Unknown Kramskoy Ivan Nikolaevich description. Kramskoy Ivan, "Unknown

The painting by Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy "Unknown" was written in 1883.

This is a half-length portrait of a young woman sitting in a carriage.

The lady is dressed in the latest fashion of the 1880s: a velvet beret, at that time such berets were called "Francis", reminiscent of a headdress in a picture of aristocrats of the 16th century - the same form, the same ostrich feather is attached with a gold agraph with pearls.

A heavy knot of dark hair on the neck. The coat, by association with the general's overcoat, is called "Skobelev", obviously expensive cloth,
trimmed with sable fur and silk navy blue ribbons.

The muff was also trimmed, which was then fashionable, with sable and dark blue silk ribbons. On the hands, matching the general attire, are dark blue kid "Swedish" gloves and on the left hand is a massive gold bracelet.

When analyzing this work, critics often attribute to the woman the properties of the "Lady of the Camellias", arguing that it depicts a certain lady of the demi-monde, an expensive kept woman, or maybe an actress who enjoys patronage. This is motivated by the fact that the lady is defiantly fashionable and expensively dressed.

At that time, the nobility, experiencing an economic crisis, did not have the opportunity to dress like that, and in general, exact adherence to fashion was a property of the "nouveau riche", people who came to high society thanks to money, and not origin.

Composition

The first thing the viewer sees is a dark spot of the silhouette of a woman in a wheelchair. The composition is such that it resembles a close-up film frame. Very unusual for that time.

The second is a light transparent background - the contours of the Anichkov Palace.

Presumably, the carriage stands on the Anichkov Bridge.

The shift in scale creates a completely unexpected effect - the face becomes the main thing in the picture. The first thing we see is the eyes! Aloof, sad, slightly arrogant look.

The source of light, the direction of the shadows, the warmth and density of tone indicate that the figure was painted in the atelier, and the landscape in nature. The atmosphere of winter St. Petersburg is completely masterfully conveyed.

History of creation

The history of this work - Kramskoy called it not a "portrait", but a "picture" - is contradictory. The author left no comments, letters, diary entries, invoices or deeds related to this painting.

Found recently in the private collection of Dr. Dushan Friedrich in Czechoslovakia in the city of Prague, a study painted for the picture.

It is known that it was not a professional model who posed for the same study, but someone's acquaintance, who happened to be in Kramskoy's studio and served as a model for him and several of his colleagues for a full-scale study.

This episode is written in his memoirs by one of the participants, a colleague from TPVC. It seems that this model is depicted in the sketch for the picture.

The sketch was painted in the same color and from the same angle, but the facial features are not so correct, the hairstyle is different, the facial expression is different, more severe.

There are several different versions of the creation of this work. One of them is a portrait of Kramskoy's deeply beloved daughter Sophia, also an artist with a tragic fate.

It is also assumed that this is a commissioned portrait of Ekaterina Dolgorukova, the morganatic wife of Emperor Alexander II, who, after the death of the emperor, remained with the artist.

There is a version that says that this is a portrait of Matryona Savvishna, who, being a maid on the Bestuzhev estate, charmed the young Count Bestuzhev with her unusual beauty - he married her and brought her to St. Petersburg, where the artist met her.

One of the attractive and quite probable theories is that the painting depicts Varvara Turkestanova, a Georgian princess. Ivan Nikolaevich saw her cameo portrait, learned about her tragic fate, and this inspired him to create a picture.

Resonance

The painting was first shown at the 11th exhibition of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions, where it had the effect of a bombshell. The composition, plot and mood of this thing did not at all correspond to either the concept of the Partnership or the ideas of that time about what was permissible.

Tretyakov at first refused to purchase, but eventually bought the work with the one, although he did not exhibit it for many years.

Under Soviet rule and during the period of democratization of society, this work is presented in the Tretyakov Gallery, as one of the most popular works of I.N. Kramskoy, symbolizing Russian culture.

All these theories do not clarify the true identity of the "Unknown". Perhaps this was precisely the task of the artist who wrote a collective image of a woman of his time.

