Never been in favor with the rulers. This is understandable: instead of depicting battle scenes in the palace style, where enthusiastic soldiers in brand new uniforms rush into battle, and dapper generals prune on well-fed horses, he painted suffering, devastation, wounds and death. Being a professional military man, the artist ended up in Turkestan in 1867. Imperial Russia was just seizing territories there and “pacifying” the local peoples, so Vereshchagin had seen enough of the corpses. His response to the armed conflict as such was the painting "The Apotheosis of War".
It is believed that the painting was inspired by the ruthless suppression of the Uyghur uprising in western China. According to another version, it was inspired by stories about how the ruler of Kashgar executed thousands of people and put their skulls in pyramids. Among them was a European traveler, whose head crowned the top of this terrible barrow. At first, the painting "The Apotheosis of War" was called "The Triumph of Tamerlane", but the round marks from bullets in the skulls inevitably sent the observant viewer to later times. In addition, the illusion of the Middle Ages was dispelled by the inscription that the artist made on the frame: "Dedicated to all the great conquerors - past, present and future."
"The Apotheosis of War" made a depressing impression on the high-society audience in Russia and abroad. The imperial court considered this and other battle paintings of the artist to be discrediting the Russian army, and one general from Prussia even persuaded Alexander II to burn all Vereshchagin's paintings about the war, because they have "the most pernicious influence." Because of this work, the masters were not sold, only a private philanthropist Tretyakov bought several paintings from the Turkestan series.
The painting "The Apotheosis of War" depicts a barrow from a steppe scorched to the ground in the background. The ruins of the city in the background and the skeletons of burnt trees complete the view of destruction, desolation, death. The cloudless, sparkling blue sky only exacerbates the oppressive impression of the canvas. The yellow coloring in which the work is made, and the black crow circling over a pile of skulls, seem to make us feel the cadaverous smell emanating under the scorching sun. The picture is therefore perceived as an allegory of war, any war, outside of time and space.
This is not the only canvas about the horrors of wartime that Vereshchagin wrote. “The Apotheosis of War” can also be called his second painting, which appeared a little later, when the artist made a trip to India. At that time, the colonialists brutally suppressed the uprising of the sepoys. To mock Hindu beliefs about scattering ashes over the sacred, they tied several rebels to cannons and shot them with powder charges. The painting "English Execution in India" was sold in New York to a private person at auction and has since disappeared.
Unfortunately, modern man is so accustomed to violence and death occurring daily around the world that massacres are now no surprise. To create the "Apotheosis of War", Vereshchagin had only a few skulls, which he depicted from various angles. However, in Cambodia, in practice, they recreated what the artist had drawn. Vereshchagin did not know that in order for a pyramid of human heads to be stable, the skulls must be without a lower jaw. However, the horrifying realities of the twentieth century make us all sad "experts" in this matter.
The painting "The Apotheosis of War" was painted by Vasily Vereshchagin in 1871. She made a strong impression on the artist's contemporaries, but even more than a hundred years later, people stop in front of her, thinking about life and death. "The Apotheosis of War" can be called Vereshchagin's programmatic work.
Currently, the work is in the State Tretyakov Gallery. And art historians continue to argue about the history of the plot, finding more and more confirmation or refutation of one or the other version.
Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin is best known as a battle painter. He was born in 1842 in Cherepovets, graduated from the naval cadet corps, served briefly, then entered the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, studied painting in Paris.
In 1867, Vereshchagin left for Turkestan, where, with the rank of ensign, he was an artist under the Governor-General K.P. Kaufman. “I went because I wanted to know what true war is, about which I read and heard a lot…”,” the artist wrote. Here he conceived the famous "Turkestan series", in which he later depicted not the actual battle scenes, but the moments preceding the battle or following it. He also painted the nature and scenes of everyday life of the inhabitants of Central Asia. However, in the war, Vereshchagin did not just contemplate what was happening in order to capture it later on paper. Having changed a pencil for a gun, he participated in the battles, withstood the siege of Samarkand together with soldiers and officers, received the Order of St. George 4th class for military merits. But in any conditions he made sketches.
Returning from Turkestan, Vereshchagin left for Munich in 1871, where he intensively worked on Turkestan subjects on the basis of sketches and brought collections. In its final form, the "Turkestan Series" included thirteen paintings, eighty-one studies and one hundred and thirty-three drawings. In this composition, she was shown at Vereshchagin's first solo exhibition in London in 1873, and then in 1874 in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
A number of battle paintings were combined by the artist into a series, which he called "Barbarians". The painting "The Apotheosis of War" is included in it, and it, in turn, is part of the "Turkestan Series".
