Madonna Benoit description. The story of one painting

Leonardo da Vinci is the most prominent exponent of the aspirations and ideals of the Renaissance. A multi-talented person, he showed his talent not only in art, but also in many areas of science. Having absorbed the best achievements of the culture of the early Renaissance, summarizing the experience of artists of the 15th century, Leonardo pointed out with his creativity further path development of art. From peculiar early Renaissance Using an analytical approach to the study of nature, he moved on to synthesizing the knowledge accumulated by mankind about the world around him. Leonardo's art revealed features that became characteristic of High Renaissance: creating a generalized image of a person, building a monolithic composition, freed from excessive detail; harmonious connection between the individual elements of the picture. The artist's greatest achievement was the use of chiaroscuro to soften contours and to generalize shapes and colors. He did a lot for the development of portrait and landscape painting.

Few works by Leonardo da Vinci have survived to this day; there are less than a dozen of his works in the world. Some remained unfinished, others were completed by his students. The Hermitage collection contains two of his works: “Madonna with a Flower (Benois Madonna)” and “Madonna Litta”.

A small canvas "Madonna with a Flower", or, as it is often called, "Benois Madonna" is one of early works Leonardo da Vinci. He made a series of sketches preparatory drawings to this composition. A note from the artist himself has been preserved, from which it is clear that he began painting the picture in October 1478 at the age of twenty-six. Abandoning the traditional appearance of the Madonna, Leonardo depicted her as very young, admiring the Child with a tender smile. The artist’s life observations are undoubtedly felt in the picture. The strictly thought-out composition is simple and extremely generalized. Mother and child are united into an inseparable group. The work uses the rich possibilities of chiaroscuro to sculpt forms, to give them special volume and expressiveness. The subtlety of the light-and-shadow transitions produces an effect characteristic of Leonardo’s works, when the entire image seems shrouded in an airy haze.

The high pictorial merits of the “Benois Madonna” allow us to judge the great skill that the artist possessed in his young years. Leonardo's painting surprises with its apparent lightness, behind which is hidden thoughtfulness. the smallest details. It is known that the master took a long time to create each of his works, sometimes forcing customers to wait several years for the paintings they ordered.

"Madonna Benois" as a work by Leonardo became known only in our century. IN early XIX century, it was sold in Astrakhan to one of the Russian collectors by a traveling Italian musician. It then belonged to the Benois family (whose name is preserved in the title of the painting). People first started talking about this work in 1908, when it was exhibited at an exhibition organized by the magazine "Old Years". Soon the painting was almost unanimously recognized as the work of Leonardo da Vinci, and in 1914 it took pride of place in the Hermitage collection.

"Madonna Benoit" or "Madonna with a Flower"(-) - an early painting by Leonardo da Vinci, presumably left unfinished. In 1914, it was acquired by the Imperial Hermitage from Maria Alexandrovna, the wife of the court architect Leonty Nikolaevich Benois.

The public wanted the painting to remain in Russia. M.A. Benoit wanted the same thing, and therefore lost “Madonna” for 150 thousand rubles. The amount was paid in installments, and the last payments were made after the October Revolution.

M.A. Benois, nee Sapozhnikova, the painting was inherited. There was a legend in the family that the painting was bought from wandering Italian musicians in Astrakhan. There was no other information about the fate of the painting at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1908, E. C. Lipgart wrote:

A few years later he corrected himself:

This version was widely reproduced by other authors. It was often added, without any reference to sources, that the work was once in the collection of Counts Konovnitsyn.

Description

“Madonna with a Flower” is one of the first works of the young Leonardo. The Uffizi Gallery in Florence contains a drawing with the following entry:

One of them is believed to be the "Benois Madonna" and the second the "Madonna of the Carnation" from Munich.

It is likely that both paintings were Leonardo's first works as an independent painter. At that time he was only 26 years old and it had already been six years since he left the workshop of his teacher Andrea Verrocchio. He already had his own style, but, of course, he relied heavily on the experience of the Florentines of the 15th century. There is also no doubt that Leonardo knew about the painting “Madonna and Child”, executed by his teacher in -1470. As a consequence, for both pictures general features are both the three-quarter rotation of the bodies and the similarity of the images: the youth of both Madonnas and the large heads of the Babies.

