Analysis of the painting of Benoit Versailles 1907 Benoit and his "Latest walks of the king
1906 year. State Tretyakov Gallery. Moscow.
Paper on cardboard, gouache, watercolor, bronze paint, silver paint, graphite pencil, feather, brush 48 x 62
IN picture walk king Alexander Benois transfers the viewer to the brilliant Versailles Park of Louis XIV.
Against the background of the autumn landscape, the artist depicts a solemn procession of the monarch with its courtiers. Flat modeling of marching figures seems to turn them into ghosts of the left era. Among the court suite, it is difficult to find the very Louis XIV. The artist is not important to the king of the sun. Benua is much more concerned about the atmosphere of the era, the breath of the Versailles Park of the time of his stand-old owner.
The author of the canvas Walk king Alexander Nikolaevich Benois is one of the organizers and ideological inspirer of the artistic unification of the world of art. He was a theorist and criticism of art. Peru Benua belongs to research on the history of both domestic and Western European art. Its multifaceted talent manifested itself in book graphics and scenography.
The picturesque works of Benoit are mainly devoted to two topics: France of the Times of Louis XIV "King of Sun" and Petersburg XVIII - early XIX century (see "
Benua Alexander Nikolaevich (1870 - 1960)
Walk king 1906.
62 × 48 cm
Watercolor, Gouache, Pencil, Feather, Cardboard, Silver, Gold
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
"The last walks of the king" - the cycle of the drawings of Alexander Benua, dedicated to the walks of the King of Louis-Sun, His old age, as well as autumn and winter in the Versailles Park.
Versailles. Louis XIV feed fish
Description of old age Louis XIV (hence):
"... the king became sad and sullen. According to Madame de Mentenon, he became "the most disadvantaged man in all France." Louis began to violate the laws of etiquette established by him.
In the last years of life, he gained all the habits like an old man: late got up, ate in bed, half a liter accepted ministers and state secretaries (the deeds of the Kingdom of Louis XIV engaged in the last days of his life), and then sat for hours in a big chair, putting a velvet under his back Pillow. In vain, the doctors repeated their sovereign that the lack of gestures arises boredom and drowsiness and is a harbinger of close dem.
The king could no longer resist the onset of flushness, and his age approached eighty.
Everything, for which he agreed, was limited to travel along the gardens of Versailles in a small controller. " 
Versailles. At the ceremony pool
Walk king
"The source of inspiration for the artist is not the royal magnitude of the castle and parks, but the" unsteady, sad memories of the kings who are still roaming here. " It looks like a certain almost mystical illusion ("I sometimes get to the state close to hallucinations").
For Benoit, those shadows that silently slide on the Versailles flesh, rather, memories than fantasy. According to his own statement, images of events are rushed before his eyes, which happened here. He "sees" the very creator of this magnificence, the King of Louis XIV surrounded by the suite. Moreover, he sees it is scary old and sick, which is surprising accurately reflects the former reality. " 
Versailles. Greenhouse
Versailles. Garden of Trianon
From the article of the French Researcher:
"The images of the last walks of Louis XIV" are certainly inspired, and other times and are borrowed from texts and engravings of the "King of Sun".
However, such a look - the approach of the erudite and the connoisseurs is not fraught with dryness or pedanticism and does not force the artist to engage in lifeless historical reconstructions. Indifferent to such expensive to the heart of the "complaints of stones dreaming of exterior in the slaughter, Benua did not capture neither the templement of the palace, nor the launch of the park, which is still certainly caught. He prefers historical accuracy of fantasy flights - and at the same time his fantasy is historically accurate. Themes of the artist - the flow of time, the "romantic" invasion of nature into the classic park of Lenotra; It takes - and amuses - the contrast between the sophistication of park decorations, in which "every line, any statue, the slightest vase" is reminded "On the divinity of the monarchical power, about the greatness of the Sun King, about the inviolability of the mains" - and the grotesque figure of the King himself: a horn old man In a catal, which pushes Liverey Lackey. " 
Curration
Allegory River
Allegory River
Several years later, Benua will draw an equally irresistible verbal portrait of Louis XIV: "Crushed old old man with squeezed cheeks, with bad teeth and face made by smallpox."
The king in the "walks" of Benua is a lone old man left court and clinging for the confessor in the premonition of close death. But he is rather not in the role of the tragic hero, but in the role of a soli-character character, a static, whose almost ephemeral, the ghostly presence emphasizes the inviolability of the scenery and the scene with which the once-great actor is being out of the burden of this monstrous comedy. " 
The king walked into any weather ... (Saint-Simon)
At the same time, Benua seems to forget that Louis XIV was the main customer of the Versailles play and was not mistaken at all regarding the role that he was prescribed to play himself. Since the story was represented by Benoit, a certain similarity of the theater play, it was inevitable and the change of bright Misaneszen less successful: "Louis XIV was an excellent actor, and he earned the applause of history. Louis XVI was just one of the "grandchildren of the great actor", which fell on the stage - and therefore it was very natural that he was awarded the audience, and the play failed, recently had a huge success. "
... The worst thing is that Benoit, following many, chose a special specialty. Now it is very accepted among painters and young poets to find and protect their original individuality, in love with some, sometimes to the funny narrow and deliberate genus of plots. Mr. Benua chose Versailles Park. Thousand and one etude of the Versailles Park, and more or less well made. And yet I want to say: "hit once, hit two, but it is impossible until ingrainment." For G. Benois called in the public a genus of a special mental stun: Versailles stopped acting. "How good!" - says the audience and widely, widespread.
