Jan Chrucki (''Ivan Fomich Khrutsky'', ; ; 1810–1885) was a

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painter of

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descent known by his

still life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, human-m ...

s and portraits.

Biography

He was born into a

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Polish-Belarusian family descended from the

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally appointed by and ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. T ...

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in the village of

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Vitebsk Governorate Vitebsk Governorate (, ) was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with the seat of governorship in Vitebsk. It was established in 1802 by splitting Belarusian Governorate and existed until 1924. Today most ...

. His father Tomasz, like his relatives, was a Greek Catholic priest, his mother's name was Minadora (or Menodowa) Kuryłło. He was educated at the Piarist Lyceum in Polotsk, which had university rights, then in 1827 he went to

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. The city had a population of 5,601, ...

. He studied privately with George Dawe, then around 1830 entered the

Imperial 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 th ...

. There he established contacts with another Polish painter Jozef Oleszkiewicz, who introduced him to the Hermitage. His first known works are dated 1832. The paintings gradually gathered public and critical acclaim. Khrutsky also worked as an interior designer, and became a popular amongst the wealthy home owners. In 1836 he was awarded the ''Major Silver medal'' of the academy for his

still-life A still life (: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or human-made (drinking glasses, books, ...

s. Khrutsky also executed nice genre pictures and portraits. ''Old Woman Knitting a Sock'', brought him the Minor Gold medal of the academy. In 1839 he was awarded the title of the Academician. After his father's death in 1840 Khrutsky left St. Petersburg forever and settled in the family estate Zacharnicze (Zakharenichi, Zacharniczy),

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region. This period was one of commissioned religious art, mostly from

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

. He spent a lot of time in Vilnius, where he made several works from nature on the orders of Jan Kazimierz Wilczyński for the "Album Wileńskie". Besides religious paintings he also worked on portraits, such as I.I. Glazunov's, 's, 's and others. He died in his estate in Zacharnicze in 1885.

Family

In 1845 he married Anna Odrowąż-Bębnowska (b. 1822), daughter of Ksawery, captain in the

Kościuszko Uprising The Kościuszko Uprising, also known as the Polish Uprising of 1794, Second Polish War, Polish Campaign of 1794, and the Polish Revolution of 1794, was an uprising against the Russian and Prussian influence on the Polish–Lithuanian Common ...

of 1794. With her he had a daughter, Maria, and a son, Józef (d. 1918), who inherited the family estate. Two of Chrucki's brothers were also painters. The younger Andrzej - from 1845 a free student of St. Petersburg Academy of Fine Arts, who in 1854 was awarded the title "unclassified painter", from 1870, lived with his brother's family in Zacharnicze. Older brother Eustachy, a portrait painter, who graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in 1842, also with the title of "unclassified painter", settled down in St. Petersburg.

Selected paintings

File:Vilnia, Kalvaryja. Вільня, Кальварыя (J. Chrucki, 1844-49).jpg,

Verkiai Calvary Verkiai Calvary or Vilnius Calvary is the second oldest Calvary (sanctuary), calvary in Lithuania after Žemaičių Kalvarija. It is located in Verkiai, a neighborhood of Vilnius, capital of Lithuania. The calvary was built in 1662–1669 as a ...

File:Хруцкий В комнате(1854).jpg, In the Room File:Mikałaj Malinoŭski. Мікалай Маліноўскі (J. Chrucki, 1847).jpg, Portrait of historian and journalist Mikołaj Malinowski (1799-1865) File:Jan Chrucki. Naturmort z hrybami, 1842.jpg, Still life with Mushrooms

References

Sources

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External links

Works from Olga's GalleryBiography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chrucki, Jan 1810 births 1885 deaths People from Beshankovichy district People from Lepelsky Uyezd 19th-century male artists from the Russian Empire Painters from the Russian Empire