Da Vinci places the Madonna and Child in a dimly lit room, where the only source light is provided by a double window located in the depths. Its greenish light cannot dispel the twilight, but at the same time is sufficient to highlight the figure of the Madonna and the young Christ. The main “work” is done by the light pouring from the top left. Thanks to him, the master manages to enliven the picture with the play of chiaroscuro and sculpt the volume of two figures.

In his work on Benoit's Madonna, Leonardo used the technique oil painting, which practically no one knew in Florence before. And although the colors inevitably changed over five centuries, becoming less bright, it is still clearly noticeable that the young Leonardo abandoned the variety of colors traditional for Florence. Instead, he makes extensive use of opportunities oil paints to more accurately convey the texture of materials and nuances of light and shade. The bluish-green color scheme replaced the red light in which the Madonna was usually dressed from the painting. At the same time, an ocher color was chosen for the sleeves and cloak, harmonizing the ratio of cold and warm shades.

In the 19th century, “Madonna with a Flower” was successfully transferred from board to canvas, which is mentioned in the “Register of paintings by Mr. Alexander Petrovich Sapozhnikov, compiled in 1827”:

It is believed that the master who carried out the translation was a former employee of the Imperial Hermitage and a graduate of the Academy of Arts, Evgraf Korotky. It is not clear whether at that time the painting was still in the collection of General Korsakov or had already been purchased by Sapozhnikov.

Leonardo's Madonna was widely known to artists of that time. And not only Italian masters used the techniques of the young da Vinci in their works, but also painters from the Netherlands. It is believed that at least a dozen works were completed under his influence. Among them is a picture

And you have icons in the darkness
With the smile of the Sphinx they look into the distance
Semi-pagan wives, -
And their sadness is not without sin.

Prophet, or demon, or magician,
Keeping the eternal riddle,
Oh Leonardo, you are the harbinger
Another unknown day.
Dmitry Merezhkovsky

Madonna with a Flower (Benois Madonna)
Leonardo da Vinci
1478
Canvas, oil
State Hermitage Museum

Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519): “Prophet, or demon, or magician”

The small Tuscan town of Vinci was once home to one of greatest geniuses humanity. At the age of ten, Leonardo, the son of a notary and a peasant woman, moved to Florence - the epicenter of economic, industrial and cultural life Renaissance. Here he learned the first basics artistic creativity, and even then he showed an extraordinary diversity of interests. Among other things, Leonardo was seduced by science, but his contemporaries believed that it only distracted him from his ministry. high ideals art. They were partly right, because the genius’s excessive enthusiasm for all spheres of existence served as an indirect reason for his modest pictorial heritage, which today numbers just over ten works. But on the other hand, it was scientific research that contributed to the fact that each of the paintings created by Leonardo is an invaluable example of how high the human spirit can soar, striving to understand the world. The painting “Madonna with a Flower” is one such evidence.

Portrait of yourself in old age
Leonardo da Vinci (?)
Red chalk, paper
Royal Library, Turin (Italy)

“Madonna with a Flower (Benois Madonna)” (1478) in the Hermitage collection

Most researchers date this painting to 1478, which means Leonardo da Vinci painted it when he was only 26 years old. In 1914, “Madonna with a Flower” was acquired for the collection of the Imperial Hermitage from the private collection of the Benois family. Shortly before this, the keeper art gallery Hermitage Ernst Karlovich Lipgart suggested that the work belongs to the brush of the great Leonardo, and in this he was supported by leading European experts. It is known that already in the first thirds of the XIX century, “Madonna with a Flower” was in Russia with General Korsakov, from whose collection it later ended up in the family of the Astrakhan merchant Sapozhnikov. Maria Alexandrovna Benois, née Sapozhnikova, inherited this painting, and when she decided to sell it in 1912, a London antique dealer offered 500 thousand francs for it. However, for a much more modest sum, the owner gave up the “Madonna” to the Hermitage - she wanted Leonardo’s creation to remain in Russia.

Self-portrait
Ernst Friedrich Liphart - Russian artist and decorator, chief curator of the Hermitage art gallery in 1906-29
1883

“Semi-pagan wives look into the distance with the smile of the Sphinx, and their sadness is not without sin.”

