One of the most famous paintings Russian painting is stored in Tretyakov Gallery. There have always been a lot of rumors around this intriguing work, but its author has not revealed the main mystery, which concerns the woman depicted in the picture. Many artists who painted portraits often kept the subjects of their paintings secret, but over time, everything secret became clear.
Unsolved mystery
The painting “The Stranger” caused a real stir and gave rise to speculation among contemporaries who dreamed of finding out who posed for Kramskoy. However, the creator did not reveal the secret, and all the gossip was devoid of arguments.
At present, no one can reliably say who served as the real prototype of the work, which remains misunderstood to this day. An imperious, proud stranger looks at the audience, captivating with her gaze. We will figure out what the mystical appeal of the work is and what are the main versions regarding the prototype of the beauty sitting in an open carriage.
Birth of a masterpiece
The history of the painting “The Stranger” by Kramskoy began in 1883, when famous painter painted a portrait of a beautiful lady, about whom there is not a single mention in the master’s notes. The canvas was put on public display at the exhibition of the Itinerants, and the public, who reacted with delight to the work, carried the painter in their arms, who did not expect such fame. Everyone vied with each other to ask who the seductive lady who posed for Kramskoy was, but the creator remained silent, which gave rise to many rumors and versions. Everyone began to passionately solve the fascinating puzzle in order to identify the stranger who had caused such a resonance in society.
Literary character?
The image of the beautiful lady excited and disturbed minds, caused concern, and contemporaries were at a loss. Many admitted that they could not determine who this woman really was, and critics were unanimous in their opinion: “An entire era sits within her, and it does not matter whether she is decent or corrupt.”
The painting "Stranger" appeared after the publication of Tolstoy's novel "Anna Karenina", and many decided that Ivan Nikolaevich depicted main character, who succumbed to passion and lost social status. Opponents of this version found similarities between the unknown charmer and Nastasya Filippovna, who rose above her position from Dostoevsky’s “The Idiot.”
Daughter or Georgian princess?
Many art historians believe that his daughter posed for the artist. If you compare “The Stranger” with the portrait of Sofia Kramskoy (“Girl with a Cat”), then you cannot deny the visible similarity of the two women. Russian journalist and writer I. Obolensky does not agree with any version and put forward his own. In his opinion, the prototype was V. Turkestanishvili, the favorite of Tsar Alexander I. After she gave birth to the emperor’s daughter, the autocrat lost interest in the maid of honor and her child. Distraught with grief, Varvara committed suicide. When Kramskoy found out tragic fate favorite and saw her portrait, he was amazed by the beauty of the Georgian princess and wanted to convey the image of a proud woman in his work.
Collective image?
Art critics adhere to the version that the painting “Stranger” (often called “Unknown”) is collective image a woman who is not talked about in polite society.
Painted lips, an applied blush, fashionable expensive clothes reveal her as a kept woman who is supported by some rich man. The art critic and art historian Stasov even called the painting “Cocotte in a Carriage.”
Sketch and canvas: differences
And after a study for the painting was discovered in a private Czech collection, experts came to the conclusion that the author of the painting “Stranger” really wanted to portray an arrogant lady looking down on those around her. There is no understatement or uncertainty in a pictorial sketch. A daring woman looks at the audience, in whose face one can read satiety with life. What she does leaves an imprint on her appearance, and one of the signs that characterizes a lady is vulgarity. However, in final version Kramskoy ennobled external features charming woman, teasing with her beauty. He admires his heroine, her aristocracy, majestic posture, delicate skin. The master sees in her a real queen who rises above other people.
Description of the painting "Stranger"
The canvas depicts a young woman dressed in the latest fashion: a hat with feathers, a coat trimmed with satin ribbons and sable fur, and leather gloves. However, this does not mean belonging to high society, but only emphasizes the elegance of the lady.
Despite the fact that the famous buildings of St. Petersburg are written in the form of sketches, they are quite recognizable, and experts named the location of the action, which does not raise any doubts - Nevsky Prospekt. A beautiful lady, whose wardrobe details are carefully detailed, drives across the snow-covered Anichkov Bridge in an open carriage. Proud and arrogant, she shows off her beauty, and in this one can see a certain challenge to society.