Russian Gioconda

One of the most outstanding works of Ivan Kramskoy is the painting "Unknown", written in 1883 and is part of the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery.
When this portrait was presented at the 11th exhibition of the Association of the Wanderers (1833), a scandal suddenly broke out. And what in it could cause indignation among the progressive Russian intelligentsia? Only a lady is depicted, sitting in an open carriage. Yes, she is luxuriously dressed and seems to have stepped out of the fashion picture of her time. This gorgeous woman, who obviously has a lot of money, to be not just prosperous, but brave and independent, to look down on the audience around her somewhat.
This is an intriguing canvas that remains misunderstood and unsolved to this day. Calling his painting “Unknown”, Kramskoy fixed an aura of mystery forever behind it. Contemporaries were literally at a loss. Her image caused anxiety and anxiety, a vague premonition of a depressing and dubious new thing - the appearance of a type of woman who did not fit into the old system of values. “It is not known who this lady is, decent or corrupt, but a whole era sits in her” (from the statements of contemporaries about the picture).
There were many rumors around this painting during the life of the artist, many interesting versions arose regarding the prototype of the most famous "Unknown".

Yes, and we, the descendants, do not cease to be surprised by this beauty, trying to unravel the mystery of the picture. And we continue to ask the same questions, look at the smallest details of the picture.

The canvas depicts a young woman riding in an open carriage along Nevsky Prospekt near the pavilions of the Anichkov Palace. To the right behind her is the Alexandrinsky Theater. She is dressed in the latest fashion of the 1880s. Like a queen, she rises above the foggy white cold city, driving in an open carriage along the Anichkov Bridge.

Here is the place then:

Anichkov bridge in the 19th century

And now:

Anichkov bridge

Alexandrinsky Theater (aka the Russian State Academic Drama Theater named after A. S. Pushkin) In the picture - on the right behind the back of the Stranger.

Anichkov Palace, one of the imperial palaces of St. Petersburg, near the Anichkov Bridge on the embankment of the Fontanka River (Nevsky Prospekt, 39). Front entrance (2012)
In the painting Stranger at the pavilions of the Anichkov Palace

Next, consider the outfit of the unknown. It was described in detail by contemporaries: the “Francis” hat trimmed with elegant light feathers, “Swedish” gloves made of the finest leather, the “Skobelev” coat decorated with sable fur and blue satin ribbons, a muff, a gold bracelet - all these are fashionable details of a women's costume. 1880s, claiming expensive elegance.
Who now remembers what the Francis hat and the Skobelev coat could have been like? And why are “Swedish” gloves Swedish?

Yes, and most importantly: the most fashionable outfit did not mean then belonging to the high society, rather the opposite - a code of unwritten rules excluded strict adherence to fashion in the highest circles of Russian society. What is it? Can the inhabitants of today's Rublyovka, dressed according to the latest foreign fashion, imagine such a thing?
What is the conclusion? Only one - that the girl still did not belong to high society?
Contemporaries saw in the image a kind of vulgarity, that is, excessive sensuality that did not fit with the ideas of a secular lady.

Maybe as a comparison - a female portrait of an aristocrat painted by Kramskoy.

Portrait of a Lady, 1881 Ekaterinburg Museum of Fine Arts

All these details are a clue to the mystery, but do not give an answer.
The author did not reveal this secret. Neither in the letters nor in the diaries of Ivan Kramskoy is there any mention of the identity of this woman.

And by the way, the artist Kramskoy himself, what kind of person was he?

Kramskoy Ivan Nikolaevich (years of life - 1837-1887) is known as a talented portrait painter and historical painter. His hometown is Ostrogozhsk, Voronezh province. There, in the family of a petty official, little Vanya was born. He was fond of painting since childhood. At every opportunity, he took a pen or pencil in his hands and tried to sketch everything that he saw around him. He loved to read.
13-year-old Vanya has already begun his career. He worked at first as a scribe, and then as a retoucher for a photographer friend, with whom they traveled almost all of Russia. In 1857 they arrived in St. Petersburg, where the future artist decided to stay, taking a job in the photo studio of A. I. Denier. In the same year, Ivan Kramskoy realized his dream - he entered the Academy of Arts.

