Description of the picture:
The girl in the plaid scarf is Alexei Gavrilovich Venetsianov. Canvas, oil. 40.4 x 31.1 cm
Venetsianov devoted his whole life to portraying the common people. In 1819, the artist left St. Petersburg and settled in his small estate – the village of Safonkovo in the Tver province. He no longer paints portraits to order, but depicts serfs: men, women, children, and does this with love and respect. Among these works there are a number of paintings with amazing female images. One of them is the described picture.
This small sketch leaves a lasting impression. The artist portrayed a young girl, almost a girl. Her image occupies almost the entire space of the canvas. The girl has a bright, inspired face. She is a classic type of Russian beauty. Clear gray eyes are looking at the viewer, a half smile has frozen on her plump lips, her cheeks are slightly pink with embarrassment. Brown hair, parted, is hidden under a large dark blue plaid shawl, which she supports with her хэнд so that it does not slip off her head.
The scarf was of great importance in the Russian folk costume. It was worn by women of all classes and ages. A married woman must have covered her hair with a hat. A scarf was considered a good gift. He was an integral part of the dowry, which was prepared long before the wedding. Perhaps this scarf was presented to the girl by the artist himself in gratitude for posing, or maybe it was her personal thing. In any case, the shawl sets off the natural beauty of the young peasant woman and focuses the viewer’s attention on her radiant face.
Only her hands give out the status of a girl – it is clear that she knows firsthand what hard rural work is, because then the children began to help their parents early.
The background of an etude by an artist is intentionally not worked out. The master writes a female figure on a brown background. He does not distract the viewer’s attention from the girl herself. Her pure image involuntarily attracts the eye and remains in memory.
Venetsianov in his works left us many bright types of serfs. Behind each of them is a person, a living person. The artist shows that serfs, who were then in a slave position, are capable of elevated feelings. They are strong in spirit, beautiful, with a wide soul like a Russian field and a big heart.
His female images of peasant women portray women and girls from an early age who know what hard work is, but beautiful in their inner world, attractive in natural, natural beauty.
It is not surprising that not all contemporaries appreciated the scale of the talent of a provincial artist. The depiction of rural life, let alone serfs unvarnished in the best traditions of realism, was considered a “low” genre. Venetsianov never became an academician and teacher at the Imperial Academy of Arts, despite the fact that he managed to teach the paintings of many talented peasant children on his estate.
The artist died in obscurity, but his creations still delight people, singing the Russian people and Russian land."