Plot
An old ugly man marries a girl so young that it's even embarrassing to look at. The bride probably does not have a dowry, but the groom has plenty of money, which is why they give the young beauty for him.
They get married in an Orthodox church. The girl's eyes are tearful, the posture is submissive. The groom feels himself master of the situation and watches over the bride with superiority. A veil, a white dress that literally glows in the rays of light falling on it, makes the image of a girl look like an angel. It seems that all this dirt cannot touch her.
The audience nicknamed the picture "Unequal marriage" "Koschei with the bride"
The people around are shown in twilight, even the priest, as if on the side of evil - after all, he, realizing that the girl does not marry of her own free will, nevertheless crowns the couple. The surroundings are no better. All of them are silent witnesses, which, of course, does not do them credit.
"In the artist's studio" (1865)
Each of the characters of the second plan plays a role. Who is looking at the bride, who is watching what is happening with condemnation, which is obsequiously turned towards the groom, who is determined to decisively turn this business (for example, the old woman next to the groom - perhaps this is the matchmaker or the mother of the bride).
Context
There are several versions of the one whose story of unhappy love inspired Pukirev on the canvas. But it must be admitted that in those days such cases were a matter, albeit unpleasant, but common. On the one hand, this was condemned, on the other hand, this custom continued to exist for many more years.
> "Reception of a dowry in a merchant family by painting" (1873)
According to the idea, it was not Pukirev who should have been in the place of the best man, but his friend Sergei Varentsov. The artist painted the bride from the namesake - Praskovya Varentsova, who came from a noble family. They say that Pukirev was in love with her, but had no chance of becoming her husband - a peasant origin and the absence of any kind of capital did not allow.
It is believed that Kostomarov, having seen "Unequal Marriage", changed his mind about marrying
Varentsov was offended by Pukirev. The fact is that Sergei Mikhailovich was going to get married, and gossip, which, of course, would have crawled, was undesirable. Then the artist, outwardly similar to a friend, added a beard to the best man and "turned" into himself.
The bridegroom was written from several people, apparently: from whom - the head, from whom - the face, and from whom - and a halo of gray hair.
Illustration for Dead Souls, 1880
Next to the best man, a friend of Pukirev, artist Pyotr Shmelkov, is depicted. On the side is the head of the framer Grebensky, who promised to make the artist a frame for the picture "which has not yet been." And did. Carved from solid wood - both flowers and fruits. Tretyakov liked it so much that he began to order frames for Grebensky.
The fate of the artist
The artist's life can be divided into two parts: before the "Unequal Marriage" and after. Before the presentation of the picture, everything went slowly but surely: despite his peasant origin, Pukirev was able to enter the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, after which he began to teach there, at the same time very successfully fulfilling private orders.
Having created nothing better than "Unequal Marriage", Pukirev drank himself
The subsequent works of the artist were significantly inferior in technology and, as a result, did not delight either critics or buyers. Pukirev took to drink, stopped teaching at the school, sold his collection of paintings, lost his apartment, lived on handouts from friends and died in obscurity on June 1, 1890.
I came across a curious article-analysis of the famous painting by Pukirev "Unequal Marriage", thanks to which I looked at this picture in a new way, in addition, I saw something that I had not seen at all before!
Old man. Bride. Dead wife. "Unequal Marriage" by Vasily Pukirev
Article author: Nikolai Zharinov
Culturologist, philologist, writer, journalist and guide.
Vasily Pukirev (1832 - 1890) and Konstantin Flavitsky are known as the geniuses of the same painting. But if Flavitsky ended his life with the creation of a masterpiece, then with Pukirev everything turned out differently. The painting "Unequal Marriage" became the only masterpiece of the master. He couldn't create anything better.
Indeed, you look at his other canvases and are amazed at how faceless they are compared to "Unequal Marriage". Very standard themes, typical realism, so characteristic of Russian painting in the second half of the 19th century. Everything is so monotonous, simple and boring... But one picture, one single masterpiece - this is the highest skill. This is the example when the whole artist burns out in one canvas, when he does something that will amaze people for many years to come. The devil is in the details. If we do not notice them, then the picture dies. It ceases to be an object of art and becomes only a beautiful image.