The pinkish-white frosty haze seems to give off a feeling of cold, because the talented painter Ivan Kramskoy had a great command of techniques that convey air and light. “The Stranger” is not a salon portrait, but a complex, intriguing canvas. The bustle of the city helps to understand the spirituality of the image of the unknown. The dark-skinned charmer seems to tease the viewer with sensual beauty, and a slight sadness can be read in her eyes. Kramskoy shows inner world ladies who feel unprotected and suffer from the falseness of people. Her drama lies in the fact that she cannot come to terms with the cold calculation of society. The author touches eternal questions who tormented humanity. The painting “Stranger” is his reflections on morality and beauty, as well as on the relationship between these two concepts.
It is curious that in Soviet era The image of the lady who caused a scandal in the 19th century was rethought and acquired a romantic aura after the release of Blok’s “The Stranger.” The majestic beauty, whose name is unlikely to be recognized by anyone, has become the ideal of sophistication and spirituality. Today viewers, with bated breath, look at the canvas on which female character the author brilliantly showed “from the inside,” and new generations will peer into the woman’s huge eyes to find out her secret.
Fine art has always been considered closely related to the mystical sphere. After all, any image is an energetic imprint of the original, especially if we're talking about about portraits. It is believed that they are able to influence not only those from whom they are written, but also other people. You don’t have to look far for examples: let’s turn to Russian paintings of the 19th century– beginning of the twentieth century.
The mysticism of the portrait of Maria Lopukhina
The delightful beauties who gaze at us from the paintings of great painters will forever remain just like that: young, charming and full of vital energy. However, the true fate of beautiful models is not always as enviable as it might seem at first glance. This is very easy to see with an example famous portrait Maria Lopukhina, painted by Vladimir Borovikovsky.
Maria Lopukhina, descended from the Tolstoy count family, immediately after her own wedding (she was 18 years old) posed for Vladimir Borovikovsky. The portrait was commissioned by her husband. At the time of writing, Maria looked simply gorgeous. Her face radiated so much charm, spirituality and dreaminess... There could be no doubt that a long and long life awaited the charming model. happy life. It is an incomprehensible fact, but Maria died of consumption when she was only 23 years old.
Much later, the poet Polonsky would write “Borovikovsky saved her beauty...”. However, immediately after the death of the young beauty, not everyone would have shared this opinion. Indeed, at that time there was talk in Moscow that it was the ill-fated portrait that was to blame for the death of Maria Lopukhina.
They began to shy away from this picture, as if from a ghost. They believed that if the young lady looked at her, she would soon die. According to some reports, the mysterious portrait killed about ten girls of marriageable age. They said that Mary's father, a famous mystic, after his daughter died, lured her spirit into this painting.
However, almost a hundred years later, Pavel Tretyakov was not afraid and purchased this visual image for your own gallery. After this, the picture “calmed down.” But what was it - empty gossip, a strange coincidence of circumstances, or is there something more hidden behind the mysterious phenomenon? Unfortunately, we most likely will never know the answer to this question.
Ilya Repin - a thunderstorm for sitters?
It is unlikely that anyone will argue that Ilya Efimovich Repin is one of the greatest Russian painters. But there is one strange and tragic circumstance: many who had the honor of being his sitters soon died. Among them are Mussorgsky, Pisemsky, Pirogov, and the Italian actor Mercy d’Argenteau. As soon as the artist took up the portrait of Fyodor Tyutchev, he also died. Of course, in all cases there were objective reasons for death, but here are coincidences... Even the hefty men who posed for Repin for the canvas “Barge Haulers on the Volga” are said to have prematurely given their souls to God.
"Barge Haulers on the Volga", 1870-1873 However, the most creepy story happened with the painting “Ivan the Terrible and his son Ivan November 16, 1581,” which in our time is better known as “Ivan the Terrible Kills His Son.” Even balanced people felt uneasy when looking at the canvas: the murder scene was painted too realistically, there was too much blood on the canvas that seemed real.
The canvas exhibited at the Tretyakov Gallery made a strange impression on visitors. Some cried in front of the picture, others fell into a stupor, and others suffered hysterical fits. And the young icon painter Abram Balashov cut the canvas with a knife on January 16, 1913. He was sent to a mental hospital, where he died. The canvas was restored.
