An unknown painter created this portrait of writer Alexander Radishchev in the late 18th century. In that period, two types of portrait dominated in Russian painting: ceremonial and intimate. In ceremonial portraits, artists emphasized the high social status of their sitters. Therefore, in those works, fine clothes and grand interiors were commonly depicted. Intimate portraits were not designed to stress the importance of people, but, rather, their inner world.
A Portrait of Alexandr Radishchev
Creation period
1780s
Dimensions
61x49 cm
Technique
Oil on canvas
Collection
6
Open in app#3
An unknown painter
A Portrait of A.N. Radishchev
#2
#4
Researchers believe the author painted this portrait between 1771 and 1790. That matter is that in 1771 Radishchev had come back to Russia after studies in Germany, and in 1790, Empress Catherine the Great sent him in a 10-year exile to Siberia for his novel Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow. As likely as not, the writer sat for the painting in the 1780s.
For a long time, there was a version that this portrait had been painted by a serf artist named Mikhailo from the village of Verkhnee Ablyazovo, where the Radishchevs had their family estate. But today, art historians are inclined to think that he could not have been the author of the painting, because the style and the technique of the portrait are dissimilar from those of the peasant artist.
#5
The author makes Radishchev have a concentrated expression on his face: The writer has pursed lips and raised eyebrows; he looks straight ahead, at the viewers. That way, the painter created the image of a pensive and reflective man.
#6
The painter opted for a cold and dark background. The writer is wearing a black frock-coat that nearly blends in with the background. The lightest part of the picture is the sitter’s face. A combination of dark brown, black and golden imparts a special austerity and expressiveness to the portrait.
#7
This portrait was the most widely-known lifetime image of the writer. It was reproduced multiple times – for instance, on commemorative stamps and envelopes.
#8
The picture was in the private collection of the artist Alexei Bogolyubov, Radishchev’s grandson. In 1885, he founded a museum in Saratov and named it after his grandfather. The painter was proud of his ancestor, and wrote:
‘I wanted to place myself on record by elevating my grandfather’s name that was trampled in the mud’.
#9
This portrait came to the Radishchev Museum from Nikolai Bogolyubov, the writer’s second grandson, in 1887.
#10
A.N. Radishchev Saratov State Museum of Fine Arts
read morehide
00:00
00:00
1x
A Portrait of Alexandr Radishchev
Creation period
1780s
Dimensions
61x49 cm
Technique
Oil on canvas
Collection
6
Point your smartphone camera to open in the appOpen in app
Share
