Vasily Andreyevich Tropinin, whose 250th anniversary we are marking this year, was a unique artist. Born a serf, he gained his freedom only at the age of 47, by which time he had long been famous. His life was a constant struggle - for the right to study, the right to paint, and finally, for freedom in the truest sense of the word. Tropinin was called a “dressing-gown portraitist” for his love of depicting people in casual home attire. He was compared to Greuze, on account of the distinctive colouring of his canvases, even to Titian. for devoting all his attention to the inner world of his characters. His portrait of Pushkin, the most natural and intimate one, is known to us all.
A serf artist
According to the recollections of contemporaries, anyone who admired Tropinin’s works was charmed by him upon meeting him in person. However, upon learning that he was a serf, they were invariably shocked. Fate showed the artist no favours. Vasily Tropinin was born in 1776 in Novgorod Governorate into a family of serfs. Although his father received his freedom for faithful service, his wife and children remained in bondage. Thanks to his father, the boy completed his education at the public school in Novgorod, where he developed a particular love for drawing among all his subjects.
When Tropinin turned seventeen, his family came under the ownership of the military commander Irakly Ivanovich Morkov. The profession was reflected both in the appearance and in the character of the new landowner. Count Morkov heard, from all sides, requests and even demands to grant freedom to the promising artist, but all to no avail.
One day, at Morkov’s house, Prince Dmitriev won a large sum of money from the host at cards. To everyone’s surprise, he offered to forgive the debt in exchange for Tropinin’s freedom. In response, Morkov silently laid out the lost money. On another occasion, a foreign guest greatly admired the artist’s works, but soon saw Vasily Andreyevich serving guests at the table in livery. The scene appeared so awkward that Morkov relieved Tropinin of his duties as a footman, yet still did not grant him his freedom.
One example of the general’s obstinacy was his decision to send Tropinin to study in St Petersburg. However, it was not for the study of painting: the Count intended to make of Tropinin a skilled confectioner, one who would not merely bake cakes but also decorate them with elaborate figurines.
Vasily pursued his studies in St Petersburg under the supervision of his master's brother, Alexey Ivanovich. Tropinin began secretly attending private painting lessons. When Alexei Ivanovich saw his works, he was astonished. He persuaded Irakly Ivanovich to allow the young serf to the Imperial Academy of Arts. Serfs were permitted to study there only as fee-paying external listeners, and Alexei Ivanovich offered to cover the cost of his education. Thus, Tropinin gained the opportunity to study lawfully at the Academy of Arts. His mentor became the renowned portrait painter Stepan Semyonovich Shchukin. For a time, Vasily even lived in his Academy apartment, helping to grind pigments and prepare canvases while observing the teacher at work.
At the Academy, Tropinin quickly began to distinguish himself: he won the Academy competitions twice. At the exhibition of 1804, his painting “Boy with Dead Goldfinch”, created in the manner of the then-popular French sentimentalist Jean-Baptiste Greuze, attracted the attention of Empress Maria Feodorovna herself. As a result, Tropinin acquired the nickname “the Russian Greuze.”
The President of the Academy, Count Alexander Sergeyevich Stroganov, promised to procure freedom for the talented student. The professor of painting, Shchukin, praised his student’s works to Count Morkov, hoping that he would release the artist. The reaction, however, was quite the opposite. Morkov recalled Vasily from St Petersburg that very year. It seems he had finally grasped the true worth of his serf and then made a purely strategic move – he sent the artist to his new estate in Ukraine in order to conceal him from high-ranking figures.
Read also: Dmitry Levitsky: how the son of a Ukrainian priest became Russia’s leading portrait painter
A creative rise in Kukavka
A new chapter of life began: Vasily Andreyevich found himself in the remote village of Kukavka in the Vinnytsia region. Only his remarkable optimism prevented him from breaking down: deprived of the opportunity to study and torn away from his usual surroundings, he was exiled to the countryside, where he was reminded of his serf's yoke. Yet Tropinin proved steadfast – he continued to paint.
