Alexander Dmitrievich Litovchenko (; ; – ) was a Russian painter. He specialized in depicting Muscovite Russia of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Biography

Litovchenko attended the Imperial Academy of Arts and, although criticised by his peers for rather stilted compositions, was awarded a lesser gold medal for his rendering of

Charon In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon ( ; ) is a psychopomp, the ferryman of the Greek underworld. He carries the souls of those who have been given funeral rites across the rivers Acheron and Styx, which separate the worlds of the living and ...

transporting the souls of the dead across the

Styx In Greek mythology, Styx (; ; lit. "Shuddering"), also called the River Styx, is a goddess and one of the rivers of the Greek Underworld. Her parents were the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, and she was the wife of the Titan Pallas and the moth ...

. Along with several other young painters, he challenged the spirit of academism that was prevalent at the Academy and in 1863 left it to become a freelance painter, joining the

Peredvizhniki Peredvizhniki (, ), often called The Wanderers or The Itinerants in English, were a group of Russian realism (arts), realist artists who formed an artists' cooperative in protest of academic restrictions; it evolved into the ''Society for Trave ...

movement in 1876. In 1868, Litovchenko was recognized as an academician for his picture of a falconer serving at the court of Tsar Alexis (one of his several versions of the subject). Among his larger paintings, '' Ivan the Terrible Showing His Treasures to Jerome Horsey'' (1875) was purchased by the Tsar for the Alexander III Museum in St. Petersburg, and '' Tsar Alexis and Archbishop Nikon Venerating the Relics of Patriarch Philip'' (1886) was acquired by Pavel Tretyakov for his collection in

Moscow Moscow is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Russia by population, largest city of Russia, standing on the Moskva (river), Moskva River in Central Russia. It has a population estimated at over 13 million residents with ...

(as were the finest of his portraits). Litovchenko is also remembered as the author of seven murals in the

Cathedral of Christ the Saviour The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour (, ) is a Russian Orthodox Church, Russian Orthodox cathedral in Moscow, Russia, on the northern bank of the Moskva River, a few hundred metres southwest of the Kremlin. With an overall height of , it is the ...

in Moscow and a set of icons for the

Crimean War The Crimean War was fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the Ottoman Empire, the Second French Empire, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and the Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861), Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont fro ...

memorial in

Sevastopol Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...

. File:Lytovchenko Olexandr Calvucci.jpeg, Ambassador Horatio Calvucci sketching the favorite falcons of Tsar Alexis I (1889) File:PhilipandNikon.jpg, Tsar Alexis praying before the relics in the presence of Metropolitan Philip and

Patriarch Nikon Nikon (, ), born Nikita Minin (; 7 May 1605 – 17 August 1681) was the seventh Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus' of the Russian Orthodox Church, serving officially from 1652 to 1666. He was renowned for his eloquence, energy, piety and close t ...

File:Lytovchenko Olexandr Kharon.jpg,

Carrying Souls Across the

River Styx In Greek mythology, Styx (; ; lit. "Shuddering"), also called the River Styx, is a goddess and one of the rivers of the Greek Underworld. Her parents were the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, and she was the wife of the Titan Pallas and the mothe ...

(1861) File:Alexander Litovchenko - Ivan the Terrible Showing Treasures to the English Ambassador Jerome Horsey.jpg,

Ivan the Terrible Ivan IV Vasilyevich (; – ), commonly known as Ivan the Terrible,; ; monastic name: Jonah. was Grand Prince of Moscow, Grand Prince of Moscow and all Russia from 1533 to 1547, and the first Tsar of all Russia, Tsar and Grand Prince of all R ...

showing his treasures to Jerome Horsey, the English Ambassador (1875) File:Alexandr Litovchenko 004.jpg, A sunny path in the forest (1874; private collection) File:Bojar woman Litovchenko.jpeg, Boyarynya (1870-1880; private collection) File:Litovchenko 006.jpg, Portrait of Evgeny Grigoryevich Schwartz (1874) File:Alexander Litovchenko 002.jpg, The Fool (1875)

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Litovchenko, Alexander 1835 births 1890 deaths People from Kremenchuk People from Poltava Governorate 19th-century painters from the Russian Empire Male painters from the Russian Empire People from the Russian Empire of Ukrainian descent Ukrainian male painters Russian history painters Peredvizhniki 19th-century male artists from the Russian Empire Burials at Novodevichy Cemetery (Saint Petersburg)

Biography

References

Further reading

External links