"Hunters at Rest" (1871)

When I tell you my True Tales, I remind myself of a left hunter, and my friends - both distrustful, like the average, and listening, like the right one.

The picture is known to absolutely every inhabitant of our country. It is in textbooks, it is on the walls in many houses, even on candy wrappers. We know it by heart. And yet, I will tell you a couple of points that you may not know.

"To be completely an artist, you have to be a creator; and in order to be a creator, you need to study life, you need to educate your mind and heart, educate not by studying state models, but by vigilant observation and exercise in reproducing types and their inherent inclinations ... With this study you need to adjust the sensitivity to perceive impressions so that not a single subject swept past you, without being reflected in you, as in a clean, correct mirror ... An artist must be a poet, a dreamer, and most importantly - a vigilant worker ... Whoever wants to be an artist must become a complete fanatic, living and feeding on one art and only art " ...
VGPerov "Our teachers"

Vasily Grigorievich Perov was born on January 4 (December 23, old style), 1833 in Tobolsk, in the family of the provincial prosecutor Baron Grigory Karlovich Kridener. The boy was illegitimate, his parents got married later. All his younger brothers received the titles of barons and the surname Kridener, Perov received the surname of his godfather - Vasiliev, later the artist changed it to the nickname "Perov", given in childhood for his success in calligraphy. The boy's real father, Baron G.K. Kridener was a liberal, educated man, played the piano and violin, knew several foreign languages and even wrote poems. The latter was the reason that some time after the birth of Vasily, the baron was dismissed for free-thinking rhymes.

Let's return now to the picture.

And Perov wrote it not alone, but in tandem with another famous artist - Alexei Savrasov. They taught together at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. We do not know the share of Savrsov, but there is an interesting point.

Perov wrote two versions of "Hunters at Rest": the first is kept in Tretyakov Gallery, and the second - in the Russian Museum. Perov wrote the second version a few years later. Did he turn to Savrasov again?

And the hunters all turn out real people! Friends of the artist.

Doctor Dmitry Kuvshinnikov was portrayed by artist V.G. Perov in his famous painting "Hunters at Rest". The hunter-storyteller on the left is him. Two other characters in the painting were painted from Kuvshinnikov's friends: the skeptic hunter is a doctor and amateur artist Vasily Vladimirovich Bessonov, and the young hunter is Nikolai Mikhailovich Nagornov, a relative of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy (he was married to his niece, Varvara Valerianovna Tolstoy).
http://proekt-wms.narod.ru/moscow/2_4.htm

The picture is very popular with the audience, but some celebrities sharply criticized it.
They didn't like unnaturally exaggerated emotions.

ME Saltykov-Shchedrin criticized the picture for the lack of spontaneity: “As if when the picture was shown there was some actor who was instructed by the role to speak aside: this liar, and this gullible, inviting the viewer not to believe the liar hunter and have fun novice hunter ".

The landscape in the picture is written much better; compositionally, it is closely related to the characters. There is something alarming in the surrounding nature - in the piercing wind, in the dead autumn grass, in the gloomy horizon. The sky is covered with clouds, a thunderstorm cannot be avoided.

The most prominent figure is, of course, the elderly hunter on the left, passionately telling his comrades about his hunting adventures. The second hunter, who is in the middle, middle-aged, listens with a grin to an elderly hunter, scratches his ear, one might say, the narrator clearly makes him laugh with another story, and he clearly does not trust him, but at the same time it is still interesting to listen to him. The young hunter, on the right, attentively and trustingly listens to the tales of the old hunter, it is likely that he himself also wants to tell something about his hunt, but the old man clearly does not give him a word to say.

I'm not a hunter, but my friend is a hunter, he told me that there are many inaccuracies in the picture.

The dog in the background, apparently a setter, and with the cops they don't hunt hares. Black grouse lying right, this is his prey, however, there is a horn in the picture, and it is used only when hunting with hounds. In addition, when the grouse hunting is open (and, by the way, it is found in the forest, not in the field), the hare hunting is closed. But whether hunting was opened in that century, I don't know. He also said that a self-respecting hunter would not throw a gun like that - the barrel would clog up, the trigger would break. These are the grumblings from the modern hunter.

