The painting ‘A Horse Pulling a Rozvalni with a Coachman’ belongs to an early period of Pyotr Gruzinsky’s career, when he was still studying at the Academy of Arts. A small genre piece is painted in oil on cardboard.
The coachman, his face flushed from the cold, is steering a rozvalni (a low and wide peasant sleigh) while standing. The scene does not focus on the landscape: everything is covered by the purple-pink haze of a frosty day. The main subject is a galloping dark bay horse, its hooves raising snow dust from the road.
The artist is very attentive to details, but does not use too many decorative elements. The characters are immersed in the timeless space of the frosty Russian winter.
Pyotr Gruzinsky (1837–1892) was born into a family of a poor lord of the manor in Kursk. He began his creative career by practicing painting on his own in his parental home. In 1851, he enrolled in the battle painting class at the Academy of Arts, where he was mentored by Bogdan Willewalde, a student of Karl Bryullov and a distinguished professor of battle painting. Pyotr completed his studies at the Academy eleven years later. For his painting “The Capture of Gunlb in the Caucasus in 1859,” Gruzinsky was awarded a Great Gold Medal and the title of the first-degree artist.
Talented artists were supported by the government. The best graduates of the Imperial Academy of Arts were awarded an allowance (pension) for further improvement of their skills. In modern terms, this could be called a grant. Only the best of the best could become pensioners, with most of them being winners of the Great Gold Medal of the Academy of Arts. Pyotr Gruzinsky was one of such pensioners.
The artist traveled extensively during his pension period, visiting Italy, Germany, Austria, and, in 1865, the Caucasus.
An excellent battle and animal painter, Gruzinsky authored numerous genre paintings and at times turned to landscape painting. His works were in high regard and were exhibited not only in Russia, but also abroad. He received commissions from the royal family and the imperial court.
Especially standing out among the works of Pyotr Nikolaevich Gruzinsky are small genre paintings that feature horses harnessed to a cart or a sleigh as their main subject.
The coachman, his face flushed from the cold, is steering a rozvalni (a low and wide peasant sleigh) while standing. The scene does not focus on the landscape: everything is covered by the purple-pink haze of a frosty day. The main subject is a galloping dark bay horse, its hooves raising snow dust from the road.
The artist is very attentive to details, but does not use too many decorative elements. The characters are immersed in the timeless space of the frosty Russian winter.
Pyotr Gruzinsky (1837–1892) was born into a family of a poor lord of the manor in Kursk. He began his creative career by practicing painting on his own in his parental home. In 1851, he enrolled in the battle painting class at the Academy of Arts, where he was mentored by Bogdan Willewalde, a student of Karl Bryullov and a distinguished professor of battle painting. Pyotr completed his studies at the Academy eleven years later. For his painting “The Capture of Gunlb in the Caucasus in 1859,” Gruzinsky was awarded a Great Gold Medal and the title of the first-degree artist.
Talented artists were supported by the government. The best graduates of the Imperial Academy of Arts were awarded an allowance (pension) for further improvement of their skills. In modern terms, this could be called a grant. Only the best of the best could become pensioners, with most of them being winners of the Great Gold Medal of the Academy of Arts. Pyotr Gruzinsky was one of such pensioners.
The artist traveled extensively during his pension period, visiting Italy, Germany, Austria, and, in 1865, the Caucasus.
An excellent battle and animal painter, Gruzinsky authored numerous genre paintings and at times turned to landscape painting. His works were in high regard and were exhibited not only in Russia, but also abroad. He received commissions from the royal family and the imperial court.
Especially standing out among the works of Pyotr Nikolaevich Gruzinsky are small genre paintings that feature horses harnessed to a cart or a sleigh as their main subject.
