On the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of Aleksey Petrovich Bogolyubov

\r\n\r\nAleksey Petrovich Bogolyubov was born on March 28 (March 16 old style) 1824 in the village of Pomeranye, in the former Novgorod Governorate. His father was Colonel Petr Gavrilovich Bogolyubov, a veteran of the Patriotic War of 1812, and his mother was Fekla Aleksandrovna Radishcheva, daughter of the well-known 18th-century Russian writer A. N. Radishchev.\r\n\r\nHis father spent his entire youth in military campaigns and died in 1830 from the effects of a severe wound received during the Patriotic War of 1812.\r\nBogolyubov's mother, Fekla Aleksandrovna, graduated from the Smolny Institute and, as A. P. Bogolyubov recalls in "Notes of a Seaman-Artist", "being an orphan, after graduation she remained at the institute as a pensioner, and then as a class lady. At that time she became closer to an old Frenchwoman... who had a great influence on her development: they read Diderot, Voltaire, etc., together." She raised her two sons — Nikolai and Aleksey — from childhood with respect for the memory of their "seditious" grandfather. In 1832 Aleksey Bogolyubov was sent to the Alexandrovsky Junior Corps, from where two years later he was transferred to the Naval Cadet Corps. Even then Bogolyubov showed a great love of drawing. The young artist was "...of desperate gaiety and mischievous temper...". "The passion for drawing also ruined me," he recalled, "for in my hours of leisure I took to caricatures, which also multiplied my troubles."\r\n\r\nOnce Bogolyubov nearly got into trouble for drawing a caricature of the examination commission. He was forgiven, but gave his word that he would not draw until he put on an epaulette. In January 1841, at the age of seventeen, Bogolyubov graduated from the Naval Corps and was commissioned as a midshipman and from then on constantly sailed on foreign voyages.\r\n\r\nOver the years the young sailor's love of art grew, greatly aided by long foreign voyages that provided rich material for the impressionable young artist. Bogolyubov became acquainted with the contemporary European school of painting in 1848 when he visited the museums of Amsterdam, Haarlem and Rotterdam.\r\nIn 1849 he entered the Academy of Arts on the recommendation of K. Bryullov. Bogolyubov's teachers were V. Villevalde and M. Vorobyov, but the greatest influence on the artist was I. K. Aivazovsky. It was in the marine style that he would subsequently paint his works. Aleksey Petrovich finished the Academy of Arts with the large gold medal, received a first-class certificate granting the title of class artist and the right to a foreign assignment. At the same time he resigned from service and was appointed marine painter of the Main Naval Staff. In 1854–60 A. P. Bogolyubov worked in the studios of well-known artists in Geneva, Paris and Düsseldorf, and visited Turkey, Switzerland, Italy and other countries. In 1858, for views of Constantinople, Rome and the Chillon Castle on Lake Geneva, he was awarded the title of academician, and in 1861 the title of professor of painting. During his life he created many canvases famous throughout the world.\r\n\r\r\nHow did the idea come to Bogolyubov to open an art museum in Saratov? He had nurtured the idea of creating a public museum in the provinces for many years. It became especially strong when the artist experienced great sorrow: his wife and small son died. Bogolyubov decided to donate almost his entire fortune to the artistic education of the people, leaving a good memory of himself. Obsessed with this noble idea, Aleksey Petrovich began actively and purposefully to collect works of national and foreign art. His extensive friendly contacts with many Russian and foreign painters allowed him to assemble an excellent collection of paintings. Many artists gifted Bogolyubov their best paintings, because they knew that Aleksey Petrovich was forming the collection with a single desire, a single persistent aim — to create a public art museum in Russia. Bogolyubov purchased many works at Paris exhibitions and in artists' salons. By the mid-1870s he had formed an excellent collection of works by Russian and Western European masters.\r\n\r\nBut Aleksey Petrovich still could not choose the city to which he could offer his collection for the organization of a museum. Bogolyubov increasingly leaned toward the idea of creating an art museum based on his collection in Saratov, which is associated with the name of his famous grandfather Radishchev. "Honoring one's grandfather more than one's father," Bogolyubov called "A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow" the "Radishchev Gospel." One of the first people with whom the artist shared this idea was Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev. For Bogolyubov, Turgenev was not only an outstanding writer, but also a kind mentor, adviser and inspirer in many plans and undertakings. Having listened to Aleksey Petrovich, Turgenev warmly supported his idea.\r\n— Saratov has always been a progressive city, — said Ivan Sergeevich, — and therefore it should exalt the progressive man in the person of your grandfather Radishchev, who will always be for the people of Saratov and for Russia the foremost champion of the emancipation of the peasants.\r\nAfter these words Bogolyubov had no doubts where to open the museum.\r\n"How strange the fate of people, and how little they know what will come of their thoughts and activities. By origin I am a Saratov man, for this governorate gave Russia Radishchev. He was my mother's father. I did not then think that I would become an honorary citizen of this city and that I would forever link the Radishchev name with my own by establishing here a museum and a drawing school," wrote Aleksey Petrovich Bogolyubov in "Notes of a Seaman-Artist."\r\n\r\n#RadishchevMuseum