Путевые заметки... художницы... Виже-Лебрён

    

... путевые заметки французской художницы Мари Элизабет Луизы Виже-Лебрён

                http://www.stihi.ru/2015/10/18/10526

... просто языки бывают очень и очень разные  )))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))))




“The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat.”


         = Confucius




         Рука другая. Мне 
         не нужно другой. 

         Агустин ЭСПИНОСА   




Serial Self-Portraits in the Work of Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun
 
Kathleen Russo, Phd, Florida Atlantic University

Presented in 1996, Amsterdam

http://www.batguano.com/vigeesppaper.html   



...вчера я рассматривал книгу с репродукциями картин из Лондонской национальной галереи  ...и случайно узнал о том, что эта талантливая французская художница не только побывала в России, но и оставила интересные путевые заметки  ...этой книги у меня пока нет  ...но обязательно куплю и напишу отзыв

//  to  be continued



«Пока недремлющий брегет не прозвонит ему обед»

В 1775 году часовщик Абрахам-Луи Бреге открыл на набережной Ке де л’Орлож в Париже свою первую мастерскую. В этом году знаменитая марка часов Breguet отмечает 240-летие. История марки, поклонниками которой были Наполеон Бонапарт, Уинстон Черчилль и Евгений Онегин, — в фотогалерее «Ъ».

http://kommersant.ru/gallery/2832722

Очередную революцию в часовом искусстве Бреге совершил в 1812 году, когда в его мастерской закончилась работа над первыми наручными часами. По заказу королевы Неаполя Каролины Мюрат, самой младшей сестры Наполеона Бонопарта, Бреге создал сверхтонкие для того времени часы с термометром и посадил их на браслет из золотых нитей. К сожалению, уникальные часы не сохранились, и единственное напоминание о них — записи в архивах дома Breguet 

Каролина Бонапарт вместе с дочерью, Мари Виже-Лебрён, 1807 год.



некоторые мои стихи =э т о= истории в картин-
ках понятные только моим близким & друзьям
-=-
... прошу прощения у случайных читателей )))



Воспоминания г-жи Виже-Лебрён о пребывании её в Санкт-Петербурге и Москве. 1795-1801.

Мемуары знаменитой французской художницы Элизабет Виже-Лебрен освещают период ее творческой деятельности в России. Будучи модной в Европе портретисткой, она была принята в высших кругах русского общества и имела возможность познакомиться со многими выдающимися людьми своего времени - императрицей Екатериной II, Павлом I и Александром I, князьями Голицыными, Долгорукими, Безбородко, Куракиными и др. Ее тонкие и остроумные наблюдения передают повседневную жизнь Петербурга и Москвы, обычаи, нравы, характеры как великосветской знати, так и простых людей. Текст дополнен подробными историко-библиографическими комментариями и иллюстрирован репродукциями работ художницы.

Книга представит интерес для историков, искусствоведов, любителей мемуарной литературы.

http://www.ozon.ru/context/detail/id/1931660/


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Англоязычное издание мемуаров: 



-=-

 
Воспоминания г-жи Виже-Лебрён о пребывании её в Санкт-Петербурге и Москве.

http://hda.org.ru/quotes/168


В то время российский двор мог похвалиться таким количеством прелестных женщин, что балы у императрицы являли собой воистину восхитительное зрелище. Мне посчастливилось быть на самом великолепном из них. Императрица в парадном платье сидела в глубине зала, окруженная первейшими персонами двора. Рядом с нею стояли великая княгиня Мария Федоровна, Павел, Александр, как всегда великолепный, и Константин. Открытая балюстрада отделяла их от галереи для танцев. Танцевали только полонезы, в коих и я приняла тоже участие, сделав тур по залу с молодым князем Барятинским, после чего села на банкетку, чтобы лучше рассмотреть танцующих. Трудно даже представить количество красивых женщин, двигавшихся мимо меня, но нельзя не упомянуть о том, что всех оных превосходили принцессы императорской фамилии.

Цитату подобрал(а) Соленикова Евгения

 
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Мари Элизабет Луиза Виже-Лебрён (фр. Elisabeth-Louise Vigee-Le Brun, урождённая Виже, Лебрён по мужу; 16 апреля 1755, Париж — 30 марта 1842, там же) — французская художница.

БИОГРАФИЯ

Первые уроки живописи получила у своего отца, затем пользовалась консультациями Жана Батиста Грёза, Жозефа Верне, Габриэля Франсуа Дуайена и других мастеров. Уже в конце 1760-х гг. Виже рисовала вполне профессионально: косвенным свидетельством её успеха может служить то, что её мастерская была формально закрыта властями за отсутствие у юной художницы патента.