I.N. Kramskoy
So he was in 1882 around the time of writing "Unknown"

Even during his studies, the artist tried to unite all the active academic youth around him. And after completing his studies, together with other graduates of the Academy, he created the St. Petersburg artel. They say that the atmosphere of friendliness and mutual understanding that reigned there is entirely his merit. When the St. Petersburg artel slowly began to disintegrate, he acted as the organizer of the association of traveling art exhibitions - the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions - of the Wanderers. Thus, it can be said without exaggeration that Ivan Kramskoy was an outstanding figure in the cultural life of Russia 60-80 years. century before last

There is a version that his daughter, Sofya Kramskaya, posed for the artist for this picture. If we compare "Unknown" with the painting "Girl with a cat" - a portrait of her daughter, then the external resemblance is really striking.

portrait of his daughter "Girl with a cat" (1882, Kiev Museum of Russian Art)

About the tragic fate of Ivan Kramskoy's daughter Sophia
Portrait of the artist's daughter

But of course Sophia could be (and probably was) only a model, and not the heroine of the picture herself.
Can the portrait of the "Unknown" be an illustration of a literary heroine?

Who? Dostoevsky's Nastasya Filippovna ("The Idiot") or Tolstoy's Anna Karenina? A kept woman who dared to rise spiritually above her position as a fallen woman, or an aristocrat who descended from the height of her social position? The image is akin to both: it shows the freedom, independence, pride of a woman in the time of change, and at the same time there is something surprisingly simple-hearted that remains in the character of a Russian woman of the past.

A few years before the appearance of the "Unknown", L. Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" was published, which gave rise to some researchers to assert that Kramskoy portrayed the main character of the novel. Maybe the prototypes of Anna Karrenina will be close to the truth.
As you know, Anna Karenina repeated the tragic fate of Anna Stepanovna Pirogova, whom unhappy love led to death, in 1872 (because of A. I. Bibikov)
From the memoirs of Sofya Andreevna, wife of Leo Tolstoy:
She left home with a bundle in her hand, returned to the nearest Yasenki station (near Yasnaya Polyana), where she threw herself onto the rails under a freight train. L. N. Tolstoy went to the railway barracks to see the unfortunate woman.

In 1868, in the house of General A. A. Tulubyev, L. N. Tolstoy met Maria Alexandrovna Gartung, Pushkin's daughter. Tolstoy gave Anna Karenina some features of her appearance: dark hair, white lace and a small purple garland of pansies.

Maria Alexandrovna Gartung

Most researchers are still inclined to think that the prototype has not a literary, but a very real origin.

Allegedly, the external resemblance made us say that the artist depicted the beautiful Matrena Savvishna- a peasant woman who became the wife of the nobleman Bestuzhev, whom Kramskoy knew.

Many argue that "Unknown" is a collective image of a woman who could not serve as an example to follow. Allegedly, Kramskoy painted a picture in order to expose the moral foundations of society - painted lips, fashionable expensive clothes give out a rich kept woman in a woman. Critic V. Stasov called this picture "Kokotka in a stroller", other critics wrote that Kramskoy depicted "an expensive camellia", "one of the fiends of big cities."

Collection of Dr. Dushan Friedrich. Prague. Unknown. study 1883

Later, a study for this painting was discovered in one of the private Czech collections. The woman on it looks arrogant and rude, she looks at the passers-by with a challenge. This gave reason to assert that the artist really hatched the idea of ​​​​creating an incriminating portrait. However, in the final version, Kramskoy softened the features of the stranger, ennobling her appearance.
In the picture they saw a revealing meaning. However, in the face of the heroine one can see not only arrogance, but also sadness, hidden drama.

It was considered good form to keep a mistress in the high society of the capital of the Russian Empire of the 19th century. But most often they were beautiful ballerinas. Many great princes from the Romanov dynasty, not at all considering their legal wives, for many years practically openly had a second family. For Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich (Alexander's brother), the role of the second wife was played by the famous ballerina Ekaterina Chislova. She bore the prince four children. Prince Konstantin Nikolaevich lived with the ballerina Anna Kuznetsova, who bore him five children. Children, for obvious reasons, did not have the right to bear the name of the Romanovs. However, caring fathers did not leave their offspring without their attention. All of them received noble dignity: the first family bore the title and surname of the Nikolaevs; the second is the Knyazevs. The examples go on...

