Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin is an example of a rare type of Russian artist who devoted his life to the battle painting genre. This is not surprising, since Vereshchagin's whole life is inextricably linked with the Russian army.
Ordinary people know Vereshchagin primarily as the author of the striking painting “The Apotheosis of War” that makes one think about the meaning of life, and only lovers and connoisseurs of this gifted Russian artist know that his brush also includes paintings of many other military series, no less interesting and revealing in their own way. the personality of this remarkable Russian artist.
Vasily Vereshchagin was born in 1842 in Cherepovets, in the family of a simple landowner. From childhood, he, like his brothers, was predetermined by his parents for a military career: as a nine-year-old boy, he enters the naval cadet corps in St. Petersburg, which Vereshchagin finishes with the rank of midshipman.
From early childhood, Vereshchagin trembled with his soul before any examples of painting: popular prints, portraits of commanders Suvorov, Bagration, Kutuzov, lithographs and engravings magically acted on young Vasily, and he dreamed of being an artist.
Therefore, it is not surprising that after a short period of service in the Russian army, Vasily Vasilyevich retires to enter the Academy of Arts (he studies there from 1860 to 1863). Studying at the Academy does not satisfy his restless soul, and, interrupting his studies, he leaves for the Caucasus, then moves to Paris, where he studies drawing in the workshop of Jean Léon Jerome, one of the teachers of the Paris School of Fine Arts. Thus, while traveling (and Vereshchagin was an avid traveler, literally could not sit still for a year) between Paris, the Caucasus and St. Petersburg, Vasily Vasilyevich received practical drawing experience, striving, as he himself said, "to learn from the living annals of the history of the world."
Officially, Vereshchagin graduated from the painting craft at the Paris Academy in the spring of 1866, returned to his homeland, to St. Petersburg, and soon accepted the offer of General K. P. So, Vereshchagin in 1868 finds himself in Central Asia.
Here he receives the baptism of fire - he takes part in the defense of the Samarkand fortress, which from time to time was attacked by the troops of the Bukhara emir. For the heroic defense of Samarkand, Vereshchagin received the Order of St. George, 4th class. By the way, this was the only award that Vereshchagin, who fundamentally rejected all ranks and titles (as evidenced, for example, by the vivid case of Vasily Vasilyevich's refusal of the title of professor of the Academy of Arts), accepted and proudly wore on ceremonial clothes.
On a trip to Central Asia, Vereshchagin gave birth to the so-called "Turkestan series", which includes thirteen independent paintings, eighty-one studies and one hundred thirty-three drawings - all created based on his travels not only to Turkestan, but also to southern Siberia, western China, mountainous regions of the Tien Shan. The Turkestan Series was shown at the personal exhibition of Vasily Vasilyevich in London in 1873, later he came with paintings to exhibitions in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The apotheosis of war. Dedicated to all great conquerors, past, present and future
Looking out
Wounded soldier
The style of the paintings in this series was quite unusual for the rest of the representatives of the Russian realistic art school, not all painters were able to adequately perceive the manner of drawing of the young artist. Subjectly, these paintings have an admixture of an imperial touch, a kind of detached view of the essence and cruelty of Eastern despots and the realities of life, a little frightening for a Russian person who is not used to such pictures. The series is crowned by the famous painting "The Apotheosis of War" (1870–1871, kept in the Tretyakov Gallery), which depicts a pile of skulls in the desert; the frame reads: "Dedicated to all the great conquerors: past, present and future." And this inscription sounds like an unconditional verdict to the very essence of war.
Having barely learned about the outbreak of the Russian-Turkish war, Vereshchagin goes to the active Russian army, leaving for a while his Paris workshop, in which he worked since the mid-70s. Here Vasily Vasilyevich is ranked among the adjutants of the commander-in-chief of the Danube Army, while giving him the right to move freely among the troops, and he uses this right with might and main to reveal his new creative ideas - so under his brush is gradually born what will later be called the "Balkan series."