В 1770-х годах родители Виже обосновалась в доме на парижской улице Сент-Оноре, напротив дворца Пале-Рояль, и к 15-летней профессиональной художнице заказы потекли рекою. В тот период Виже находилась под покровительством двух богатейших дам Парижа: мадам де Верден, супругигенерального откупщика, и, что более важно, принцессы Марии-Аделаиды де Бурбон-Пентьевр, супруги герцога Шартрского, которая была на 2 года старше юной художницы. Виже часто отклоняла заказы портретов от поклонников, которые таким способом пытались найти повод для встречи. Выйдя из семьи мелкой буржуазии, Виже заняла место среди влиятельных аристократов французского королевства, в числе которых был король и его братья и сёстры, а также королева и видные члены королевской семьи; их объединяла принадлежность к одному поколению.

В 1776 г. Виже вышла замуж за Жана Батиста Пьера Лебрена, художника и, в большей степени, торговца живописью. Связи мужа усилили популярность юной художницы-портретистки в среде французской знати, и в конце концов Виже-Лебрен была приглашена в Версаль рисовать королеву. Мария Антуанетта очень высоко оценила работу художницы и засыпала её дополнительными заказами, а в 1783 г. оказала, со своей стороны, определённое давление на французский художественный истеблишмент с тем, чтобы Виже-Лебрён была благополучно избрана в члены Королевской академии живописи и скульптуры.

C 1780-х гг. Виже-Лебрен много ездила по Европе (часто вместе с мужем), работая в разных странах. В этих поездках ею были написаны портреты многих царственных особ, государственных деятелей и иных заметных фигур: так, в Голландии Виже-Лебрен писала будущего короля Виллема I, в России в 1795—1799 гг. — последнего польского короля Станислава Понятовского, великую княгиню Анну Федоровну (жену великого князя Константина Павловича) и других членов императорского семейства. В различных странах Виже-Лебрён также избиралась в местные Академии художеств.

Переждав таким образом Великую Французскую революцию, Виже-Лебрен вернулась во Францию по приглашению Наполеона и до 1814 г. жила, главным образом, в своём поместье в Лувесьене, а когда с наступлением войск союзников на Париж поместье было занято прусской армией, вернулась в Париж. Виже-Лебрён оставила пространные мемуары, опубликованные во Франции в 1835—1837 гг., российская часть которых «Воспоминания г-жи Виже-Лебрен о пребывании ее в Санкт-Петербурге и Москве, 1795—1801: С приложением ее писем к княгине Куракиной» переведена и опубликована по-русски (СПб.: Искусство-СПб., 2004. — 298 с.).

Виже-Лебрен оставила 660 портретов и около 200 пейзажей. Манера письма её ясная и точная, едва ли не наибольшей живостью отличаются автопортреты, которые она писала много и охотно.

Wikipedia


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ЗОВ

Я - родина их предков,
Во мне их покой и твердь,
Я призову их обратно
До того, как нагрянет смерть.

Под их ногами в травах -
Волшебная песнь моя.
Вернутся они как чужие,
Останутся как сыновья.

В ветвях вековых деревьев,
Где простерлась отныне их власть,
Сплетаю им заклятье -
К моим ногам припасть.

Вечерний запах дыма
И запах дождя ночной
Часами, днями, годами
Колдуют над их душой,-

Пусть поймут, что я существую
Тысячу лет подряд.
Я наполню познаньем их сердце,
Я наполню слезами их взгляд.



Редьярд КИПЛИНГ
Rudyard KIPLING



THE RECALL

I AM the land of their fathers.
In me the virtue stays.
I will bring back my children,
After certain days.

Under their feet in the grasses
My clinging magic runs.
They shall return as strangers.
They shall remain as sons.

Over their heads in the branches
Of their new-bought, ancient trees,
I weave an incantation
And draw them to my knees.

Scent of smoke in the evening,
Smell of rain in the night -
The hours, the days and the seasons,
Order their souls aright,

Till I make plain the meaning
Of all my thousand years -
Till I fill their hearts with knowledge,
While I fill their eyes with tears.




CHAPTER VII
SAINT PETERSBURG

ARRIVAL AT ST. PETERSBURG – THE BEAUTIFUL GRAND-DUCHESS ELISABETH – CATHERINE II. RECEIVES MME. LEBRUN – AND IS MOST GRACIOUS – PETTY COURT INTRIGUES – A VISIT TO COUNT STROGONOFF – HOSPITALITY OF THE RUSSIANS – AN AMBASSADOR AS GARDENER – PRINCESS DOLGORUKI AND HER HIDEOUS ADMIRER – THE EXTRAVAGANCES OF POTEMKIN – HIS END.

