Spinner Vasily Tropinin (1776-1857)

Description of Vasily Tropinin’s painting "The Buckskin".

Vasily Andreevich Tropinin was a famous Russian portrait painter. The master’s work cannot be confused. Tropinin’s images are filled with a special warmth and gentleness. He did not flatter his models, but tried to portray them in idealistic and light images without denouncing the harsh aspects of their lives. Even daily work appears in his works easy and pleasant occupation.

The painting "Yarrow" is one of the famous portraits of Tropinin, which depicts a simple peasant woman, not a lady of high society. Vasily Andreevich was the first Russian artist to address the subject of the personality of the common man. For him personally, as art historians often point out, "The Pinecone" was the first experience of painting "from life." The portrait was made in two versions, about 10 years apart. Compositionally the paintings are identical, a change was made only in the face of the girl. Her affectionate and mischievous look in the later version, the artist turns directly to the viewer.

The girl’s face, as can be seen in other female portraits, bears certain common features of the idealistic image - sensual soft outlines of the face, dark elongated eyes, tender smile... Despite the simplicity of clothing and decorations, the artist manages to create a surprisingly refined image. This is helped by the predominant soft light shades and the manner of applying paint, used by Vasily Andreevich. Small dense strokes give the image a rounded and three-dimensional effect inherent in miniatures.

The figure of the girl is depicted against the background of a field, emphasizing the closeness and unity with nature. The measured movements of her fingers pulling the thread and twisting the spindle are perhaps too soft and refined for the hands of a simple peasant woman. But V. A. Tropinin strives for a somewhat different result. His aim is to show modest natural beauty, to create a new version of reality - filled with poetry and good-naturedness.

The combination of authenticity and sentimental and idealistic moods of the master created an absolutely new type of genre portrait.