A. Ivanov’s artistic discoveries
A grandiose attempt to bring academic painting to new frontiers was made in his work by the Russian artist Alexander Andreevich Ivanov (1806-1858). He received his first drawing lessons from his father, a professor at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. Already in the early works, created on traditional ancient subjects, confident and masterful knowledge of the norms of classicist art was manifested: strict adherence to the hierarchy in the depiction of heroes, excellent knowledge of the laws of composition, color, light and shadow, careful study of draperies and details. For example, the painting “Priam asking Achilles for the body of Hector.”
Italy became Ivanov’s spiritual homeland, where he came to continue his studies and work. Here he carefully considered the theme of his future painting, which he wanted to devote to a turning point in the life of mankind – the appearance of the Savior in the world. In history, he is looking for a perfect image that can shake the soul of an inexperienced viewer, become an impulse for his spiritual rebirth.
Unlike Bryullov, who sang a hymn to the beautiful man of Antiquity, Ivanov plunges into the world of the New Testament, studies the history of spiritual enlightenment and the formation of mankind, freely making its moral choice. He really hoped that the future work could also provide answers to many questions of our time. The majestic painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People (The Appearance of the Messiah)” became the main result of his creative biography.
It took the artist twenty years to implement a complex idea. Persistent search for composition, persistent and constant work on nature were caused by the desire to achieve maximum persuasiveness. The skill of the academic school was clearly visible in the set of preparatory sketches, full-scale sketches, sketches (there are more than 300!), Relating to individual fragments of the future canvas.
The content center of his canvas is not the actions of the heroes, but their reasons, not a deliberate demonstration of the ideal and the heroic, but barely noticeable movements and transitions of feelings (from surprise, curiosity and mistrust to reverence and delight). “Everything in my painting should be quiet and expressive.” He really wanted “the viewer, looking at the picture, to be filled with highness.” Unlike Bryullov, Ivanov deliberately contrasted the themes of death, suffering and horror with the theme of hope for the salvation of mankind: “My peaceful object will become higher than the image of fire and ulcers.”
Contrary to the academic understanding of the historical genre, “The Appearance of Christ to the People” was supposed to be a true resurrection of an event that seemed to the artist to be a real historical fact.
Ivanov stubbornly tries to penetrate the spirit of a distant era. He refuses allegorical images, believing that their conventional language will be understood only by a select few. In the naked bodies of the heroes, the artist resurrects the ideals of ancient beauty. The interpretation of the naked human body, which has become his genius find, skillfully turns into a means of expressing the soul. Each character becomes the bearer of some very important author’s idea, raised to the highest level of philosophical generalization. The draperies of clothes not only reveal body movements, but also masterfully convey the inner state of the characters, serve as a plastic expression of the emotions they experience.
Combining in the picture two evangelical events of different times – the preaching of John the Baptist and the appearance of Christ – he achieves an amazing integrity in the perception of a significant event. But how does he do it? As with Bryullov, the main attention here is focused not on an individual hero, but on the mass of the people as a whole. But at the same time, Ivanov’s understanding of the people has a historically specific character. The inner spiritual unity between the heroes is achieved not by a common feeling of fear, but by a common ideological desire to understand, to understand the essence of the new faith.
People of different ages and temperaments came to the banks of the Jordan in their own way, everyone has their own life experience behind them, everyone heard something of their own in the words of John the Baptist, everyone makes their own choice. Some are ready to believe the inspired words of the prophet, who announced the coming of the Savior, with joy, others remain indifferent to them, and still others are filled with hopes for deliverance from suffering. Despite the fact that everyone is at a certain stage of their spiritual and moral development, all together they express the universal human dream of finding the truth.
The embodiment of the main idea of the author was reflected in the composition of the picture. At first glance, it seems quite traditional. Following the classical principle, the artist places the participants in the scene in the foreground along the picture plane, balancing both its parts and focusing the audience’s attention on the figure of John the Baptist. At the same time, he directs the movement inward, where the figure of the walking Christ is depicted. The multidirectional movement along and inside the space is multiplied by the turns, the views of the characters facing Christ. This is understandable, because it is here, according to the author’s intention, that the center of the entire composition is located. All invisible threads that connect disparate groups of people stretch to him. It is no coincidence that a cross in the hands of John and a spear of a Roman horseman are directed towards him. Let’s pay attention to the factthat Jesus is not going to the righteous (John’s group), but to the Pharisees, accompanied by the Roman horsemen. The Savior seems to be preparing to enter this stream in order to change its movement.
The landscape, perceived as an important semantic element in the artistic solution of the Gospel theme, acquires great meaningful significance. Never in Russian painting has the space opened up so wide, all-embracing and planetary. The artist achieves the impression of monumental stability, wise balance of natural and human principles. For the first time, he brings painting to the open air (i.e., outdoors) and achieves the reproduction of changes in the air environment caused by sunlight and the atmosphere. He seeks not only to capture the beauty of the instant state of nature, but also to understand the eternal laws of the universe. Blue shadows are perceived as reflections of heavenly azure on the earth’s surface, and bright colored reflexes in their endless interpenetration – as the embodiment of harmony, integrity and indissoluble unity of the world.
Looking at the canvas, you can admire the mountains, visible through the blue haze, the transparency of the river water washing the stones covered with algae, silvery olives bowing their branches low above the ground. The contemplation of nature gave birth to an understanding in the soul of the artist and the viewer that the world around him was an invaluable gift from God given to a sinful person. For all parts of the landscape, the artist performed a huge number of sketches, each of them can be considered as an independent work, a true masterpiece of his work.
The painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People”, which became, according to AA Ivanov, “the fruit of all working life”, was destined to play a huge role in determining the creative destinies of many Russian artists. His work rightfully belongs to the greatest achievements of national and world culture.
