Vladimir and Rogneda or Vladimir before Rogneda is a painting by Russian artist Anton Losenko (1737-1773), completed in 1770. It is held in the State Russian Museum (Inventory No. Zh-4975) and measures 211.5 × 177.5 cm. The painting's narrative is based on the events of the 10th-century Russian internecine war, as described in the Rus' chronicle. The principal figures are Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich of Novgorod and Rogneda, daughter of Prince Rogvolod of Polotsk. The action depicted on the canvas is set in Polotsk, in the princely chambers of Rogneda.
Following his return from a long pensioner's trip in 1769, the Imperial Academy of Arts invited Losenko to submit a painting on a theme related to Vladimir and Rogneda in order to be considered for the title of academician. The painting was completed in 1770 and subsequently presented to the public at the academic exhibition that same year. In June 1770, the Council of the Academy of Arts awarded Losenko with the title of Academician, by unanimous decision. Losenko's canvas was among the first paintings on a subject from Russian history.
According to art historian Alexei Savinov, the painting Vladimir and Rogneda was a "new word in Russian painting," and with its completion, Losenko rose "to the first row of Russian artists of the second half of the 18th century." Art historian Avraam Kaganovich wrote that, "for its vivid psychological composition of characters, Losenko's 'Vladimir before Rogneda' became the first piece in the series of Russian historical genre works." According to art historian Nonna Yakovleva, Losenko's canvas was "'destined' for both success and criticism": on one hand, it was a long-anticipated work on a Russian historical theme; on the other, various elements within it raised doubts—particularly the lack of pathos in the main character and the "denseness and flatness of the composition," which conflicted with academic principles.
History Starting in 1744, Anton Losenko lived in St. Petersburg, where he had been sent to sing in the imperial Court Chapel. After losing his voice in 1753, he was apprenticed to painter Ivan Argunov, and by 1758 he was accepted into the Imperial Academy of Arts, which had been founded the previous year, in 1757. Losenko's mentors included French painters Louis-Joseph Le Lorrain, Jean-Louis de Velly, and Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, all invited to Russia by Ivan Shuvalov, the Academy’s curator.
In 1760, Losenko was sent to Paris as a pension recipient from the Imperial Academy of Arts, where he honed his skills under the guidance of painter Jean Restout the Younger, who at the time was the director of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. At the end of 1762, Losenko returned to Russia, presenting his painting The Miraculous Catch of Fish (1762, now in the State Russian Museum) as his progress report. Shortly afterward, his pension was extended, and in 1763 he returned to France, where he remained until 1765, studying under Joseph-Marie Vien. His culminating work during this period was The Sacrifice of Isaac (1765, also now in the State Russian Museum). In late 1765, the Academy Council granted Losenko’s request to extend his pension for another three years, allowing him to relocate from Paris to Rome that December.
In 1769, Losenko returned permanently to Russia. That same year, for his paintings Abel (1768, now in the Kharkiv Art Museum) and Cain (1768, now in the State Russian Museum), as well as a copy of Raphael's fresco Cardinal and Theological Virtues, the Academy of Arts designated him “appointed academician,” inviting him to paint a new piece to achieve the status of academician. The theme for this new work, assigned on October 4, 1769,The Julian calendar (‘old style’) is used to date events that took place in the Russian Empire. was related to 10th-century Russian history, involving Prince Vladimir of Novgorod, Prince Rogvolod of Polotsk, and his daughter, Rogneda. The proposed subject, based on The Tale of Bygone Years and described in Lomonosov’s Ancient Russian History, was formulated as follows: "Vladimir, after securing control over the Novgorod realm, sent an envoy to Rogvolod, Prince of Polotsk, requesting the hand of his daughter Rogneda in marriage; angered by Rogneda’s proud response, Vladimir gathered all his forces, took the capital city of Polotsk by force, took Rogvolod's and his two sons' lives, [and] married the proud Rogneda against her will.”
In the same year, 1769, Losenko commenced work on the painting Vladimir and Rogneda, which was completed in 1770 and became one of the first paintings on a subject from Russian history. In literature, the titles Vladimir before Rogneda and Rogneda when Vladimir Announces to Her the Victory Over Her Father also exist. The painting was unveiled to the public at an academic exhibition held in 1770. The full title of the exhibition was as follows: "Exhibition of the gentlemen members of the Imperial Academy of the three noblest arts of painting, sculpture and architecture, exhibited in the Academic Hall for viewing". Other works by Losenko were showcased, including a reproduction of the frescoes Cardinal and Theological Virtues, Abel and Cain. Additionally, the exhibition included the works of Dmitry Levitzky, Ivan Belsky, Nicolas Delapierre and Georg Christoph Grooth, comprising approximately twenty paintings. It also featured pieces by architects Jean-Baptiste Vallin de la Mothe and Yury Felten.
For his painting Vladimir and Rogneda, the Academy of Arts Council, in a unanimous decree on June 28, 1770, awarded Losenko the title of academician. In the exhibition report and the Council’s decree, the painting was listed under a longer title: "Grand Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich Before Rogneda, Daughter of Rogvolod, Prince of Polotsk, After the Defeat of This Prince Following His Rejection of Vladimir's Proposal of Marriage to Her". Shortly after, Losenko was appointed professor at the Academy and became the head of the historical painting class. In 1772, he was named director of the Academy of Arts, a role he fulfilled jointly with Nicolas-François Gillet.
