Artist Matveev Andrey Matveevich: biography, creativity, best works and life story

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

The "window to Europe" cut by Peter influenced the whole way of public and private life in Russia, including culture and art. The heyday of Russian painting of the 19th century would have been unthinkable without artists who adopted the achievements of European culture on the path that began in the Renaissance and enriched them with the national spiritual tradition. The first in a series of such names is usually called Ivan Nikitin, the favorite artist of the reformer tsar. The second one mentions another truly Russian surname - Matveev. Andrei, whose middle name (Matveevich) is considered unconfirmed, lived a short and busy life.

Legends instead of facts

There are many white spots in the master's biography. From the date of birth, the year is known - 1701, although, according to some sources, he was born a year later. Fragmentary information about his father has been preserved: it is known that a clerk named Matveev served at the court of Empress Catherine I. Andrei and his sister were with their father, and the boy's drawings could fall into the eyes of the empress. One of the clerk's duties was to provide correspondence, for which it was necessary to master the art of calligraphy. Perhaps the first experience for the future artist was to work under the guidance of his father - amonghandwritten documents of that time, you can find real masterpieces of graphics.

It was Catherine who initiated the enrollment of fifteen-year-old Andrei in the number of pensioners sent at public expense to study in Europe. There is a more beautiful legend, which says that Peter I himself was involved in this. During the tsar's stay in Novgorod, where Matveev himself comes from, Andrei caught the eye of the emperor when he made portrait sketches of him. Delighted by the boy's drawing, the emperor immediately ordered him to go to Amsterdam, to Peter's beloved Holland, to be apprenticed to the local painters. And although such actions are considered commonplace for the reformer king, this story has not been confirmed.

Diligent student

In 1716, among the other "Russian nation of students" Matveev came to Amsterdam. The well-known Dutch portrait painter Arnold Boonen became his mentor. It was a great honor to get to him, because he was considered a celebrity, a master who embodied the best traditions of the Rembrandt school, and his portraits, which cost a lot of money, were commissioned by the noblest and richest people from all over Europe. It is possible that Matveev was patronized by the wife of the Russian emperor herself. Catherine I personally met Boonen during her trips to Holland.

The curator of the colony of Russian students was Johann Van den Burg, known in Russia as Jagan Fandenburg, a personal agent of Peter I, who performed other missions for the tsar. He very strictly followed the behavior of young Russians, often engaging in assault inagainst those who were lazy or promiscuous. In his reports to Peter, he regularly reported that the free European air had an intoxicating effect on some pensioners.

Only one of the "chicks of Petrov's nest" did not cause any complaints from Fandenberg - Matveev. Andrey himself regularly sent his works to Russia as a report on the progress of education. Obviously, his successes were noticed - it is known that, by order of the Empress, he was assigned additional monetary allowance. The only thing that overshadowed Matveev's stay abroad was frequent illnesses caused by overwork from intense training sessions.

Two periods

Matveev's education lasted a long eleven years and consisted of two stages. At the first, he studies the art of the portrait painter in detail. Boonen devoted a lot of time to staging a drawing, developing technical skills among students, mastering various painting techniques, and using various materials. One of the main teaching methods was copying the works of old masters. Boonen did not pay special attention to the transfer of the inner world of the portrayed.

In those days, the transition from one master to another was widely used in training. I decided to try this method and Matveev. Andrei Matveevich asked permission to go to The Hague, to Karel Moor. This master was no less famous (and not only in Holland), and was also known to the Russian imperial family, who commissioned their portraits from Moor.

Moor's portrait of Peter became the basis for a similar work by Matveev, made by him in thistime. When comparing these two canvases, the nature of the talent that Matveev possessed becomes clear. Andrei Matveevich paid more attention to the personal qualities of the Russian Tsar. In his pictorial presentation, Peter is more human, less like a symbol of unshakable power, as he appears in the ceremonial portrait of Moor, known from numerous engravings.

Antwerp Academy of Fine Arts

In 1724, Matveev turned to St. Petersburg with a request to continue his studies at the Antwerp Art Academy. He intended to master a new genre there - "writing stories", that is, plot painting: allegorical, mythological, historical and battle paintings. Taking into account the diligence of the student and his success, in St. Petersburg it was decided to allow the pensioner to extend his stay in Europe, which was unusual at that time.

