05 works, Today, August 10th, is Blessed Laurence's day, his story illustrated #222

Pavel Petrovich Sokolov-Skalua, (Russian, 1899–1961)Title:

The monk and the holy fool , c. 1940

Oil on canvas

105 x 97 cm. (41.3 x 38.2 in.)

Private collection

Estimated at 8,000-12,000 GBP in June 2011

Alexander Petrovich Sokolov (1829 - 1913) was a Russian portrait painter in the Academic style. His brothers, Pyotr and Pavel were also well-known artists. His father was the famous portrait painter, Pyotr Sokolov. He left the gymnasium in 1847, before completing his studies, to enter the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. After two years there, he entered the Imperial Academy of Arts.

 

Upon receiving the title of "Artist", he decided to follow in his father's footsteps and devote himself mostly to watercolor portraiture. In 1859, a painting of his brother, Pyotr, was among those that won him the title of "Academician".

 

In 1881, he became a member of the Peredvizhniki and exhibited with them frequently. He became especially well-known for portraits of women, doing several of Maria Feodorovna (above) and other members of the Imperial Family. 

 

from 1892 to 1907, he served as curator of the Russian Academy of Arts Museum; housed at the Imperial Academy. He became a full member of the Academy in 1896. More on Alexander Petrovich Sokolov

Blessed Laurence, Fool-for-Christ and Kaluga Wonderworker, lived at the beginning of the sixteenth century at the distance of 533 meters from old Kaluga,  the name comes from Old Russian kaluga - "bog, quagmire", near a forest church in honor of the Nativity of Christ, set upon a high hill. During the period of Tartar raids Kaluga was the western end of the Oka bank defense line. 

There was a long underground entrance from his dwelling to the church, where he attended services. 

Vasily Petrovich Vereshchagin

Grand Duke Simeon Ioannovich, called Proud. 1340-1353

Album "History of the Russian State in the images of its sovereign rulers with a short explanatory text."

Imperial Academy of Arts V.P. Vereshchagin, Saint Petersburg

Vasily Petrovich Vereshchagin (13 January 1835, in Perm – 22 October 1909, in Saint Petersburg) was a Russian portraitist, history painter and illustrator.

His first art lessons came from his father while he was attending the public schools. He also worked with his maternal grandfather, a local icon painter named Ivan Babin.

In 1856, he enrolled at the Imperial Academy of Art. He remained there for six years and was awarded a gold medal for his painting of Sophia of Lithuania at the wedding of her son, Vasily the Blind. Later, thanks to a stipend from the Academy, he was able to study in Europe, especially Rome, where he copied the Old Masters, and won a gold medal at the International Exposition in Paris in 1867.

Upon his return to Saint Petersburg in 1869, he presented two large paintings with several portraits and watercolors and was appointed a Professor of history and portrait painting at the Academy, a position he held for twenty years. The following year, he created decorations on themes from Russian folk poetry in the palace of Grand Duke Vladimir.

In 1873, he received another gold medal at the Vienna Exposition, and did further decorative work at the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (1875-1879) and in the Assumption Cathedral of the Kiev Pechersk Lavra. In 1891, he published an album, featuring portraits of notable people and scenes from history, which became very popular. After his health began to fail, he presented many of his paintings, and some by his late brother Pyotr, to the "Scientific Industrial Museum" in Perm, towards the goal of creating a separate art department there. More on Vasily Petrovich Vereshchagin

He lived also at the home of the Kaluga prince Simeon Ioannovich; Grand Duke of Moscow. It is conjectured that Blessed Laurence was descended from the noble Khitrov lineage, since his name initiates their lineage memorial at the Peremyshl’sk Liotykov monastery, in the Kaluga diocese. 

Pavel Svedomsky, (1849–1904)

A God's Fool, ate 19th century

Oil on canvas

Regional Art Museum Kirovograd

Pavel Aleksandrovich Svedomsky (7 June 1849, Saint-Petersburg—27 August 1904, Rome) was a Russian painter and the brother of another artist, Alexander Svedomsky.