I found such a story about a painting in the vastness of the network, only I lost the link. But read:

"Hunters at Rest" is one of the most popular paintings outstanding artist second half of XIX century Vasily Grigorievich Perov.
Until recently, it was believed that the artist painted two versions of this painting. But there is an assumption that the author created three paintings "Hunters at Rest". And one of them was kept in the Nikolaev Museum for 22 years as a copy ...

The most famous painting by Vasily Perov in the century before last made a splash at the exhibition in Europe together with Repin's "Barge Haulers on the Volga". After the exhibition, the canvas was bought by the famous collector Tretyakov, the artist wrote the second author's version for the Tsar, and now it is in the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. Sensation - the third variant of "hunters" was found in the Nikolaev regional museum.

The canvas was examined for two years. The picture was painted without a sketch in pencil, but immediately with paints - it was in this manner that Vasily Perov worked. "Nikolaevskaya" painting of the same size and painted in the same year 1871 as the work, which is kept in the Tretyakov Gallery. And the version that Perov wrote for the Tsar and which is kept in St. Petersburg was created later - in 1877 - and is smaller in area.

The Kiev restorers presented the research results to the Tretyakov Gallery. They agreed with the findings of experts from the National Academy of Arts; Perov's authorship is still pending.

It still remains a mystery who the artist Perov really was? The critical realist, itinerant V.G. Perov was a friend of almost all the outstanding painters of his time.
He had some eccentricities, which, perhaps, explain how Perov could paint such a canvas as "Hunters at Rest" in the 19th century. The picture is directly packed with encrypted messages, mathematical formulas and prophetic predictions.

Many years ago, the staff of the Russian Museum noticed that by the end of the working day, women-caretakers gathered in the Perov hall, not far from the "Hunters at Rest". The work was outweighed several times, but the result was the same. Both the caretakers and visitors to the museum, and excursions most of all grouped together and spent time at this picture.

Some studies have been carried out that have revealed a real anomaly. The air temperature in this picture was always 2.6 - 2.8 degrees higher than in the other halls. The mechanical clock of Perov's painting slowed down, and quartz movements began to break the rhythm and even stopped. The picture had a strange effect on people too.

The canvas was exposed to infrared radiation and X-rays. The picture shows three men who very much resemble someone. The photo was printed and ... the Yalta conference was born! On the left, leaning forward slightly, sat Joseph Stalin and convincingly argued something. Opposite him, with his hands on his paralyzed legs, sat Roosevelt, and between them, looking skeptically at Stalin, lay Winston Churchill. Having superimposed a transparent map of Europe on the picture, the experts were amazed. Stalin's hands accurately indicate the line of opening of the second front, while his right hand rests on the coast of Normandy, where the allied landing took place in a little over seventy years.

If we calculate the percentage of the area occupied by three figures of hunters to the total area of \u200b\u200bthe painting, then we get an exact figure as a percentage of the total share of the three countries of England, America and Russia in the production of weapons in relation to the rest of the world in 1945! The killed game in the right corner of the picture, outlined in one line, strangely resembles the outlines of defeated Japan. And if we connect the eyes of three hunters with the same line, we get the exact geometry of the Bermuda Triangle.

Perov ideally placed his characters in the parts of the world in relation to the gun, which lies slightly to the right and below the center of the picture and signifies the equator. This is the first thing that catches your eye ...

Here are the news about the picture that each of us knows from school ...

Addition

My post about Perov's painting "Hunters at Rest" deservedly took one of the leading places in the rating of my posts. It is clear that schoolchildren and studios are forced to write abstracts about the painting! Tyts in googol - and he gives them my post! They are happy. Unlike my supposedly 500 supposedly friends. It is interesting and useful for them to read the lines of the old man ... So I will add a bit of that post.

Remember the main storyteller in the picture?