In 1725, Peter the Great died. Andrei Matveev, whose biography began during the time of the reformer tsar, sends his condolences to Catherine and attaches to the message the “Allegory of Painting” written by him. This small painting, painted on a wooden board, is considered the first plot work of a secular nature in the national history of painting, the first painting in the European sense of the word.

It shows some uncertainty when depicting nudes, but the most important for Matveev's work is the desire to fill the drawing with inner content as much as possible and high pictorial skill - a rich palette and a light brushstroke. Goddess, posing for a portrait, Matveev gave featuresCatherine I.

Return to Russia

Study at the academy was interrupted for Matveev in the spring of 1727, after the death of the Russian Empress. He returns to Russia, where he now had neither patrons nor friends. According to the established procedure, he was to be assigned to the painting department of the Chancellery from buildings, which was engaged in the implementation of a wide variety of court artistic orders. According to the same order, established by Peter, all those who arrived after studying in Europe had to pass a test, after which the level of skill they had reached became clear.

The conclusion on Matveev's professional suitability was given by the then head of the painting team, Louis Caravaque, a Frenchman who settled in Russia since 1716. He was, as contemporaries testify, an unremarkable artist, but he was able to paint portraits that struck with similarity, which was an amazing phenomenon for Russian customers. Caravaque praised Matveev's skill, noting that he was "more skillful in painting than in drawing."

Portrait of the Golitsyns

Despite this certification, Andrey Matveev, an artist of European training, was enrolled in the staff of the Chancellery only a year later, and so far remained without a livelihood. Rescued by his order for a double front portrait of the princely couple Golitsyn.

The image of Anastasia Petrovna Golitsyna created by Matveev is especially expressive. She was called "a woman drunk and stupid", but experienced a lot. The former joker of Catherine, who suffered bullying and humiliation from the courtiers, GolitsynaPetre was deprived of her entire fortune and expelled for her participation in the conspiracy of the king's son Alexei. Only after the death of Peter and Catherine, she was restored to her rights, her fortune was returned to her. The artist managed to express complex and ambiguous feelings towards the model, making the formal portrait deeply psychological.

The most famous painting

After getting a position in the painting team, the artist's financial situation improved slightly. Soon his personal life also changed - he marries Irina Stepanovna Antropova, cousin of the famous painter. It is customary to associate the appearance of Matveev's most famous painting with this event. Many people know Andrei Matveyevich from his “Self-portrait with his wife” written in 1729.

There was a lot of innovation here. This is one of the first self-portraits in the history of Russian painting, the first time a Russian artist depicts himself with his wife. Of course, Matveev saw similar scenes in Rembrandt and Rubens, but he fills his picture with a special feeling. The young wife was about 16 years old, and the master frankly and carefully admires her freshness. The artist does not hide his happiness either. Everything corresponds to this mood: composition, drawing, light airy painting, warm sonorous palette. This is a real masterpiece, a painting by an artist of high skill, but filled with a feeling of such power, which was rare even for European masters.

Head of the scenic team

In 1730, the head of the painting department at the Office of the buildings for the first timebecomes a Russian artist - Andrei Matveevich Matveev. Paintings for the design of state rooms and private chambers, decorative painting of facades, interiors and furniture, icons for newly built cathedrals and churches - the volume and variety of works performed under the direction of Matveev are enormous. The scale of objects designed by his painting team changes dramatically: from the Peter and Paul Cathedral to the royal dovecote, from the Senate Hall of the Twelve Collegia (Petrovsky Hall of the University) to the painting of royal carriages.

His department also became the prototype of the future Academy of Arts. Matveev's great experience and human qualities (patience and attentive attitude towards young people) helped him train new, skilled and responsible personnel for his team from the local, Russian environment.

Poor he alth was finally undermined by hard work. In the spring of 1739 he died. The material legacy of Matveev, which has come down to us, is very small in scope. But it is enough to appreciate the artist's outstanding contribution to Russian painting.