Pavel Andreevich Fedotov Major's matchmaking description. He is more familiar with the Armenian

In the autumn of 1849, after the first showing of "Wooing" at the exhibition Imperial Academy arts, Pavel Fedotov woke up famous. The prim Petersburgers were in agitation. The picture was not overcrowded!

She remained a "hit" for a very long time. There are memories of the first presentation to the public of the "Siege of Pskov" by the famous Karl Bryullov (eleven years later, in 1860). Monumental work, sublime patriotic theme, brush of the master - and no success! And at the little "Svatovstvo" there were still crowds of smiling spectators.

…IN merchant's house a middle-aged but gallant officer came "with serious intentions". He twists his mustache at the door, and the frightened bride runs into the next room. The family decides what to do. All? Not all. “Wooing” for the modern viewer is, as it were, encrypted, we do not understand the hints that so amused the artist’s contemporaries.

self-portrait

A simple question: why does the major woo the merchant's daughter? Not a young lieutenant, not a colonel ... Sometimes they write that, they say, an impoverished nobleman decided to improve his affairs by marriage. Not certainly in that way.

Please note: the major came without a bouquet. Flowers for such visits rely now. Especially then, in the era of emphasized attention to etiquette. Greedy? Or just didn't think about the bouquet? Because you are not accustomed to such subtleties?

If the groom were "from the noble" - he would certainly have been looking for a bride from his environment, not a merchant's daughter. But the man of the Fedotov era understood: “bourbon” is depicted. So, chuckling, they called officers not from hereditary nobility, but from the veterans of the lower ranks.

The then Russian Empire was constantly at war - with Napoleon, with Persia, Turkey, with Polish rebels, with recalcitrant Caucasian highlanders ... And for an intelligent brave person "from ordinary" the army, with all class restrictions, could become a life chance. We know nothing about the ancestors of Fedotov's major. Only for sure he is of "dark origin". And then you can guess. In youth, they "shaved their foreheads." Drilling, humiliation, bullying... However, thanks to service zeal, starting with the rank and file and breaking all social barriers, over the years he received the first officer rank. And then - the steps of the service ladder: ensign - second lieutenant - lieutenant - staff captain - captain - major. "Bourbons" did not shine with gloss and education, but they pulled the strap honestly. There were cases (albeit isolated ones) when they went to the generals. Although, as a rule, majorism is the peak of a career. For more, there was not enough literacy, connections.

And here - important point. An army major is usually a battalion commander. And in itself, the officer's salary was then very modest. An officer could "rise" financially at the expense of the so-called sinless income - not just theft, but the opportunity to gain something on all kinds of military-economic operations (purchase of fodder, food, horses, etc.). It was considered almost legal, at least the authorities looked through their fingers. However, the moral right to "sinless income", access to them was given to a person at the level of regimental commander. It was understood: he served his purpose, he can. But if you are a lower rank, then it’s a matter of jurisdiction, and in general flagrant violation office ethics.

fresh cavalier

The "bourbon" majors had no access to "sinless incomes". Accordingly - no money, no influential patrons (otherwise I wouldn't be stuck in the majors). And why such a son-in-law to a rich merchant?

Don't tell. Major - these are already “thick” headquarters officer epaulettes, all the rights of hereditary nobility.

Money did not protect a person of a merchant rank from bureaucratic arbitrariness. They could fine him for anything, they could take him to the police station, and there they would crush his sides, and send the streets of revenge to shame in front of the neighbors. Some kind of status was given by belonging to the guild (merchant of the first guild, second, third - remember this expression from the classics?). But it had to be regularly confirmed, making a considerable contribution.

But the son-in-law of the headquarters officer is, in all respects, a solution to problems! Now no one will dare to bully the relatives of a respectable person. And the grandchildren will already be born “noble”.

"The Major's Matchmaking" is a story about a good deal. Serious people with the help of a matchmaker (she is also in the picture) shook hands. The old campaigner converts his staff officer dignity into a secure future, into a calm, well-fed old age. The fat-bag dad "invests in the project" money and the beauty of his young daughter.

By the way, what is she?

Picky Bride

The daughter-bride is, of course, "a suffering being." No one asked her, her fate was decided without her. Now she will be introduced to an unfamiliar elderly man. Definitely not a dream! But if you like it, if you don't like it - continue to live with it, sleep, depend on everything. IN last moment the girl lost her nerve - she was confused, she runs out of the room.

However, let's calm down a bit. One should not exaggerate either the degree of torment of such young ladies, or, in general, the breadth of their horizons.

In those days there was no Internet, no television, no electricity. Even reading (if Fedotov's heroine is literate at all) is relative entertainment: it gets dark early in Russia, and candles were probably not burned in vain in a merchant's house. The girl was not supposed to litter her head with all sorts of philosophies, but to grow up well-behaved, to get married in due time - this is her purpose, and the merchant daughters could not imagine otherwise. Of course, the groom could invite his future wife to the theater, somehow woo, but Fedotov's heroes seem to be specific people: they agreed, decided - why waste money and waste time?