“Unequal Marriage” by Vasily Pukirev is a work where you need to follow the whole “abyss of trifles”, every detail. Otherwise, we risk missing everything. The fact remains. Artists before and after Pukirev more than once portrayed unhappy young brides and their old rich husbands. But the canvas did not produce such an effect.
There is no pictorial crying, wrung hands - all that, according to many painters, should depict real grief. Everything is much simpler here. The priest is about to put the ring on the bride's finger. She is unhappy. It is understandable: her husband, to put it mildly, is not young. Such situations happened often.
Anna Kern, for example (the one about which A.S. Pushkin wrote: “I remember a wonderful moment ...”), her parents married General Yermolai Fedorovich Kern, who at that time was already 52 years old. The bride is only sixteen. The declaration of love was military short.
General Kern asked Anna:
- Do you hate me?
“No,” Anna answered, and ran out of the room.
After her wedding night, she wrote in her diary: “It is impossible to love him - I have not even been given the consolation to respect him; To be honest, I almost hate him." However, the girl did not suffer for a long time, she quickly acquired numerous lovers. That is, in this you can not see anything terrible. But it's not.
There are two very strange figures in this room. Two old women. One stands behind the groom, the other behind the priest. It seems to be nothing out of the ordinary. Well, old women came to see the wedding. Maybe they're the groom's sisters. But then the question arises: why are they in the same wreaths as the bride. One even has a white dress on. Stop, stop, stop. Like this? Another woman in white at the wedding? The church is not a registry office, where brides walk in formation. Something is not right here!
Let's take a closer look at the old woman's dress. Here's one for you! Yes, this is not a dress at all, it looks more like a sheet. And this is the sheet, more precisely, the burial shroud. The figure of the second bride behind the back of the priest looks even more strange, because this is not according to the rules of the rite. Guests have nothing to do next to the priest, unless, of course, they came from another world. So, we get that there are three brides at the wedding at once. Two of them are dead and looking at the old groom. Some kind of strange realism turns out, it gives away too much Gogol or Hoffmann. Yes, and for the bride we are experiencing now quite differently. After all, if the hubby has already sent two to the next world, then what will happen to this young girl?
And immediately you perceive the symbol of what is happening in a completely different way. After all, the bride does not put a ring on her finger. She is called to suffer. And that is why the priest bows so reverently before her. He understands her sacrifice.
And what a light! After all, he is like on the canvases of Caravaggio! Divine light in the truest sense of the word. It is in this light from the upper left corner, from the window of the church, that all the ghosts of ex-wives come to life. The light streams softly on the white dress, on the tender young skin of the bride, on the wrist of her hand. And here it is the center of the composition. Not her face, not the figure of the old fiancé, but a hand limply reaching for the martyr's crown.
It is also surprising what kind of game of views is captured on the canvas. The dead old women are looking at the groom, the groom is looking at the bride, the bride is looking at the floor, the groom's friends are also looking at the bride. The author of the picture also looks at the unfortunate. Here he is, Vasily Pukirev, standing with his arms crossed in the right corner. And another artist, a friend of the author, Pyotr Shmelkov, is looking at us, who suggested the idea of the painting to him. It is he who asks the viewer a silent question: “Do you understand what is happening?”
The fate of Vasily Pukirev was sad. "Unequal Marriage" was a huge success, but the artist was not happy about this. Immediately after the sale of the painting, he left for several years in Italy. It is understandable. The picture in the form of a young girl depicted his love - Praskovya Matveevna Varentsova. Pukirev did not create any more paintings that could be compared in strength with his first masterpiece. He constantly returned to the topic of a tragic marriage, but everything went wrong. And in the end, alcohol, poverty, oblivion. The fate of the model was no better. At the beginning of the 20th century, she died alone in the Mazury almshouse.