Despite the time and energy that managing the Academy and teaching took from him, Losenko continued his creative work. His next significant piece was Farewell of Hector and Andromache (1773), a painting based on events from the Trojan War as described in the Iliad. Some details of the canvas remained somewhat unfinished due to the artist’s passing on November 23, 1773, from dropsy. In his poem To the Deceased Professor and Director of the Academy of Arts Anton Pavlovich Losenko, intended as an epitaph, poet Vasily Maykov wrote, “Rogneda, depicted by you on canvas / With Vladimir, in her wretched fate, / Seems not as much stricken by her father’s death / As she sighs for you!”
The wide renown of Vladimir and Rogneda is evidenced by the creation of a full-size tapestry based on Losenko’s painting at the St. Petersburg Tapestry Manufactory in the late 18th century. This tapestry was gifted to Archduke Joseph and was likely taken by him to Austria. Another tapestry depicting Vladimir and Rogneda, made no later than 1824, was acquired by the State Hermitage Museum in 1954 for its collection.
Until November 1, 1862, the painting Vladimir and Rogneda was kept in the Imperial Hermitage. According to a catalog published between 1773 and 1783, the Hermitage at that time held only two paintings from the Russian school of painting, both by Losenko: The Miraculous Catch of Fish and Vladimir and Rogneda. In 1862, Emperor Alexander II gifted the Vladimir and Rogneda canvas to the Academy of Arts, and it was housed in the Museum of the Imperial Academy of Arts. In 1923, it was transferred to the State Russian Museum.
Subject and description
Subject The theme of the painting Vladimir and Rogneda is connected to events during the civil war in Rus’ in the latter half of the 10th century, as described in Rus' chronicle. After the death of Prince Sviatoslav Igorevich in 972, his territories were divided among his three sons: Yaropolk, the eldest, took control of Kyiv; Oleg governed the land of the Drevlians; and Vladimir went to Novgorod. A few years later, Yaropolk and Oleg quarreled and went to war, with Oleg ultimately killed in retreat after a battle in which his forces were defeated. Fearing his elder brother’s military actions, Vladimir fled to Scandinavia, leaving Novgorod, which was soon occupied by Yaropolk, who appointed his own posadniks there. By around 978, Vladimir returned with a retinue of Varangians recruited in Scandinavia, expelled Yaropolk’s officials from Novgorod, and declared that he intended to go to war against his brother.
At that time, Prince Rogvolod ruled in Polotsk and had a daughter named Rogneda. To strengthen his position, Vladimir sought to establish a family alliance with the Polotsk prince and sent his uncle, the voivode Dobrynya (his mother Malusha's brother), as his emissary to negotiate a marriage alliance . However, as described in the Tale of Bygone Years, the proposal did not go as planned. When Rogvolod, in the presence of the emissaries, asked his daughter if she wished to marry Vladimir, Rogneda boldly replied, “I do not wish to unshoe the son of a slave; I want Yaropolk.” By "son of a slave", whom she did not want to "unshue" (according to the Slavic custom of the time, wives take off their husbands' shoes during the wedding rite), Rogneda meant Vladimir, whose mother Malusha was a "slave" - Princess Olga's (the mother of Svyatoslav Igorevich) housekeeper. Rogneda, viewing Vladimir as of lower status, declared her preference for Yaropolk, whom she perceived as more noble and influential than Vladimir, then prince of Novgorod. Upon receiving this answer, Vladimir, enraged, gathered his forces and launched an attack on Polotsk. He captured the city with relative ease, taking the princely family captive. Prince Rogvolod and his two sons were executed, and Vladimir forced Rogneda into marriage.
Based on the theme proposed by the Academy of Arts Council, Losenko developed a detailed "Explanation," outlining his choices for the plot and composition of his painting. According to the artist's description, the academic program offered five potential subjects: 1) the arrival of Vladimir Svyatoslavich's emissaries to Prince Rogvolod of Polotsk to request Rogneda’s hand in marriage; 2) the capture of Polotsk by Vladimir and his forces; 3) the execution of Rogvolod and his two sons; 4) the first meeting of Vladimir and Rogneda; and 5) their wedding. From these options, Losenko chose the fourth: “I imagined Vladimir like this: after his victory and the capture of Polotsk, when he first entered Rogneda’s quarters and saw her for the first time, the plot of the painting can thus be titled—Vladimir’s first meeting with Rogneda, where he is depicted as a victor and proud Rogneda as a captive.” Discussing the details of his chosen plot, the artist wrote: “Vladimir married Rogneda against her will; however, once he married her, he must have loved her. Therefore, I portrayed him as a lover, who, seeing his bride dishonored and deprived of everything, had to console and apologize to her.” Losenko aimed to avoid any suggestion that Vladimir had “himself dishonored her and then married her,” but noted that, even if that were the case, the painting “only depicts their very first meeting.”
Characters and composition