Alexey Venetsianov
Encyclopedia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n painter, renowned for his paintings devoted to the peasant life and ordinary people.
Alexey Venetsianov was born to a merchant family of Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
descent in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. He entered state service in the early 19th century and moved to St. Petersburg, where he began to study art. He first practiced with pictures of the Hermitage
Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of the largest and oldest museums of the world, it was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great and has been opened to the public since 1852. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display,...
and portraits of friends. He later became acquaintances with Vladimir Borovikovsky
Vladimir Borovikovsky
Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky was a Russian painter who dominated Russian portraiture at the turn of the 19th century.-Biography:Vladimir Borovikovsky was born Vоlоdymyr Borovyk in Myrhorod on July 24, 1757. His father, Luka Borovyk was a Ukrainian Cossack and an amateur icon painter...
and lived in his house as a disciple. He tried to work as a freelance portraitist, but had a little commissions. In 1811 the Board of the Academy of Arts awarded him the title of an Academician for his two works - Self-Portrait and Portrait of K. I. Golovachevsky and the Younger Pupils of the Academy.
In 1819, devoting himself purely to art, Venetsianov left the service, bought the village of Safonkovo, and settled there. During this time he painted the nature around him. These works were of pinnacle importance in his career. He painted portraits of peasants, scenes of rural life. He was the first to depict peasants’ life in Russian art. His works were of great success at the exhibition of 1824, from which he received critical praise.
Venetsianov wished to become a professor in the Academy of Arts, but the academicians did not approve him mainly because he lacked academic training. At the end of 1810s he began to attract young people from common people from poor backgrounds and even serfs like Grigory Soroka
Grigory Soroka
Grigoriy Vasilyevich Soroka ; —) was a Russian painter, one of the most notable members of Venetsianov school.- Life :Soroka was born in Pokrovskoye village , in the family of landowner Milyukov. In 1842-1847 he studied art from Alexey Venetsianov then he was returned to his owner. In 1850s-1860s...
to teach them painting. In the mid 1820s he had a group of followers. Thus he started his own school of painting. Tsar Nicholas I, who liked to stimulate ‘national trends’, expressed his approval for the artist and appointed him a court painter
Court painter
A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or noble family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Especially in the late Middle Ages, they were often given the office of valet de chambre...
. This title gave him the financial support necessary for running the school, where tuition was practically free.
Venetsianov died in an accident in 1847 when his horses dashed off and his carriage fell down a steep slope.