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Oil paintings by Levitzky, Dmitry (Russian, 1735) |
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| Levitzky, Dmitry (Russian, 1735) |
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| Biography: |
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Dmitry Grigorievich Levitzky is, without doubt, the leading Russian painter of the latter half of the 18th Century, as well as the first Russian painter to paint at the level of contemporary Western European masters. Levitzky specialized in the art of the portrait, which was in great demand in Russian high society at the time, as it sought to emulate its counterparts in the rest of Europe. He is the most universal of his contemporaries, both in terms of subjects -- ranging from the serf Nikifor Sezemov to the Empress Catherine II, the Great, herself -- and in terms of composition. His works are characterized by a unique style that set him apart from other Russian painters of the period. The manner in which he imbued his portraits with finely expressed emotions is, in some ways, far ahead of his time. Levitzky is sometimes known in the West as "the Russian Gainsborough."
Levitzky was probably born in Kiev, in the middle of May, 1735. There is no record of his exact birth date, but a church record from 1754 notes that Dmitry was 19 at the time. His birthday is believed to have been somewhere between May 13 and May 17 (Old Style; May 26 and May 30 New Style). His father was Grigory Levizky-Nos, a priest in the village of Mayachky and a prominent engraver. It was his engraving work that caused him to spend much time in Kiev. It was he who first taught the young Dmitry art.
Between 1752 and 1755, Aleksey Antropov, one of the most significant Russian painters of the time, was working in Kiev on a commission to paint frescoes and iconostases in the Kiev Cathedral of St. Andrew, and it was probably during this period that he first met Levitzky. The young painter followed his teacher to St. Petersburg, and a record from 1758 lists him as one of Antropov's pupils and a resident in Antropov's household. He stayed with his teacher until at least 1764.
During this time, he probably attended the lessons of Jean Louis Lagren¨Ĥe, a tutor at the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg, though he was never officially enrolled at the Academy. Giuseppe Valeriani is often suggested to be another of Levitzky's teachers.
As part of his apprenticeship to Antropov, Levitzky took part in the decoration of two of triumphal arches in Moscow, which had been constructed for the coronation of Catherine II. The work included icons, allegorical paintings and eight portraits. In 1766, he was commissioned to paint a large number of icons for three newly-built churches in Moscow. Unfortunately, none of these works survived to modern times.
In 1770, Levitzky first became famous as a portrait painter after the exhibition of 6 of his portraits at the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. For the Portrait of Alexander Kokorinov (1769) he was given the rank.... |
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