The name of Alexei Antropov is less known to the general public than the names of Borovikovsky, Kiprensky, Kramskoy, Repin and other prominent Russian portrait painters. But Alexei Petrovich is not to blame for this. For his time (1716 - 1795) Antropov wrote very well, taking into account the absence of a full-fledged art school in Russia and the classical art tradition.
Moreover, Antropov managed to prove himself as a master of different genres. Antropov became one of the forerunners of the rapid flowering of Russian painting in the 19th century. This is how the talent and career of this outstanding artist developed.
1. Alexey Antropov was born in the family of a retired soldier, who was given a respectable place in the Chancellery from buildings for his immaculate service. It was the work of Pyotr Antropov in this office that gave his third son the opportunity to gain an initial knowledge of painting.
2. Like many other institutions created during the reign of Peter I, the Chancellery of buildings was, as if on purpose, named so that no one would guess about the type of its occupation. Now such an institution would be called a ministry or department of construction. The office itself did not build anything, but oversaw the construction, forcing to comply with the building rules, and created plans for districts and quarters according to aesthetic requirements. In addition, the specialists of the Chancellery carried out the decoration of the imperial palaces and residences.
3. An artist was always put at the head of the Chancellery from the building sector - architects in Russia were at a premium then, and they were mostly foreigners. Their work was in demand, and they would not have gone to public service. But artists, even famous ones, were always happy to receive a stable income, independent of the sale of their paintings.
4. Alexey Antropov had three brothers, and they all had remarkable abilities. Stepan became a gunsmith, Ivan created and repaired watches, and Alexei and the youngest Nikolai went on the artistic side.
5. Antropov began to study painting at the age of 16, when, in an amicable way, it would be time to finish his studies. Nevertheless, the young man showed zeal and demonstrated talent, and upon completion of his studies he got into the staff of the Chancellery, receiving a job with a salary of 10 rubles a year.
6. One of the founders of the Russian portrait school Andrei Matveev, “the first court painter” (the position was granted by Empress Anna Ioannovna), Frenchman Louis Caravak and another famous Russian portrait painter Ivan Vishnyakov, taught Antropov the art of painting.
7. Even some of the first portraits painted by Antropov have survived. According to the tradition of that time, most of the portraits, especially of the august persons, were painted from existing ones. The painter, not seeing a living person, had to paint a similar portrait. Much attention was paid to the external attributes of wealth, nobility, military valor, and so on. Artists signed such paintings with their own names.
8. Already three years after being enrolled in the staff, Antropov managed to attract the attention of his superiors. He took an active part in the implementation of the artistic part of the coronation of Empress Elizabeth. He worked in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Peterhof. The team of painters, led by Vishnyakov, painted the Winter, Tsarskoye Selo and Summer palaces. Antropov also managed, under the guidance of foreign painters, to create a set of decorations for the Opera House in Tsarskoe Selo.
9. The evidence that Antropov did an excellent job with the design of coronation events and royal palaces was the provision of his first independent work. The 26-year-old painter was commissioned to decorate the new Church of St. Andrew the First-Called with icons and murals, built in Kiev by B. Rastrelli. In Kiev, the artist tried his hand at monumental painting, writing his own version of The Last Supper.
10. After returning from Kiev, Antropov continued to work in the Chancellery. The artist, apparently, felt dissatisfaction with his own skill. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain the desire of the 40-year-old painter to take lessons from the court portraitist Pietro Rotari. Antropov successfully completed a two-year course of study, having painted a portrait of Anastasia Izmailova as a final exam.
11. Antropov's services as a portrait painter were in demand, but earnings were small and irregular. Therefore, the artist was forced to re-enter the public service. He was appointed “overseer” (foreman-mentor) over the artists in the Holy Synod.
12. The second change of the monarch affected Antropov's position as beneficially as the first. First, he painted a very successful portrait of Peter III, and after the assassination of the emperor, he created a whole gallery of portraits of the inherited wife of Catherine II.
13. During the reign of Catherine, the material affairs of Antropov improved significantly. He actively paints commissioned portraits of nobles, reproduces his own portraits of the empress, is engaged in icon painting, and the number of icons that came out from under his brush is in the tens.
14. The artist did a lot of teaching. Since 1765, he taught several students on a permanent basis. Over time, their number reached 20, and Antropov transferred the wing of his large house to his house as a workshop. In the last years of the artist's life, more than 100 young artists were engaged in painting under his care, and after his death the house was transferred to a school. Outstanding master of portrait, academician of the Academy of Arts Dmitry Levitsky - a pupil of Antropov.
15. Aleksey Antropov, who died in 1795, was buried next to Peter III, whose portrait became one of his main creative successes.