This is some poetic dream of the era of that time - the “black-eyed Rosseti” Alexandra Osipovna Rosset-Smirnova (1809-1882), who later became a famous memoirist, being a dowry, could still afford to sort out suitors. The son of a large farmer, Koshelev, fell in love with her - but he is not noble! Prince Golitsyn promises wealth and high status"Cavalry lady" - yes, very old! However, Alexandra Osipovna is the maid of honor of the Empress, a famous beauty and clever woman, an interlocutor of Pushkin, Gogol, Zhukovsky, Lermontov. And the merchant's daughter ... Whoever daddy and mommy pick up is good. Fortunately, our major is still strong, a couple of kids will be born quickly, she will raise them, keep the house. Endure - fall in love. Arranged marriages are generally the strongest.

Breakfast of an aristocrat

And yet - a solemn event. For the sake of which the usual existence is violated in the house. And here the details begin, which so amused the then public.

There are special studies (for example, R. Kirsanova) about what absurdities P. Fedotov sharply noticed. The merchant obviously ordered expensive toilets from a French milliner for his wife and daughter. True, the dress of the merchant's wife requires a cap, and she, out of habit, wears a common people's headscarf. Daughter's dress - luxurious, evening, ball, with a neckline. But it takes place during the day (the candles on the chandelier do not burn), and in general, so far formally - only the bride: the outfit is not appropriate for the occasion. At the same time, the table was covered with a beautiful colored tablecloth - although white ones were supposed to be used for tables in offices, and in dining rooms. For an appetizer to expensive, of course, specially bought champagne (10-12 rubles a bottle, crazy money!) - herring, kulebyak ... Someone will say - trifles, conventions. But even today we will smile when we see a man in a jacket, with a tie - and saggy pants - “training pants”. And then the details and rituals were given much more importance.

However, it seems that both the guest and the hosts are poorly versed in such nuances.

widow

The retired captain of the Life Guards of the Finnish Regiment Pavel Fedotov drew the groom from one of his former colleagues. I was looking for a merchant of suitable appearance for almost a year, I met by chance, I found a reason to get to know each other. The merchant has already begun to think that the artist is indeed a good match for his daughter, and to consolidate the relationship he agreed to pose.

And soon after the exhibition, an unfamiliar gray-haired major showed up at Fedotov’s house:

Father! he cried. - Just saw your picture! I can't understand how you managed to portray everything so truthfully. After all, it was I who, in order to improve things, married a merchant's daughter. And we live happily!

"The Human Comedy"

Pavel Andreevich Fedotov(1815-1852) was himself the son of a "Bourbon". His father, a petty official, a strict man, emphatically honest, started as a Suvorov soldier and over the years rose to the rank of lieutenant. The son was the pride and hope of the family. Pavel brilliantly finished cadet corps, got into the elite guards regiment. He sang, played the guitar, composed songs and romances.

Taking up painting seriously, at first he prepared for the battle scene, but the famous fabulist I. Krylov and his supporter young colleague K. Bryullov was persuaded to take up everyday subjects. Well ... "Major's Matchmaking", "Fresh Cavalier", "Choosive Bride", "Aristocrat's Breakfast", "Widow", "Anchor, more anchor" - Fedotov displayed the entire " human comedy»Russian Society of the 1840s.

Alas, hard work, eternal anxiety for the family (after the resignation of her father, she fell into need), constant poverty provoked an aggravation mental illness. Fedotov died in a psychiatric hospital, forgotten by almost everyone, in the arms of an old faithful batman.

The other day I accidentally heard on the radio the final scenes from " Last victim Ostrovsky.
The riddle of a genius: a banal plot, uncomplicated dialogues - a simple play without pretensions - a low genre, a commercial craft - something for which the authors are being bullied even now. But, like Pushkin in his "The Young Lady Peasant Woman", and Ostrovsky in many of his plays, the plot is devoid of plausible details, the characters are reduced to symbols, in some unknown, "magical" way add up to something more, capable of hurting the mind, and heart.
<<Очень много буковок и картинок>>

In thousands of books, hundreds of authors are trying to tell us what spiritual emptiness is, and here Ostrovsky draws just a couple of details more accurately and more fully - with a refrain:
Flor Fedulych: He has nothing, sir.
- it seems that we are talking about money, but "nothing" is also the unspoken "nothing for the soul" - and in the context of the built-in mise-en-scene, this is already about the soul.
However, behind the dialogues between Dulchin and Irina about "passionate love" one can guess the constant claims of critics to Ostrovsky himself that the temple of the muses, Theatre of Drama, he turns into a farce in which comedies are played from the life of the burghers and merchants - classes that are not able to feel refined, not capable of lofty impulses - in contrast to blue-blooded aristocrats.