Dymov meant the doctor Dmitry Pavlovich Kuvshinnikov - a truly selfless physician and ascetic. Of course, he was not quiet and frightened. And the constant home parties did not bother him, he actively participated in them. Artistic bohemia respected Kuvshinnikov - suffice it to say that it was he, Dmitry Kuvshinnikov, who is depicted in Perov's famous painting "Hunters at Rest" as the main storyteller. Together with the other two, also real characters, they constantly went hunting:

So life is even more closely tied with different knots! Remember Chekhov's famous story "The Jumping Girl"? So Chekhov wrote a story about Kushinnikov's wife! Jumping Olga Ivanovna was actually called Sophia Petrovna Kuvshinnikova. Here is her portrait by artist Levitan:

I. Levitan "Portrait of Sophia Petrovna Kuvshinnikova", 1888

And she struck a gigantic scandal in Moscow! Many prominent people of that time stopped shaking hands with Anton Palych, refused a house - and this is almost a political death! They wrote him letters, and Chekhov wrote absolutely boorish letters in response! Levitan wanted to challenge him to a duel. Chekhov's friend, actor Lensky, wrote him such a derogatory letter that Chekhov burned it, for the first time in his life he was ashamed to keep the letter in his archive. From all the acquaintances hellish reproaches and swearing fell down. Anton Pavlovich answered them even more boorishly, denied himself with the words (literal quote): "My bouncing girl is pretty, but Sofya Petrovna is not so beautiful and young!"

Well, Levitan was almost Sophia's official lover, he is forgiven. They really had an affair and a joint summer on the Volga. Without a husband and strangers ... But the entire secular world did not respect and despise Chekhov until the end of Chekhov's life ... Didn't they know about the great Chekhov?

And in defense of Jumping (and read the story!):

Sofya Petrovna was not in any way a mediocre frivolous hopper who burned her husband's money and “painted a little” - this assessment is entirely on Chekhov's conscience. Sofya Petrovna was an extremely talented and intelligent lady with a kind and open heart, everyone's favorite.

Vasily Perov. Hunters at rest.
1871. Oil on canvas.
Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow, Russia.

Perov was the recognized leader of the Moscow school of painting, which in the 60s of the 19th century was the avant-garde of Russian realistic art. In the circles of the intelligentsia, he was even called "the Pope of Moscow", thereby emphasizing that just as the Pope dictates laws from the Vatican to the entire Catholic world, Perov from Moscow dictated laws to the entire Russian artistic world.

In 1870, the painter received a professorship. Among the genre works exhibited by him at the first traveling exhibition, the canvas "Hunters at Rest" had the greatest success.

In the 60s, Perov wrote works in which he showed the acute contradictions of contemporary life. The viewer knows his canvases "Tea Party in Mytishchi", "Seeing Off the Dead", and "Troika".

But in the 70s, the direction of his genre works changed. The collapse of the ideals of the 1860s, the deep disappointment experienced by a significant part of the progressive intelligentsia, did not escape Perov either. On the other hand, after the tragic death of almost the entire family - his wife and children from the epidemic in 1869 - 1870, he, apparently, began to look at life in a new way, began to turn to stories in which the main character was a simple, inconspicuous person , his hobbies and joys.

In the seventies, everyday life stories predominate in Perov's work. Perov was a passionate hunter. At the end of his life he even worked for the publisher Sabaneev's magazine "Nature and Hunting". In the 1870s, the artist created a series of paintings dedicated to hunting and nature. It is sometimes inaccurately referred to as the "hunting series" In addition to "Hunters at Rest", it includes "Fisherman", "Dovecote", "Birds", "Botanist" and other pictures represent typical types of Moscow inhabitants of that time.

This was what delighted V.V. Stasova: "A whole gallery of Russian people appeared here, living peacefully in different corners of Russia." And Sobko wrote about "The Birdman": "After all, this is exactly like an excerpt from the best and most talented that is in Turgenev's hunting sketches."

The main thing in "Hunters at Rest" is psychology actors, and in its pure form, outside of any events. A group of hunters is depicted in the center of the picture against the background of autumn fields. It can be seen that they are pleased with themselves, as they can already boast of their trophies.

An elderly hunter (apparently from the poor nobility) talks about his incredible hunting successes, like Baron Munchausen. His eyes are burning, he is tense, it is noticeable that he puts his whole soul into his story, most likely, exaggerating what happened.

The second, a young hunter dressed with a needle, listens attentively, believing his every word. trustingly, with great interest listens to him - from the expression on his face, one can assume that he sincerely believes the narrator

Pulling his hat to one side, the peasant reclining in the center is disbelievingly scratching behind his ear and grinning. Embodying a sober popular mind, the peasant does not appreciate the master's fairy tales and inwardly laughs at the credulity of another hunter. He seems preoccupied with his own thoughts and has little interest in the story being told.