Recalling his life in Kukavka, Tropinin said: “I studied little at the Academy, but I learned in Little Russia: there I painted from nature without rest… and these works of mine seem to be the best I have painted so far.”
Another highly important event also took place in Kukavka: the artist met his future wife, Anna Katina. The charming young woman was a free settler, but by marrying a serf she automatically forfeited that status. The couple were married in a church built to the design of… Vasily Tropinin himself. Morkov had good reason to keep him: at his master’s request, Tropinin first designed and then decorated this very church.
The Tropinins’ family life flowed in love and harmony. Vasily Andreyevich continued to paint portraits – of peasants, Ukrainian girls, and also produced copies of works by well-known masters for Morkov.
Art historians believe that the portrait of Anna was begun before the wedding (with her head uncovered and adorned with a ribbon) and completed after the nuptials, as married women were required to wear a cap. In the same year, 1809, the couple’s son Arseny was born. Vasily Andreyevich returned to his image more than once, and the portrait of the boy at around nine years old is considered one of the finest child portraits in Russian art. Both portraits are now held by the Tretyakov Gallery.
The War of 1812 and the move to Moscow
The Patriotic War of 1812 brought changes to many people’s lives. General Morkov, already in retirement, was once more called up for service and appointed commander of the Moscow People’s Militia. Having received orders from Alexander I, Morkov left his estate, entrusting all matters of property to Tropinin. It became clear that he was not only a gifted artist, but also a capable manager.
While his master was fighting at Borodino alongside his sons, Tropinin was obliged to carry out a difficult removal to Moscow, together with an enormous baggage train of the master's possessions and family valuables. Vasily arrived in Moscow when Napoleon had already left the city, and he found himself among the first to enter the city after the conflagration. The spectacle was a sorrowful one. The manor house had burned down, and with it, every one of the artist's pictures.
Yet even here Tropinin did not become discouraged,but instead he set about building a new house. Moscow was gradually being rebuilt, and soldiers and militiamen were returning. Morkov and his sons came back to the city in the summer of 1813. By the time of their return, a new house had been erected on the site of the ashes through the efforts of the serf Tropinin.
A blessing in disguise: the artist’s talent proved to be especially in demand in a Moscow that was being built anew. Many people had lost their family portraits in the fire, and for this reason Vasily Andreyevich was given a large, light- filled room in the new mansion to serve as a studio. The first work to appear was a grand family portrait of the Morkovs, which greatly impressed all visitors. Yet, if one looks more closely, it is one of the artist's most awkward paintings in terms of composition and pose. A sense of artificial ease seems almost to hang in the air among the women of the family in their white dresses, and a certain tension can be felt between the figures.
Rumours of a remarkable portrait painter spread rapidly throughout Moscow. In the journal Otechestvennye zapiski (Notes of the Fatherland), one could read: “Tropinin, a serf of Count Morkov. He likewise studied at the Academy of Arts and possesses a felicitous gift and inclination for painting. His colouring resembles that of Titian.”
Vasily Andreyevich produced commissioned portraits for members of the nobility, the merchantry, and the bohemian set, while at the same time continuing to paint household servants and peasants. The artist often depicted his subjects in simple domestic dress, and at times in more formal attire: in relaxed, natural poses, most often with a kindly expression. His sitters felt at ease, and in Tropinin’s portraits we see what became central to nineteenth-century portraiture – naturalness. In the twentieth century, this role was largely taken over by photography.
Morkov valued his protégé: he permitted him to paint to commission and provided him with a studio, yet he refused until the very last to grant the requests for his freedom. In the end, the Count was compelled to grant Tropinin his freedom in 1823, at Easter, for he was beginning to lose his own authority. Yet even this step the master did not take with an open heart: he did not grant freedom to Tropinin's family, hoping thereby to keep the artist by his side. The Count offered him the continued use of a room in his house and of the studio, and promised to procure a post for him in the military department. But here the ever-obliging Tropinin politely declined and took up residence in a rented flat in a house on the corner of Lenivka and Volkhonka. His wife and son were to remain serfs for another five long years...