"Ivan the Terrible kills his son", 1883-1885 It is known that Repin thought for a long time before taking on the film about Ivan the Terrible. And for good reason. The artist Myasoedov, from whom the image of the Tsar was painted, soon in anger almost killed his young son, who was also called Ivan, like the murdered Tsarevich. The image of the latter was based on the writer Vsevolod Garshin, who subsequently went crazy and committed suicide by throwing himself down a flight of stairs...
A murder that never happened
The story that Ivan the Terrible is a son-killer is just a myth.
It is believed that Ivan the Terrible killed his son in a fit of anger with a blow to the temple from his staff. Different researchers give different reasons: from a domestic quarrel to political friction. Meanwhile, none of the sources directly states that the prince and heir to the throne was killed by his own father!
The “Piskarevsky Chronicler” says: “At 12 o’clock in the night of the summer of November 7090 on the 17th day... the death of Tsarevich John Ioannovich.” The Novgorod Fourth Chronicle reports: “In the same year (7090) Tsarevich John Ioannovich reposed at Matins in Sloboda.” The cause of death has not been announced.
In the 60s of the last century, the graves of Ivan the Terrible and his son were opened. There were no damages characteristic of brain injury on the prince’s skull. Therefore, there was no filicide?! But where did the legend about him come from?
Antonio Possevino - representative of the Vatican in Russia during the times of Ivan the Terrible and the Great Troubles Its author is the Jesuit monk Anthony Possevino (Antonio Possevino), sent to Moscow as an ambassador from the Pope with a proposal Orthodox Church come under the authority of the Vatican. The idea did not meet with support from the Russian Tsar. Possevin, meanwhile, allegedly became an eyewitness to a family scandal. The Emperor was angry with his pregnant daughter-in-law, the wife of his son Ivan, for her “indecent appearance” - either she forgot to put on a belt, or she put on only one shirt, when she was supposed to wear four. In the heat of the moment, the father-in-law began to beat the unfortunate woman with a staff. The prince stood up for his wife: before this, his father had already sent his first two wives to the monastery, who could not conceive from him. John the Younger was not unreasonably afraid that he would lose the third one - her father would simply kill her. He rushed at the priest, and in a fit of violence he struck with his staff and pierced his son’s temple. However, except for Possevin, not a single source confirms this version, although later other historians, Staden and Karamzin, readily picked it up.
Modern researchers suggest that the Jesuit came up with the legend in retaliation for the fact that he had to return to the papal court “without a slurp.”
During exhumation, remains of poisons were found in the bone tissues of the prince. This may indicate that John the Younger died from poisoning (which was not uncommon for those times), and not from being hit by a hard object!
Nevertheless, in Repin’s painting we see precisely the version of filicide. It is performed with such extraordinary verisimilitude that you can’t help but believe that this is how it all really happened. Hence, of course, the “killer” energy.
And again Repin distinguished himself
Self-portrait of Repin Once Repin was commissioned to create a huge monumental painting, “The Ceremonial Meeting of the State Council.” The painting was completed by the end of 1903. And in 1905, the first Russian revolution broke out, during which the heads of the officials depicted on the canvas fell. Some lost their posts and titles, others even paid with their lives: Minister V.K. Plehve and Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, former governor-general of Moscow, were killed by terrorists.
In 1909, the artist painted a portrait commissioned by the Saratov City Duma. He had barely finished the work when Stolypin was shot dead in Kyiv.
Who knows - maybe if Ilya Repin had not been so talented, the tragedies might not have happened. Back in the 15th century, the scientist, philosopher, alchemist and magician Cornelius Agrippa of Nettesheim wrote: “Beware of the painter’s brush - his portrait may turn out to be more alive than the original.”
P. A. Stolypin. Portrait by I. Repin (1910) Mystical painting “Stranger” by Ivan Kramskoy
The picture miraculously survived two periods of mass interest in itself, and in a completely different eras. For the first time - after being written in 1883, it was considered the embodiment of aristocracy and was very popular among the sophisticated St. Petersburg public.
