The Uglich Museum houses a portrait of Yevdokia Vasilyevna Ozhigova (married name Pivovarova). Yevdokia Vasilyevna was born in Uglich and belonged to an old and extensive but low-income family. She was happy in her marriage with a local citizen who managed to become a successful cloth merchant in St. Petersburg, and their family life was delightful. They did not have any children and dedicated a lot of their time and effort to charities. Thanks to their wealth and social status, Yevdokia received a rare opportunity to join the St. Petersburg society.
In spite of living in the capital and being obviously wealthy, the couple still featured some traces of provincial life in their appearance, which were reflected in the portrait of Yevdokia Vasilyevna. On her head, the merchant’s wife wears a traditional headband with its color matching the color of her stylish dress, and in her fingers with large rings, she holds a white kerchief typical of provincial residents. The Pivovarovs kept in touch with their home city, their relatives, and their customs: until the end of their life, they remained Uglich citizens, regularly donated large sums of money to numerous Uglich churches, and supported the shelters for the children and the elderly founded by Vasily Andreyevich Pivovarov. One of the buildings constructed by the Pivovarovs still houses a school.
If an old record in museum documents is correct, and the portraits of the couple were painted by Tarkhanov, they can be dated to the second half of the 1840s — the artist died in 1848. Therefore, Yevdokia Vasilyevna was portrayed shortly before turning forty. Her stout figure reflects the traditional idea of a perfect “merchant’s wife”.
Yevdokia Pivovarova became a widow when she was slightly over 50 and died only half a year after her husband — in February 1861. The husband and wife were buried near the center of Uglich, on the territory of a monastery close to the Epiphany Cathedral — the largest one in the city. A verse dedicated to the couple was inscribed on their white marble tomb,
In spite of living in the capital and being obviously wealthy, the couple still featured some traces of provincial life in their appearance, which were reflected in the portrait of Yevdokia Vasilyevna. On her head, the merchant’s wife wears a traditional headband with its color matching the color of her stylish dress, and in her fingers with large rings, she holds a white kerchief typical of provincial residents. The Pivovarovs kept in touch with their home city, their relatives, and their customs: until the end of their life, they remained Uglich citizens, regularly donated large sums of money to numerous Uglich churches, and supported the shelters for the children and the elderly founded by Vasily Andreyevich Pivovarov. One of the buildings constructed by the Pivovarovs still houses a school.
If an old record in museum documents is correct, and the portraits of the couple were painted by Tarkhanov, they can be dated to the second half of the 1840s — the artist died in 1848. Therefore, Yevdokia Vasilyevna was portrayed shortly before turning forty. Her stout figure reflects the traditional idea of a perfect “merchant’s wife”.
Yevdokia Pivovarova became a widow when she was slightly over 50 and died only half a year after her husband — in February 1861. The husband and wife were buried near the center of Uglich, on the territory of a monastery close to the Epiphany Cathedral — the largest one in the city. A verse dedicated to the couple was inscribed on their white marble tomb,