The painting is also interesting for the combination of different painting genres: everyday scenes, landscape and even still life. Perov writes out in detail the hunting equipment: guns, horn, wounded hare, ducks. The landscape is full of poetry of Russian autumn.

When we look at this canvas by Perov, we get the impression of calmness and carelessness.However, there is something alarming in the surrounding nature: a piercing wind is blowing, the grass is swaying, birds are circling in the sky. The branches at the feet of the second hunter look defenselessly naked. The sky is overcast, perhaps a storm is approaching. Nature is opposed to hunters at a halt with their easy postures, things calmly laid out on the ground. In this picture, an anecdotal plot and a dramatic landscape are brilliantly combined.

Contemporaries reacted to this picture in different ways. V.V. Stasov, admired the picture. Saltykov-Shchedrin was more strict, criticizing the picture for its lack of immediacy. He wrote:

“It’s as if some actor is present when the picture is shown, who is instructed by the role to speak aside: this is a liar, and this is gullible. Such an actor is the coachman lying near the hunters and as if inviting the viewer not to believe the liar to the hunter and to have fun with the gullibility of the novice hunter. The artistic truth should speak for itself, and not through comments and interpretations. "

V.G. Perov painted two versions of the painting "Hunters at Rest": the first is kept in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, and the second - in the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.

In Perov's work, this canvas played the role of a link between the highly critical works of the 1860s and his so-called "late genres". It retains echoes of the painter's recent satirical paintings, at the same time it marks a departure from some, sometimes excessive, rationality in the interpretation of images. Perov discovers in this picture a desire to be closer to a person, to penetrate his psychology, into the circle of his everyday interests.

“The wide audience knows and appreciates Hunters at the Halt, which has become one of the most famous paintings State Tretyakov Gallery. The scene presented here, the very types of hunters are found in our everyday life. Numerous viewers of "Hunters at Rest" perceive this canvas with the genuine humor that the observant artist has put into it " (A. Zotov).

In the foreground, the artist showed the prey with which the gallant hunters go home. Some of them shot a duck, and some shot a hare. One of the comrades is sitting in a dark coat, leaning forward a little - and enthusiastically telling the others something. Another hunter lay down on the yellowed grass. He listens to the story, but looks at his friend incredulously. The third hunter fully believes in the story of his comrade, so he listens attentively, even stretches himself a little forward. A dog runs a little to the side, which is not used to rest. She heard something - and is ready to continue hunting without her master.

In the background, an endless field with yellowed grass is seen, and a sad autumn sky looms from above. Against the background of the sky, the shadows of birds flicker, which no longer attract hunters.

The picture is written in a slightly humorous style, as it can be seen that one of the hunters is bragging about his long-standing merits, but in fact they did not exist. This canvas breathes with optimism and enthusiasm, so the mood immediately improves - and there is a desire to do something good.

Second version of the composition:

Vasily Grigorievich Perov is a famous Russian artist. His brushes belong to such famous paintings, as "Troika", "Seeing off the deceased", "Tea drinking in Mytishchi". No less famous is his painting "Hunters at Rest".

The central part of the picture is occupied by three hunters, resting after a successful hunt. The hare and ducks lying next to each other clearly indicate that the hunt was a success. And the faces of the heroes of the picture express satisfaction. The poses of the hunters, their appearance tell the audience a lot.

The hunter on the left, who is enthusiastically telling something, is from the nobility. He is well dressed, well groomed. He tells hunting tales so emotionally: his eyes are wide open, his hands show that the animal is about to attack him. His whole appearance says: “The bear has risen on its hind legs. Goes at me. It is about to grab onto its clawed paws. " Most likely, his story is pure fiction.

The second hunter, also a nobleman, seems to be still new to this business. He is so captured by the story of his experienced partner that he does not notice anything around. His hand with a cigarette froze halfway, he does not move. The young man believes every word of the narrator. It seems that he will now exclaim: "Oh, Lord, what passions!"

And only the third hunter is skeptical about the story. An experienced hunter, a simple peasant peasant, understands that the master has lied, but it hurts too much. He is amused to hear the lies of an educated person. The peasant hunter laughs at the gullibility of his young partner. His smile says: “Oh, and you are a lot of lies, brother! And you believe everything! "

And only the nature surrounding the hunters does not share the carelessness and contentment of the hunters. Birds are circling alarmingly in the sky, dark clouds are approaching. The branches of the bushes around them froze in some kind of anxious expectation. But the men, satisfied with the hunt and carried away by the story, do not notice this tension.