The very fact of the appearance of a lady without a name among other “own” portraits of the exhibition of the Association of the Wanderers turned out to be scandalous: people with names - figures of culture and science; or "ideological" canvases with heroes - ordinary working citizens (peasants, merchants, students). And for some reason, the audience of the exhibition immediately “recorded” the unsigned face as expensive kept courtesans.
And even more, in the portrait they discerned the features of Catherine Dolgoruky, a powerful aristocrat - the favorite of Emperor Alexander II.
Therefore, they say, Kramskoy kept the secret of the portrait.

Princess E.M. Dolgorukaya

Emperor Alexander was getting old. He was already over sixty. And his beloved Katenka, even after the birth of her children, was in full splendor of her beauty, in the last years of Alexander's life she lived in the Winter Palace, and her chambers were located directly above the rooms of the wife of Alexander II, Maria Alexandrovna, on the floor above. Dolgoruky wanted to reign in art, and not only in the heart of the sovereign. Therefore, the emperor decided to commission her portrait to one of the most popular artists of that time, Ivan Kramskoy (he had already painted portraits of his children from his first marriage). Catherine wished to be depicted in a carriage driving along the Nevsky. She wanted to look proud and independent against the backdrop of the Anichkov Palace, where the heir to the throne, Alexander Alexandrovich, lived with his family.
Dolgorukaya posed for Kramskoy in fits and starts, and the artist was forced to invite other models. This is what confuses art critics: the portrait was painted using sketches and sketches from different women. The work dragged on for a long time. Kramskoy was looking for generalizations, and the portrait moved further and further away from the original. And still depicted is very similar to the surviving photographs of the princess. Here's a version...

Varvara Ilyinichna Turkestanova

One of the most interesting versions belongs to the author of the book “The Fate of Beauty. Stories of Georgian Wives" to Igor Obolensky.
He claims that the prototype of the stranger was Princess Varvara Turkestanishvili (Turkestanova)- maid of honor of Empress Maria Feodorovna, favorite of Alexander I, to whom she gave birth to a daughter. After the birth of his daughter, the emperor lost interest in both the mother and the child, and Barbara then committed suicide. In the 1880s a cameo with a portrait of the princess, which the emperor once gave her, was seen by Kramskoy. He was struck by the beauty and tragic death of a Georgian woman and decided to paint her portrait.

Princess Varvara Ilyinichna Turkestanova (1775-1819), maid of honor of Empress Maria Feodorovna, beloved of Emperor Alexander I, "Unknown" Kramskoy, is buried here.
(Necropolis of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra)

However, all versions remain at the level of assumptions, and "Unknown" is a stranger, and
namely "Stranger", like Blok's.

Stranger

In the evenings above the restaurants
Hot air is wild and deaf
And rules drunken shouts
Spring and pernicious spirit.

Far above the lane dust,
Over the boredom of country cottages,
Slightly gilded bakery pretzel,
And the cry of a child is heard.

And every evening, behind the barriers,
Breaking pots,
Among the ditches they walk with the ladies
Proven wits.

Oarlocks creak above the lake
And a woman screams
And in the sky, accustomed to everything
The disk is pointlessly twisted.

And every evening the only friend
Reflected in my glass
And moisture tart and mysterious
Like me, humble and deaf.

And next to the neighboring tables
Sleepy lackeys stick out,
And drunkards with rabbit eyes
"In vino veritas!"* they shout.

And every evening, at the appointed hour
(Is this just a dream?)
Maiden's camp, seized by silks,
In the foggy window moves.

And slowly, passing among the drunk,
Always without companions, alone
Breathing in spirits and mists,
She sits by the window.

And breathe ancient beliefs
Her elastic silks
And a hat with mourning feathers
And in the rings a narrow hand.

And chained by a strange closeness,
I look behind the dark veil
And I see the enchanted shore
And the enchanted distance.

Deaf secrets are entrusted to me,
Someone's sun has been handed to me,
And all the souls of my bend
The tart wine pierced.

And ostrich feathers bowed
In my brain they sway
And bottomless blue eyes
Blooming on the far shore.