 

In 1870 Pavel entered the Düsseldorf Academy of Arts, but studied there only a few months. The Svedomskys traveled together across Europe until settling in Rome in 1875. He died there in 1904 and is buried with his brother Alexander in the Protestant Cemetery.

 

Pavel Svedomsky painted in various genres, most notably in historic. The painting Medusa (1882) was bought by Pavel Tretyakov to be displayed in Tretyakov Gallery

 

Working in the St Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kiev, Svedosmky painted the northern and southern naves of the cathedral, creating six scenes from the life of Jesus. During his later years Svedomsky turned to Russian subjects.

 

The works of Svedomsky are scattered across various central and regional museums. More on Pavel Aleksandrovich Svedomsky

Blessed Laurence went barefoot both winter and summer, in a shirt and sheepskin coat. By his struggles he so raised himself up that while still alive he was glorified by gifts of grace.

Sergey Ivanov, (1864–1910)

Tatars at the guarding border of the Moscow state, c. 1907

Oil on cardboard

Height: 60 cm (23.6 in); Width: 82 cm (32.2 in)

Central Frontier Museum of the FSB of Russia.

Sergey Vasilyevich Ivanov (1864-1910) was a Russian genre and history painter, known for his Social Realism.

Ivanov displayed an early talent for art. A family friend who was an amateur artist encouraged his father to send him to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (MSPSA). He began auditing classes there in 1878.

He left there in 1882 to attend the Imperial Academy of Arts. Dissatisfaction with the school's administration and financial difficulties forced him to return to Moscow in 1884. He went back to the MSPSA and graduated in 1885.

At that time he started work on a series of paintings devoted to the process of resettling peasants to outlying, vacant areas (mostly in Siberia) in an attempt to ease overcrowding in the villages after the Emancipation reform of 1861. The move was often very arduous and many died on the way. From 1885 to 1889, he toured the provinces of Samara, Saratov, Astrakhan and Orenburg, documenting the migrants' lives. In the mid 1890s, he began to focus on historical works.

In 1899, he became a member of the Peredvizhniki, a group of Russian realist artists who formed an artists' cooperative in protest of academic restrictions, but was soon dissatisfied with their emphasis on "lovely scenes". In 1903, he was one of the founders of the Union of Russian Artists. In 1905, the Imperial Academy named him an "Academician". Later that year, during the Moscow Uprising, he made numerous sketches while also helping the wounded.

From 1903 to 1910, he taught at the MSPSA. He was also known as an illustrator; creating drawings for classics by Gogol, Lermontov and Pushkin, among others. He died of a heart attack at his dacha near the Yakhroma River. More on Sergey Ivanov

When the Crimean Tatars fell upon Kaluga in May 1512, Blessed Laurence, then in the home of the prince, suddenly shouted out in a loud voice: “Give me my sharp axe, for the curs fall upon Prince Simeon and it is necessary to defend him!” Saying this, he seized the axe and left. Suddenly having come on board ship next to the prince, Righteous Laurence inspired and encouraged the soldiers, and in that very hour they defeated the enemy.

He is depicted in icons with an axe in his right hand, set upon a long handle. It is certain that Prince Simeon (+ 1518), owing him his safety, built a monastery in his memory on the site of the saint’s ascetic labors.

Unknown artist

Blessed Laurence the Fool-For-Christ at Kaluga

I have no further description of this artwork at this time

Blessed Laurence died on August 10, 1515, on his nameday. The memory of the saint is honored also on July 8.

Blessed Laurence was glorified in the second half of the sixteenth century. Thus, Tsar Ivan the Terrible in a deed of donation to the monastery (1565) wrote: “Monastery of the Nativity of Christ, where lies Laurence, the Fool-for-Christ.” In the Life, the first posthumous miracle is recorded under the year 1621: the healing of the paralyzed boyar Kologrivov, who became well after a Molieben to the saint. More on Blessed Laurence

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