Artist Fyodor Alekseev: life and work

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

An artist who made a name for himself with a new genre in Russian art - the genre of urban landscape. The amazing talent and general style of his paintings is one of the best in the world of painting. The name of the amazing artist is Alekseev Fedor Yakovlevich.

Biography

Alekseev Fedor Yakovlevich was born in 1754 (the exact date of birth is not available in historical sources) in a poor family. In 1766, his father petitioned to enroll his son in the Academy of Arts, and his request was granted. Fedor Alekseev begins his studies in the class of painting flowers and fruits, after which he is transferred to the landscape class, and in 1773 he successfully graduates from the Academy. For the best writing of the software landscape, he is awarded a gold medal. To continue his education, a talented young man is sent to Venice to specialize in decorative painting. This is a special type of writing scenery for the theater. During his studies, Fedor Alekseev, in addition to his main occupation, was enthusiastically studying Venetian artists depicting the landscape, such as Canale, Guardi, engravings by Piranesi, who at that time lived in Rome. But with its craving for newknowledge, the artist causes dissatisfaction with the academic authorities.

Road to Art

After completing his specialization in Venice, the artist Fyodor Alekseev returns to St. Petersburg and gets a job as a painter at the theater school. The approximate dates of this period of his life are 1779-1786. Due to his passion for landscapes, in addition to theatrical scenery, Fyodor Alekseev was met rather coolly in his homeland and was denied further education to receive the title of academician. But the artist sets himself the goal of showing the Academy what he is capable of, and together with this work, the artist combines the copying of landscapes by Canaletto, Bellotto, Robert and Berne in the newly opened Hermitage.

Thanks to his successful work in the Hermitage, he leaves the service at the school. His creative reproduction of the originals repeated their pictorial system so beautifully that the work was a great success. Successful activity brought Fyodor Alekseev fame, the nickname "Russian Canaletto", for which the Academy gives the artist the opportunity to write his own paintings. Of course, landscapes became them.

The originality of the works of the artist Fyodor Alekseev

Proving his ability to paint on his own, the artist paints a number of well-known paintings with views of St. Petersburg. Some of the most significant: "View of the Peter and Paul Fortress and the Palace Embankment" (1793) and "View of the Palace Embankment from the Peter and Paul Fortress" (1794).

Using the knowledge he acquired in Venice, Fyodor Alekseev creates his own image of a solemn and at the same time a living city. At the same time, in his paintings, he retains the laws of classicism that were important in the 18th century and combines the ideal and the real. For his work in 1794, the artist Fyodor Alekseev was given the title of academician of perspective painting.

Creative path

After receiving the honorary title, Fyodor Alekseev is given the task of painting the places where Empress Catherine II was in 1787. The artist recreates on his canvases the beauty of such southern cities as Nikolaev, Kherson, Bakhchisarai.

And in 1800, Emperor Paul I himself instructed Fyodor Alekseev to paint Moscow. During the time that the artist spent in this city (a little over a year), he brought several paintings and a large number of watercolors, which depict views of Moscow streets, monasteries, and suburbs. But the most important thing is the unique images of the Kremlin. Among them, the Red Square in Moscow and the Boyarskaya Ploshchad, or the Bed Porch and the Cathedral of Christ the Savior behind the golden bars in the Moscow Kremlin have received the greatest popularity.

Moscow works are so distinguished by their accuracy and documentation that they attract new buyers of paintings to the artist. Among them are famous people and members of the imperial family.

The fame of the artist as a landscape painter

From the 1800s Fedor Yakovlevich becomes the head of the classperspective painting at the Academy of Arts and again paints on his favorite topic - St. Petersburg. At the same time, the artist travels a lot around Russia and captures views of provincial towns.

There is more life in his paintings, it seems that now the images will come to life. They become like historical documentaries. More and more the artist depicts people. They come to the fore of canvases with palaces, embankments and streets. People with their daily activities, wagons, workers. The details are painted even more distinctly, heavier, the color scheme looks warmer, and the painting acquires a special saturation. The works of that time include "View of the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg", "View of the English Embankment from the side of Vasilyevsky Island" and others. In warm colors, with fine drawing of the smallest details.

Fyodor Alekseev's paintings are distinguished by a special "warm" light and movement. The sky takes on a delicate azure hue, and the clouds take on the pinkness of the setting sun.

The last years of the artist's life

No one is eternal, and over time, the fame of Fedor Yakovlevich Alekseev begins to fade, and the public forgets him. The famous landscape painter dies in 1824 in great poverty. After him, his wife and children remain, and the Academy of Arts provides material assistance for organizing the funeral and for the continued existence of the family.

Despite the sad end of his life, the artist Alekseev Fedor Yakovlevich is one of the most famous creators of the urban landscape genre. To his paintings are lining upqueues at the Tretyakov Gallery, the State Hermitage, the Russian Museum. His works are studied in educational institutions. He is remembered, and in the world of painting his name is highly valued, and the biography of Fyodor Alekseev is an example of what you need to follow your calling, no matter what.