Irina. Tell me please! A man who has nothing demands some kind of mad, African passion. Yes, after that, every clerk, every insignificant person... No, excuse me, sir. Only people with great wealth can afford such fantasies, and you have nothing, and I despise you.
Dulchin.I would like to respond to your contempt with the most passionate love, but ... what you said about men, the same should be said about women: only women with a large fortune have the right to passionate love.
Irina. You are ignorant and nothing else.
Dulchin.What are you angry about? Both of us made the same mistakes, and we cannot claim each other. We are people with lofty feelings and, in order to surprise the world with our nobility, we lack trifles - despicable metal. So after all, this is not a vice, but only misfortune. So give me your hand and let's part as friends.

Characters:

Flor Fedulych Pribytkov, a very rich merchant, a ruddy old man, about 60 years old, clean-shaven, carefully combed and dressed very cleanly.
Yulia Pavlovna Tugina, a young widow.

The directors interpret the image of Flora Fedulych in very different ways - both a middle-aged man who is romantically in love with Yulia, and an unpleasant, prudent old man who has calculated the situation in advance and buys himself a young beautiful wife. Here, in the production that I listened to, Flor Fedulych is a noble knight, but it seems to me that the image created by Petrenko in "Dowry", which has already risen to a genuine drama, seems more organic.

Maybe in that Ostrovsky anticipated his era, that he talks about tragedy, about terrible things, in platitudes, reduced spoken language, interfering with it with obviously inappropriate pathos and reaching the grotesque.
However, in our time, it is already very difficult for us to fully perceive all the semantic multi-layeredness of Ostrovsky's work: what a cultural abyss separated the two classes - the nobility and the merchant class, which meant for a girl, a woman to be left without savings and the support of loved ones ...

Not so long ago I read articles about the painting by Pavel Fedotov on the net "Major's matchmaking" - good example of how incomprehensible to us are the signs of that time, that way of life and those mores:

The painting "Major's Matchmaking" ("Amendment of Circumstances, or the Major's Marriage") exists in two versions, written in 1848 and 1851. The first option, which glorified the artist, is better known to the general public.

Original taken from parashutov in EXHIBITION OF ONE PAINTING ("MATCHING OF THE MAJOR". DETAILED ANALYSIS OF THE PICTURE.)

Alas, the magazine "Around the World" rarely publishes articles about painting and artists, but the materials that are published are always very interesting and informative. In July last year, an article by Pavel Sinichkin "Major on face control" appeared in the magazine, dedicated to the famous painting by Pavel Andreevich Fedotov (1815-1852) "Major's Matchmaking".
The author of the article writes that at the first showing of the picture, the audience laughed heartily. Together with the leading researcher of the Institute of Art Studies, art critic Raisa Kirsanova, Pavel Sinichkin explains the painter's "jokes", because of which the painting is considered to be a "satire on society", and not a reflection dramatic history among the bourgeoisie of the 19th century.
I am happy to quote the article, after placing once again an illustration with "tips".

Pavel Fedotov (1815-1852). Major's matchmaking (Smotriny in a merchant's house). Around 1851. Oil on canvas. 56 x 76. State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg / Pavel Fedotov. The Major Makes a Proposal (Inspecting a Bride in a Merchant's House). Oil on canvas. Height: 560 mm. Width: 760 mm. State Russian Museum.

Pavel Andreevich Fedotov (1815-1852). Major's marriage. 1848. Oil on canvas, 58.3 x 75.4. State Tretyakov Gallery / Pavel Fedotov. Matchmaking of the major. 1848. The State Tretyakov Gallery.