There is a treasure in my soul
And the key is entrusted only to me!
You're right, drunk monster!
I know: the truth is in wine.

http://klin-demianovo.ru/http:/klin-demianovo.ru/analitika/92464/russkaya-dzhokonda/
http://www.kulturologia.ru/blogs/220815/25927/
http://rodon.org/art-071104184243
http://melanyja.livejournal.com/644092.html
http://www.stihi-rus.ru/1/Blok/90.htm

Original entry and comments on

"Unknown" - a portrait of a beautiful, but somewhat agitated woman against the backdrop of Nevsky Prospekt.

I. E. Repin told in his memoirs that when this painting appeared at the XIth exhibition of the Wanderers, everyone was literally intrigued - who is this woman?

Neither the first biographers nor his daughter Kramskaya-Junker confirm any of the assumptions - who is this woman? And there were many versions. The artist's daughter claimed that the portrait was painted from different models, and this image is collective. Some said that the artist saw this beauty on the street, in a passing carriage, others said that this was the image of Anna Karenina (a few years before the appearance of Kramskoy's painting, Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina was published).

Although the literary images of women that would serve as a prototype for the picture could be named and named. In many works of Russian writers and poets, the image of a woman opposing society was very popular. And in the picture, the beauty is perceived just like that.

Perhaps Kramskoy also touched on this topic. The artist, as it were, looks at his model from the side, forcing the audience to think out who she is, what her fate is, what kind of feelings are hidden behind this beauty and the arrogant look of the half-lowered look of beautiful eyes. But among the sketches of Kramskoy, one was also found, which depicts a young woman sitting in a stroller. She looks defiantly at the passers-by.

Her appearance - disheveled hair and not quite a fresh toilet, causes ridicule. Is this how the artist originally wanted to portray a beauty? Kramskoy deliberately calls the portrait "Unknown", as if he knew that he would stop the audience and make them think about her fate. The picture caused a lot of talk with its riddle. Who is she?

Many agreed that Kramskoy portrayed a rich kept woman. V. Stasov came up with a definition - "Kokotka in a stroller", and P. Tretyakov did not want to buy this work. And in the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery, it appeared as a result of the nationalization of private collections only in Soviet times in 1925, when the scandalous image of the "Unknown" was gradually forgotten, and the picture of the unknown became the embodiment of aristocracy.

Kramskoy once said to Repin: “It’s not a matter of writing this or that scene ... of life. It will be a simple photograph from nature, a sketch, if it is not illuminated by the philosophical worldview of the author and does not carry a deep meaning of life ... ". This is what the artist was probably thinking about when drawing a portrait of a beauty, about her life ...

Kramskoy was a gifted portrait painter. His ability to convey the inner world of the person depicted in the portrait seemed supernatural to many. Kramskoy paints the paintings "Moonlight Night", "Inconsolable Grief", "Unknown". Three women, three destinies.

The unknown is different in that the woman's face is close to the viewer. You can see the dullness of velvety skin, and the shadows from long eyelashes, and the tears in the eyes, which are masked by a cold and proud expression, the pink frosty haze is written out so masterfully that it brings a feeling of cold in reality.

Some call the image of the unknown magical. Look at the picture, every detail on it makes us wonder who she is, we look at the soft blue of her velvet suit, decorated with

In the late 1860s, during the period of the birth of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions, a curious incident occurred in the studio of the Artel of Artists. It is described by I. E. Repin in the book “Far Close”: “One morning, on Sunday, I came to Kramskoy... beauty. I was simply dumbfounded by this marvelous face, height and all the proportions of the black-eyed brunette's body ... In the general turmoil, chairs quickly rattled, easels moved, and the common room quickly turned into an etude class. They put the beauty on a raised platform... I began to stare from behind the backs of the artists... Finally, I got to Kramskoy. That's it! That's her! He was not afraid of the correct proportion of the eyes with the face, she has small eyes, Tatar, but what a sparkle! And the end of the nose with nostrils wider between the eyes, just like hers, and what a charm! All this warmth, charm came out only from him. Very similar".

And in November 1883, at the eleventh exhibition of the Association, a painting by I. N. Kramskoy appeared depicting a beautiful dark-eyed lady. The canvas was called "Unknown". Whether this is the woman who once posed in the artist's house is difficult to say. Time passed, but still the mystery of the work remains unresolved. Who is she, an elegant stranger?

