A Quiet Monastery is a landscape by Russian artist Isaak Levitan (1860–1900), painted in 1890. It belongs to the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (inventory number Zh-584). Its size is 87.5×108 cm.Государственная Третьяковская галерея — каталог собрания / Я. В. Брук, Л. И. Иовлева. — М.: Красная площадь, 2001. — V. 4: Живопись второй половины XIX века, book 1, А—М. — 528 p. — P. 357. — .
This painting, in which Levitan weaves together his impressions of a number of monasteries he visited, was completed in 1890 after his trip to Upper Volga. In 1891, the painting was exhibited at the 19th exhibition of the Association of Travelling Art Exhibitions ("Peredvizhniki"), which was held in St. Petersburg and then in Moscow. "A Quiet Monastery" was a great success with the visitors of the exhibition and received high marks from the art critics, which finally confirmed the recognition of Levitan as one of the leading Russian landscape painters.Фёдоров-Давыдов А. А. Исаак Ильич Левитан. Жизнь и творчество. — М.: Искусство, 1966. — 403 p. — P. 135-140.Петров В. А. Исаак Ильич Левитан. — СПб.: Художник России, 1992. — 200 p. — P. 63-65. (Русские живописцы XIX века).
In the same year, 1891, the canvas was purchased for one of the private collections. After the revolution, the trace of the painting was lost, and its whereabouts remained unknown until 1960, when it was "found" in the private collection of the conductor Nikolai Golovanov.Иовлева Л. И. Малоизвестные произведения И. И. Левитана // Очерки по русскому и советскому искусству. — М.: Советский художник, 1965. — V. 4. — P. 161—170. — 227 p. In 1970, the painting "A Quiet Monastery" was transferred to the State Tretyakov Gallery.
According to art critic Vladimir Stasov, "A Quiet Monastery" is Levitan's best painting "in the beauty and poetry of the tones of the evening sun".Стасов В. В. Статьи и заметки, публиковавшиеся в газетах и не вошедшие в книжные издания. — М.: Издательство Академии художеств СССР, 1954. — V. 2. — P. 41. The art historian Alexei Fedorov-Davydov considers it to be one of Levitan's series of "mood landscapes," noting that this painting "was a kindФёдоров-Давыдов А. А. Исаак Ильич Левитан. Жизнь и творчество. — М.: Искусство, 1966. — 403 p. — P. 369. of final stage of his long-standing work on the Volga," and that it "not only does not contradict Levitan's previous work, but follows naturally from it".Фёдоров-Давыдов А. А. Исаак Ильич Левитан. Жизнь и творчество. — М.: Искусство, 1966. — 403 p. — P. 140. Art historian Faina Maltseva wrote that the image created by the artist in "A Quiet Monastery" is "multifaceted in its content", creating in the soul "a feeling of peace, and quiet lyrical sadness, and rapturous admiration for the beauty of the summer evening".Мальцева Ф. С. Мастера русского пейзажа. Вторая половина XIX века. Часть 4. — М.: Искусство, 2002. — 84 p. — P. 23. — .
History
Previous events and work on the painting
In March 1890, Isaac Levitan made his first trip abroad. For two months he visited Germany, France, and Italy, where he painted several landscapes. Upon his return to Russia, he travelled with the artist Sofia Kuvshinnikova to the Volga River, where he spent the summer and fall.Исаак Ильич Левитан. Документы, материалы, библиография / А. А. Фёдоров-Давыдов. — М.: Искусство, 1966. — 240 p. — P. 42-43.Чижмак М. С. Хроника жизни и творчества Исаака Левитана // Третьяковская галерея. — 2010. — No. 13. — P. 58—71. Archive: 2 April 2015. From 1887–1890, Levitan spent several months each year on the Volga, so that the 1890 trip was the fourth in a row.Исаак Ильич Левитан. Документы, материалы, библиография / А. А. Фёдоров-Давыдов. — М.: Искусство, 1966. — 240 p. — P. 39.Чижмак М. С. Хроника жизни и творчества Исаака Левитана // Третьяковская галерея. — 2010. — No. 13. — P. 63. Archive: 2 April 2015. During this time he visited Plyos, Yuryevets and Kineshma and made a number of sketches and studies for the future painting "A Quiet Monastery" and other works.Круглов В. Ф. Исаак Ильич Левитан. — СПб.: Золотой век и Художник России, 2012. — 480 p. — P. 115. (Русские художники. XIX век). — . Travelling by steamer from Plyos to Yuryevets, Levitan also stopped in Reshma.Зонтиков Н. А. Макариево-Решемский монастырь: вехи истории. — Кинешма, 2019. — 880 p. — P. 115. — .