Pavel Andreevich Fedotov (1815-1852) Major's courtship. 1848 Tretyakov Gallery

1. SET TABLE.
The artist depicted on the table only a lean snack: herring, salmon and "bag" (slightly salted) caviar. Most likely, it happens on Wednesday or Friday - fast days.
2. LIGHTS.
In the picture you can see a chandelier, two girandoles and a wall lamp. All of them are extinguished, which means that the action takes place in the middle of the day.
3 MAJOR.
By marriage, he decided to improve his financial situation. According to the art critic Olga Kireeva, most likely the hero of the picture is not a hereditary nobleman, but received a noble rank by seniority along with the epaulettes of a major. The major is clearly not familiar with the rules of noble etiquette - he appeared without the proper bouquets for the bride and her mother.
4. Matchmaker.
She is wearing a common soul-warmer, that is, she is one of the simple ones. This is another indication that the major is not a hereditary nobleman, otherwise he would have resorted to the services of a noblewoman matchmaker.
5. A MERCHANT'S DAUGHTER.
The comedy of the situation, says leading researcher at the Institute of Art Studies, art critic Raisa Kirsanova, lies in the fact that “merchant parents, trying to imitate the nobles, discharged their daughter in an evening ball gown sewn from muslin, although it was daytime. But such a dress was not intended for bridesmaids, but for a ceremonial collusion (a formal agreement on a future marriage), where guests were usually present and an official lunch or dinner was scheduled for the second half of the day. The merchant's daughter tried on an obviously low-cut outfit for the first time and is very embarrassed, feeling undressed. In complete confusion, she seeks to escape to her room.
6. SHAWL.
An inappropriate detail of a woman's wardrobe. According to Raisa Kirsanova, ball gown relied not on a handkerchief, but on a fan: merchants were poorly versed in noble etiquette.
7. SURTUK.
The merchant hastily buttons his frock coat: it is impolite to accept it wide open. Out of habit, he got confused - European frock coats were fastened on the left side, and merchants wore right-handed Armenians.
8. The MERCHANT is dressed in a noble dress, but on her head she also has a folk scarf instead of a cap. She holds her daughter by the dress.
9. ROOM.
One gets the impression, says Olga Kireeva, that “the owners have recently moved into this house. The guest should be received in the living room or dining room, but the picture shows an ordinary walk-through room, not intended for ceremonial receptions. This is evidenced by hanging images (they were not hung in the living room and dining room), there are no sideboards, sideboards, sofas and armchairs.”
10. KULEBIAKA.
The cook brings in a kulebyaka - an oblong pie stuffed with fish, cabbage or porridge. Unlike kulebyaki, meat pies were usually round or square in shape.
11. TABLECLOTH.
According to Raisa Kirsanova, “similar tablecloths made of colored linen with floral ornament used only in living rooms or offices. They were laid on book tables, tables for magazines. White damask linen was used as table linen.
12. A SATELLER carries wine.
Sidelets is a clerk who replaces a merchant in a shop while the owner is drinking tea in a tavern.
13. PRIVATE - an integral character in merchant houses.
She cannot understand what the cause of the fuss is, and is trying to find out everything from the inmate, who is dedicated to the business of the landlord, as Fedotov explained in the Moskvityanin magazine.
14. PICTURES.
As deeply religious people, merchants often hung portraits of church hierarchs and views of family pilgrimage sites. In this case, this is a portrait of the Metropolitan of Moscow Filaret and the image of the Nikolo-Ugreshsky monastery. In addition, the merchants were patriotic and liked to buy popular prints of the heroes of the war of 1812 at fairs. In Fedotov's painting, we see portraits - on the left of General Yakov Kulnev, and on the right of Field Marshal Mikhail Kutuzov and General Vasily Ilovaisky.

As an explanation for "Major's Matchmaking" Fedotov wrote a poetic work "Racea". (Racea is a long ornate reasoning or essay of an edifying nature.)

Racea
(Explanation of the painting "Major's Matchmaking")

honest gentlemen,
Please come here!
Welcome,
We won't ask for money.
Look at the gift
Just make sure you clean your glasses.

Begins
repents
How people live in the world
How others chew at someone else's expense.
They are too lazy to work
This is how you marry the rich.

Here, take a look:
Here is the merchant's house, -
Just enough in it
It just doesn't make any sense:
One smells like a village
And another tavern.
Here, however, one sense
That everything is not borrowed,
How do you sometimes
Honest gentlemen!

Here, take a look:
Here is the owner-merchant himself,
The casket is full of money;
What to drink and what to eat...
Why else? Yes lured, you see, honor
"I don't want, you see, son-in-law with a beard!
And my beard
I'm in trouble.
On the street everyone pushes
And a little under the hop,
Yes, go on foot in the evening,
Look! - find yourself in a booth,
Then you sweep the street for a day.
And in the thick, be a son-in-law -
They won't dare take us...
At the very least, give me at least a major,
Without that, I will not give my daughter to anyone! .. "
And the groom is right there, and in rank - exactly the same.

Here, take a look
How the groom is expected
Kulebyaka is being carried
And overseas wines of the first varieties
Served to the table.
And here is the most pan,
That is to say, champagne
It is on a tray on a chair.

Here, take a look
As in the parade the whole house:
Everything is brand new in it;
Only the mistress of the merchant
I didn’t find it, to know, by the head of the cap.
In the old way - in a gray scarf.
The rest of the outfit
Taken from a Frenchwoman
Only evening for herself and for her daughter.
Daughter in life for the first time
Like a hawthorn with us,
Not afraid of a cold
Not afraid of men
Shoulders exposed. -
The neck is clean
Yes, no cross.

Here, take a look
Like an old woman in the left corner,
Hard on the ear
Hostess's matchmaker, toothless mouth,
To the inmate sticks:
Why, they say, carries so many bottles,
She cares about everything in the house!
Tell her why
For what, who goes -
Curious people!

Here, take a look
Like, on the right, a retired village spinner,
Pankratievna-matchmaker,
shameless cheat,
In brocade shugay, thick warehouse,
Came with a report
The groom, they say, deigned to welcome.
And here you go, take a look
As a merchant owner
bride's father,
Does not cope with a coat,
He is more familiar with the Armenian;
How he beats, puffs,
Hurry to fasten:
To accept openly is impolite.

And if you please see
Like our bride
Foolishly will not find a place:
"The man is a stranger!
Oh, what a shame!
I have never been with them
If they come, it happened -
Mother immediately in the ear:
"You, girl, do not fit here!"
Century in my firelight I'm high
Lived, slept alone;
Lace only weaved to towels,
And everyone in the house honors me as a baby!
The guest will say, tea, speech ...
Ah ah ah! - what a shame!
And there is nothing to hide the shoulders:
Scarf see through such -
Everything through and through!
No, I'll go into the light!"