Artifex.ru
Around paintings by Vasily Pukirev "Unequal marriage" there were many rumors and legends even at the time of its creation, in 1862. The plot was so well known and so understandable to the public that it did not cause surprise. Questions were caused by another circumstance - in the image of the best man, the artist portrayed himself. This led to say that the plot was autobiographical and arose because of Pukirev's personal drama. And later there were rumors about the magical effect of the picture on suitors in years: they lose consciousness when they see her, or even completely abandon their intentions to marry ...
The image of the best man in the picture turned out to be so vivid that as a result, the focus was not on the bride and groom, but on a love triangle. Since everyone easily recognized the artist himself in the appearance of the best man, rumors arose that he depicted his own drama in the picture - supposedly his beloved girl was forcibly married to a rich dignitary in years.
However, in fact, the reason for creating the picture was not Pukirev's own grief, but a story from the life of his friend, S. Varentsov. He was going to marry a girl whom his parents passed off as a wealthy manufacturer. Varentsov himself was best man at her wedding. Initially, Pukirev portrayed him in this role, but later changed his appearance at the request of a friend.
Pukirev made the groom much older and more unpleasant than he was in life. But unequal marriages were so common in 19th-century Russian society that such a substitution did not seem an exaggeration - young girls were indeed often given in marriage against their will to wealthy elderly officials and merchants. This is evidenced by the paintings of other artists dedicated to the same topic.
The most interesting thing began after the painting "Unequal Marriage" was presented at the Moscow Academic Art Exhibition: they say that the elderly generals, having seen this work, one by one began to refuse to marry young brides. Moreover, some of them even complained of malaise - headaches, heartaches, etc. The audience nicknamed the picture "Koschei with the Bride."
The historian N. Kostomarov confessed to his friends that, having seen the picture of Pukirev, he abandoned his intentions to marry a young girl. Can this be explained by the magical influence of the picture? Hardly. Most likely, its ironic and accusatory meaning was so obvious that a common phenomenon appeared in all its ugliness. The gray-haired suitors recognized themselves in the repulsive image of the old general - and refused to repeat his mistake. In the famous painting, Vasily Vladimirovich Pukirev depicted his failed bride, Praskovya Matveevna Varentsova.
The girl was then given in marriage to the rich Prince Tsitsianov. Gilyarovsky was the first to tell about this love tragedy in his book “Moscow and Muscovites”, more precisely, he retold the story from the words of Pukirev’s childhood friend, the painter Sergei Gribkov: “This old important official is a living face. The bride next to him is a portrait of the bride V.V. Pukirev, and standing next to crossed arms - this is V.V. Pukirev himself, as if alive "...
And in 2002, a drawing of 1907 by the famous Moscow artist and teacher Vladimir Dmitrievich Sukhov was brought to the Tretyakov Gallery. It was a pencil portrait of the already elderly Praskovya Matveevna Varentsova.
The artist even signed it: "Praskovya Matveevna Varentsova, with whom 44 years ago the artist V.V. Pukirev painted his famous painting" Unequal Marriage ". Mrs. Varentsova lives in Moscow, in the Mazurinskaya almshouse."
Fate decreed that the former bride of Pukirev, and later the widow of Tsitsianov, ended her life in the Mazurinskaya almshouse ...
This is one version of the story of the creation of the picture, widely known. In continuation of the topic, I will give a more realistic version, which is known mainly to art historians and lovers of painting and history.)
Let's start with the fact that before such a marriage was considered an excellent match. Why? Even if there was no love, then a girl who marries an old man is automatically released from her father's guardianship. The old man dies, the young widow watering her tears at the appointed time, as a rule, marries whomever she wants.
Then, we see that a prince from a very ancient Georgian family marries a merchant's daughter! And here this marriage is really unequal, because the estates are different. In this case, a very great honor was rendered to the merchant family. Such a marriage was considered happiness, because it gave more opportunities and opened doors to a world where there was no access before.
