Mikhail Nesterov1862–1942Благовещение: Дева Мария
Can I see it?
Unknown
Where is “Благовещение: Дева Мария” now? Collection: State Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg. Unknown.
Saint Petersburg, Russia
The owner is known; whether it is on view today is not.
- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
Museum text in Russian
„Благовещение“ относится к числу наиболее проникновенных, лиричных композиций всего абастуманского цикла. Легкое изящество и изысканность рисунка дополняются нежным звучанием колорита. Созданные художником образы, кажется, живут полной непостижимого блаженства небесной жизнью. Фигуры святых, написанные Нестеровым на пилонах и в простенках абастуманской церкви, изображены, как правило, на фоне значительно стилизованного пейзажа. Здесь, в отличие от многих станковых работ художника, они играют по отношению к нему не подчиненную, а главную роль. Поэтому каждая деталь пейзажа приобретает особую значимость, служит эмоциональным эквивалентом образа, каким, например, в „Благовещении“ является хрупкая, ажурная сень. Павел Климов // Иисус Христос. СПб, 2000. С. 40.
State Russian Museum
Details
- Accession number
- Р-40911
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- State Russian Museum
- Image: State Russian Museum — © State Russian Museum
In the life of Mikhail Nesterov
The whole life1890s
Studies Byzantine art
To master monumental painting, new to him, Nesterov travelled to Rome, Palermo, Constantinople and Ravenna, where he could study the traditions of Byzantine art (other accounts name Rome and Istanbul).
1896
Elected to the Peredvizhniki Association
“Under the Church Bells” (1895; its real title is “Monks”) was warmly received at the Peredvizhniki exhibition, which became the occasion for electing Nesterov a member of the Association; he remained a member until 1901.
1898
Made Academician for “The Great Tonsure”
“The Great Tonsure” (1897–1898), a young girl led by nuns to take the veil at a forest Old Believer hermitage, was warmly received by the public, and for it Nesterov was made an Academician of painting; in 1910 he became a Full Member of the Academy of Arts.
1898–1904
Decorates the church at Abastumani
At the invitation of Tsesarevich George Alexandrovich, younger brother of Nicholas II, Nesterov decorated the palace church of St Alexander Nevsky at Abastumani, personally executing more than 50 compositions on the walls and iconostasis, yet he was dissatisfied with the result. By contrast, he refused to paint the Orthodox cathedral in Warsaw, unwilling to serve as “propaganda” for Russification in a Polish city.
1901
Journey to the Solovetsky Monastery
Seeking a deeper knowledge of the spiritual world of Russian monasteries, and material for his planned “Holy Rus”, Nesterov travelled to Solovki on the White Sea. The North and its monks inspired “Silence”, “The Little Fox”, “Quiet Life”, “The Solovetsky Cloister” and “Dreamers”.
1902
Marries Ekaterina Vasilyeva
In spring 1902 Nesterov exhibited in Kiev his programmatic painting “Holy Rus” (“Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden…”), finished in rough — Christ surrounded by saints and by pilgrims, the people's Russia. Ekaterina Petrovna Vasilyeva, who came to see it, became his wife a few months later — an acquaintance that proved a turning point in his life.