According to Sofia Prorokova, the author of Levitan's biography, "Yurievets attracted the artist's sympathies," and especially "he was fascinated by a convent located in the forest on the opposite bank of the great Krivoye Lake".Пророкова С. А. Левитан. — М.: Молодая гвардия, 1960. — 240 p. — P. 109-110. — (Жизнь замечательных людей). This was the Krivoyezersky Monastery,Л. П. Смирнов. Левитан в Плёсе — Исторический очерк по документам, печатным материалам и семейным воспоминаниям (HTML). lib.kostromka.ru. Дата обращения: 26 October 2019. Archive: 3 June 2021.Б. А. Владимиров. Кривоезерский монастырь (HTML). yurevets37.ru. Дата обращения: 2 May 2019. Archive: 27 September 2012. known simultaneously under the names Krivoozersky and Krivoyezersky,Макарьевский уезд — Троицкая Кривоезерская заштатная общежительная мужская пустынь (HTML). http://www.old-churches.ru. Дата обращения: 2 May 2019. Archive: 8 September 2013. and also as the Krivoyezersky Trinitarian Desert. The monastery was located on the orographic left bank of the Volga River, at the confluence of the Unzha River into it. Built on sand hills, the monastery was surrounded on three sides by lakes.Православные русские обители. Полное иллюстрированное описание всех православных русских монастырей в Российской империи и на Афоне. — СПб.: Книгоиздательство П. П. Сойкина, 1909. — 712 p. — P. 263.
Sophia Kuvshinnikova said, comparing with earlier impressions of the view of Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery near Zvenigorod: "Levitan went from Plyos to Yurievets, hoping to find new motifs there, and wandering through the neighborhood, suddenly came across a monastery hidden in a grove. It was ugly and even unpleasant in colors, but it was the same evening as in Savvina: dull lava, thrown over the river, connected the quiet cloister with the stormy sea of life, and in Levitan's head suddenly arose one of his best paintings, which merged and Savva experiences, and newly seen, and hundreds of other memories".Фёдоров-Давыдов А. А. Исаак Ильич Левитан. Жизнь и творчество. — М.: Искусство, 1966. — 403 p. — P. 135.
After a trip to Yurievets Levitan and Kuvshinnikova returned to Plyos, where they lived in the house Chastukhin-Filosofova. Apparently, here Levitan worked on the sketch of "Quiet Abode" and, perhaps, began work on the painting itself, completing it near the end of the year in Moscow. Beginning in November 1889, the artist had the opportunity to work in a workshop house in Bolshoy Trisvyatitelsky Lane, allocated to him by entrepreneur and philanthropist Sergei Morozov.Исаак Ильич Левитан. Документы, материалы, библиография / А. А. Фёдоров-Давыдов. — М.: Искусство, 1966. — 240 p. — P. 41.
