Russian landscape painter Fyodor Matveyev was born in 1758 in a military family. At the age of six, he became a student at the school of the Imperial Academy of Arts, and then studied with a Russian artist Semyon Shchedrin in a landscape class. In 1778, he was awarded a gold medal for his academic excellence, which guaranteed him a fellowship abroad. A year later, he left for Italy — and spent 47 years there.
At the end of the 18th century, Matveyev tried several times to leave Italy and even turned to the Academy of Arts with a request to send him money for a trip to Russia. Later, he again declared his desire to return to his homeland, and in 1806 sent the landscape View of Naples from the Foot of Posillipo to St. Petersburg — for this painting a year later he was awarded the title of Academician of Painting. In 1813 he was elected a member of the Roman Academy of St. Luke. In 1826, he died in Italy — never having returned to Russia.
All paintings by Matveyev are executed in strict accordance with the canons of classicism. For the 18th century, the Age of Enlightenment, characterized by a dual attitude towards nature. On the one hand, at that time everything natural and simple was praised, on the other hand, the transformation and ordering of the chaos of wildlife was considered an important mission of the man. Therefore, in classicism, landscapes — then they were also called ‘views’ — were painted in a way that the picture resembled a theater stage: the edges of the picture were framed by obligatory theatre curtains in the form of trees or buildings, and the space was divided into foreground, middle ground and background.
Waterfall, completed in the 1800s, was created by Matveyev based on actually existing sights, but nature is interpreted in accordance with the canons of classicism. Trees and groups of peasants are placed in the foreground, they are followed with castle walls, villas and a waterfall in the middle ground, the sloping mountains going into the distance on the foreground complete the composition. The artist often used almost the same compositional solution in later works, for example, in the Swiss painting Landscape near Bern, 1817 which is kept in the collection of the Russian Museum.
Matveyev’s art was admired by many contemporaries. The Russian landscape painter Sylvester Shchedrin wrote about Matveyev: “His most important advantage, in which the rivals give him justice, is the art of writing long-distance plan, which the most glorious artists have not always represented. He writes them with excellent ease, so effort is not visible at all.” He noted the pedantic accuracy with which Matveyev depicted nature’s texture.
At the end of the 18th century, Matveyev tried several times to leave Italy and even turned to the Academy of Arts with a request to send him money for a trip to Russia. Later, he again declared his desire to return to his homeland, and in 1806 sent the landscape View of Naples from the Foot of Posillipo to St. Petersburg — for this painting a year later he was awarded the title of Academician of Painting. In 1813 he was elected a member of the Roman Academy of St. Luke. In 1826, he died in Italy — never having returned to Russia.
All paintings by Matveyev are executed in strict accordance with the canons of classicism. For the 18th century, the Age of Enlightenment, characterized by a dual attitude towards nature. On the one hand, at that time everything natural and simple was praised, on the other hand, the transformation and ordering of the chaos of wildlife was considered an important mission of the man. Therefore, in classicism, landscapes — then they were also called ‘views’ — were painted in a way that the picture resembled a theater stage: the edges of the picture were framed by obligatory theatre curtains in the form of trees or buildings, and the space was divided into foreground, middle ground and background.
Waterfall, completed in the 1800s, was created by Matveyev based on actually existing sights, but nature is interpreted in accordance with the canons of classicism. Trees and groups of peasants are placed in the foreground, they are followed with castle walls, villas and a waterfall in the middle ground, the sloping mountains going into the distance on the foreground complete the composition. The artist often used almost the same compositional solution in later works, for example, in the Swiss painting Landscape near Bern, 1817 which is kept in the collection of the Russian Museum.
Matveyev’s art was admired by many contemporaries. The Russian landscape painter Sylvester Shchedrin wrote about Matveyev: “His most important advantage, in which the rivals give him justice, is the art of writing long-distance plan, which the most glorious artists have not always represented. He writes them with excellent ease, so effort is not visible at all.” He noted the pedantic accuracy with which Matveyev depicted nature’s texture.
