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#1 |
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Many Russian in the 19th century interested in India. They traveled in India, studied it, drew pictures. One of them is Vasily Vereshchagin - known Russian artist.
In 2014, in India, in New Delhi published a book in English "Indian poem", which tells about the journey Vereshchagin in India and published him paintings. |
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#2 |
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The painting Vereshchagin "Entrance Prince of Wales in Jaipur in 1876", which is stored in the Victoria Memorial in Calcutta - the biggest in India artistic canvas painted in oil.
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#3 | |
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![]() Exept Russia, Vasily Vasilievich Vereshchagin created in France, Germany, United States and other. Many years he traveled in Balkan countries, Central Asia, China, Middle East, India, Tibet, USA, Japan, collected very well collection of arms and armor. |
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#4 | ||
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#5 | ||
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17 October 2011 AJAY KAMALAKARAN Quote:
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#6 |
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more India
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#7 | |
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A selection of old photos of the event: http://humus.livejournal.com/4659165.html http://humus.livejournal.com/4669076.html http://humus.livejournal.com/4679211.html http://humus.livejournal.com/4688978.html |
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#8 |
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The story of Vereshchagin's death along with Admiral Makarov, the only competent Russian naval commander at the time, was a death knell for the Russian Navy. Coupled with humiliating and totally disproportional losses at the Battle of Tsushima ( Russians lost all of their 11 battleships, 4 of 8 cruisers and 6 of 9 destroyers against the Japanese loss of 3 torpedo boats) this left Port Artur totally undefended.
General Kuropatkin, the commander of the Russian Ground Forces was equally incompetent and lost one battle after another. After Port Arthur surrender, he went into deep depression. To lift his spirits, Tsar Nicolas II presented him with a gorgeous chess set, made by Faberge of rare stones, gold and silver. It had carved signatures of Tsar himself, as well as those of Kuropatkin's fellow generals. How do I know it? A good acquaintance of mine is the #1 chess collector in the world, and he bought this set from a London dealer BEFORE it was put on the market. He just pulled out his check book, wrote the name of the dealer, signed it and only then asked " How much?" I never asked what was the number :-) I spent some time in front of a custom glass cabinet, marveling at the incredible sight. |
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#9 | |
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If you touch the story, you're right, Ariel. Tsushima - it is the greatest shame of the Russian Navy. It can be likened to Pearl Harbor for the US Navy. But, You probably do not understand. This issue is not about the history of Russia and the history of the Russian Navy. Your message did not fit the topic. I ask the moderators to remove Ariel message №7 and my message №8. Last edited by mahratt; 25th January 2016 at 06:29 PM. |
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#10 | |
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#11 |
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Pictures Vereshchagin. Central Asia.
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Picture, photo, Shamshir
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Ariel, one week ban for baiting.
Mahratt, one week ban for taking the bait. As you both have been warned multiple times the first PM I receive from either of you complaining about this will earn you a month in moderation as well. Robert |
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Turkestan
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Turkestan
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Vereshchagin's pictures reflected fascination of the 19th century Western artists with the "mysterious Orient": he was a Russian Gerome. Both painted Muslim soldiers carrying exotic weapons and dressed in exotic garb. In the absense of photography their paintings are our best source of iconographic information, although their complete veracity cannot be vouched for. Orientalism was heavily Romantic. Studio portraits and use of props were customary. One can only wonder how Central Asian nomads, Egyptian soldiers or Ottoman bashibouzuks managed all wear impeccably clean clothes of heavily saturated colors not faded by the unrelenting sunlight and not given to dirt, dust, wear and tear.
