October holiday in Rome Pimen Orlov (1812-1865)

Description of Pimen Orlov’s painting October Feast in Rome

Coming from a peasant family, he had a strong taste for art from childhood, but his parents did not share his interests, and while still very young, Orlov left home and enrolled to study with an itinerant house painter. They went around the villages, offering their services for the painting of houses, temples.

His skills and technique improved, later he began to receive orders for icons and portraits from wealthy landlords. Fate once brought him together with a nobleman, who, after seeing the work of young Orlov deemed it necessary to send the young man to St. Petersburg, to the Academy of Fine Arts! There he became a brilliant pupil of Bryullov, and as an encouragement he was soon allowed to go to Italy to study painting!

He painted canvases inspired by Italian life, festivities, celebrations. He was so enthusiastic about Italian beauty, totally immersed in the genre of historical painting, that he never returned to Russia until his death. Even during his lifetime he received numerous praises from both Russian and Italian audiences.

The painting "October Holiday in Italy" is Orlov’s best and most famous painting, executed in the best traditions of Romanticism, in which the influence of his teacher, Karl Bryullov, can be seen. The softness and beauty of the coloring, the smoothness of contours, the lightness, the amazing play of light.

October in Italy is the month of harvest, people celebrate, have fun and rejoice and honor Dionysus. People are drinking wine, dancing and having fun, the evening air is gentle and warm, you can see the contours of Rome, bunches of grapes are falling from above, a woman is dancing and beating her tambourine, a couple is drinking wine, gently looking at each other. There is a sense of lightness, nonchalance, grace in every pose, every movement, every fold in the dress.