And here you go, take a look
How our bird is going to fly away;
A smart mother
Grab her dress!

And here you go, take a look
As in another room
The hawk threatens the dove, -
Like a major, fat, brave,
holey pocket,
Twists his mustache:
"I, they say, will get to the money!"

Now let's see:
Various paintings hang on the walls.
We start from the middle:
Hanging in the middle
His Eminence Metropolitan;
The owner honors the Christian virtue in him.
To the left - Ugreshsky monastery
And in the clouds above her - the saint ...
Orthodox, please cross yourself,
And the Germans
foreigners,
Do not mock at our shrine;
Not that - the Russian people
Force will clamp your mouth.

And take a look here:
On the sides of the metropolitan - two
Our Famous Heroes:
One is Father Kutuzov,
That he was the first to open the heels of the French,
Europe first
Didn't notice them.
Another
Hero -
Kulnev, to whom in glory and honor
Even the Germans have an iron cross.

And take a look here:
There, on right side, -
Elavai on a horse,
Cossack boy
The French trample.
And on the right wall is the master's portrait
Vdet in a gilded frame;
Though not his face,
Yes, the book is similar.
So - literate!

And take a look here:
Below the picture
About the middle
Sitting Siberian cat.
She wouldn't be a little bad
Village ladies to learn
Wash more often:
The cat washes its snout
The guest is invited to the house.

And what, gentlemen, tea tired eyes?
And here, to the left, are the holy images ...
Please cross yourself
Yes, go home.

An art criticism analysis of the painting can also be read.

Original taken from gorbutovich in St. George's Ribbon and Major's Matchmaking

In the painting "Major's Matchmaking" by Pavel Fedotov, there is such a detail:

On the table lies a large prosphora and a sacred book: the Bible or the Psalter, laid with a St. George ribbon. And nearby, right on the prosphora, a cockroach runs. Perhaps the bookmark is nested between pages from which it will be necessary to read the text at such a joyful event. Nearby is a bottle of champagne and four glasses: for the parents of the bride, the matchmaker and the groom.
I don’t know if any of the art critics described the meaning of this detail-bookmark - I didn’t meet it, but it’s clear that all the little things in Fedotov’s paintings are important. And a cockroach too.

On the original, the edge of the picture looks like this:

Pavel Andreevich Fedotov (1815-1852). Major's marriage. Fragment. 1848. Oil on canvas, 58.3 x 75.4. State Tretyakov Gallery. Here and below - the image is clickable, it will open in the same window: you can see the cockroach

For the visit of the groom-nobleman, the merchants paraded all the best and most valuable things in the house, including, apparently, the ribbon. The daughter will have to raise her status through this marriage - to become a noblewoman, and her children will be nobles. Is it a joke - a crucial moment!

Where does the St. George ribbon come from in the merchant's house? Why does it serve as a bookmark? What does the artist tell us?
Was the tape commercially available? Who knows the answer - write, please.
Is the owner-merchant involved in the production or supply of the St. George ribbon?
Or for a reward? It is very doubtful, since persons who were not members of public service, of course, were not entitled to receive an award established solely to encourage the ranks of the army.

But still, what if? Then the ribbon here belongs to the soldier George - the Insignia of the Military Order.

The newly minted gentleman put his Svyatoslav on a dressing gown. Svyatoslav's sash is white with red. And on the chair are suspenders with exactly the same white and red stripes. Because of these suspenders and the order on the striped robe, the censorship did not allow the painting to be lithographed.

That is, the St. George ribbon, used for other purposes, in the "Major's Matchmaking" can serve as a similar caricature of the order ribbon. Maybe the ribbons St. George's flowers in the middle of the 19th century were they freely made and served for something other than wearing state awards? In particular, as we see, a bookmark.

Thus, hypotheses about the origin of the object were obtained:

1. Just a ribbon or any product in St. George's colors.
2. Merchant - manufacturer, supplier, seller of the St. George ribbon.
3. Someone from a merchant family deserved the St. George Award in (?) 1812.

Assumptions about the instructive meaning of the detail:

1. Caricature of the St. George award.
2. Symbol of transition to the nobility.
3. Additional ridicule merchant morals- for them, the attribute of the highest award of the state becomes a bookmark. Treated with respect - lies in Holy Scripture, but the purpose of the tape is completely different.

In other words, expert comments are required. Everything that is written here is my amateurish fabrications.

My opinion: the St. George ribbon got into the house simple way- bought in a shop. Otherwise, Fedotov, with his passion to explain everything in detail, would have explained. And the moralizing meaning of the detail is something like this: something that for a brave military man, revelers and revelers, is a sign of the highest military prowess; for merchants it is also sacred, but in its own way, literally- lies in the holy book. Those. - this is an additional illustration that in a merchant's dwelling "there is no sense in anything."

Interestingly, there is no Holy Book with a bookmark on the version of "Wooing" of 1851. Instead, a fruit platter.

The role of the St. George ribbon in the Major's matchmaking remained unclear, only hypotheses.

