The Ivan Goncharov Memorial Centre and Museum houses a portrait of Ivan Goncharov’s older brother — Nikolay Goncharov. There is no information as to who created this painting and when.
Nikolay Goncharov was born in 1808 and was the first child in the family to survive — two children before him died in infancy. His father Alexander Goncharov was 55 at the time, and his mother Avdotya Goncharova was 30 years younger than her husband.
When his father died, Nikolay Goncharov was hardly eleven years old, while his younger brother Ivan was seven. Nikolay Tregubov, a close friend of the family, a formal naval officer and a rich Simbirsk nobleman became a guardian for both boys.
In 1830, Nikolay Goncharov graduated from the Moscow School of Commerce, and in 1837 — the Imperial Moscow University. Then he returned home to Simbirsk and got a job at the governor’s office. After only a year there, he became a teacher of Russian and Church Slavonic languages at the Simbirsk Classical Gymnasium for boys.
From 1840, Goncharov additionally taught Russian grammar at the Elizavetinsky Women’s Institute, and from 1861 — at the Mariinsky School for Girls. Apart from Russian and Church Slavonic, he spoke German, French, and English. Ivan Goncharov used to say that his brother could have become a professor, but he preferred to stay a teacher.
According to the archived memoirs of Nikolay Goncharov’s contemporaries, while he was considered a very educated man, they also noted his outstanding absent-mindedness. For example, Goncharov could get confused about whether he was giving a lesson at a boys’ or a girls’ gymnasium. Sometimes he would scold noisy male students by saying, “Quiet, young ladies, quiet!”
In 1842, Nikolay Goncharov married Yelizaveta Rudolph, who came from a line of Simbirsk Germans. Her father, Carl Friedrich Rudolph, became a prototype for Andrey Stoltz’s father in the novel “Oblomov”. In the early drafts of the novel, Stoltz was even named Carl. Ivan Goncharov also used the image of his brother to create his other character Leonty Kozlov — a small-town teacher from the novel “The Precipice”.
Nikolay Goncharov was born in 1808 and was the first child in the family to survive — two children before him died in infancy. His father Alexander Goncharov was 55 at the time, and his mother Avdotya Goncharova was 30 years younger than her husband.
When his father died, Nikolay Goncharov was hardly eleven years old, while his younger brother Ivan was seven. Nikolay Tregubov, a close friend of the family, a formal naval officer and a rich Simbirsk nobleman became a guardian for both boys.
In 1830, Nikolay Goncharov graduated from the Moscow School of Commerce, and in 1837 — the Imperial Moscow University. Then he returned home to Simbirsk and got a job at the governor’s office. After only a year there, he became a teacher of Russian and Church Slavonic languages at the Simbirsk Classical Gymnasium for boys.
From 1840, Goncharov additionally taught Russian grammar at the Elizavetinsky Women’s Institute, and from 1861 — at the Mariinsky School for Girls. Apart from Russian and Church Slavonic, he spoke German, French, and English. Ivan Goncharov used to say that his brother could have become a professor, but he preferred to stay a teacher.
According to the archived memoirs of Nikolay Goncharov’s contemporaries, while he was considered a very educated man, they also noted his outstanding absent-mindedness. For example, Goncharov could get confused about whether he was giving a lesson at a boys’ or a girls’ gymnasium. Sometimes he would scold noisy male students by saying, “Quiet, young ladies, quiet!”
In 1842, Nikolay Goncharov married Yelizaveta Rudolph, who came from a line of Simbirsk Germans. Her father, Carl Friedrich Rudolph, became a prototype for Andrey Stoltz’s father in the novel “Oblomov”. In the early drafts of the novel, Stoltz was even named Carl. Ivan Goncharov also used the image of his brother to create his other character Leonty Kozlov — a small-town teacher from the novel “The Precipice”.
