Konstantin Leonidovich Przhetslavsky (1828–1876) was born into a noble family in Vinnytsia, where he graduated from a gymnasium. Even in his youth, he was infatuated with art and in 1847 moved to St. Petersburg, where he became a non-matriculated student of the Academy of Arts in the class of battle painting.
The classes were taught by Professor Bogdan Pavlovich Willewalde, a major painter who raised a whole generation of war artists, including Nikolay Semyonovich Samokish. Willewalde painted canvases dedicated to the Patriotic War, in particular the European campaigns of 1813–1814.
It is not surprising that he also inspired the young Przhetslavsky to turn to this theme. In 1855, at an exhibition of the Academy of Arts, his work “The Russians in 1812” was displayed. It showed Konstantin Przhetslavsky’s interest in the life of the common people.
Subsequently, he painted “The Family of a Poor Artist and the Buyer of Paintings”, “Consultation”, “Unexpected Boon”, and “Kobzar. The Little Russian Scene”. Unlike the Wanderers who soon appeared, Przhetslavsky did not introduce elements of social criticism into his canvases.
The artist limited himself to sentimental depictions of scenes from the lives of the poor. In 1862, Konstantin Przhetslavsky lost the right to participate in educational exhibitions of the Academy of Arts due to his age. Little is known about the last three years of his life.
The painting “The Russians in 1812” was a turning point in the artist’s work. Remaining within the framework of history painting, he approached it by depicting a plot from peasant life. The compositional center of the painting is a full-length image of a peasant who grabs a gun to fight the enemy. His family members — a woman, a girl and a child — attempt to stop him.
In the background are remnants of the furnaces of destroyed houses; they are shrouded in smoke. In the distance, the peasants repel an attack of enemy soldiers who have come to plunder their land. This canvas reflects the desire that emerged in academism in the mid-19th century to depict the real life and true feelings of people. This aspiration vividly materialized in the masterpieces of Russian art of the second half of the century.
