Silvestr Shchedrin (1791-1830)

ilvestr Shchedrin, the greatest Russian land­scape-painter of the early nineteenth century, was the most striking exponent of the realist aspirations of the time.

The Shchedrin family, like the Bryullov and Ivanov families, was a kind of artistic dynasty. Silvestr Shchedrin was born in St. Petersburg. His father, Feodosy, was a well-known sculptor, professor and assistant rector of the Academy of Arts. And his uncle Semyon, a professor of landscape-painting, gave the young Silvestr his first lessons. 'I remember being taken to the Hermitage by my uncle when I was still young', Shchedrin recalled later. 'I walked past most of the pictures and only stopped to look at Canaletto.'

Shchedrin's first successful art lessons in the family were soon backed up by training at the Academy. From 1800 his teachers were M. M. Ivanov, F. Ya. Alexeyev, whose main interest at that time was in painting views of St. Petersburg, and the architect Thomas de Thomon, who taught him the laws of perspective.

In 1811 Shchedrin graduated with a gold medal. His graduation piece was the landscape View from Petrovsky Island in St. Petersburg, which conformed totally to the classical spirit. However, the young artist's interest in depicting concrete, rather than 'invented', views soon as­serted itself in his first large-scale works: View of Tuchkov Bridge From Petrovsky Island (1815, TG) and View of the Stock Exchange From the Bank of the Neva (1817, RM).

In 1818 Shchedrin was among the first four pensioners to be sent to Italy. His travel notes and his letters home, written with gentle hu­mour, reveal the artist's lively mind and powers of observation.

Having settled in Rome, Shchedrin set about painting views of the city. He was attracted by the Colosseum, his approach to which was far from classic. 'The Colosseum,' Shchedrin wrote, 'ordered me to paint its portrait.' Contempora­ries noted that in this 'portrait of a building' the real-life 'model', with its powerful architectural forms and distinctive stonework, was excellent­ly conveyed.

In the picture New Rome. Holy Angel Castle (1825, TG) the artist reveals the beauty in simple and ordinary things. The grand structures of the Holy Angel Castle and St. Peter's Cathedral become part of the general city scene. Shchedrin tried to convey the play of light on the rocks and walls, on the greenery and the boats—light which united all these objects, sometimes making them shine or sparkle, sometimes concealing or em­phasising their contours. He softened the high­lights on the water and made the shadows trans­parent and airy. The buildings give the impres­sion of being wrapped in air. In this paint­ing Shchedrin passed from heavy, dark-brown shades to light silvery-greys. 'With great diffi­culty I have extricated myself from these dark shades,' he wrote to the sculptor S. Galberg.

In a small, iridescent landscape Lake Albano in the Outskirts of Rome (1823-24, RM), the water gleams with silver, while the verdure seems airy and suffused with pink sunlight. Light acts like a magician, transforming eve­rything. This painting is one of Shchedrin's ma­sterpieces.
The artist's seascapes are particularly poetic. He was enraptured by Naples and its surround­ings. On his first trip there from Rome, which lasted from June 1819 to the spring of 1821, Shchedrin lovingly described the colourful life on the seafronts, the merry-making and carni­vals, and the scenery of southern Italy . . .

'. . . Once again I am staying on the Santa Lu­cia Embankment—the best spot in the whole of Naples. The view from my window is magnifi­cent: Vesuvius a stone's throw away, the sea, mountains, picturesquely situated buildings, people constantly in motion, walking and work­ing—what better place for a landscape painter!'

In View of Naples (1819, TG) Shchedrin de­picted himself among the townsfolk on the busy embankment. The artist was often to be seen with the fishermen and peasants in the coastal villages. A jolly, sociable person, he was on amicable terms with the local population, and por­trayed them in numerous pictures.'. . . Within a few days I acquired a host of friends—farmers, retired soldiers and others . . . These people were so fond of me that having discovered when I usually arrived they came ahead of time not to miss me . . .'

At this time Shchedrin made friends with Karl Bryullov and Konstantin Batyushkov—it was with the latter that he stayed while in Naples. Together with Orest Kiprensky he began work on a portrait of A. M. Golitsyn.

Having ultimately settled in Naples in June 1825, Shchedrin undertook trips to Sorrento, Capri, Vigo and Amalfi. His landscapes and sea­scapes ranked among the finest plein air paint­ings anywhere at that time, especially the series which included On the Island of Capri (1826, TG), The Small Harbour at Sorrento (1826, TG) and The Large Harbour at Sorrento (1827, TG). Nature here accords with man, whose na­tural and contemplative life takes its course in the 'happy moments of being'.

The unusual composition of the seascapes (the closed line of the sea-shore) not only lends them an intimate, chamber-work quality, but al­so likens them to open loggias.

Arbour Covered with Vines (1828, TG) and Grotto at Sorrento (1829, TG) rely on the con­trasts between the shaded area and the sunlit open countryside. The midday sun penetrates the dense greenery of the olives and grapevi­nes, picking out the people's figures and patches of vegetation amid the shadow.

In his later period, Shchedrin moved away from chiaroscuro tonal painting in favour of heightened colour range, as is clearly illustrated by Small Harbour in Sorrento. Evening (1826, TG) and Moonlit Night at Naples (1828, TG).

Shchedrin gained popularity in Italy and his landscapes sold well. Meanwhile the dates of his stay abroad had long since expired. He was put off by the thought of a future in the formal at­mosphere of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. But he did not entirely abandon thoughts of returning home: 'I am most displeased by your advice not to go to Russia,' he wrote to S. Galberg.

Despite a serious, progressing illness, the ar­tist did not lose his joie de vivre and sense of humour. His last letters from Italy were full of hopes for a recovery and for a return home. But he never did return to his native country.

In October 1830 he died, and a monument by S. Galberg was erected on his grave in Sorrento.

Silvestr Shchedrin gave his own lyrical interpretation of the scenery of Italy—some­thing that eluded many of his contemporary Ita lians. His landscapes contained that poetic affir­mation of the beauty of simple things which was so characteristic of Russian portraiture and genre-painting of the first half of the nineteenth century.