of a protagonist. The book is opened so that viewers can see its author and title: "F. Bulgarin" Ivan Vyzhigin ".
Bulgarin, we know, as the object of ridicule and epigrams of A.S. Pushkin. But Bulgarin is also a writer. He became famous for his book about Ivan Vyzhigin. The hero of the novel, Ivan Vyzhigin, is something like Ostap Bender, a rogue, a rogue, a servant of the authorities and a pleaser of people in power. Adjusting to their superiors, such people snatch a piece of happiness for themselves. Bulgarin's novel was very popular at one time, all layers of the population, from small employees to high-ranking nobles, were read to it.
Placing an expanded book in the picture, Fedotov makes it clear about the ways to receive the order, that is, Bulgarin's novel was a kind of guide to action for the future order bearer, which, as we can see, was a success.
The Fresh Cavalier has a goal in life: to become noticeable. To do this, he uses different methods, even his appearance: in the early morning he is shaved, curled and well-groomed (papillotes in his hair, curling irons, a magnifying mirror for plucking hairs from his nose). He is not yet dressed, but is already active, full of enthusiasm from the received award and wants approval and praise from those present. To do this, he gets into the pose of an ancient hero even in front of a servant, sticks out his lip for importance and points his finger at the order on the dressing gown - look, here I am! And although the servant does not share his triumph and shows him a prosaic boot with a frayed sole, this does not shame the gentleman, after all, happiness is not in the boot, but in the assessment of his service zeal. Finally, he was successful!
In addition, no one will see the worn out sole of the boot, and the order is in plain sight. To heighten your enjoyment, even the braces are ordered to match the sash, and the badge "15 years of impeccable service" on the service uniform has been polished to a shine! In addition, the awarding of the Order of Stanislav of any degree granted the right to hereditary nobility - is it not a joy!
How old is a fresh gentleman? He looked about 30 years old, so was Fedotov himself when he painted the picture. The age of a mature person does not prevent the Fresh Cavalier from childishly rejoicing and from the heart proud of the award. The order for him is not only an assessment of his work, but self-respect and an incentive for further promotion (the order's motto is "rewarding, encourages").
Indeed, in the same way, Pavel Andreevich Fedotov was proud of receiving his first rank in the service, with a diamond ring from the hand of the Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich for the watercolor "Meeting of the Grand Duke." There is nothing reprehensible or accusatory in this. These are the natural joys of any person.
In addition, according to the statute, the Knights of the Order of St. Stanislav of the 3rd degree were entitled to a pension of 86 rubles, and the acquisition of a noble rank gave a number of advantages, such as exemption from personal taxes, recruiting duty, obtaining the right to preferential loan loans from a bank, and etc. Many order-bearers received an annual monetary reward, the so-called cavalry pensions, as well as lump-sum benefits.
As not to rejoice in the "Rhinoceros" Fresh Cavalier, if the order will improve his financial situation and facilitate his existence!
At the autumn academic exhibition of 1849 Fedotov presented three paintings: "The Major's Matchmaking", "The Choosy Bride" and "The Fresh Cavalier". The exhibition featured 400 paintings, but only in front of Fedotov's paintings there was a crowd. Opinions, as always, were divided, some admired, others were indignant.
In articles about the art exhibition, the young but already famous poet Apollo Maikov spoke of Fedotov as the best Russian genre painter:
"For the richness of thought, the drama of the situation, the deliberation of the details, the fidelity and liveliness of the types. For the extraordinary clarity of presentation and true humor, the first place should belong to Mr. Fedotov ... To tell in more detail the content of these three paintings would mean writing three stories, and moreover with a pen Gogol! "
The 24-year-old critic Stasov also saw Fedotov's paintings. What did he think in that 1849 about the painting "The Fresh Cavalier"? Did he echo Maikov, saying that Fedotov's paintings "are purely Gogol's creation in talent, humor and strength"? Or said, "How would he be surprised, I think, if someone told him then that it was with him that real Russian art would begin"?
Three decades later, having reached the heyday of his critical activity, Stasov became sharper in his opinion about the painting "The Fresh Cavalier" (see Stasov's quote above).
According to the mature Stasov, "The Fresh Cavalier" is no longer a scene from the everyday life of a petty official, but a formidable denunciation of the existing system, which poor Pavel Andreevich did not even think about.
The heyday of Stasov's critical activity dates back to 1870-1880. During this time, he enjoyed the greatest public recognition and influence. His judgments about artists and musicians still serve as a priority point in creative disputes and discussions. And no one admits a shadow of doubt in his statements, although they are just a private opinion. Stasov's boldly expressed, and even printed and repeatedly repeated personal opinion became the opinion of many who cannot think independently.
Supporters of high art spoke negatively about Fedotov's paintings and called him "the main representative of a dangerous direction in art." ("A dangerous rebel is worse than Pugachev?") Of course, neither the Academy of Arts nor the Russian Department of the Hermitage bought Fedotov's paintings after the exhibition.
At the moment, the painting "Fresh Cavalier" is in the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery.
In conclusion, I will quote from the same Stasov: Fedotov "died, having produced only a small grain of the wealth that his nature was gifted with. But this grain was pure gold and later bore great fruits."
The painting "Fresh Cavalier (Morning of the Official Who Received the First Cross)" by P. A. Fedotov is the first work of the genre in Russian painting, written in 1847. The canvas was highly appreciated by critics and among the progressively minded intelligentsia.
The plot and composition of the painting clearly show the influence of English artists - masters of the genre of everyday life. On the canvas, we see an official, with difficulty coming to his senses the next morning after a merry feast arranged on the occasion of receiving his first order.
The official is depicted in a squalid environment, in an old dressing gown, barefoot, with papillots on his head and with an order attached directly to the dressing gown. Tall and reluctant, he bickers about something with the cook, showing him the collapsed boots.
Before us is a typical representative of his milieu - a corrupt bribe-taker and a slave to his boss. Immensely snobbish, he worships the order as if it were evidence of some unprecedented merits. Probably, in his dreams, he flew very high, but the perky shout of the cook immediately returns him to his place.
The painting "Fresh Cavalier" is an accurate reproduction of reality in its entirety. In addition to an excellent command of the writing technique, Fedotov demonstrates the subtlety of the psychological characterization. The artist depicts his hero with amazing sharpness and accuracy. At the same time, it is obvious that the artist, denouncing his character, at the same time sympathizes with him, treats him with gentle humor.
In addition to describing the painting by P. A. Fedotov "Fresh Cavalier", our site contains many other descriptions of paintings by various artists, which can be used both in preparation for writing an essay on the painting, and simply for a more complete acquaintance with the work of famous masters of the past.
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