Of course, now you will immediately argue that the old man can live for a long time, thereby poisoning the life of his young wife ... But I would not be in a hurry if I were you. And that's why.
Let's go in order. Let's start with the prince. The most interesting thing is that Prince Tsitsianov has nothing to do with this wedding. From him, the artist simply wrote off the image, or rather the face, and we can say that he folded the groom: the figure and clothes - from Poltoratsky (Tver leader of the nobility), the head, with a special facial expression, - from Tsitsianov, the whisk of gray hair - from the cook Vladimir Ivanovich , who served in those years in the house of the Varentsovs.
When art critics of the Tretyakov Gallery picked up archival materials, they came to the conclusion that at the time of writing the picture it could be Pavel Ivanovich Tsitsianov, because of the men of the Tsitsianov family, he was the only one in Moscow. But by that time the prince was already married. By the way, he and his wife had an even greater age difference. I did not dig further, I will only say that his wife was an Austrian from Vienna. But that's another story and it has nothing to do with ours.
Initially, the plot of the picture was associated with a love drama that happened to the artist’s friend, a young merchant Sergei Mikhailovich Varentsov, who was in love with the 24-year-old Sofya Nikolaevna Rybnikova, but the bride’s parents preferred him to the richer and more famous in the commercial and industrial world, the middle-aged 37-year-old Andrei Alexandrovich Karzinkin. Moreover, according to the testimony of N. P. Syreyshchikov, Varentsov’s great-nephew, due to circumstances, Sergey Varentsov was forced to attend the wedding, which took place in 1860 in the Church of the Three Hierarchs on Kulishki, as best man. N. A. Varentsov, in his memoirs, explained this need by the fact that Karzinkin's sister was married to Sergei Varentsov's older brother, Nikolai.
I must say that this marriage was a happy one. Karzinkin was not only rich, but also had a very good character. Sofya Nikolaevna gave birth to three children in this marriage: Lenochka, a year later Sashenka, and 5 years later Sonechka. Lena, when she grew up, went to study at the same painting school, which Pukirev himself graduated from and was a student of Polenov. And when Sasha grew up, he was friends with Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov.
But, when he saw his image in the picture, Sergey Varentsov made a scandal to his friend, since, in turn, he was going to marry Olga Urusova. And in merchant families it was not customary to make rubbish for everyone to see. As a result, the artist reworked the portrait and depicted himself in the picture.
N. A. Varentsov in his memoirs “Heard. Seen. Changed mind. Experienced ”told this story like this:
“They said about Sergei Mikhailovich that he was in love with a young lady - the daughter of the merchant Rybnikov and wanted to marry her, but her parents preferred to marry her to Andrei Alexandrovich Karzinkin, although not so beautiful, but very rich and good man.
This failure of Sergei Mikhailovich was very depressing, and he shared his grief with his friend, the artist Pukirev, who used this story for the plot of his painting called "Unequal Marriage", depicting the groom as an old general, and the best man, standing with his arms folded across his chest, - Sergei Mikhailovich . The painting was a great success at the exhibition, was acquired by P. M. Tretyakov and is still in the Tretyakov Gallery. Because of this picture, a major quarrel occurred between Sergei Mikhailovich and Pukirev when he saw his image on it. Pukirev was forced to attach a small beard to the best man, leaving all facial features unchanged, since Sergei Mikhailovich did not wear a beard.
And here we come to the most interesting moment. Pukirev painted the picture in 1862. And he performed it somehow very quickly, hot, hot. And the next year, suddenly, for some reason, for no apparent reason, he begins to ask to go abroad to view picturesque galleries and paintings, and leaves in the most academic year, in October, and returns only in January. And he gives his painting to the exhibition, where he receives a very high title for those times, for the everyday genre he receives professors, fame and honor.