It stirred the imagination of viewers past and present. The artist hid the name of the beautiful model. Even her closest friends did not know her. Someone found similarities with St. Petersburg aristocrats, the names of metropolitan princesses were heard, baroness women of their circle knew how to rise so proudly, regally in a dandy carriage above the crowd. They also remembered famous contemporary actresses.

There was an assumption about the literary source of the portrait. The image of the unknown was associated with the heroine of Leo Tolstoy's novel, Anna Karenina. Kramskoy knew the great writer well, he painted two of his portraits, and Tolstoy himself, while working on the novel, captured the features of the painter in the image of the artist Mikhailov. In the last years of his life, the master became interested in the work of F. M. Dostoevsky. Hence the guess about the similarity of the portrait image with Nastasya Filippovna, one of the characters in the novel The Idiot. Between them, even some features of external similarity were found: “The eyes are dark, deep, the forehead is thoughtful, the facial expression is passionate and, as it were, arrogant.”

But the picture became especially popular after the appearance in 1907 of the famous Blok poem, to which it owes its second name "The Stranger". And although it is clear that the poet created an image that became an expression of his personal experiences, the lines somewhat echo Kramskoy's "Unknown". Like a vision, “always without companions, alone, breathing spirits and mists,” she appears in a wavering frosty haze and quickly sweeps past the astonished and fascinated Petersburgers, stopping her arrogant glance at them only for a moment. The unknown woman, leaning back in the leather seat of the carriage, is richly and tastefully dressed: she wears a dark blue velvet coat trimmed with silvery fur and trimmed with satin ribbons. An elegant hairstyle is almost hidden by a graceful hat with a white ostrich feather. One hand is in a fluffy muff, the other, with a gleaming gold bracelet, is pulled into a dark kid glove. The lady is inaccessible in her majestic beauty, but feigned composure cannot hide the inner energy, passion that are contained in her gaze and pose.

The silhouette of the figure is drawn as a dark, sharp spot on a pink-yellow background, among the obscure outlines of the Anichkov Palace, illuminated by the evening rays of the sun, appearing in the fog. The architectural landscape occupies an important place in the picture. Although our attention is absorbed by the main character, the urban environment helps to fully feel the spirituality of the image.

At first glance, the features of the work do not fit with the previous work of the famous democrat artist. All his life he defended civil art, condemning evil, violence, lies. Struggling with the routine in life and art, he played a leading role in organizing the association of Wanderers. The themes of his best canvases are dedicated to people of great spiritual strength, moral purity: “Mina Moiseev”, “N. A. Nekrasov during the period of "Last Songs", "Portrait of I. I. Shishkin". The most difficult, dramatic moments of life (“Inconsolable Grief”) are captured with psychological penetration, the eternal question of a person’s choice of a life path (“Christ in the Wilderness”) is raised. Everywhere Kramskoy was true to his conviction that "without an idea there is no art."

It is no coincidence that immediately after the appearance at the autumn traveling exhibition, the salon, it would seem, the painting "Unknown" caused a lot of talk. In the depicted woman, they looked for only accusatory features, forgetting to look at the pictorial merits of the canvas. But it was Kramskoy who at that time said the words that "without living and striking painting there are no paintings." At the turn of the 1870s and 1880s, the artist, feeling a lack of rich picturesqueness in his works, strove to create things where deep and truthful content would be combined with expressive performance. The master decides to move "towards light, colors and air", seeks to convey subtle color nuances, lighting features.

Such is the famous "Unknown". It is difficult to search for deep psychological content here. But there is a high picturesque dignity. Never before has a painter paid so much attention to the landscape, the details of clothing, which are masterfully painted, with special care. And most importantly, Kramskoy created an image that reflected his own understanding of beauty.

To realize the veracity of these words will help to compare the canvas with the original study, recently discovered in one of the private collections of Czechoslovakia, which depicts a young model, very similar in features and pose to the "Unknown". But the woman from the "Prague" sketch does not have that mystery and charm that will appear in the final version. She is less beautiful: her face is rougher, simpler, her eyes are heavy and haughty. The artist later somewhat changed the appearance of his heroine, ennobling her appearance, enriching her inner world. But what if a specific prototype simply did not exist? "Unknown" is a collective image, a product of Kramskoy's imagination. And although the name of this lady is unknown, but, as one of the critics of the last century rightly noted, "a whole era sits in her."