During the Russian-Turkish campaign, many officers familiar to Vereshchagin more than once reproached him for risking his life and recording the scenes he needed under enemy fire. on the canvas, not as it appears according to tradition, but as it is in reality ….
Defeated. Memorial service for the fallen soldiers
After the attack. Dressing station near Plevna
Winners
During the Balkan campaign, Vereshchagin also takes part in military battles. At the beginning of hostilities, he was seriously wounded, and almost died from his wounds in the hospital. Later, Vasily Vasilyevich took part in the third assault on Plevna, in the winter of 1877, together with a detachment of Mikhail Skobelev, he crossed the Balkans and took part in the decisive battle on Shipka near the village of Sheinovo.
After returning to Paris, Vereshchagin begins work on a new series dedicated to the just-thundered war, and works with even greater obsession than usual, in a state of tremendous nervous tension, practically not resting and not leaving the workshop. The "Balkan series" consists of about 30 paintings, and in them Vereshchagin seems to be challenging the official Pan-Slavist propaganda, recalling the miscalculations of the command and the serious price that Russian troops paid for the liberation of the Bulgarians from the Ottoman yoke. The most impressive painting is "The Defeated. The Panikhida" (1878–1879, the picture is kept in the Tretyakov Gallery): under a gloomy, gloomy sky, there is a large field with the corpses of soldiers sprinkled with a thin layer of earth. The picture emanates from melancholy and homelessness …
In the 90s of the XIX century, Vasily Vereshchagin settled in Moscow, where he built a house for himself and his family. However, the thirst for wandering again seizes him, and he sets off on a journey, this time to the north of Russia: along the Northern Dvina, to the White Sea, to Solovki. The result of this journey for Vereshchagin was the appearance of a series of sketches depicting wooden churches of the Russian North. In the Russian series of the artist, there are more than a hundred pictorial sketches, but at the same time there is not a single large picture. This can probably be explained by the fact that at the same time Vasily Vasilyevich continues to work on the work of his entire life - a series of canvases about the war of 1812, which he began in Paris.
Yaroslavl. The porch of the Church of St. John the Baptist in Tolchkovo
Northern Dvina
The porch of the village church. Waiting for confession
Despite his activity in his creative life, Vereshchagin very keenly feels his detachment from the general artistic life of Russia: he does not belong to any of the pictorial societies and trends, he has no students and followers, and all this is probably not easy for him to perceive.
In order to somehow unwind, Vereshchagin resorts to his favorite method - he goes on a trip to the Philippines (in 1901), in the wake of the recent Spanish-American war, in 1902 he visits Cuba twice, later goes to America, where he paints a large canvas " Roosevelt's capture of Saint-Juan heights ". For this picture, the President of the United States himself poses for Vereshchagin.
At the same time, Vasily Vereshchagin also works in the literary field: he writes autobiographical notes, travel essays, memoirs, articles about art, actively appears in the press, and many of his articles are brightly anti-militaristic. Few people know about this fact, but in 1901 Vasily Vereshchagin was even nominated for the first Nobel Peace Prize.
Vereshchagin is greeted with great alarm by the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, of course, he could not stay away from the events of which - such was his restless nature. Having approached the commander-in-chief of the Pacific Fleet, Admiral S. O. Makarov, on April 13, 1904, he went to sea on the flagship battleship Petropavlovsk to capture a combat battle for history, and this exit was for him the final chord of his whole life - during the battle “Petropavlovsk was blown up on the outer roadstead of Port Arthur …
This is how we remember Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin - an artist who always followed in the vanguard of the Russian troops, a man who stood up for the peaceful resolution of all conflicts, and ironically, he himself died during the battle.
Attack by surprise
Warrior rider in Jaipur. C. 1881
Ruins
Turkestan soldier in winter uniform
Before the attack. Near Plevna
Two hawks. Bashibuzuki, 1883
Triumph - Final Cut
Boat ride
With bayonets! Hooray! Hooray! (Attack). 1887-1895
End of the Battle of Borodino, 1900
Great army. Night rest
A gun. Cannon
Parliamentarians - Give up! - Get the hell out!
After failure