**************************************** **************************************** ************************************

By the middle of the 19th century, art lovers began to get bored with hackneyed themes that reveal the life of the elite of society and show almost ideal outward people.

It was at this time that paintings by Pavel Andreevich Fedotov, unique at that time, began to appear with uncomplicated plots of the everyday life of a Russian person. The artist managed to reveal both the advantages and disadvantages of such a life.

One of the most famous artists became Fedotov. "Major's Matchmaking" is a picture that, perhaps, brought him popularity and recognition. It was written in 1848. Thanks to this picture, the artist was awarded the title of academician. This was not surprising, because the author managed to depict many characters on one canvas.

The plot of the picture

The painting "Major's Matchmaking" shows the viewer final stages preparation of the merchant family for the visit of the groom. The scene that unfolds on the canvas tells how an impoverished major of a noble family wooed the heiress of a rich, but untitled merchant.

The description of the painting "Major's Matchmaking" was explained by the artist himself, even released in poetic form. It is known that Fedotov made sketches of the continuation of the picture, where the newlyweds arrive at their father's house. For some unknown reason, the painting remained unfinished.

Bride

In the center of the canvas is a young girl in a magnificent, weightless dress. white color who is trying to escape from the room. Obviously, this is the bride that the major has betrothed. The girl fails to escape, as her mother stops her and forces her to stay.

The author explained the bride's intention to hide before the arrival of her betrothed by her feigned modesty, because according to her appearance it is clear that she has been preparing for this meeting for a long time and wants to be seen and showered with compliments.

It is clear that the girl was brought up, taught and dressed up in such a way as to enter into a future marriage that would benefit the family. Will the bride herself be happy in this case? The question is moot. On the one hand, she acts as a thing in this transaction, on the other hand, the current situation opens up great prospects for her in life.

Merchant's wife

Next to the girl is her mother, who, in fact, keeps her from pseudo-escape. What can be said about this character? Authority and prudence are read on her face. Such a woman will never miss her, she acts and makes others act with maximum benefit for the family. Perhaps it is she who is the real head of the family, who has the last word.

The mother of the family regards her daughter's marriage more as a good deal than as a love impulse.

Merchant

Next to the merchant's wife, her husband modestly stands. He took up a position a little behind his wife, in the shade, as he was trying to button up an overly elegant, and apparently not very comfortable attire.

He looks older than the merchant's wife and is the owner of a completely good-natured and peaceful expression on his face. He has gray hair and a rather impressive beard of the same color. The merchant was clearly prepared to meet his future son-in-law.

Next to the merchant is a matchmaker. This is an elderly, but well-groomed woman, dressed in a beautiful and elegant dress Red. She looks very active woman and points with his hand to the door where the major is standing - the future groom.

Major

The Major looks like a typical Casanova. He has a proud posture, a pompous look. He looks thoughtfully somewhere, automatically twirling his mustache. From all his appearance it is clear that the major is already calculating in his mind all the benefits that he will get as a result of such a successful marriage. Of course, we are not talking about any bright and sublime feelings, especially about love. For all participants, the ongoing events are just an unspoken agreement, a profitable deal.

The major will receive the money due to him, and the bride's family will receive the title and position in society. Such a procedure was a common occurrence in the folk life of that time. It was she who was so successfully ridiculed by Fedotov and shown as something far-fetchedly important and unreasonable.

Other characters

The famous painting "Major's Matchmaking" would look inferior without additional characters. So, in the opposite corner, a deaf old woman settled down, who asks the merchant's assistant about the events taking place, and the cook, who was busy at the dining table. Without these seemingly minor characters, the picture would lose all meaning and look incomplete.

The Trinity complements the plot in the merchant's house, and even with such important event close associates and servants, like other household members, must have been present.

The whole picture of "Major's Matchmaking" is permeated with light but gentle sarcasm and irony. It is noteworthy that the artist himself has a quite positive attitude towards his characters, as well as towards real people who find themselves in the same situation. They are not to blame for the widespread decline in morality Russian society and laws in force among the people, where material values exalted above human freedom.

After all, if you think about it, none of them does anything immoral. How can you blame a merchant for not being born into a noble family, and now he wants to climb the social ladder at the expense of the major? The bride does not marry for love, but for convenience. But for such a sacrifice, she and her future children will become nobles.

As for the major himself, there is nothing to complain about. Getting married for money everyday occurrence at a time that surprised no one. And everyone got what they wanted, became happy.

Therefore, it would be wrong to laugh at them with malice, accusing them of cowardice.

How the painting was created

The history of the painting "Major's Matchmaking" is also interesting. Pavel Andreevich Fedotov, in search of a suitable premises, went around more than a dozen merchant houses, but did not find anything suitable.

And here perfect place he spotted in one of the taverns. As for colorful characters, here the artist spent several weeks looking for them. Major, for example, was copied from an artist friend.

The genre of the painting "Major's Matchmaking" can be attributed to an ironic comedy. The author managed to convey the mood and character of each of the characters, to ridicule the generally accepted traditions of the then society.