The 19th Travelling Exhibition and sale of the painting The painting "A Quiet Monastery" was completed shortly after Levitan's return from his trip to the Volga and was a great success at the 19th Exhibition of the Association of Travelling Art Exhibitions,Петров В. А. Исаак Ильич Левитан. — СПб.: Художник России, 1992. — 200 p. — P. 62. — (Русские живописцы XIX века). which opened in St. Petersburg on 9 March 1891,To date events that took place in the Russian Empire, the Julian calendar ("old style") is used. and moved to Moscow in April of the same year. The St. Petersburg part of the exhibition was held in the building of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, and the Moscow part – in the premises of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture.Рогинская Ф. С. Товарищество передвижных художественных выставок. — М.: Искусство, 1989. — 430 p. — P. 419. — . Two other works by Levitan — "The Old Courtyard" (or "Old Courtyard. Plyos", 1888–1890, now in the State Tretyakov Gallery) and "Borghetto (in Italy)"In the catalog of the 19th Travelling Exhibition, reprinted in the book "The Association of Travelling Art Exhibitions. Letters, Documents. 1869–1899", – Bargetto; in the list of Levitan's works in the collection "Isaak Ilyich Levitan. Documents, Materials, Bibliography" (1966), – Borghetto.Товарищество передвижных художественных выставок. Письма, документы. 1869—1899 / В. В. Андреева, М. В. Астафьева, С. Н. Гольдштейн, Н. Л. Приймак. — М.: Искусство, 1987. — 668 p. — P. 398.Исаак Ильич Левитан. Документы, материалы, библиография / А. А. Фёдоров-Давыдов. — М.: Искусство, 1966. — 240 p. — P. 102. (location unknown) were also presented at the exhibition.Круглов В. Ф. Исаак Ильич Левитан. — СПб.: Золотой век и Художник России, 2012. — 480 p. — P. 117. — (Русские художники. XIX век). — .Товарищество передвижных художественных выставок. Письма, документы. 1869—1899 / В. В. Андреева, М. В. Астафьева, С. Н. Гольдштейн, Н. Л. Приймак. — М.: Искусство, 1987. — 668 p.Государственная Третьяковская галерея — каталог собрания / Я. В. Брук, Л. И. Иовлева. — М.: Красная площадь, 2001. — V. 4: Живопись второй половины XIX века, book 1, А—М. — 528 p. — P. 355. — . The painting "A Quiet Monastery" made a great impression on the visitors to the exhibition, one of whom, the doctor and publicist Solomon Vermel, recalled at the beginning of the XX century: "...I see it before my eyes as now, as now I remember the blissful mood, the sweet peace of mind, which caused me this quiet corner, isolated from the world and all the "hypocritical daily affairs and all the vulgarity and prose of life".Вермель С. С. Исаак Ильич Левитан и его творчество. — СПб.: Типо-литография А. Е. Ландау, 1902. — 25 p. — P. 23.The exhibition was accompanied by articles by writers and critics Aleksei Suvorin (Novoe Vremya), Vladimir Stasov (Severny Vestnik), Alexander Lvovich-Kostritsa (Sever), Vladimir Chuiko (Vsemirnaya Illyustratsiya), Leonid Obolensky (in "Russkoye Bogatstvo"), Nikolai Alexandrov (in "Novosti dnya"), Vladimir Sizov and Ippolit Bukva-Vasilevsky (both in "Russkiye Vedomosti"), in which Levitan's "A Quiet Monastery" was highly praised.Фёдоров-Давыдов А. А. Исаак Ильич Левитан. Жизнь и творчество. — М.: Искусство, 1966. — 403 p. — P. 138.Круглов В. Ф. Исаак Ильич Левитан. — СПб.: Золотой век и Художник России, 2012. — 480 p. — P. 118-119. — (Русские художники. XIX век). — .Круглов В. Ф. Исаак Ильич Левитан. — СПб.: Золотой век и Художник России, 2012. — 480 p. — P. 258. — (Русские художники. XIX век). — . There were also more critical reviews: for example, the writer Mitrofan Remezov (the magazine "Russian Mind"), who praised "The Old Courtyard" and "Borghetto (in Italy)", did not include "A Quiet Monastery" among the landscapes he liked best at the exhibition,Ремезов М. Н. (М. Анютин). Современное искусство. XIX передвижная выставка картин // Русская мысль. — 1891. — No. 5. — P. 186—193 (2-я пагинация). and Pyotr Gnedich (the newspaper "Sankt-Peterburgskie Vedomosti") wrote that, in his opinion, the painting "A Quiet Monastery" was "weak in technique, but strong in mood".Круглов В. Ф. Исаак Ильич Левитан. — СПб.: Золотой век и Художник России, 2012. — 480 p. — P. 119. — (Русские художники. XIX век). — .