So why is Pukirev leaving so suddenly? Yes, because he fell in love. And he fell in love at the time when he painted the picture. Praskovya Matveevna Varentsova, the great-niece of Princess Olga Mironovna Shchepina-Rostovskaya (nee Varentsova-Tarkhovskaya), the wife of Prince A. I. Shchepin-Rostovsky, posed for him. Praskovya Matveevna and the artist's friend were namesakes. And by the way, I have not found confirmation anywhere that love was mutual. I won't go into details here either, I'll just say a few more words about Pukirev himself.
Some researchers claim that he never married, others say that he was married to some illiterate woman. Indeed, a certain artist Nevrev, in a note addressed to Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, calls this woman, who is not clear in what rank she was, so to speak, Mrs. Pukireva. This means that our artist had an unmarried marriage. It was the messianic Sofia Petrovna Terekhova, she was 13 years younger than him. And here is really a real drama, and of all the characters, it is Sofia Terekhova who needs to be pitied. What is an unmarried marriage at that time? And this means - there is no ring on the finger, you must always somehow behave very timidly. In essence, no one even had the right to an inheritance, and there is no need to talk about any allowance in the event of the death of a spouse. It should be noted that she took on a very difficult burden, because she had to drag a very sick person through the life. He became very sick, so bad that he had to leave teaching. At first he sold his works, but in the end, the need fell on this family. Everyone talked about the fact that he was always, always (!) Cleanly dressed, ironed ... And this means that she loved him all her life, did not bother him, did not say that she was very hurt and hard ... And he didn't like her...
, oil .173×136.5cm
background
In the middle of the 19th century, the issue of the powerless position of a woman, a dowry girl who was married against her will, became painful for Russia. A significant number of marriages at that time were built on the basis of profit and material interest. In 1854, a play by A.N. Ostrovsky “Poverty is not a vice” was staged on the stage of the Maly Theater, and in February 1861, the Decree of the Holy Synod was issued, condemning marriages with a big difference in age.
There is a version that the idea to paint a picture on this topic was suggested to Vasily Pukirev by his artist friend, who studied the mores of the merchant world and concluded that cynicism rules their world, and the greed makes merchants cynics.
Work on the painting
Pukirev started work in 1862. He quickly wrote a small sketch (34x26) and began to paint a large canvas.
Description
The painting depicts the sacrament (rite) of a wedding in the Orthodox Church. Against the background of the twilight of the church, the light falling from the window brightly illuminates only the groom, the bride and the priest. The groom is depicted as an old man in a good suit, with a caustic, condescendingly irritable expression on his face. He has a wrinkled face, inexpressive dull eyes, disgustedly protruding lips, an order cross of Vladimir of the II degree on the neck and a star corresponding to this order on the left chest. The clamped and tight collar gives his face a motionless and frozen look, and only his eyes are slightly slanted towards the bride.
In contrast to the groom, the image of the bride is written. She is very young, still a child, as evidenced by the oval of her face, silky blond hair, small stature. She wears a veil on her head, showing her innocence. Her face is pale, her eyes are tearful and her gaze is lowered, which gives her image a special touching. She looks especially clean in her wedding attire. In her left hand she has a candle limply lowered down, and she holds out her right hand to the priest, substituting her index finger for a wedding ring.
The figure of a priest in a riza is depicted hunched, with a sly look, in his left hand he holds a church book, and in his right hand he holds a gold wedding ring, which he is going to put on the bride's finger.
Among the guests stands out the figure of the best man, depicted at the edge of the picture behind the bride. The expression on his face expresses displeasure, his arms folded across his chest. The images of the best man and the bride are connected in the picture by subtle, mediated connections. Firstly, the artist demonstrated this by placing them in close proximity to each other in the cramped space of the church, and secondly, only they are young in the picture and united by one common experience. On the chest of the best man, as expected, there is a rose pinned to the heart, but in this case it is a sign dooming the hero to suffering.
The rest of the characters play a secondary role. The author divides them into two groups - the groom's group and the bride's group. The first, among whom is an important military man and a man standing next to him, are looking at the bride with frank and immodest curiosity. An elderly woman on the left looks faithfully at the old groom, apparently a matchmaker. In the second group, in addition to the best man, one can note the figure of a man standing next to him, in whose gaze a lively participation is clearly read.