Unexpectedly, another surge of interest in the “Unknown” occurred in the second half of the 20th century. Apartments were decorated with reproductions of Kramskoy’s work cut out from magazines, and copies of “The Unknown” were one of the most popular orders from artists of all levels. True, for some reason the painting was already known under the name “Stranger,” perhaps under the influence of Blok’s work of the same name. Even “Stranger” candies were created with Kramskoy’s painting on the box. Thus, the erroneous title of the work finally “came to life.”
Many years of research into “who is depicted in Kramskoy’s painting” have not yielded results. According to one version, the prototype of the “symbol of aristocracy” was a peasant woman named Matryona, who married the nobleman Bestuzhev.
“The Stranger” by Ivan Kramskoy is one of the most mysterious masterpieces of Russian painting.
At first glance, there is nothing mystical in the portrait: the beauty is riding along Nevsky Prospect in an open carriage.
Many considered Kramskoy’s heroine an aristocrat, but a fashionable velvet coat trimmed with fur and blue satin ribbons and a stylish beret hat, coupled with penciled eyebrows, lipstick on her lips and blush on her cheeks, mark her out as a lady of the then demi-monde. Not a prostitute, but clearly the kept woman of some noble or rich man.
However, when the artist was asked whether this woman existed in reality, he only grinned and shrugged. In any case, no one has ever seen the original.
Meanwhile, Pavel Tretyakov refused to purchase a portrait for his gallery - perhaps he was afraid of the belief that portraits of beauties “suck the strength” out of living people.
Ivan Nikolaevich Kramskoy The “Stranger” began traveling to private meetings. And very soon she gained notoriety. Its first owner's wife left him, the second's house burned down, and the third went bankrupt. All these misfortunes were attributed to the fatal picture.
Kramskoy himself did not escape the curse. Less than a year after the creation of “Unknown,” his two sons died one after another.
The “damned” picture went abroad. They say that there she caused all kinds of trouble to her owners. In 1925, “The Stranger” returned to Russia and nevertheless took its place in the Tretyakov Gallery. Since then, no further incidents have occurred.
Maybe the whole point is that the portrait should have taken its rightful place from the very beginning?
At the end of the 1860s, during the birth of the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions, a curious incident occurred in the workshop of the Artel of Artists. It is described by I. E. Repin in the book “Distant Close”: “One Sunday morning, I came to Kramskoy... From the troikas of sleighs that had arrived, a gang of artel workers burst into the house with the cold of frost on their fur coats, they led into the hall beauty. I was simply dumbfounded by this marvelous face, height and all the proportions of the black-eyed brunette's body... In the general commotion, chairs quickly rattled, easels moved, and the common room quickly turned into a sketch class. The beauty was seated on a raised platform... I began to stare from behind the artists... Finally I got to Kramskoy. That's it! It's her! He was not afraid of the correct proportion of her eyes to her face, she has small eyes, Tatar, but how much sparkle! And the end of the nose with the nostrils is wider than between the eyes, just like hers, and what a beauty! All this warmth and charm came out only from him. Very similar."And in November 1883, at the eleventh exhibition of the Partnership, a painting by I. N. Kramskoy appeared with the image of a beautiful dark-eyed lady. The canvas was called “Unknown”. It’s hard to say whether this is the same woman who once posed in the artist’s house. Time has passed, but to this day the mystery of the work remains unresolved. Who is she, the elegant stranger?
It has captured the imagination of audiences past and present. The artist hid the name of the beautiful model. Not even her closest friends knew her. Someone found similarities with the St. Petersburg aristocrats, the names of the capital's princesses and baronesses were heard; the women of their circle knew how to so proudly and regally rise above the crowd in a dandy carriage. Famous contemporary actresses were also remembered.
There was an assumption about literary source portrait. The image of the unknown woman was associated with the heroine of L. N. Tolstoy’s novel Anna Karenina. Kramskoy knew the great writer well, painted two of his portraits, and Tolstoy himself, while working on the novel, captured the features of the painter in the image of the artist Mikhailov. IN recent years In his life, the master became interested in the work of F. M. Dostoevsky. Hence the guess about the similarity portrait image with Nastasya Filippovna, one of the characters in the novel “The Idiot”. Even some features of external similarity were found between them: “The eyes are dark, deep, the forehead is thoughtful, the expression on the face is passionate and seemingly arrogant.”