Quite modest and unpretentious at first glance, “Madonna with a Flower” is surprising in that it does not reveal its charm immediately, but gradually, as one immerses oneself in this special inner world. The Mother of God and the baby Jesus are surrounded by twilight, but the depth of this space is clearly indicated by a bright window. The Virgin Mary is still just a girl: plump cheeks, an upturned nose, a perky smile - all these are features not of an abstract divine ideal, but of a very specific earthly girl who once served as a model for this image. She is dressed and combed in the fashion of the 15th century, and every detail of her costume, every curl of her hair is examined closely by the artist and conveyed in Renaissance detail. The love and joy of motherhood was reflected on her face, focused on playing with her child. She hands him a flower, and he tries to grab it, and this whole scene is so vital and convincing that it’s time to forget about the upcoming tragedy of Christ. However, the flower with its cruciform inflorescence is not just composition center the whole picture, but also a sign, a symbol, an omen of the coming Passion. And it seems that in this conscious and concentrated face of a baby reaching for a flower, the future Savior is already visible, who accepts his destined cross. But on the other hand, in this gesture there is also a symbol of the Renaissance with its boundless desire to understand the world, discover its secrets, go beyond its borders - in general, everything that Leonardo himself strove for.

Madonna with a Flower (Benois Madonna) - fragment
Leonardo da Vinci
1478
Canvas, oil
State Hermitage Museum

"Oh Leonardo, you are the harbinger of a yet unknown day"

In addition to high spiritual aspirations, the painting represents a certain result of the pictorial achievements that were made by Florentine masters during the 15th century, and at the same time it is a springboard for the future evolution of art. Leonardo's harmony of the whole is created through the synthesis of particulars: mathematically verified composition, anatomical construction of bodies, light and shadow modeling of volumes, soft contours and warm sounding colors. The traditional plot is rethought here: the image of the Madonna is more human than ever, and the scene itself is more ordinary than religious. The figures are voluminous and almost tangible due to the subtle play of light and shadow. Each fold of clothing lies according to the volume of the body and is filled with movement. Leonardo was one of the first in Italy to use the technique of oil painting, which allows him to more accurately convey the texture of fabrics, nuances of light and shade, and the materiality of objects. In order to even more clearly imagine how far all these discoveries extended at that time, it is enough to simply compare Leonardo’s Madonna with the work of his predecessor and teacher, the painter Andrea Verrocchio.

Madonna and Child
Andrea Verrocchio
Around 1473-1475
Wood, tempera
State Museums, Berlin

Technological study of the painting

The Madonna of the Flower was originally painted on wood, but for greater preservation it was transferred to canvas in 1824. In the photograph, taken in our time in reflected infrared rays, a second contour is visible above the back of the baby’s head, which suggests that Leonardo intended to make the child even larger than he is now. Maria's hairstyle is slightly different - in the photo it is fluffier and covers her right ear. IN final version in Madonna’s left hand there is a bunch of blades of grass, and in the picture there is a flower. All these changes are not significant, but very interesting, since they allow you to look into the picturesque kitchen of the creator. In 1978, the film celebrated its 500th anniversary. A major restoration was timed to coincide with this date, during which surface contamination and late records were removed, and the old varnish. At the completion of this work, the “Benois Madonna” was placed in a glass case specially made for it.

Madonna Benoit
Photo in reflected IR radiation

© project SpbStarosti

The story of one painting.
"Madonna with a Flower (Benois Madonna)."
Leonardo da Vinci

Leonardo da Vinci "Madonna Benois", 1478-1480, State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg

Leonardo da Vinci (1452 - 1519)

The small Tuscan town of Vinci was once the homeland of one of the greatest geniuses of mankind. At the age of ten, Leonardo, the son of a notary and a peasant woman, moved to Florence - the epicenter of economic, industrial and cultural life of the Renaissance. Here he learned the first fundamentals of artistic creativity, and even then he showed an extraordinary versatility of interests. Among other things, Leonardo was seduced by science, but his contemporaries believed that it only distracted him from serving the high ideals of art. They were partly right, because the genius’s excessive enthusiasm for all spheres of existence served as an indirect reason for his modest pictorial heritage, which today numbers just over ten works. But on the other hand, it was scientific research that contributed to the fact that each of the paintings created by Leonardo is an invaluable example of how high the human spirit can soar, striving to understand the world. The painting “Madonna with a Flower” is one such evidence.

Most researchers date this painting to 1478, which means Leonardo da Vinci painted it when he was only 26 years old. In 1914, “Madonna with a Flower” was acquired for the collection of the Imperial Hermitage from the private collection of the Benois family. Shortly before this, the curator of the Hermitage art gallery, Ernst Karlovich Lipgart, suggested that the work belongs to the brush of the great Leonardo, and in this he was supported by leading European experts. It is known that already in the first third of the 19th century, the “Madonna with a Flower” was in Russia with General Korsakov, from whose collection it later ended up in the family of the Astrakhan merchant Sapozhnikov. Maria Alexandrovna Benois, née Sapozhnikova, inherited this painting, and when she decided to sell it in 1912, a London antique dealer offered 500 thousand francs for it. However, for a much more modest sum, the owner gave up the “Madonna” to the Hermitage - she wanted Leonardo’s creation to remain in Russia.

