Leonid Ivanovich Solomatkin (Russian: Леонид Иванович Соломаткин; 1837,

Sudzha Sudzha (, ) is a town and the administrative center of Sudzhansky District in Kursk Oblast, Russia, located on the Sudzha and Oleshnya rivers southwest of Kursk, the administrative center of the oblast. It has a population of 5,127 people. ...

– 18 June 1883,

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg, formerly known as Petrograd and later Leningrad, is the List of cities and towns in Russia by population, second-largest city in Russia after Moscow. It is situated on the Neva, River Neva, at the head of the Gulf of Finland ...

) was a Russian

genre Genre () is any style or form of communication in any mode (written, spoken, digital, artistic, etc.) with socially agreed-upon conventions developed over time. In popular usage, it normally describes a category of literature, music, or other fo ...

painter in the Realistic style.

Biography

He was born to a poor family and orphaned at an early age. At first, he worked as a shepherd, then as an icon seller. For several years he worked as a

chumak Chumak () was a historical and traditional wagon-based trade , trading occupation in Ukraine in the Late Middle Ages, late Medieval and Early modern period , early Modern periods of history.Proskurova, S. Chumak-occupation (ЧУМАЦТВО)'. E ...

, travelling from village to village, making sketches of the interesting people he saw along the way.Brief biography
@ RusArtNet. With a bundle of those sketches in hand, he went to Moscow and presented them to Nikolai Ramazanov, a sculptor, teacher and art critic who was known for his willingness to support young artists. Ramazanov was sufficiently impressed to take him into his home.Brief biography
@ Russian Paintings. (with more of his works) In 1855, Ramazanov obtained him a place at the

Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture The Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (), also known by the acronym MUZHVZ, was one of the largest educational institutions in Russia. The school was formed by the 1865 merger of a private art college, established in Moscow ...

, where he worked until 1860 while studying with Apollon Mokritsky. From 1861 to 1866, he became a "volunteer apprentice" at 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 ...

in Saint Petersburg. While there, he studied the

Dutch Masters Dutch Golden Age painting is the painting of the Dutch Golden Age, a period in Dutch history roughly spanning the 17th century, during and after the later part of the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) for Dutch independence. The new Dutch Republi ...

at the Hermitage and was influenced by the works of

Pavel Fedotov Pavel Andreyevich Fedotov (Russian: Павел Андреевич Федотов; 4 July 1815 - 26 November 1852) was an amateur Russian painter. He was only 37 years old when he died in a mental clinic. He has been compared to William Hogarth. B ...

. He abandoned his studies after being named an "Artist, Third-Degree". His paintings mostly dealt with the lives of ordinary people. Perhaps his most popular painting was one of ostentatiously pious policemen who went to the house of a merchant at Christmas to "glorify Christ" and get a tip. It was copied and reproduced many times, by himself and others, although the original has been lost. In fact, he often made several copies of his paintings (with variations), and most of them were small, to make this easier. He never held any formal exhibitions after leaving the Academy. Despite some successes, he became an alcoholic, lived in poverty and was often homeless. He died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

in a hospital for the poor at the age of forty-six.

Selected paintings

File:Соломаткин Пирушка.jpg, Bachelor Party File:Соломаткин Масленица 1878.jpg,

Maslenitsa Maslenitsa (; ; ; ), also known as Butter Lady, Butter Week, Crepe week, or Cheesefare Week, is an Eastern Slavic religious and folk holiday which has retained a number of elements of Slavic mythology in its ritual. It is celebrated during the ...

File:Соломаткин Славильщики-городовые 1872.jpg, "The Glorifying Policemen"
(rough translation), often called "Christmas Chorus" File:Нужда-скачет Соломаткин.jpg, Dancing for Money

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Solomatkin, Leonid 19th-century painters from the Russian Empire Male painters from the Russian Empire Genre painters from the Russian Empire 1837 births 1883 deaths People from Sudzhansky District 19th-century deaths from tuberculosis 19th-century male artists from the Russian Empire Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture alumni Imperial Academy of Arts alumni

Biography

Selected paintings

References

Further reading

External links