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Ivan Argunov

Anton Losenko
Anton Pavlovich Losenko (Cyrillic Антон Павлович Лосенко) ( - ) was a Ukrainian-Russian Neoclassical painter who specialized in historical subjects and portraits.
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Elizabeth of Russia
Elizaveta Petrovna () ( – ), also known as Yelisavet and Elizabeth, was the Empress of Russia (1741–1762) who took the country into the War of Austrian Succession (1740–1748) and the Seven Years' War (1756–1763). On the eve of her death in 1762, the Russian empire spanned almost 4 billion acres (more than 16 million square kilometres).
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Fyodor Rokotov
Fyodor Stepanovich Rokotov (Fedor Rokotov) () (1736–December 24, 1808) was a distinguished Russian painter who specialized in portraits.
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Kalmyk people
Kalmyk people or Kalmyks (Kalmyk: Хальмгуд; "Kalmyk" is alternatively translated as "Kalmuck," "Kalmuk," or "Kalmyki") is the name given to western Mongolic people - Oirats, whose descendants migrated from Dzhungaria in the seventeenth century. Today they form a majority in the autonomous Republic of Kalmykia on the western shore of the Caspian Sea. Through emigration, small Kalmyk communities have been established in the United States, France, Germany, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic.
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Catherine Palace
:For the eponymous palace in Moscow see Catherine Palace (Moscow)
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Germany
Germany (), officially the Federal Republic of Germany (, ), is a country in Western Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium, and the Netherlands. The territory of Germany covers 357.021 km2 and is influenced by a temperate seasonal climate. With 81.8 million inhabitants, it is the most populous member state of the European Union, and home to the third-largest number of international migrants worldwide.
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Moscow
Moscow ( or ; ; see also ) is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the world, a global city. Moscow is the most populous city on the continent of Europe and the seventh largest city proper in the world, a megacity. The population of Moscow (as of 1 January 2010) is 10,563,038.
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Russia
Russia (; ), also officially known as the Russian Federation (), is a state in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects. From northwest to southeast, Russia shares borders with Norway, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland (both via Kaliningrad Oblast), Belarus, Ukraine, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, the People's Republic of China, Mongolia, and North Korea. It also has maritime borders with Japan by the Sea of Okhotsk and the United States by the Bering Strait. At , Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than a ninth of the Earth's land area. Russia is also the ninth most populous nation with 142 million people. It extends across the whole of northern Asia and 40% of Europe, spanning 9 time zones and incorporating a wide range of environments and landforms. Russia has the world's largest reserves of mineral and energy resources. It has the world's largest forest reserves and its lakes contain approximately one-quarter of the world's fresh water.
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Tsarskoe Selo
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Ivan Argunov

Ivan Petrovich Argunov () (1727–1802) was a Russian painter, one of the founders of the Russian school of portrait painting.

He was a serf belonging to Count Sheremetev and had grown in the family of his uncle, Semyon Mikhaylovich Argunov, who was a steward of princess Cherkassky and later a major-domo for count Sheremetev. For many years Semyon managed Sheremetev's house on Millionnaya street in Saint-Petersburg, the house where Ivan grew up.

In 1746–1749 Ivan Argunov studied painting with a German artist named Georg Grooth who at the time was in employ of the Emperess Elizabeth of Russia. Ivan also got lessons from his cousins Fedor Leontyevich Argunov and Fedor Semenovich Argunov, painters working in Saint-Petersburg on decorating the Imperial residences. Argunov's first works were icons for the Palace Church in Great Tsarskoe Selo Palace (1753) and for the New Jerusalem Monastery (1749). At that time he also created his only known historical painting Dying Cleopatra. His earliest known portraits were of Prince Ivan Ivanovich Lobanov-Rostovsky (1752) and Princess Ekaterina Alexandrovna Lobanova-Rostovskaya (1754). There can be seen the old traditions of traditional Russian Parsuna art mixed with the new Baroque influence.

In 1760s Argunov was in his prime. He created many beautiful parade and psychological portraits and icons. Among his subjects were Russian royalty and of course Argunov's masters Sheremetevs as well as their relatives Lazarevs and counts Tolstoy. He was one of the creators of the genre of posthumous portraits, painting many dead Sheremetevs.

In 1770 Argunov became the majordomo for the Sheremtev's house on Millionnaya street, then the majordomo of the Moscow house of Sheremetevs, then one of the stewards for their estates (chlen krepostnoj kollegii grafov Sheremetevs). He painted much less but it was in that time (1784) he created his masterpiece The Portrait of an Unknown Peasant. The identity of the sitter for the painting remains uncertain, whilst studies have suggested that she was the serf actress and singer of counts Sheremetevs, Anna Kovalyova-Zhemchugova, it has equally been supposed that it was not in fact an official portrait of her, but rather an image of an unidentified wet nurse, taken from amoungst the Seremetevs' serfs. Between the second half of 1780s until his death in 1802 Argunov did not paint but spent all his time managing different estates and businesses of Sheremetevs.

Argunov was an important teacher of art. He taught painting classes beginning in 1753 — before the opening of the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1757. Among his students were Anton Losenko, Fyodor Rokotov, Golovachevsky and Sablukov — all four future teachers of the Academy. Argunov's sons were also his pupils. Two of them: (Nikolay Argunov and Yakov Argunov) became painters, while the third (Pavel Argunov) became an architect.

References and links

Russian Portrait [sic] of the 18th and 19th century (exhibition catalog). Moscow, 1976.

Natalia Presnova All Argunovs Biography and works

Artvibrations Archive: http://www.artvibrations.com/IvanPetrovichArgunov

References

Category:Russian painters Category:Russian artists Category:Russian serfs Category:1727 births Category:1802 deaths Category:People from Saint Petersburg

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