Quite modest and unpretentious at first glance, “Madonna with a Flower” is surprising in that it does not reveal its charm immediately, but gradually, as one immerses oneself in this special inner world. The Mother of God and the baby Jesus are surrounded by twilight, but the depth of this space is clearly indicated by a bright window. The Virgin Mary is still just a girl: plump cheeks, an upturned nose, a perky smile - all these are features not of an abstract divine ideal, but of a very specific earthly girl who once served as a model for this image. She is dressed and combed in the fashion of the 15th century, and every detail of her costume, every curl of her hair is examined closely by the artist and conveyed in Renaissance detail. The love and joy of motherhood was reflected on her face, focused on playing with her child. She hands him a flower, and he tries to grab it, and this whole scene is so vital and convincing that it’s time to forget about the upcoming tragedy of Christ. However, the flower with its cruciform inflorescence is not just the compositional center of the whole picture, but also a sign, a symbol, an omen of the coming Passion. And it seems that in this conscious and concentrated face of a baby reaching for a flower, the future Savior is already visible, who accepts his destined cross. But on the other hand, this gesture also contains a symbol of the Renaissance with its boundless desire to understand the world, discover its secrets, go beyond its borders - in general, everything that Leonardo himself strove for.

Leonardo's harmony of the whole is created through the synthesis of particulars: mathematically verified composition, anatomical construction of bodies, light and shadow modeling of volumes, soft contours and warm sounding colors. The traditional plot is rethought here: the image of the Madonna is more human than ever, and the scene itself is more ordinary than religious. The figures are voluminous and almost tangible due to the subtle play of light and shadow. Each fold of clothing lies according to the volume of the body and is filled with movement. Leonardo was one of the first in Italy to use the technique of oil painting, which allows him to more accurately convey the texture of fabrics, nuances of light and shade, and the materiality of objects. In order to even more clearly imagine how far all these discoveries extended at that time, it is enough to simply compare Leonardo’s Madonna with the work of his predecessor and teacher, the painter Andrea Verrocchio.

Madonna and Child

Andrea Verrocchio

Around 1473-1475

Wood, tempera

The Madonna of the Flower was originally painted on wood, but for greater preservation it was transferred to canvas in 1824.

In 2012, the painting turned 534 years old.

Included in " major league» world museum treasures. Its collection includes three million exhibits, and the magnificent collection, begun by Catherine the Great, is being replenished to this day. We offer a short tour of the Hermitage - and 10 paintings that you must see.

Leonardo da Vinci. Madonna and Child (Benois Madonna)

Italy, 1478–1480

The second name comes from the last name of the owners of the painting. Under what circumstances the work of the great Leonardo came to Russia is still unknown. There is a legend that the Benoit family bought it from a traveling circus. The masterpiece was inherited by Maria Sapozhnikova (after marriage - Benoit) from her father. In 1914, the Hermitage acquired this painting from her. True, after the revolution, in the difficult 1920s and 30s, the USSR government almost sold it to the US Treasury Secretary, a passionate collector Andrew Mellon. Art critics who opposed this sale were lucky: the deal fell through.

Raphael. Madonna and Child (Madonna Conestabile)

Italy, around 1504

"Madonna and Child" is one of early works Raphael. Alexander II purchased this painting in Italy from Count Conestabile for his beloved wife Maria Alexandrovna. In 1870, this gift cost the emperor 310 thousand francs. The sale of Raphael's work outraged the local community, but the Italian government did not have the funds to buy the painting from the owner. The Empress's property was immediately exhibited in the Hermitage building.

Titian. Danae

Italy, around 1554

Catherine II purchased the painting by Titian in 1772. The painting is based on a myth in which King Acrisius was predicted that he would die at the hands of his own grandson, and to avoid this, he imprisoned his daughter Danae. However, resourceful god Zeus nevertheless penetrated to her in the form of a golden pouring rain, after which Danae gave birth to a son, Perseus.