But the painting became especially popular after the appearance of Blok’s famous poem in 1907, to which it owes its second title, “The Stranger.” And although it is clear that the poet created an image that became an expression of his personal experiences, the lines have something in common with Kramskoy’s “Unknown”. Like a vision, “always without companions, alone, breathing spirits and mists,” she appears in a fluctuating frosty haze and quickly sweeps past the amazed and enchanted St. Petersburg residents, only for a moment fixing an arrogant gaze on them. The unknown woman, reclining on a leather carriage seat, is richly and tastefully dressed: she is wearing a dark blue velvet fur coat, trimmed with silver fur and decorated with satin ribbons. The elegant hairstyle is almost hidden by an elegant hat with a white ostrich feather. One hand is in a fluffy muff, the other, with a glittering gold bracelet, is wrapped in a dark kid glove. The lady is inaccessible in her majestic beauty, but feigned composure cannot hide the inner energy and passion that are contained in her gaze and pose.
The silhouette of the figure is drawn as a dark, sharp spot on a pink-fawn background, among the unclear outlines of the Anichkov Palace, illuminated by the evening rays of the sun, appearing in the fog. Architectural landscape occupies an important place in the picture. Although our attention is absorbed by the main thing actor, the urban environment helps to fully feel the spirituality of the image.
At first glance, the features of the work do not fit with the previous work of the famous democratic artist. All his life he defended civic art, condemning evil, violence, and lies. Struggling with routine in life and art, he played a leading role in organizing an association of Itinerant masters. The themes of his best canvases are dedicated to people of great spiritual strength, moral purity: “Mina Moiseev”, “N. A. Nekrasov during the “ Latest songs", "Portrait of I. I. Shishkin." The most difficult, dramatic moments of life (“Inconsolable Grief”) are captured with psychological insight and the eternal question of a person’s choice is touched upon. life path(“Christ in the Desert”) Everywhere Kramskoy was true to his conviction that “without an idea there is no art.”
It is no coincidence that immediately after its appearance at the autumn traveling exhibition, the seemingly salon painting “Unknown” caused a lot of speculation. In the woman depicted, they looked for only incriminating features, forgetting to look closely at the artistic merits of the canvas. But it was Kramskoy who said at that time the words that “without living and striking painting there are no paintings.” At the turn of the 1870s and 1880s, the artist, feeling the lack of lush picturesqueness in his works, strove to create things where deep and truthful content would be combined with expressive execution. The master decides to move “towards light, colors and air”, strives to convey subtle color nuances and lighting features.
This is the famous “Unknown”. It is difficult to look for deep psychological content here. But there are high pictorial merits. Never before had a painter paid so much attention to the landscape and the details of clothing, which were painted masterfully and with special care. And most importantly, Kramskoy created an image that reflected his own understanding of beauty.
A comparison of the canvas with the original sketch, recently discovered in one of the private collections in Czechoslovakia, which depicts a young model, very similar in facial features and pose to the “Unknown Woman,” will help to realize the veracity of these words. But the woman from the “Prague” sketch does not have the mystery and charm that will appear in the final version. She is less beautiful: her face is rougher, simpler, her gaze is heavy and arrogant. The artist subsequently somewhat changed the appearance of his heroine, ennobling her appearance and enriching her inner world. What if a particular prototype simply did not exist? “Unknown” is a collective image, a figment of Kramskoy’s imagination. And although the name of this lady is unknown, as one of the critics of the last century rightly noted, “in her... sits a whole era.”
One of the most outstanding works of the Russian school of painting of the second half of the 19th century century is the painting "The Stranger". Kramskoy painted it in 1883. The painting was first presented to the public in the same year at the exhibition of the Itinerants in St. Petersburg. Its original name is "Unknown". After the public saw her, many rumors immediately appeared. Who is the young lady that Ivan Kramskoy depicted in the picture? It was not possible to obtain an exact answer to this question until today. The study of the artist’s diaries and personal correspondence also failed to clarify the situation: Kramskoy never mentioned the identity of the woman who became the main character of his most famous work.
