The Tretyakov Gallery showed the documentary element of the artist-sailor Bogolyubov

A large exhibition in the Tretyakov Engineering Building dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the famous artist Alexei Bogolyubov, crowned with numerous titles and awards during his lifetime, begins with the sea. In front of us is a large screen with a video of a wave rolling onto a deserted beach and seagulls circling. This documentary introduction is not accidental. Unlike his contemporary Ivan Aivazovsky, who wrote Marinas poetically and emotionally, often violating the laws of physics, Alexey Bogolyubov was always extremely precise in his plots. It was for this documentary quality, embodied on canvas in a restrained but romantic manner, that he was appreciated. However, Bogolyubov went down in history not only as an artist-sailor. It was he who opened the first public museum in Russia in Saratov and named it in honor of his grandfather, the revolutionary and writer Alexander Radishchev.

The exposition of the exhibition in the Tretyakov Gallery is designed in restrained sea green tones. And between the paintings you can find quotes from the book “Notes of a Sailor-Artist,” which Bogolyubov bequeathed to be published 20 years after his death, for which he allocated a special budget. The artist, academician, professor, friend of the Russian emperors was a member of high society, and some of his observations could have caused a scandal if they had been voiced during his lifetime. However, the value of memories is not that: notes, like paintings, are distinguished by the accuracy and documentary presentation of events, described, however, with natural vividness in a brilliant style. Genes played a role here. But not only the “seditious” grandfather, whose works and translations Alexey learned as a child.

Alexei Bogolyubov’s mother, Fyokla Alexandrovna, daughter of the writer Alexander Radishchev, was a very educated lady. A graduate of the Smolny Institute had an excellent knowledge of languages, arithmetic, history, geography and the Law of God, and from childhood she developed artistic inclinations in her restless son. The artist’s father Alexey Petrovich was a colonel, a veteran of the Patriotic War of 1812. After retiring to his estate Pomerania, lost between Veliky Novgorod and St. Petersburg, he loved to draw, make home furniture, carts and strollers. The father died early from the consequences of a serious wound, the mother sent both sons, Nikolai and Alexei, to the cadet corps – the children of a distinguished military man had benefits for admission. First, the Bogolyubov brothers studied at the Alexander Tsarskoye Selo Cadet Corps, then at the Marine Corps (in St. Petersburg). The education there was excellent, and in the summer we went sailing on training frigates. By the age of 12, the future artist thoroughly knew the structure of the ship, and used every free minute to make a sketch. By the age of 17, Alexey Bogolyubov became a midshipman of the fleet and went to Kronstadt, to the 17th crew of the 2nd naval division, and subsequently – the personal adjutant of his commander, Vice Admiral Alexander Durasov. And then he received the rank of lieutenant.

One day, in 1847, the frigate Kamchatka arrived in Madeira, where Karl Bryullov was then being treated. Alexey Bogolyubov showed his sketches to the master, and he highly appreciated them, advising him not to deviate from nature, and the artist then followed this advice all his life. And two years later, during the next voyage of the Kamchatka to Madeira, Duke Maximilian of Leuchtenberg, who was traveling there to be treated for consumption, found Bogolyubov sketching. And he also highly appreciated his talent. The grandson of Empress Josephine interceded for the lieutenant and he was accepted as a student at the Academy of Arts, retaining his military position, which was nonsense – according to the rules, he had to resign. From there, Alexei Bogolyubov’s career only went upward.

He graduated from the Academy of Arts with a Gold Medal and was encouraged by a business trip to Italy. But before leaving, an order was received from Emperor Nicholas I himself to make sketches of the Crimean War. The year was 1853. Later, Nicholas’ son Alexander II allocated a separate room in the Winter Palace for this work. The trip to Italy was fruitful and the paintings painted there aroused delight. Bogolyubov was awarded the title of professor, he became an artist at the Main Naval Staff. He received many orders also because he was professionally versed in maritime affairs and could even convey historical events very naturally. The artist himself never took part in battles, but in order to achieve accuracy of the image, mines were exploded on the water especially for him.

The artist traveled a lot, both in Europe and in Russia, and his travel sketches and paintings written after his trips are not only picturesque, but also provide documentary evidence of what these places looked like in his time. Particularly interesting is the Volga cycle, which the master made when he was heading to the Caspian Sea to make a detailed atlas on the instructions of the Hydrographic Department. The artist created two such atlases for seafarers – the second on the Gulf of Finland. It is written in such a way that you will admire it, but the main task is completed “from” to “to” – all the bays and bays are described, so that the sailors easily understood where their ship could go and where they should not go.

Bogolyubov was not only an artist, but also a teacher and collector. He gave lessons at the Academy of Arts, and also taught the royal children. On trips abroad, he selected works for the collection of Alexander III, with whom he was friends. The artist collected his own collection of works for more than 30 years. And then he gave it to Saratov, the hometown of his grandfather Alexander Radishchev, where Bogolyubov opened the first public museum in Russia. It was not easy to achieve the construction of the museum, even despite the patronage of Alexander III. For more than eight years, the artist fought with Saratov bureaucrats. He threatened to open a museum in another city, but they eventually agreed to the meeting. A separate adventure was the idea to name the museum after my grandfather, an exiled revolutionary. But even here Bogolyubov achieved his goal. When the museum opened its doors to everyone in 1885, more than three thousand people visited it on the first day. And then for several more weeks people of different classes went there continuously.

The last years of his life the artist was in Paris due to heart disease. There an artistic circle formed around him. Bogolyubov used this association to help his colleagues in the shop – he sought orders on excellent terms for the deserved, like Repin and Polenov, and for the young. In Paris, the artist met the writer Ivan Turgenev, with whom they became close friends. Alexey Petrovich died on November 7, 1896 in France. His ashes were taken to St. Petersburg and buried at the Malookhtinskoye cemetery next to his parents. 45 years later, in 1941, the ashes were reburied at the Tikhvin cemetery of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra – in the so-called “Necropolis of Masters”. But then the burial place turned out to be lost.

It’s the same with his art. Alexey Bogolyubov, who became a master during his lifetime, always remained one – a classic realist, a master of documentary marine painting, and an educator. But for some reason there haven’t been large exhibitions of his works for a long time. The current one, for the 200th anniversary, turned out to be detailed, moderately documentary and moderately poetic, consistent with the style and character of the artist.