Since its appearance, serious passions have been burning around this work by the master Vasily Perov: V. Stasov compared the canvas with the best hunting stories of I. Turgenev, and M. Saltykov-Shchedrin accused the artist of excessive theatricalization and unnatural characters. In addition, in "Hunters at Halt" everyone easily recognized the real prototypes - Perov's acquaintances. Despite the mixed reviews from critics, the picture became incredibly popular.

V. Perov. Self-portrait, 1870. Fragment

Vasily Perov himself was a passionate hunter, and the topic of hunting was well known to him. In the 1870s. he created the so-called "hunting series": paintings "Birds", "Fishermen", "Botanist", "Dovecote", "Fishing". For "Birdman" (1870), he received the title of professor, as well as a teaching position at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. But the most striking and recognizable in this cycle is undoubtedly the painting "Hunters at Rest".

V. Perov. Birder, 1870

The canvas was exhibited for the first time at the 1st Traveling Exhibition and immediately aroused contradictory responses. The critic V. Stasov admired the work. M. Saltykov-Shchedrin criticized the picture for the lack of spontaneity and truth of life, for the pretense of emotions: “It’s as if when the picture is shown there is some actor who is instructed by the role to speak to the side: this is a liar, and this gullible, inviting the viewer not to believe the liar hunter and have fun with the gullibility of the novice hunter. Artistic truth should speak for itself, and not through interpretations. " But F. Dostoevsky did not agree with the critical reviews: “What a beauty! Of course, to explain - so will the Germans understand, but they will not understand, as we do, that this is a Russian liar and that he is lying in Russian. After all, we almost hear and know what he is talking about, we know the whole turn of his lies, his syllable, his feelings. "

Left - D. Kuvshinnikov. On the right is the central character * Hunters at rest *

The prototypes of the hunters were real people who knew Vasily Perov. The role of the "liar", enthusiastically telling fables, was the doctor Dmitry Kuvshinnikov, a great lover of gun hunting - the same one who served as the prototype of Dr. Dymov in Chekhov's "Jumping". Kuvshinnikov's wife Sofya Petrovna was the owner of the literary and art salon, which was often visited by V. Perov, I. Levitan, I. Repin, A. Chekhov and other famous artists and writers.

Left - V. Perov. Portrait of V. Bessonov, 1869. On the right - an incredulous listener, one of the * Hunters at a halt *

In the image of an ironically grinning hunter, Perov portrayed the doctor and amateur artist Vasily Bessonov, and the 26-year-old Nikolai Nagornov, a future member of the Moscow City Council, served as the prototype for the young hunter who naively listens to hunting tales. This is confirmed in her memoirs and A. Volodicheva - the daughter of Nagornov. In 1962, she wrote to art critic V. Mashtafarov: “DP Kuvshinnikov was one of my father's closest friends. They often went hunting for birds. My father had a dog, and therefore gathered with us: Dmitry Pavlovich, Nikolai Mikhailovich and Doctor VV Bessonov. They are depicted by Perov ("Hunters at a Halt"). Kuvshinnikov says, father and Bessonov are listening. Father - attentively, and Bessonov - with distrust ... ".

V. Perov. Hunters at Rest, 1871. Fragment with game

Of great importance in this work are the gestures of the characters, with the help of which the artist creates psychological portraits of his heroes: the outstretched hands of the narrator illustrate his "terrible" story, the grinning commoner scratches his head in disbelief, the young listener's left hand is tightly squeezed, the right hand with a cigarette froze, which gives enthusiasm and innocent horror with which he listens to fables. The hunter's prey depicted in the lower left corner could well have become an independent still life with game, but the artist deliberately focused all his attention on the faces and hands of the characters, highlighting these accents with bright light.

I. Kramskoy. Portrait of V. Perov, 1881. Fragment

Today, reproductions of this painting have become a traditional gift for avid hunters. The canvas, written by V. Perov, in 1871, is now in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, and a copy, created in 1877, is in the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.

V. Perov. Hunters at Rest, a copy of 1877