Academician of portrait painting
In order to secure his status as an artist officially, Tropinin turned for help to his former teacher, Shchukin. The latter assisted in submitting his works to the Academy of Arts, to which Tropinin sent three canvases: The Lace-Maker, The Old Beggar, and Portrait of Yegor Osipovich Skotnikov. Thereafter, in accordance with the regulations, he painted a portrait of a member of the Academy's council – Professor Karl Alexandrovich Leberecht – travelling to St Petersburg expressly for the purpose. After this, Tropinin at last received the title of Academician of Portrait Painting.
The painting The Lace-Maker was received with particular rapture and brought Tropinin renown as a master of female images. The publisher and journalist Pavel Svinin wrote: “Both connoisseurs and laymen alike are delighted when looking at the picture, which truly unites all the beauties of the painter's art: the pleasing touch of the brush, the correct and felicitous lighting, the clear, natural colouring; what is more, this portrait reveals the very soul of the beauty and that sly, inquiring glance which she has cast upon someone who has entered the room at that very moment.”
Contemporaries also compared The Lace-maker with Poor Liza, the heroine of Karamzin’s story. The artist meticulously depicts every detail of the lacemaking process: bobbins, needles, scissors, and the linen falling in soft folds with embroidery at the edge. Yet we cannot tear our eyes away from her face. The young woman’s entire appearance is illuminated not only by sunlight, but also by a slightly sly look. It seems that this scrupulous work is not a burdensome daily chore, but rather a pleasant pastime. “Some accuse me of making almost all my sitters’ smile. But I do not invent, I do not fabricate these smiles; I paint them from nature. Who, in life, is fond of looking upon angry, sullen faces?” said Vasily Andreyevich.
The Lace-maker became so popular that Tropinin painted seven copies of it. He continued to explore the theme of women’s handiwork in several other paintings with similar subjects. The theme of the female portrait remained with him throughout his life: in 1841 he painted Women in the Window, and in 1850 – A girl with a pot of roses.
Pushkin himself
In 1827, in a house on Lenivka Street, the famous portrait of Alexander Pushkin was painted. Alexander Sergeyevich came in person and posed for the artist. The poet appears in Tropinin’s favourite manner: in domestic attire. Nevertheless, his image is deeply romantic: he stands with a straight posture, a white collar, and a scarf casually tied around the neck. The poet’s thoughtful gaze is directed to the side; he is immersed in himself.It is noteworthy that several attempts were made to replicate the portrait: in 1827, the literary salon owner Avdotya Yelagina executed a copy on fabric for the poet's friend Sergey Sobolevsky. In 1913, Ilya Repin copied the canvas, and today it is held in Prague.
That same year, a completely different portrait of the great poet was painted by Orest Kiprensky. While Tropinin depicts Alexander Sergeyevich in a relaxed, open pose, surrounded by the warm atmosphere of everyday Moscow life, Kiprensky presents Pushkin as a refined European. Against the background of the northern capital, the poet stands with his arms crossed over his chest, his pensive gaze directed into the distance.
Around the same period, Tropinin painted portraits of the artist Karl Bryullov, the singer Lyubov Makovskaya (mother of the painters Vladimir and Konstantin Makovsky), colonel and collector, and his wife Natalya Alexandrovna, daughter of Suvorov... Contemporaries used to say that Tropinin had painted the whole of Moscow.
In 1844, at the age of 68, Tropinin painted his self-portrait against a window with a view of the Kremlin, and repeated it at the age of seventy, as though summing up his creative life. Characteristically, he depicted himself in a domestic manner: dressed in a dressing-gown. The view of the Kremlin behind him is highly symbolic: this modest man had achieved a great deal. He deliberately chose a difficult frontal composition against the light. Tropinin looks down at us through his spectacles – calmly and wisely. With palette and brushes in his hands, he emphasises his devotion to art, while the centre of Moscow behind him represents the city where he had travelled the hard path through hardship to the stars.