Catherine II was an enlightened monarch, had excellent taste and understood perfectly what exactly should be purchased for her collection. There are several other paintings with a similar plot in the Hermitage. For example, “Danae” by Ferwilt and “Danae” by Rembrandt.

El Greco (Domenikos Theotokopoulos). Apostles Peter and Paul

Spain, between 1587–1592

The painting was donated to the museum in 1911 by Pyotr Durnovo. A few years earlier, Durnovo showed it at an exhibition of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts. Then El Greco, who was considered a very mediocre artist, started talking about him as a genius. In this painting, the painter, who was always far from European academicism, turned out to be especially close to the Byzantine iconographic tradition. He tried to convey spiritual world and the characters of the apostles. Paul (in red) is assertive, decisive and self-confident, while Peter, on the contrary, is doubtful and hesitant... It is believed that El Greco captured himself in the image of Paul. But researchers are still arguing about this.

Caravaggio. Young man with a lute

Italy, 1595–1596

Caravaggio - famous master Baroque, which turned the consciousness of several generations of European artists with its “funeral” light. Only one of his works is kept in Russia, which the artist painted back in early years. For paintings by Caravaggio a certain drama is characteristic, and there is it in “The Lute Player.” The notebook depicted on the table contains the popular madrigal melody of Jacob Arkadelt “You know that I love you”, which was popular at that time. And the cracked lute in the hands of the young man is a symbol of unhappy love. The canvas was purchased by Alexander I in 1808.

Peter Paul Rubens. Portrait of the Infanta Isabella's maid

Flanders, mid-1620s

Despite the name, it is believed that this is a portrait of the artist’s daughter, Clara Serena, who died at the age of 12. The painting was created after the girl’s death. The artist subtly depicted the fluffy hair, the delicate skin of the face, and the thoughtful gaze from which it is impossible to take your eyes off. A spiritual and poetic image appears before the viewer.

Catherine II acquired the painting for the Hermitage collection in 1772.

Rembrandt van Rijn. Return of the Prodigal Son

Holland, around 1668

Catherine II bought one of the most famous and recognizable paintings by Rembrandt in 1766. The Gospel parable about the prodigal son worried the artist throughout his life: he created the first drawings and etchings of this plot back in the 1630s and 40s, and began painting the picture in the 1660s. Rembrandt's painting became an inspiration for others creative personalities. Avant-garde composer Benjamin Britten wrote an opera inspired by this work. And director Andrei Tarkovsky quoted “Return prodigal son" in one of the final scenes of Solaris.

Edgar Degas. Place de la Concorde (Viscount Lepic with his daughters crossing the Place de la Concorde)

France, 1875

The painting “Place de la Concorde” was transported to Russia after World War II from Berlin, where it was kept in a private collection. The canvas is interesting because, on the one hand, it is a portrait, and on the other, it is a typical impressionist genre sketch from the life of the city. Degas portrayed his close friend, the aristocrat Louis Lepic, along with his two daughters. The multi-figure portrait still holds many mysteries. It is unknown when and under what circumstances the painting was created. Art historians suggest that the work was painted in 1876 and not to order. Another similar picture the artist did not paint either before or after. Needing money, he nevertheless sold the canvas to Count Lepik, and until late XIX they didn’t know about him for centuries. After the fall of Berlin in 1945, the masterpiece, among other “trophy” works, was sent to Soviet Union and ended up in the Hermitage.

Henri Matisse. Dance

France, 1909–1910

The painting was created by order of Sergei Shchukin, a famous Russian collector of French paintings of the 19th century- beginning of the 20th century. The composition is written on the theme of the golden age of humanity, and therefore it depicts not specific people, but symbolic images. Matisse was inspired by folk dances, which, as is known, contain the ritualism of a pagan action. Matisse embodied the fury of ancient bacchanalia in a combination of pure colors - red, blue and green. As symbols of Man, Heaven and Earth. The painting was transferred to the Hermitage from the Moscow collection State Museum new Western art in 1948.

Wassily Kandinsky. Composition VI

Germany, 1913

There is a whole hall in the Hermitage, dedicated to creativity Wassily Kandinsky. "Composition VI" was created in Munich in May 1913 - a year before the outbreak of the First World War. Dynamic bright picture written in free and sweeping strokes. Initially, Kandinsky wanted to call it “The Flood”: the abstract canvas was based on biblical story. However later artist abandoned this idea so that the title of the work would not interfere with the viewer's perception. The canvas came to the museum from the State Museum of New Western Art in 1948.

The material uses illustrations from the official website