I ENTERED St. Petersburg on the 25th of July, 1795, by the road from Peterhoff, which gave me a favourable idea of the city, for this road is lined on both sides by delightful country houses, with gardens of the best taste in the English style. Their residents have taken advantage of the soil, which is very marshy, to adorn the gardens – where there are kiosks and pretty bridges – by canals and little streams. But it is a pity that a dreadful dampness spoils this pleasant scene of an evening; even before sunset such a fog rises over the road that one seems to be enveloped in thick, dark smoke.

Magnificent as I had conceived the city to be, I was enchanted by the aspect of its monuments, its handsome mansions, and its broad streets, one of which, called the Prospekt, is a mile long. The Neva, clear and limpid, cuts through the town, laden with vessels and barks unceasingly moving up and down, and this greatly adds to the liveliness of the town. The quays of the Neva are of granite, like those of the large canals dug through the town by Catherine. On one bank of the river are splendid edifices: the Academy of Arts, the Academy of Sciences and a number of others are reflected in the Neva. There was no grander sight on a moonlight night, I was told, than the bulk of those majestic piles, resembling ancient temples. Altogether, St. Petersburg took me back to the times of Agamemnon, partly through the grandeur of the buildings and partly through the popular garb, which reminded me of the dress of antiquity.

Though I have just spoken of moonlight, I was unable to enjoy it at the time of my arrival, for in the month of July there is not a single hour of actual darkness in St. Petersburg. The sun sets at about half-past ten, and it is merely dusk until twilight, which begins half an hour after midnight, so that one can always see plainly. I have often supped at eleven o'clock by daylight.

My first care was to take a good rest, for, after Riga, the roads had been most horrible. Large stones, one on top of the other, gave my carriage, which was one of the roughest in the world, a violent shock at every moment. And the inns being so bad as to exclude every possibility of staying at them, we had jolted and jerked on to St. Petersburg without a stop.

I was far from recovered from all my fatigue – since the term of my residence in St. Petersburg had been only twenty-four hours – when a visitor was announced in the person of the French Ambassador, Count Esterhazy. He congratulated me on my arrival at St. Petersburg, telling me that he was about to inform the Empress of it and at the same time to take her orders for my presentation. Very little later I received a visit from the Count de Choiseul-Gouffier. While conversing with him I confessed what happiness it would give me to see the great Catherine, but I did not dissemble the fright and embarrassment I expected to undergo when I should be presented to that powerful Princess. "You will find it quite easy," he replied. "When you see the Empress you will be surprised at her good nature; she is really an excellent woman." I acknowledge that I was astonished by his remark, the justice of which I could scarcely believe, in view of what I had heard up to that time. It is true that the Prince de Ligne, during the charming narration of his journey in the Crimea, had recounted several facts proving that this great Princess had manners that were as gracious as they were simple, but an excellent woman was hardly the thing to call her.

However, the same evening Count Esterhazy, on returning from Czarskoiesielo, where the Empress was living, came to tell me that Her Majesty would receive me the next day at one o'clock. Such a quick presentation, which I had not hoped for, put me into a very awkward position. I had nothing but very plain muslin dresses, as I usually wore no others, and it was impossible to have an ornamental gown made from one day to the next, even at St. Petersburg. Count Esterhazy had said he would call for me at ten o'clock precisely and take me to breakfast with his wife, who also lived at Czarskoiesielo, so that when the appointed hour struck I started with serious apprehensions about my dress, which certainly was no court dress. On arriving at Mme. d'Esterhazy's, I, in fact, took note of her amazement. Her obliging civility did not prevent her from asking me, "Have you not brought another gown?" I turned crimson at her question, and explained how time had been wanting to have a more suitable gown made. Her displeased looks increased my anxiety to such a degree that I needed to summon up all my courage when the moment came to go before the Empress.

The Count gave me his arm, and we were walking across a portion of the park, when, at a ground-floor window, I espied a young person who was watering a pot of pansies. She was seventeen years old at most; her features were well formed and regular, her face a perfect oval; her fine complexion was not bright, but was of a paleness completely in harmony with the expression of her countenance, whose sweetness was angelic. Her fair hair floated over her neck and forehead. She was clad in a white tunic, a carelessly knotted girdle surrounding a waist as slender and supple as a nymph's. As I have described her, so ravishingly did this young person stand out against the background of her apartment, adorned with pillars and draped in pink and silver gauze, that I exclaimed, "That is Psyche!" It was Princess Elisabeth, the wife of Alexander. She addressed me, and kept me long enough to tell me a thousand flattering things. She then added, "We have wanted you here for a long time, Mme. Lebrun – so much so that I have sometimes dreamed you had already come." I parted from her with regret, and have always preserved a memory of that charming vision.