The painting depicts a pyramid of human skulls against the backdrop of a ruined city and charred trees in the middle of a hot steppe. Flocks of hungry birds of prey circle over the pyramid, sit on the skulls. All the details of the canvas, including the grayish-yellow color, symbolize death and devastation, convey the feeling of a sun-dried, dead nature. The clear blue sky only emphasizes the deadness of the picture. Only crows live here - symbols of death in art.
"The Apotheosis of War" in a symbolic form tells about the horrors of war, which brings only grief, destruction, destruction. In it, the artist severely condemns all aggressive wars that bring death.
The well-known Russian art critic Vladimir Stasov wrote about the "Apotheosis of War" as follows:
“Here it’s not just the skill with which Vereshchagin painted with his brushes a dry, burned steppe and among it a pyramid of skulls, with crows fluttering around, looking for a still surviving, maybe a piece of meat. No! Here appeared in the picture something more precious and higher than the extraordinary Vereshchagin virtuality of colors: this is a deep feeling of a historian and judge of mankind ... "
Several versions of the painting
Initially, the canvas was called "The Triumph of Tamerlane." There are several versions about what inspired the artist to create this picture. According to one of them, with his work, he wanted to show the history of the wars of Tamerlane, after whose campaigns only heaps of skulls and empty cities remained.
According to another version, still associated with Tamerlane, the artist depicted a story in which the women of Baghdad and Damascus complained to the leader that their husbands were mired in debauchery and drunkenness. Tamerlane ordered each of his 200,000 warriors to bring the head of the wicked. After the order was executed, seven pyramids were laid out of the heads. This version is less plausible, as it weakly echoes both the first and second titles of the picture.
According to the third version, Vereshchagin created this painting after he heard that the ruler of Kashgar, Valikhan-Tore, executed a European traveler and ordered to put his head on top of a pyramid made of the skulls of other executed people.
It is also believed that the painting was inspired by Tamerlane's ruthless suppression of the Uighur uprising in western China. However, round marks from bullets in the skulls eloquently testify that Tamerlane has nothing to do with this picture. In addition, the illusion of the Middle Ages is dispelled by the inscription made by the artist on the frame: "Dedicated to all the great conquerors - past, present and future."
Vereshchagin's paintings were offered to be burned
The "Apotheosis of War" made a depressing impression on the high-society audience in Russia and abroad. The imperial court considered this and other battle paintings of the artist to discredit the Russian army. One general from Prussia even persuaded Alexander II to burn all Vereshchagin's paintings about the war, because they have "the most pernicious influence." Because of this work, the masters were not sold, only a private philanthropist Tretyakov bought several paintings from the Turkestan series.
Vasily Vereshchagin died not in his bed. At the beginning of the Russo-Japanese War, the artist again went to where the battles raged. In the Pacific Ocean, on the outer roadstead of Port Arthur, he died in a mine explosion on the battleship Petropavlovsk, along with Admiral Makarov.
Unfortunately, modern man is so accustomed to violence and death occurring daily around the world that massacres are now no surprise. To create the "Apotheosis of War", Vereshchagin had only a few skulls, which he depicted from various angles. Vereshchagin did not know that in order for a pyramid of human heads to be stable, the skulls must be without a lower jaw. However, the horrifying realities of the twentieth century make us all sad "experts" in this matter.
Illustration taken from the Internet
Reviews
Very good text: informative and simple, without false beauty. I was lucky: I saw this picture in the Tretyakov Gallery in 1970. The canvas is much smaller than expected. But the impression is strong. This masterpiece is as iconic as Picasso's dove of peace. And it’s right that it’s unpleasant to look at: this is exactly what the artist wanted. Thanks to the author of the essay for reminding me of such an apotheosis. In the Donbass, it is now possible to build such a pyramid from the skulls of Russians and Ukrainians.
Plot
In the middle of the hot steppe rises a pyramid of human skulls burned by the sun. Each of them is written out very clearly, you can even determine what the person died from - from a bullet, a saber, a strong blow. Some of the skulls preserved the last emotions of people: horror, suffering, unbearable torment.
Behind a pile of bones, a ruined city can be seen on the horizon. Crows are circling nearby. For them, indifferent to the fate of the people of the destroyed settlement, this is a feast during the plague.
Vasily Vereshchagin was always attentive to the design of the frame - each of his paintings has an individual frame. Often the artist asked for explanatory inscriptions, which are of a reportage nature - they explain the plot and convey the emotions of the author. For the "Apotheosis of War" Vereshchagin asked to write on the frame: "Dedicated to all the great conquerors - past, present and future." With this phrase, the artist conveys the idea of the canvas: it is important to remember at what cost military triumphs are given.