Painting prototypes
Version by Nikolai Varentsov
According to the first version, the plot of the painting is connected with a love drama that happened to the artist's friend, a young merchant Sergei Mikhailovich Varentsov. According to this version, Sergei Varentsov was in love with the 24-year-old Sofya Nikolaevna Rybnikova, but the bride's parents preferred him to the richer and more famous in the commercial and industrial world, the middle-aged (37-year-old, 13 years older than the bride) Andrei Alexandrovich Karzinkin. Moreover, according to N.P. Syreyshchikov, Varentsov’s great-nephew, due to circumstances, Sergey Varentsov was forced to attend the wedding, which took place in 1860 in the Church of the Three Hierarchs on Kulishki, as best man. N.A. Varentsov in his memoirs explained this need by the fact that Karzinkin's sister was married to Sergei Varentsov's older brother, Nikolai.
According to the version, Sergey Varentsov soon protested against the depiction of himself in the picture, since, in turn, he was going to marry Olga Urusova. The artist was forced to depict himself in the picture.
It was said about Sergei Mikhailovich that he was in love with the young lady, the daughter of the merchant Rybnikov, and wanted to marry her, but her parents preferred to marry her to Andrei Aleksandrovich Karzinkin, although not so beautiful, but a very rich and good person.
This failure of Sergei Mikhailovich was very depressing, and he shared his grief with his friend, the artist Pukirev, who used this story for the plot of his painting called "Unequal Marriage", depicting the groom as an old general, and the best man standing with his arms folded across his chest, Sergei Mikhailovich . The painting was a great success at the exhibition, was acquired by P.M. Tretyakov and is still in the Tretyakov Gallery. Because of this picture, a major quarrel occurred between Sergei Mikhailovich and Pukirev when he saw his image on it. Pukirev was forced to attach a small beard to the best man, leaving all facial features unchanged, since Sergei Mikhailovich did not wear a beard.
Vasily Pukirev as a best man in the painting "Unequal Marriage" Pukirev's painting "In the artist's studio".
In the background, with his hand on the easel, the author himself is depictedAndrey Aleksandrovich Karzinkin.
Photograph from the end of the 19th century.Portrait of S. M. Varentsov by Pukirev.
1860sVersion of Gribkov and Mudrogel
According to another version, voiced by the artist's friend Sergei Gribkov and N.A. Mudrogel, the painting depicts the love drama of the artist himself. Moreover, Gribkov told the details of this story:
A comrade and friend of V.V. Pukirev from a young age, he (S.I. Gribkov) knew the history of the painting “Unequal Marriage” and the whole tragedy of the author’s life: this old important official is a living face. The bride next to him is a portrait of the bride of V.V. Pukirev, and standing with crossed arms is V.V. Pukirev himself, as if alive.
In the image of the groom, according to L. Katz, the artist depicted the Tver marshal of the nobility Alexei Markovich Poltoratsky, with a large posthumous portrait of which she found similarities. On the sketch for the painting “The Head of an Old Man”, the artist indicated that he was painted from Prince Tsitsianov, L. Polozova suggested that it was about Prince Pavel Ivanovich Tsitsianov. and N.P. Syreyshchikov claims that the head was painted from the cook Vladimir Ivanovich, who served in those years in the Varentsovs' house. In addition, L. Polozova believes that the image may have been written collectively: the figure and clothes are from Poltoratsky, the head, with a special facial expression, is from Tsitsianov, the halo of gray hair is from the cook Vladimir Ivanovich.
The painting depicts two more personalities familiar to the artist. Next to the best man, a friend of Pukirev is depicted, the artist Pyotr Mikhailovich Shmelkov, according to one version, he suggested the idea of the painting to the author. In addition, on the side of the picture is the head of the framer Grebensky, who promised to make the artist a frame for the picture "which has not yet been."
