Unknown Ivan Kramskoy (1837-1887)

Description of Ivan Kramskoi’s Portrait of the Unknown Woman

Kramskoi is a very famous artist who has famous and unusual works of art. For example, one of his most famous masterpieces is a painting called Portrait of the Unknown. This work is full of mystery and enigma, that’s its peculiarity.

The portrait conceals a certain intrigue. Until our times the mystery of this painting has survived, and no one can unravel to the end the idea of the portrait of a Jane Doe. Very often one hears this Kramskoi painting referred to as the Picture of the Stranger. Still, it is impossible to consider this title as correct and correct. Because, it is the artist who can set the rules related to his work. And Kramskoi called this work - Portrait of the Unknown. Although the words unknown and stranger are quite close in meaning, there is nevertheless a definite difference.

At all times there have been artists who have painted portraits of women about whom they did not want to reveal the whole truth to the public. The heroines of the works they tried to hide. But still, over time, the truth became apparent. For a long time it was not possible to keep it a secret. And as for the portrait of Kramskoi, everything is different. Kramskoy never revealed the name of his heroine to anyone in his entire life.

Apparently he set himself such a goal, to raise a lot of questions from his contemporaries. What were the conjectures built up by the people of the time? Some speculated that the girl the artist portrayed was not attractive in appearance, and so Kramskoy concealed her. Some thought the heroine was a lady of high rank, and expected Kramsky to remain silent. And others recognized in nature, the famous bohemian actress of the theater of the time. But these are only guesses, which are not facts.

Whoever the artist portrayed, the portrait was so magnificent that Kramsky was carried in his arms with delight when they saw this work of his. The work was simply enchanting and of extraordinary beauty. When Kramsky began to be inundated with questions, he answered none of them. Who is this lady, whether he painted it from nature, maybe the heroine invented? No, the writer did not think it necessary to answer.

The portrait of the unknown woman the artist created in 1883. He depicted the heroine in an open carriage, and on the background of a beautiful city, St. Petersburg. The stranger had the appearance of an imperious, unapproachable lady. The dark-haired beauty, coquettishly squinted her eyes, proudly casting her gaze, as she strolled along Anichkov Bridge. The mysterious heroine looks at the visitors of the Tretyakov Gallery with a majestic and enigmatic gaze. She enchants all connoisseurs of the beautiful and the great.