Context
"The Apotheosis of War" is the only picture in which Vereshchagin depicted what he did not see in reality. The plot is based on the events of the XIV century associated with Tamerlane. His name horrified the rulers of East and West. He bled the Horde, brutally subjugated every village in his path. For example, when he came to Iran and took the Sebzevar fortress, Tamerlane ordered the construction of a tower, immuring 2,000 people alive in its walls. And after the sack of Delhi, on the orders of the commander, 100 thousand civilians were beheaded. According to the memoirs of contemporaries, the towers made from the heads of Indians reached great heights. Tamerlane believed that such pyramids glorified his military talent.
Doors of Khan Tamerlane (Timur), 1875
The painting is part of the Turkestan series, which Vereshchagin worked on after participating in the Russian campaign in Central Asia in the second half of the 1860s. The artist was invited to the place of hostilities by the governor-general of Turkestan and the commander of the Russian troops K. P. Kaufman. Vereshchagin not only wrote, but also fought heroically, for which he was awarded the Order of St. George IV degree. According to the created sketches, the artist worked for two years in Munich. The paintings included in the Turkestan series, as well as sketches and sketches, were first shown in London in 1873, and then in 1874 in St. Petersburg and Moscow.
Painting from the Turkestan series , 1872
In Russia, the military, including Kaufman, called Vereshchagin a slanderer. Journalists wrote that the heroes of the Turkestan series are Turkmens triumphing over the Russian army, and the “Apotheosis of War” supposedly sings of their exploits.
Samarkand. Mausoleum Gur-Emir, 1890
Meanwhile, during the Turkestan campaign, Vereshchagin painted not only battle canvases. Among his works are those that show the beauty of the world, the exoticism of places: the hustle and bustle of the bazaar with its colorful goods, carved minarets, local residents and their way of life. By showing such paintings, Vereshchagin opened up to the audience a new wondrous world, against which war, death, cruelty looked like nonsense incomprehensible.
The fate of the artist
Vasily Vereshchagin was born into the family of a wealthy landowner in Cherepovets. His father insisted that each of his four sons become a military man. Vasily graduated from the naval cadet corps and, upon receiving the rank of officer, retired, intending to become an artist. In response, the father said that if Vasily carried out his plan, he might not return home. This was their last meeting.
Vereshchagin was precise in every detail. The Wanderers admired his uncompromising truthfulness. But the critics and authorities were doubtful about him as an artist, saying that he was more of a photographer, but not a painter at all. To contemporaries, Vasily Vasilyevich seemed terrible, bloody, exotically cruel. There were those who suspected him of deliberately savoring the details - to tickle people's nerves. The artist himself said: “Tears come when I remember all this horror, and “smart people” assure that I compose fables with a cold mind.”
“Defeated. Panikhida for fallen soldiers, 1877
As a professional military man, Vereshchagin knew the true face of the war. He was outraged that people were dying for nothing because of the mediocre command. And at headquarters they drink champagne to the glory of the sovereign, believing that the more people died, the louder the glory.
He also participated in the Balkan wars. His series of paintings show a huge number of injured and dying people. At his exhibitions, he literally screamed about senseless sacrifices. The audience did not believe and still accused the painter of slander.
Mausoleum of the Taj Mahal near Agra, 1874
Vereshchagin decided not to write about the war anymore. He devotes several years to traveling around India, Japan, and the Middle East. He also studied the personality of Napoleon, about which he created not only several paintings, but also books.
Japanese woman, 1903
With the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Vereshchagin received an offer to accompany Vice Admiral S. O. Makarov. On March 31, 1904, they, being on the battleship Petropavlovsk, died when the ship was blown up by a mine.
Oil/Canvas (1871)
Description
According to another version, the famous painting "The Apotheosis of War" was created by Vereshchagin under the impression ...
The picture was painted in 1871. Initially, the canvas was called "The Triumph of Tamerlane", the idea was associated with Tamerlane, whose troops left behind such pyramids of skulls, but the picture is not of a specific historical nature. According to history, once women of Baghdad and Damascus turned to Tamerlane, who complained about their husbands, mired in sins and depravity. Then Tamerlane ordered each soldier from his 200,000-strong army to bring a severed head of lecherous husbands. After the order was executed, 7 pyramids of heads were laid out.
