Apollon Nikolayevich Mokritsky (, ''Apollon Mokrytskyi''; , ''Apollon Mokritsky'', August 1810 – 1870) was a Ukrainian painter of the

Biedermeier The Biedermeier period was an era in Central European art and culture between 1815 and 1848 during which the middle classes grew in number and artists began producing works appealing to their sensibilities. The period began with the end of th ...

period of Realist art. From 1849, he was a full member of the

Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts The Imperial Academy of Arts, informally known as the Saint Petersburg Academy of Arts, was an art academy in Saint Petersburg, founded in 1757 by Ivan Shuvalov, the founder of the Imperial Moscow University, under the name ''Academy of the ...

Biography

Mokritsky was born in August 1810, in

Pyriatyn Pyriatyn (, ) is a city in Poltava Oblast, Ukraine. It served as the administrative center of Pyriatyn Raion until its abolishment in 2020. Population: History At the end of 1941 or beginning 1942, a ghetto guarded by policemen was establishe ...

Poltava Governorate Poltava Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. It was officially created in 1802 from the disbanded Little Russia Governorate (1796–1802), Little Russia Governorate and had its capital in Polt ...

, modern day

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

.Mokrytsky, Apollon
Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3. (1993) His early art education was completed at the Nizhyn Lyceum of Prince Bezborodko, under the supervision of Kapiton Pavlov. After this, he studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Art between 1830 and 1839, under

Alexey Venetsianov Alexey Gavrilovich Venetsianov (; – ) was a Russian painter, renowned for his paintings devoted to peasant life and ordinary people. Life Alexey Venetsianov was born into a merchant family, of Greek descent, in Moscow. He ente ...

and later with

Karl Briullov Karl Pavlovich Bryullov ( Bryullo; ; – ) was a Russian painter and draughtsman during the Romantic period, remembered among the greatest visual artists in the history of Russian art. Biography Karl Bryullov was born on 12 (23) December 179 ...

. A year after completing his studies, he worked in Ukraine and visited Italy. Around 1850, he was appointed "an academician of painting"''Spirit of Ukraine: 500 Years of Painting.'' Winnipeg Art Gallery. 1991, pg. 192 . at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. He preferred to work in portraiture, representing "the Biedermeier school of uncontrolled Realist art which exhibited romantic overtones". ''Artist's Wife'' is one example of this style. Others include portraits of

Yevhen Hrebinka Yevhen Pavlovych Hrebinka (; ; 2 February 1812 – 15 December 1848) was a Ukrainian romantic prose writer, poet, and philanthropist. He wrote in both the Ukrainian and Russian languages. He was an older brother of the architect . Life and car ...

(1840) and

Nikolai Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the Grotesque#In literature, grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works "The Nose (Gogol short story), ...

, a self-portrait (1840), and numerous Italian landscapes. He is known for the significant role he played in the life of

Taras Shevchenko Taras Hryhorovych Shevchenko (; ; 9 March 1814 – 10 March 1861) was a Ukrainian poet, writer, artist, public and political figure, folklorist, and ethnographer. He was a fellow of the Imperial Academy of Arts and a member of the Brotherhood o ...

, Ukraine's national poet and artist, who was born a

serf Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery. It developed du ...

. He introduced Shevchenko to the Russian and Ukrainian intelligentsia: artists Karl Briullov and Alexey Venetsianov, poet

Vasily Zhukovsky Vasily Andreyevich Zhukovsky (; – ) was the foremost Russian poet of the 1810s and a leading figure in Russian literature in the first half of the 19th century. He held a high position at the Romanov court as tutor to the Grand Duchess Alexan ...

, writer

, intellectuals

Panteleimon Kulish Panteleimon Oleksandrovych Kulish (; 7 August 1819 – 14 February 1897) was a Ukrainian writer, critic, poet, folklorist, and translator. Life Panteleimon Kulish was born 7 August 1819 in Voronizh (now Sumy Oblast) into an impoverished ...

Vasyl Hryhorovych The name Basil (''royal, kingly'') comes from the male Greek name Vassilios (, female version ), which first appeared during the Hellenistic period. It is derived from "basileus" (), a Greek word of pre-Hellenic origin, meaning "king", from whic ...

and others. These individuals became interested in Shevchenko's fate, and helped to secure his freedom from serfdom. Mokritsky left a diary (1975) which contains much material about Shevchenko. He died in Moscow in 1870, aged 60.

Characteristics of art

A skilful portrait painter, Mokritsky also painted landscapes. He enjoyed great popularity and had many commissions. His Italian portraits and landscapes sold well, eventually becoming exhibits in many Russian museums. Mokritsky's portrait work is an example of the representations and trends typical of sentimental-romantic artists. At the same time, his works are interesting because they contain some features of realism. At the same time, Mokritsky - one of the many artists of the XIX century, a creative formation of which to a great extent fell under the influence of academic formal art school. The gallery of portraits of his contemporaries -

Gogol Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol; ; (; () was a Russian novelist, short story writer, and playwright of Ukrainian origin. Gogol used the grotesque in his writings, for example, in his works " The Nose", " Viy", "The Overcoat", and " Nevsky Prosp ...

, Hrebinka, Koltsov and Kukolnik - are the best in the artist's artistic legacy.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mokritsky, Apollon 1810 births 1870 deaths Nizhyn Gogol State University alumni Realist painters 19th-century painters from the Russian Empire Male painters from the Russian Empire People from Pyriatyn 19th-century male artists from the Russian Empire Academic staff of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture Imperial Academy of Arts alumni