Search for the prototype of an unknown girl
There are several versions about whose image the painting “Stranger” conveys. the Kursk beauty of the peasant woman Matryona Savvishna, who became the wife of the nobleman Bestuzhev, best suits the heroine of the canvas. Some researchers of Kramskoy’s work believed that the model posing for him while painting was his daughter Sofia. Some art critics were of the opinion that the prototype of the girl from the canvas was Anna Karenina, others attributed her resemblance to Barashkova, the heroine of the novel. At the beginning of the 20th century, the young lady from the painting began to be associated with the gentle and mysterious Blok’s “Stranger.”
Critics rating
Many of Kramskoy’s contemporaries believed that the painting “The Stranger” was painted with the aim of exposing the moral foundations of society, which could not serve as an example to follow. Art critic V. Stasov called the beauty on canvas “a cocotte in a stroller.” According to N. Murashko, the canvas depicted “dear camellia”, that is lung woman behavior. Describing “The Stranger,” critic P. Kovalevsky called it “one of the fiends
Description of the young lady
What is the painting "The Stranger"? Kramskoy depicted a beautiful young woman riding in an open carriage along the Anichkov Bridge. The young lady, looking regal against the backdrop of snowy St. Petersburg, is dressed expensively and fashionably. The artist describes all the details of the stranger’s elegant wardrobe with special care. A luxurious coat with blue trimmed sable furs, a hat with feathers, gloves made of gold bracelets - all this reveals her as a wealthy woman.
The beauty's gaze, framed by fluffy eyelashes, is arrogant, contempt for others slides through it. But at the same time, in her eyes you can read the uncertainty characteristic of all people who depend on the world in which they live. Despite the dismissive attitude, the girl is very beautiful, graceful, and attracts admiring glances. The unknown young lady clearly did not belong to high society. The manner of dressing in the latest fashion, as well as painted lips and heavily penciled eyebrows indicate that she was most likely the kept woman of some noble gentleman.
Czech find
Approximately 60 years after the painting of “The Stranger,” a sketch for this painting was accidentally discovered in one of the private Czech collections. In it, the young lady is dressed in a dark closed dress, her hair is tied up. The woman depicted in the sketch is strikingly similar to the “Stranger,” however, contempt for others is even more visible in her gaze. Kramskoy portrayed the beauty as arrogant and smug, giving her facial expression a certain caricature. From the sketch it is clear that the master had long been nurturing the idea of creating an incriminating portrait, ridiculing the vices of society.
Rumors about the curse of the painting
It is not only the mystery of the image of the main character that attracts art lovers to the painting “The Stranger.” The artist created a truly mystical work, because for decades it has attracted troubles and failures to its owners.
Having painted the canvas, Kramskoy invited Tretyakov to buy it for his gallery, but he refused, being sure that the portraits beautiful women capable of drawing strength from a living person. "Stranger" found shelter in private collections, first in Russia, then abroad, but it brought misfortune to all its owners. A curse hung over Kramskoy himself: a few months after the picture was released, his two sons passed away one after another.
After long travels in 1925, the mysterious “Stranger” returned to Russia and finally took its place in the Tretyakov Gallery, where it remains to this day. Since then, she has stopped bringing misfortune to others. Admirers of Kramskoy’s work are confident that if the painting had initially ended up in Tretyakov’s collection, then it would not have gained notoriety, because that’s where it should have been from the very beginning.
One of the most famous paintings of Russian painting is kept in the Tretyakov Gallery. There have always been a lot of rumors around this intriguing work, but its author has not revealed the main mystery, which concerns the woman depicted in the picture. Many artists who painted portraits often kept the subjects of their paintings secret, but over time, everything secret became clear.
Unsolved mystery
The painting “The Stranger” caused a real stir and gave rise to speculation among contemporaries who dreamed of finding out who posed for Kramskoy. However, the creator did not reveal the secret, and all the gossip was devoid of arguments.
At present, no one can reliably say who served as the real prototype of the work, which remains misunderstood to this day. An imperious, proud stranger looks at the audience, captivating with her gaze. We will figure out what the mystical appeal of the work is and what are the main versions regarding the prototype of the beauty sitting in an open carriage.
Birth of a masterpiece
The history of the painting “The Stranger” by Kramskoy began in 1883, when the famous painter painted a portrait of a beautiful lady, about whom there is not a single mention in the master’s notes. The canvas was put on public display at the exhibition of the Itinerants, and the public, who reacted with delight to the work, carried the painter in their arms, who did not expect such fame. Everyone vied with each other to ask who the seductive lady who posed for Kramskoy was, but the creator remained silent, which gave rise to many rumors and versions. Everyone began to passionately solve the fascinating puzzle in order to identify the stranger who had caused such a resonance in society.