This brush painting Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy , probably known to everyone, even to those who have never been to the Tretyakov Gallery.

But if you ask what this portrait is called, the majority will answer: "Stranger" . And they will be wrong.
Actually the picture is called "Unknown" .

The artist Ivan Kramskoy (1837 - 1887) painted this portrait of a beautiful woman driving in an open carriage along Nevsky Prospekt (the Alexandrinsky Theater can be guessed behind her on the right in the background of the picture), shortly before her death, in 1883.

Portrait of I. N. Kramskoy,
written in 1880 by I. I. Shishkin:

Wet big half-lidded eyes, thick eyelashes, clothes in the latest fashion of the 1880s. Who is she? The author of the portrait himself did not leave us an answer to this question. And the very name of the picture once again intrigues and creates an aura of mystery.

The version that I. Kramskoy depicted in his famous portrait a certain Kursk peasant woman Matryona Savvishna, who allegedly married Count Bestuzhev, captivated by her beauty, can hardly be considered reliable. At least, this legend has no historical evidence.

But another version seems more reliable, according to which the artist used his daughter Sophia as a medel for his painting.
The fate of this woman is tragic. Sofia Ivanovna Kramskaya was also an artist; in 1930 she was arrested as an "enemy of the people". Several camps in Siberia: in Krasnoyarsk, and then in Irkutsk; two strokes, a return to Leningrad and an accidental death from blood poisoning due to a finger prick with a herring bone.

However, lovers of painting all this is better not to know. Somehow, the beautiful young woman, looking at the viewers of the picture with a slightly sad, but at the same time regal look, does not really fit into one whole, with a prisoner of the camps who died in poverty. And what is she then "unknown"?

Perhaps that is why I like the erroneous from the point of view of the history of fine arts, but much more attractive title of the painting - "The Stranger". And for this you need to "blame" no one, but the great Russian poet Alexander Blok .

Even people who are far from literature, but forced to study it (with a greater or lesser degree of efficiency) in the course of the school curriculum, are familiar with one of the most famous poems by the most romantic poet of the Silver Age - "Stranger" .

Just don't tell me that you don't remember at least a couple of stanzas from these verses:

"... And every evening, at the appointed hour
(Is it just my dream?)
Maiden's camp, seized by silks
In the foggy window moves.

And slowly, passing among the drunk,
Always without companions, alone,
Breathing in spirits and mists,
She sits by the window...

Alexander Blok wrote "The Stranger" 23 years after the "Unknown" by Ivan Kramskoy.
But I would like to think that it was this picture that inspired the poet's "The Stranger". Judge for yourself:

"... And they breathe ancient beliefs
Her elastic silks
And a hat with mourning feathers
And in the rings a narrow hand ... "

"... And ostrich feathers bowed
In my brain sway.
And bottomless blue eyes
Blooming on the far shore..."

I imagine that "Unknown" drove in her carriage, entered the institution, "where drunkards with rabbit eyes in vino veritas scream..." , and where every evening a poet in love with her (no, rather not with her, but with an image created by the magical power of art and his own imagination) waits. She takes off her outer clothes, puts her muff in the wardrobe, but remains in a fashionable hat with feathers, goes alone to a table by the window (at the same time, of course, "breathing spirits and mists" )...

And just don’t tell me that Alexander Blok, who sang in his poems the “Beautiful Lady” he invented, was in reality the disgusting husband of a woman whose love he had sought for many years and to whom he dedicated his poems (I mean Lyubov Dmitrievna Mendeleeva), and after marrying her, wandered around prostitutes and had many mistresses. Yes, this is the truth that I know, even though sometimes I think it would be better not to know. And yet, after all, we appreciate Blok not for the most attractive circumstances of his personal life (as well as Sergei Yesenin, by the way), but for the high poetry that is his legacy. Is not it?

Among the many poems of Alexander Blok, "The Stranger", despite the popularity and well-knownness, has been and remains one of my favorite poems of this poet.
Therefore, for me, the picture of Ivan Kramskoy is still not "Unknown" , A "Stranger" even though I know it's wrong.

Sergei Vorobyov .