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As for the often seen (but not always) paintings of clean, colorful clothing and the people wearing them, I have wondered about that myself, especially when you see someone wearing all white, but photographs from the same time periods can show that this was not just imagination. Emir Seyyid Mir Mohammed Alim Khan, the Emir of Bukhara, seated holding a sword in Bukhara, (present-day Uzbekistan), ca. 1910, early original color photograph. |
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#21 | ||
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This is art, let's not forget it. The emir from the Prokudin-Gorski's photograph was posing for a color photo-portrait. Of course, he was asked to wear his most colorful khalat ( being rich did not hurt him, either) And of course, Vereshchagin painted in the studio. Are we to believe that he set his easel right in front of the Turkomans cutting off human heads? Or that he stood behind the Turkoman horde about to annihilate a small band of Russian soldiers? Or are we to believe that Ingres was given free access to the harem to paint sultan's naked concubines? There is no doubt that Vereshchagin tried to be as close to the truth as possible, but so was Rembrandt , whose Samson was blinded with a... Balinese keris:-) |
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#22 | |
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But he saw Russian soldiers, the inhabitants of Bukhara and battles. And show us the battles and other terrible pictures helped his memory. Vereshchagin saw all that and then depict. He was at the center of these developments. And not in a quiet studio ... Therefore, his paintings so accurate in detail. Maybe you point out errors in the pictures Vereshchagin? Such like Balinese keris Rembrandt? Thank you in advance. |
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#23 |
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Bukhara Sarbaz.
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#24 |
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Mahratt, these works you are posting are breathtaking! and the way you place corresponding photos reveal how amazingly close these portrayals are to the traditional styles and weaponry.
Naturally artists painted in studios, but most artists used what are known as 'studys', which are sketches drawn with notes from live and real time situations. From these they crafted their finished works. Rembrandt, mentioned a number of times here, actually had a considerable and eclectic collection of arms and antiquities from which he drew many of his entries in his paintings. This is of course how the keris came into his Biblical theme painting, as artictic license prevailed. In many cases, artists used their earlier works or sometimes the work of other artists as studies in varying degree for figures in their work. I have seen great discussions of this in references on 'historical detection' which is essentially forensic type art study. Art itself is a valuable medium for the comprehensive study of arms (which despite controversial views are also forms of art) and whether the work contains actual weapons or not. Often there are nuanced clues in the figures or materials represented which are telling in many aspects of the motif, style and decoration . Thank you gentlemen for continuing this most interesting discussion, and presenting the great perspectives helping us better appreciate the topic overall. |
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#25 |
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Many thank for the right words, Jim!
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Along with sketches made while visiting foreign countries some painters did in fact use photographs to capture the memories of what they saw. Quote:
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#27 |
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Bulls-eye!
Their Photorealism mutated into more recent Hyperrealism, that puts even more emphasis on the painters' subtle emotional hints and sheer fantasy. But very often the latter overcomes the reality and this is exactly what happened with your great example of Vereshchagin's very naturalistic image of Indian sepoys "blown from guns" , a practice he could not have seen. Such is art, and this is its difference from historical evidence. BTW, I was unaware of his travels to Ladakh and Sikkim. Was he a part of the Russian clandestine intelligence gathering operations? ( Another Russian painter, Nicolas Roerich, was or tried to be, later on). If you are interested in that period and the rivalry between Britain and Russia in Central Asia, you absolutely must read Peter Hopkirk's " The Great Game"! And if we are talking about India and Vereshchagin, we should not forget Edwin Lord Weeks, a superb American Orientalist painter who was his equal or better ( pure IMHO). |
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Some mistakenly believe that Vereshchagin depict execution after the Sepoy rebellion 1857-1859. This is not true. The painting is called "The English penalty in India." She depict in 1884. In reality, the painting depicts the execution of a Sikh-namdhari 1872, which Vereshchagin learned during a visit to India in 1875. In the middle of January 1872 a few hundred namdhari, using the fact that the main forces of the Anglo-Indian troops were concentrated in Punjab maneuvers in Delhi, revolted against the British and attacked two fortified castle - Malodh and Maler Kotla to seize weapons are in them. The rebels were defeated. British troops responded with repression. From guns were firing squad of 65 people.
Last edited by mahratt; 3rd February 2016 at 12:18 PM. |
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#29 | |
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![]() But seriously, I think, to all participants of the forum would be interesting if you have created the theme of the paintings Edwin Lord Weeks. |
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Perhaps. But he could witness events of 1872 no better than those of 1858: he wasn't there for either:-)
Nothing wrong with it artistically : Rembrandt never witnessed the return of the Prodigal Son, Moses did not have horns and Sistine Chapel is not a documentary account of the Creation of Adam and the Last Judgement. Once and for all: works of art are not historical facts. In the best possible case they provide us with a glimpse of contemporaneous view of material objects, in the worst one they are malicious distortions of truth. The greatest majority of them are somewhere in between. But no court on Earth would accept them as evidence. |
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