A few minutes later I was alone with the autocrat of all the Russias. The Ambassador had told me I must kiss her hand, in accordance with which custom she drew off one of her gloves, and this ought to have reminded me what to do. But I forgot all about it. The truth is, that the sight of this famous woman made such an impression upon me that I could not possibly think of anything else but to look at her. I was at first extremely surprised to find her short; I had imagined her a great height – something like her renown. She was very stout, but still had a handsome face, which her white hair framed to perfection. Genius seemed to have its seat on her broad, high forehead. Her eyes were soft and small, her nose was quite Greek, her complexion lively, and her features very mobile. She at once said in a voice that was soft though rather thick: "I am delighted, madame, to see you here; your reputation had preceded you. I am fond of the arts and especially of painting. I am not an adept, but a fancier." Everything else she said during this interview, which was rather long, in reference to her wish that I might like Russia well enough to remain a long time, bore the stamp of such great amiability that my shyness vanished, and by the time I took leave of Her Majesty I was entirely reassured. Only I could not forgive myself for not having kissed her hand, which was very beautiful and very white, and I deplored that oversight the more as Count Esterhazy reproached me with it. As for what I was wearing, she did not seem to have paid the least attention to it. Or else perhaps she may have been easier to please than our Ambassadress.

I went over part of the gardens at Czarskoiesielo, which are a veritable little fairyland. The Empress had a terrace from them communicating with her apartment, and on this terrace she kept a large number of birds. I was told that every morning she went out to feed them, and that this was one of her chief pleasures.

Directly after my audience Her Majesty testified her wish to have me spend the summer in that beautiful region. She commanded her stewards, of whom the old Prince Bariatinski was one, to give me an apartment in the castle, as she desired to have me near her, so that she might see me paint. But I afterward found out that these gentlemen took no pains to put me near the Empress, and that in spite of her repeated orders they always maintained that they had no lodgings at their disposal. What astonished me most of all, when I was informed of this matter, was that these courtiers, suspecting me to belong to the party of the Count d'Artois, were afraid lest I had come to get Esterhazy replaced by another Ambassador. It is probable that the Count was in connivance with them about all this, but anybody was surely little acquainted with me who did not know that I was too busy with my art to give any time to politics, even if I had not always felt an aversion to everything smacking of intrigue. Moreover, aside from the honour of being lodged with the Empress and the pleasure of inhabiting such a fine place, everything would have been stiff and irksome for me at Czarskoiesielo. I have always had the greatest need to enjoy my liberty, and, for the sake of following my own inclination, I have always infinitely preferred living in my own house.

Moreover, the reception I met with in Russia was well calculated to console me for a petty court intrigue. I cannot say how eagerly and with what kind-hearted affability a stranger is sought after in this country, especially if possessing some talent. My letters of introduction became quite superfluous; not only was I at once invited to live with the best and pleasantest families, but I found several former acquaintances in St. Petersburg, and even some old friends. First, there was Count Strogonoff, a true lover of the arts, whose portrait I had painted at Paris in my early youth. It was to us both an extreme pleasure to meet once more. He owned a splendid collection of pictures in St. Petersburg, and near the town, at Kaminostroff, a delightful Italian villa, where he gave a great dinner every Sunday. He called for me to take me there, and I was enraptured with the place. The villa stood by the high road, and its windows overlooked the Neva. The garden, whose boundaries were immense, was laid out in the English manner. A number of boats arrived from all directions, bringing visitors to Count Strogonoff's, for a number of people who were not invited to dinner came to walk in the park. The Count also allowed merchants to set up their stalls there, so that this beautiful place was enlivened with an amusing fair, especially as the costumes of the different neighbouring districts were picturesque and varied.

About three o'clock we went up on a covered terrace lined with pillars, bright daylight falling between them from every side. On one hand we enjoyed the view of the park, and on the other that of the Neva, covered with a thousand boats. The weather was the finest in the world, for the summers are splendid in Russia, a country that in July I have often found hotter than Italy. We dined on this same terrace, and the dinner was magnificent; at dessert gorgeous fruits were served, and remarkably fine melons, which seemed to me a great luxury. As soon as we sat down at table delightful instrumental music was heard, and continued throughout the dinner. The overture to "Iphigenia" was executed entrancingly. I was greatly surprised when Count Strogonoff informed me that each of the musicians played but one note; it was impossible for me to conceive how all these individual sounds could form into such a perfect whole, and how any expression could grow out of such a mechanical performance.

. . . . . . .


Англоязычное издание мемуаров:  

http://digital.library.upenn.edu/women/lebrun/ memoirs/memoirs.html