Literary character?
The image of the beautiful lady excited and disturbed minds, caused concern, and contemporaries were at a loss. Many admitted that they could not determine who this woman really was, and critics were unanimous in their opinion: “An entire era sits within her, and it does not matter whether she is decent or corrupt.”
The painting “The Stranger” appeared after the publication of Tolstoy’s novel “Anna Karenina,” and many decided that Ivan Nikolaevich portrayed the main character, who succumbed to passion and lost her social status. Opponents of this version found similarities between the unknown charmer and Nastasya Filippovna, who rose above her position from Dostoevsky’s “The Idiot.”
Daughter or Georgian princess?
Many art historians believe that his daughter posed for the artist. If you compare “The Stranger” with the portrait of Sofia Kramskoy (“Girl with a Cat”), then you cannot deny the visible similarity of the two women. Russian journalist and writer I. Obolensky does not agree with any version and put forward his own. In his opinion, the prototype was V. Turkestanishvili, the favorite of Tsar Alexander I. After she gave birth to the emperor’s daughter, the autocrat lost interest in the maid of honor and her child. Distraught with grief, Varvara committed suicide. When Kramskoy learned the tragic fate of his favorite and saw her portrait, he was amazed by the beauty of the Georgian princess and wanted to convey the image of a proud woman in his work.
Collective image?
Art critics adhere to the version that the painting “Stranger” (often called “Unknown”) is a collective image of a woman who is not talked about in polite society.
Painted lips, an applied blush, fashionable expensive clothes reveal her as a kept woman who is supported by some rich man. The art critic and art historian Stasov even called the painting “Cocotte in a Carriage.”
Sketch and canvas: differences
And after a study for the painting was discovered in a private Czech collection, experts came to the conclusion that the author of the painting “Stranger” really wanted to portray an arrogant lady looking down on those around her. There is no understatement or uncertainty in a pictorial sketch. A daring woman looks at the audience, in whose face one can read satiety with life. What she does leaves an imprint on her appearance, and one of the signs that characterizes a lady is vulgarity. However, in the final version, Kramskoy ennobled the external features of the charming woman, teasing with her beauty. He admires his heroine, her aristocracy, majestic posture, delicate skin. The master sees in her a real queen who rises above other people.
Description of the painting "Stranger"
The canvas depicts a young woman dressed in the latest fashion: a hat with feathers, a coat trimmed with satin ribbons and sable fur, and leather gloves. However, this does not indicate belonging to high society, but only emphasizes the elegance of the lady.
Despite the fact that the famous buildings of St. Petersburg are written in the form of sketches, they are quite recognizable, and experts named the location of the action, which does not raise any doubts - Nevsky Prospekt. A beautiful lady, whose wardrobe details are carefully detailed, drives across the snow-covered Anichkov Bridge in an open carriage. Proud and arrogant, she shows off her beauty, and in this one can see a certain challenge to society.
The pinkish-white frosty haze seems to give off a feeling of cold, because the talented painter Ivan Kramskoy had a great command of techniques that convey air and light. “The Stranger” is not a salon portrait, but a complex, intriguing canvas. The bustle of the city helps to understand the spirituality of the image of the unknown. The dark-skinned charmer seems to tease the viewer with sensual beauty, and a slight sadness can be read in her eyes. Kramskoy shows the inner world of a lady who feels unprotected and suffers from the falseness of people. Her drama lies in the fact that she cannot come to terms with the cold calculation of society. The author touches on the eternal questions that have plagued humanity. The painting “Stranger” is his reflections on morality and beauty, as well as on the relationship between these two concepts.
It is curious that in Soviet times, the image of the lady who caused a scandal in the 19th century was rethought and acquired a romantic aura after the release of Blok’s “The Stranger.” The majestic beauty, whose name is unlikely to be recognized by anyone, has become the ideal of sophistication and spirituality. Today, viewers with bated breath look at the canvas, on which the author brilliantly showed the female character “from the inside,” and new generations will peer into the woman’s huge eyes to find out her secret.