According to another version, the famous painting “The Apotheosis of War” was created by Vereshchagin under the impression of a story about how the despot of Kashgar, Valikhan-Tore, executed a European traveler and ordered his head to be placed on top of a pyramid made of the skulls of other executed people. In 1867, Vereshchagin left for Turkestan, where he was an ensign under the Turkestan Governor-General Kaufman. Russia then conquered Turkestan and Vereshchagin had seen enough of death and corpses, which aroused compassion and philanthropy in him. The well-known Turkestan series appeared in Turkestan, where Vereshchagin, a battle painter, depicted not only military operations, but also the nature and scenes of life in Central Asia. And after a trip to Western China in 1869, where the troops of the Bogdykhan ruthlessly pacified the uprising of the local Dungans and Uighurs, the painting “The Apotheosis of War” appeared.
"The Apotheosis of War" is one of Vereshchagin's most striking program works. The painting depicts a pyramid of human skulls against the backdrop of a ruined city and charred trees, in the midst of a hot steppe; crows hover around the pyramid. All the details of the picture, including the yellow color of the canvas, symbolize death and devastation. The clear blue sky emphasizes the deadness of the picture. The idea of the "Apotheosis of War" is also vividly expressed by the scars from sabers and bullet holes on the skulls.
(1842-1904) - great Russian artist. Best known as a battle painter. During his life, he painted many real masterpieces of painting, among which: Napoleon in Russia, They attack by surprise, In the Turkish mortuary, Go to the zindan in Samarkand, Triumph, After failure, Timur's Doors and many others. The most famous work of Vereshchagin, which can be called the "calling card" of the artist, is the painting "The Apotheosis of War".
Apotheosis of war
Painting " Apotheosis of war"Written in 1871, oil on canvas, 127 × 197 cm. Currently located in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. The original title of the painting The triumph of Tamerlane". There are several versions about what inspired the artist to create this picture. According to one version, with his work he wanted to show the history of the wars of Tamerlane, after whose campaigns only heaps of skulls and empty cities remained. According to another version, still associated with Tamerlane, the artist depicted a story in which the women of Baghdad and Damascus complained to the leader that their husbands were mired in debauchery and betrayal. Tamerlane ordered each of his soldiers to bring the head of lecherous husbands, as a result of which 7 pyramids accumulated. The second version is less plausible, since it weakly echoes both the first and second titles of the picture. According to the third version, Vereshchagin created this picture after he heard about the Valikhantor from Kashgar, who put the heads of executed people into a huge pyramid. "The Triumph of Tamerlane" or "The Apotheosis of War" is part of the Turkestan series of paintings by the artist, which he created while traveling around Turkestan, where he saw many deaths and the most terrible events. These experiences inspired him to create a work that tells about the horrors of war in a vivid symbolic form, which brings only grief and destruction.
The painting "The Apotheosis of War" shows a pyramid consisting of skulls. Some skulls have obvious damage from sabers and bullets. The pyramid is located on the lifeless lands of the endless desert, which once again emphasizes the devastation of war. Against the backdrop of the pyramid stands an empty, dilapidated city. There are charred trees all around. Only crows live here - symbols of death in art.
Why did I remember this picture?
I often make virtual trips. Today I wandered into Presnya. I wandered around Roshydromet, remembered my work at the State Committee for Hydrometeorology. Not far from the Committee building stood a log house on a stone foundation. Someone told me that this is the house of the artist Vasily Vereshchagin. Behind a deaf fence, the abandoned house was chosen by homeless people. And soon the house burned down. Today there is no blank fence, all firebrands have been removed, but the foundation has been preserved.
The foundation of the house in Novovagankovsky lane
Whose was he? It's hard for me to say. I didn't find an answer on the internet.
But this house, judging by the biography of the artist, was not the house of Vasily Vereshchegin. Vereshchagin's big house was located in Bolshiye Kotly. Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin, at the bend of the Moskva River, in the village of Nizhnie Kotly, bought a plot in 1892, on which he built a house and a workshop according to his own design.
Vereshchagin's estate in Nizhnye Kotly
The construction of the house was connected with the marriage in 1890 to the twenty-three-year-old Lidia Vasilievna Andreevskaya. Soon the children appeared, and with them the family "nest". Vereshchagin became the owner of a spacious house with a huge workshop. The address sounded like this: “Moscow. Behind the Serpukhov outpost. The village of Nizhniye Kotly.
Vereshchagin died in 1904 during the Russo-Japanese War on the battleship Petropavlovsk, which was blown up by a Japanese mine. Then Admiral Makarov also died.
After the death of her husband, the widow of Vereshchagin sold the house and the plot, the new owner put it up for scrap.
It is possible that the burnt house on Presnya belonged to someone from the Vereshchagin family. [Later I found out that the house really belonged to Vereshchagin, but who had no relationship with the artist]
And the picture reminded me of the war in Syria...