We can say that Fedotov managed to convey all the irony and imperfection of the mores of that era. "Major's Matchmaking" - a picture that was highly appreciated by critics, it was positively received by contemporaries. They wrote about her in the newspapers. And from now on they pointed to marriages of convenience as some kind of shameful phenomenon of their time.

IN currently the painting "Major's Matchmaking" is in Tretyakov Gallery where you can see it.

"Major's Matchmaking" - central work mature period in the work of the master. It revealed the principles of his art, his method and skill. For him, Fedotov was awarded the title of academician.

The plot of the picture can be expressed by the first phrase from the description made by the artist himself: "The matchmaker brings the groom-major to the merchant's house."

However, of all the characters in the picture, the groom himself is the least interested in the artist. He is depicted in the background, as a figure needed only to explain the cause of the commotion in the merchant's house.
The rest of the characters in the picture are divided into groups, each of which develops its own plot-shaped line within the theme of the picture. In the center of the composition is the fleeing bride and mother trying to hold her back.
The interaction of these characters is one of the main lines of plot development. Obeying the will of the artist, the viewer moves from character to character, all of them are interconnected by a gesture or pose.

Thus, a kind of "movement composition" is created. The grouping method actors is a new technique for Russian genre painting. The artist arranges the room and the characters in such a way that the viewer has an involuntary feeling that he looked out the window and saw the commotion reigning in the merchant's house.

"Matchmaking" has come down to us in two versions. Another option is in the Tretyakov Gallery Fedotov reworked the repetition of his painting. Despite the fact that the picture is small in size, it is very meticulous in finishing.

As an explanation for "Major's Matchmaking", Fedotov wrote a poetic work - the famous "Racea".

The picture says: "About how people live in the world,
How others live at someone else's expense,
They are too lazy to work
That's how you marry the rich."

MATCHING MAJOR

Pavel Fedotov

By the power of his talent, having almost no predecessors in his chosen kind of painting, Pavel Andreevich Fedotov achieved universally recognized perfection in it. He took the plots of his paintings mainly from everyday life, noticing in it worthy of ridicule and depicting all the slightest details of the situation with amazing fidelity. P. Fedotov's pencil in an infinite variety conveyed the types of small landowners, grumpy landowners, metropolitan artisans, artisans, Russian and German owners. He also introduced into his paintings the fair sex - maids, officials, craftswomen, cooks, creating living scenes of life from these faces.

By the end of the 1840s, P. Fedotov had already painted several canvases, among which “The Picky Bride” and “The Fresh Cavalier” stood out. And the artist began to pick up the plot new painting. He used every free minute to delve into the sketches, to stir up in his memory what he had seen and heard, to sketch something on paper.

Gradually, the plot took shape. As E. Kuznetsov writes, P. Fedotov “suggested to make a “complex” picture, with many characters covered by a single action ... An army officer (of course, an army officer, they are simpler), a captain, or rather a major, who had earned enough and got tired from the service thinking of retiring. He has no fortune, no estate either, his pension is small, the civil service does not shine, and there is only one way out - to marry a rich merchant's daughter or widow, take a good dowry ... The major comes to the house with a formal marriage proposal.

The painting "Courtship of a Major" was shown in 1848 at an exhibition in St. Petersburg, brought the artist the title of academician and brilliant fame. The name of P. Fedotov was on the lips of the whole of St. Petersburg, thundered throughout the city, friends and former colleagues were in complete admiration. Spectators, indifferently wandering around the other halls of the exhibition, hurried to the penultimate one, in which they were overtaken by an unceasing rumble.

From the very opening of the exhibition, there was constant hustle and bustle in this hall and enthusiastic exclamations were heard: three small paintings the former guards officer P. Fedotov excited the stiff St. Petersburg public. Yes, and their names were completely unusual for that time - “Fresh Cavalier”, “Selective Bride”, “Major's Matchmaking” ... Everyone involuntarily smiled, finding in the canvases the familiar features of the innermost Russian life. Often the author himself squeezed through the crowd of spectators, giving the necessary explanations for his paintings. Then the words of his "Racea" sounded fervently and lively - a large, half-joking poem, consisting of three chapters.

The story begins, the story begins

How people live in the world

How others chew at someone else's expense.

They are too lazy to work

This is how you marry the rich.

The astonished spectators saw on the canvas a scene from life itself. The well-known room of the merchant's house suddenly opened before them, in which hasty, final preparations for the meeting of the groom took place. With his characteristic sharpness and humor, P. Fedotov notices in the depicted event and in each of the characters the most characteristic, the most typical. For his picture, he chose the most intense moment, when all the feelings and thoughts of these people are exposed, manifesting themselves with all their fullness and sincerity. Here is an excited, dressed-up bride, embarrassed, in a hurry to run away from the room. She, of course, was aware of the arrival of the groom. About what, if not about this, her expensive dress, and a pearl necklace, and a freshly made hairstyle speak. She runs away not so much from quite natural excitement, but from the desire to demonstrate girlish timidity and modesty:

Man, stranger!

Oh, what a shame!

