Newspaper Readers in Naples is a painting by the Russian artist Orest Kiprensky (1782–1836), painted in 1831. It belongs to the State Tretyakov Gallery (inv. 5100). The size of the painting is 64.5 × 78.3 cm.Государственная Третьяковская галерея — каталог собрания / Я. В. Брук, Л. И. Иовлева. М.: СканРус, 2005. V. 3: Живопись первой половины XIX века. p. 196. ISBN 5-93221-081-8.Кипренский Орест Адамович — Читатели газет в Неаполе (HTML). Государственная Третьяковская галерея — www.tretyakovgallery.ru. Дата обращения: 17 February 2022. Archive: 1 December 2018.Кипренский Орест Адамович — «Читатели газет в Неаполе» (HTML). Государственный каталог Музейного фонда Российской Федерации — goskatalog.ru. Дата обращения: 17 February 2022. Archive: 22 June 2019. It is titled Readers of Newspaper,Адам Мицкевич в русской печати. 1825—1955. М.—Л.: Издательство Академии наук СССР, 1957. p. 439. Newspaper Readers in Italy,Письма художников Павлу Михайловичу Третьякову: 1856—1869 / Н. Г. Галкина, М. Н. Григорьева. М.: Искусство, 1960. p. 310.Московский публичный и Румянцевский музеи. Каталог картинной галереи. М.: Типография К. Л. Меньшова, 1908. p. 34. Reading a Newspaper, Travelers Reading the Gazette de France and others. The painting is a group portrait of four men, one reading a newspaper and the others listening. The nationality of the figures in the painting has been interpreted differently by various researchers of Kiprensky's work: they have been called either Russian or Polish.
The painting was created by Kiprensky in 1831 in Naples, commissioned by Count Dmitri Sheremetev. In 1832 the canvas was exhibited in Rome, and in 1833 it was presented at the exhibition of the Imperial Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg. In general, the painting was a success: the president of the Academy of Arts, Alexey Olenin, wrote to Kiprensky that his works, "and especially Travelers, delighted the spectators, whose flock was extraordinary". The painting was part of the collection of Dmitry Sheremetev, and then — of Feodor Pryanishnikov. In 1867 it came to the collection of the Rumyantsev MuseumПрянишников Фёдор Иванович (HTML). Румянцевский музей (виртуальная реконструкция) — www.rmuseum.ru. Дата обращения: 17 February 2022. Archive: 1 June 2018. and in 1925 to the Tretyakov Gallery.
Art historian noted the "genre connotation" of Newspaper Readers in Naples and considered the essential advantage of the fact that the images of the people depicted in the painting are "treated truthfully, without embellishments," and the plot chosen by Kiprensky "does not provoke that sentimental idealization that is so typical of his later 'Italian genres'". For the Russian Museum chief curator , the canvas is more than just a group portrait because "the theme is solved in a multifaceted way."
History
Previous events and work on the painting
Orest Kiprensky was a graduate of the Imperial Academy of Arts in 1803. In 1805, he received a large gold medal for the program "Dmitry Donskoy on the Victory over Mamai", which gave him the right to go abroad for three years. For some unknown reason he did not use this right and worked for several years in Russia — in St. Petersburg, Moscow and Tver. In May 1816 Kiprensky went abroad as a pensioner of the Empress Elisabeth Alexeyevna, where he first spent three months in Geneva and then, in October of the same year, arrived in Rome. The first Italian period of his work lasted until April 1822, when he left Rome for Paris, and then returned to Russia in August 1823.Государственная Третьяковская галерея — каталог собрания / Я. В. Брук, Л. И. Иовлева. М.: СканРус, 2005. V. 3: Живопись первой половины XIX века. p. 182. ISBN 5-93221-081-8.
In St. Petersburg, Kiprensky rented an apartment on the English Embankment, but spent much of his time in the Fountain House, which belonged to his client and patron, the young cavalry officer Count Dmitri Sheremetev. In particular, the artist worked there on a large ceremonial portrait of Count Sheremetev, who was depicted in military uniform against the backdrop of an impressive enfilade of palace rooms. The canvas was presented at the Autumn Academic Exhibition of 1824 and became "the centerpiece of the exposition in the Kiprensky Hall". According to some reports, Kiprensky worked there, in the Fountain House, at the end of 1824 on a portrait drawing of Adam Mickiewicz, and in the summer of 1827 — on the of Alexander Pushkin, commissioned by Anton Delvig.
In June 1828 Kiprensky went to Italy again, on the way he was accompanied by a serf artist of Count Sheremetev Matvey Postnikov. From this time the second Italian period of Kiprensky's work began. Arriving in Italy, he first spent several months in Rome. From March 1829 to April 1832, Kiprensky lived and worked in Naples, where he settled in the same house with the landscape painter Sylvester Shchedrin. There, in Naples, in 1831, he also created the painting Newspaper Readers in Naples, which was commissioned by Count Dmitri Sheremetev.