Fortunately, mother manages to grab her dress in time (“Smart mother grab the dress!”), As the matchmaker in an elegant brocade dress already appears on the threshold and with a sly cheerful smile announces the arrival of the groom. The type of mother in the painting by P. Fedotov is simply magnificent. This is a true, stout "merchant's mistress" in a gold-colored silk dress with blue thread. Just not finding a fashionable cap on her head, she

In the old way, in a gray, scarf

The rest of the outfit

Taken from a Frenchwoman

Only evening for her and for her daughter ...

Smiling bewilderedly, the owner of the house, with a trembling hand, hurries to button his frock coat, but from joy and excitement he can’t manage it in any way. Fedotov's "Racea" also talks about this:

As a merchant owner

bride's father,

Will not cope with a frock coat;

He is more familiar with the Armenian.

How he beats, puffs,

Hurry to fasten:

“To accept it wide open is impolite!”

All faces are typical merchant environment those years. Here is a toothless old hanger-on, “hard of hearing,” who cannot understand the reason for such a turmoil and, with greedy curiosity, inquires about everything from the inmate of the shop. He, hurrying with bottles to the table, expressively points to her in the next room, where the groom is waiting -

Major fat, brave,

The pocket is perforated.

Twists his mustache:

"I, they say, to the money

I'll get ... "

The very atmosphere of the merchant's house in the painting "Major's Matchmaking" is also typical. A painted ceiling with a dangling chandelier, portraits on the walls, the decoration of the set table, gleaming glasses and bottles next to the prosphora and the Holy Scriptures...

One of the artist's friends later recalled: “When finishing this picture, Fedotov first of all needed a sample room that was decent for the plot of the picture. Under various pretexts, he entered many merchant houses, invented, looked out for and remained dissatisfied. Once, passing near some tavern... the artist noticed through the windows the main room and a chandelier with sooty glass, which "just climbed into the picture by itself." Immediately he went into the tavern and found what he had been looking for for so long.

But as soon as the artist overcame the first difficulty, thousands of others appeared. It was necessary for the picture to find the original of the merchant buttoning the caftan, his wives, various accessories ... One of the officers familiar to P. Fedotov himself volunteered to serve in kind for the groom and patiently stood in the pose of a major. At the flea market and at the Andreevsky market, the artist spotted several old women and inmates, invited these people to his place and hired them for a reasonable price. The newspaper "St. Petersburg Vedomosti" in 1849 wrote: "We were told for certain that the artist's conscientiousness in observing naturalness comes to the point that he rewrote the figure of the old father. And for what? For the old man to fasten his sibirka right hand and with the right side up, as they usually do.

With great skill, P. Fedotov conveys the transparency of the light fabric of the bride's dress, her pearl necklace and the sheen of silk of the mother's dress. Subtle color relationships, sometimes barely perceptible transitions from one tone to another, tie everything together. Condensing and changing pink tone, the artist paints both the cook's jacket and the matchmaker's shugay, gives a bluish tint to the gray frock coat of the merchant himself. All this color scheme unfolds against the greenish background of the wall.

For a long time, "Major's Matchmaking" was considered a picture that caustically ridiculed some aspects of merchant life. However, if the viewer takes a closer look at this canvas, he will certainly notice that all the characters in the picture are sweet to P. Fedotov in their own way, he illuminated everyone with his affectionate attitude. E. Kuznetsov in his study of the artist’s work writes that P. Fedotov treated his characters in the same way “as he treated living, familiar people - sympathetically tolerant, with the condescension of a person who understands them well. Perhaps even warmer than to the living: after all, these were, after all, his creations, his children, and he loved them as they love children ... Yes, they are hypocritical, cunning, cheating - but not at all evil people: they are funny, maybe, but not disgusting. What is wrong with the fact that a merchant wants to give his daughter to a noble?

At first, P. Fedotov just wanted to play a joke, make fun of his heroes, but under the magic brush of the master, one of the warmest and most humane paintings in Russian painting turned out. As L. Bayramova writes, “here is all love and all acceptance in peace. It is not in vain that the artist so "rushed about" with his painting, as if it were his "swan song". It was not in vain that with such perseverance he dragged from the real world into his fictional world everything that he loved and adored. How much solemn prosperity, nepotism and comfort are in this picture! And these brilliant crystal decanters, candlesticks, kulebyaka, shimmering in the twilight! Oh, this kulebyaka ?! Fedotov bought her with the last money, painted from her nature, and then ate it with a friend.

And the grey-bearded father-merchant? Fedotov whole year looking for him, running around, looking at familiar faces, until one day on the street he met what he needed. And then he persuaded and begged for a long time to agree to pose, and he kept buzzing in response: “It’s impossible, father, this is a sin.” And the sumptuous dresses, the faces, those incomparable fingers of the cook, the hanger-on behind her... No, this is not just an anecdote, the whole world- huge, alive and real. The artist Pavel Fedotov was so occupied with the fate of the major that he, sitting somehow with friends, sketched a continuation of the picture - a visit of the newlyweds to the old parents, embracing the son-in-law major and his wife.