Exhibitions in 1832 and 1833
In 1832, the painting was exhibited in Rome, in the gallery in the Piazza del Popolo, where 18 works by Kiprensky were exhibited. Wishing to show his new works, including Newspaper readers in Naples, in Russia, the artist reported in a letter to Count dated February 13 (25), 1833: "Having the opportunity to send to St. Petersburg several paintings written by me in Naples, I kindly ask you, as President of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts, to allow me to order to exhibit these works in the exposition hall, when they will be presented there; for I am very flattered to remind myself of the most honorable Russian public, always favored to my weak works".Орест Кипренский. Переписка. Документы. Свидетельства современников / Е. Н. Петрова, Я. В. Брук. СПб.: Искусство-СПб, 1994. p. 181. The paintings were sent to Russia - according to some reports, "Readers of Newspapers" arrived there under the title "Four Reading Artists".
In 1833, the canvas with the title Four Portraits, Belted Figures, One Reading a Newspaper and the Others Listening was presented at the exhibition of the Imperial Academy of Arts. A total of six of Kiprensky's works were exhibited at the exhibition, including, in addition to Newspaper Readers in Naples, the paintings Witch with a Candle, Lazzaroni Boy, Italian Woman with Fruit and View of Vesuvius from the Sea. The St. Petersburg exhibition aroused great interest, and a number of articles appeared in the press discussing the paintings presented at the exhibition, including Kiprensky's works. In the articles of a number of anonymous authors, as well as critics such as Alexander Voeykov and Mikhail Lobanov, among others, the canvas Newspaper Readers in Naples was discussed, which appeared in their reviews under the titles Some Russians Reading a Newspaper, Political Readings in 1831, Russian Young Artists Reading a Newspaper, Travelers Reading the Gazette de France and others. In general, Kiprensky's painting was a success and, according to some reports, was even liked by Emperor Nicholas I.
In particular, the writer Mikhail Lobanov described the impression that the painting Newspaper Readers in Naples made on him during his visit to the exhibition: "I am not standing in front of portraits, of which I have seen many and very good ones, but in front of living faces, living people. <...> If, finally, despite the power of optical deception, it is necessary to say that these are portraits, then it is true: they are portraits, but such portraits that no one writes today, except Mr. Kiprensky. There is nothing to desire, — all desires are warned, — it remains only to wonder". In November 1833, the then president of the Academy of Arts, Alexey Olenin, wrote to Kiprensky that his paintings, including Travelers Reading the Gazette de France, decorated the academic exhibition. According to Olenin, "despite the fact that the exhibition was brilliant, numerous and rich with many works by Russian and foreign artists, your [Kiprensky's] paintings, and especially the travelers, delighted the audience, whose flock was extraordinary".
Next events
In the spring of 1832, Kiprensky moved from Naples to Rome. The remuneration for the paintings Newspaper Readers in Naples and Worozheya with a Candle (1830, now in the State Russian Museum) sent to Count Dmitri Sheremetev (1830) was sent to the artist with delay, only in 1836;Государственный Русский музей — каталог собрания / Г. Н. Голдовский. СПб.: Palace Editions, 2007. V. 3: Живопись первой половины XIX века (К—Я). p. 28. ISBN 978-5-93332-263-4. the total amount was 5490 rubles (according to other information 5940 or 6000 rubles). In a letter to the administrator of Count Sheremetev's estate, Alexander Kunitsyn, dated January 1835, Kiprensky wrote: "I ask you most kindly to explain to Count Dmitri Nikolaevich ... that I, loving him by inclination ... more than others, preferred him to others, dedicating the best works of his, which many of the lovers of fine art would like to have in their offices .... Working six with more than a month painting depicting reading a French newspaper and Vorozheyu Italian by candlelight ... [which] although brought the author of the general applause of the public and the sovereign himself, but from this is not easier for the author". While waiting for payment, Kiprensky wrote the following poems: "So time rolls on to summer, and I have no money, at least for the French newspaper, I would send me a coin" (under the pronoun "he" meant Count Sheremetev).Орест Кипренский. Переписка. Документы. Свидетельства современников / Е. Н. Петрова, Я. В. Брук. СПб.: Искусство-СПб, 1994. p. 193. Having saved enough money, in July 1836 Kiprensky realized his long-cherished dream — he married a young Italian Anna-Maria Falcucci, whom he knew from his first stay in Italy (he called her Mariuchcha). However, three months later, in October 1836, Kiprensky died of pneumonia.
The canvas "Newspaper Readers in Naples" was exhibited at the 1851 exhibition in St. Petersburg, where the shorter title Newspaper Readers was used. The works exhibited there were described in the Index of the Art Exhibition of Rare Things Owned by Private Persons.Государственная Третьяковская галерея — каталог собрания / Я. В. Брук, Л. И. Иовлева. М.: СканРус, 2005. V. 3: Живопись первой половины XIX века. p. 402. ISBN 5-93221-081-8.Указатель художественной выставки редких вещей, принадлежащих частным лицам. СПб.: Типография И. Глазунова, 1851. p. 74. The painting belonged to the collection of Count Dmitry Sheremetev and later to Fyodor Pryanishnikov, whose collection included not only "Newspaper Readers" but also other paintings by Kiprensky — Sibylla Tiburtinskaya (1830, now in the State Tretyakov Gallery), Self-Portrait and Landscape. Shortly after Pryanishnikov's death in 1867, an exhibition of paintings from his collection was organized in the building of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts in St. Petersburg, including Newspaper Readers in Naples. In the same year, 1867, Pryanishnikov's collection was purchased from his widow by Emperor Alexander II, who transferred it to the collection of the Rumyantsev Museum.