The cycle of the drawings of Alexander Benouua, dedicated to the walks of the King of Louis-Sun, his old age, as well as the autumn and winter in the Versailles Park, perhaps one of the most memorable - and sad, and beautiful - in the work of the artist.
A. Benua. "Latest walks of the king." 1896-1898 (There are more late drawings)
"Versailles. Louis XIV feeds fish" 
Description of old age Louis XIV from here:
"... the king became sad and sullen. According to Madame de Madennon, he became" the most disadvantageous person in all of France. "Louis began to violate the laws of etiquette established by him.
In the last years of life, he gained all the habits like an old man: late got up, ate in bed, half a liter accepted ministers and state secretaries (the deeds of the Kingdom of Louis XIV engaged in the last days of his life), and then sat for hours in a big chair, putting a velvet under his back Pillow. In vain, the doctors repeated their sovereign that the lack of gestures arises boredom and drowsiness and is a harbinger of close dem.
The king could no longer resist the onset of flushness, and his age approached eighty.
Everything, for which he agreed, was limited to visits in the gardens of Versailles in a small controller. "
"Versailles. At the basin of ceres" 
I also put here other drawings of Benoit, where the king does not appear, but there is simply Versailles.
"Flora pool in Versaille" 
From the article "Versailles in the work of Beno'a"
Alexander Benois first visited Versailles in his youth, in the 1890s.
Since then, he has remained obsessed with the poetic of the old royal palace, "Divine Versaille", as he calls him himself. "I returned from there twisted, almost sick from strong impressions."
From the recognition of the nephew Evgeny Lancere: "I was drunk by this place, it is some kind of impossible illness, a criminal passion, strange in love."
"King Louis XIV in the chair" 
For life, the artist will create more than six hundred oily calets, engravings, pastels, guisas and watercolors dedicated to Versailles.
When Benua was 86 years old, he complained about weak health only from the point of view that it does not allow "walking along the paradise in which there was no time".
And this is a real lifetime portrait of an old Louis-Sun, drawn A. Benua. Not only by our artist, but Antoine Benoist (1632-1717), which worked at the court. In our Benoit, he was not a relative, and not even the same name (Other Writing), but I am sure that such a clever, as Alexander knew about him and could be felt some kind of spiritual relationship due to the name of the name. 
"Walk the king" 
"The source of inspiration for the artist is not the royal magnitude of the castle and parks, namely," unsubstantial, sad memories of the kings who are still roaming here. "This is similar to a certain almost mystical illusion (" I sometimes get to the state close to hallucinations ") .
For Benoit, those shadows that silently slide on the Versailles flesh, rather, memories than fantasy. According to his own statement, images of events are rushed before his eyes, which happened here. He "sees" the very creator of this magnificence, the King of Louis XIV surrounded by the suite. Moreover, he sees it is scary old and sick, which is surprising accurately reflects the former reality. "
"Versailles. Orangery" 
"Versailles. Triarone garden" 
From the article of the French Researcher (there is an interesting perspective in general):
"Images of the" Line Louis XIV "images are certainly inspired, and sometimes borrowed from texts and engravings of the" King of Sun ".
However, such a look - the approach of the erudite and the connoisseurs is not fraught with dryness or pedanticism and does not force the artist to engage in lifeless historical reconstructions. Indifferent to such expensive to the heart of the "complaints of stones dreaming of exterior in the slaughter, Benua did not capture neither the templement of the palace, nor the launch of the park, which is still certainly caught. He prefers historical accuracy of fantasy flights - and at the same time his fantasy is historically accurate. Themes of the artist - the flow of time, the "romantic" invasion of nature into the classic park of Lenotra; It takes - and amuses - the contrast between the sophistication of park decorations, in which "every line, any statue, the slightest vase" is reminded "On the divinity of the monarchical power, about the greatness of the Sun King, about the inviolability of the mains" - and the grotesque figure of the King himself: a horn old man In a catal, which pushes Livrayny Laki. "
"Curration" 
"Allegory of the River" 
"Several years later, Benua will draw an equally irresistible verbal portrait of Louis XIV:" Crumpled old man with squeezed cheeks, with bad teeth and a face made of smallpox. "
The king in the "walks" of Benua is a lone old man left court and clinging for the confessor in the premonition of close death. But he acts rather not in the role of the tragic hero, but in the role of a stained character, a statist, whose almost ephemeral, the ghostly presence emphasizes the inviolability of the scenery and the scene with which the once-great actor is being out, "the burden of this monstrous comedy." "
"The king walked into any weather ... (Saint-Simon)" 
"At the same time, Benua seems to forget that Louis XIV was the main customer of the Versailles performance and was not mistaken at all regarding the role of playing himself to play. Since the story was represented by Benua a certain similarity of the theater play, it was inevitable and the change of bright Misaneszen less successful:" Louis XIV was an excellent actor, and he earned the stories applause. Louis XVI was just one of the "grandchildren of the great actor", who fell on the stage, - and therefore it was very natural that he was awarded the audience, and the play failed, and the play recently had a huge success " ".
"Allegory of the River" 
"King" (here is not in the chair) 
"Walk in the garden of Versailles" 
"Pond in Versaille" 
"Fantasy on the Versailles" 
Anatoly Lunacharsky, the future Soviet "Minister of Culture", swore into the cycle, seeing drawings at the exhibition in 1907:
... The worst thing is that Benoit, following many, chose a special specialty. Now it is very accepted among painters and young poets to find and protect their original individuality, in love with some, sometimes to the funny narrow and deliberate genus of plots. Mr. Benua chose Versailles Park. Thousand and one etude of the Versailles Park, and more or less well made. And yet I want to say: "hit once, hit two, but it is impossible until the inaccuracy." For G. Benois called in the public a genus of a special mental stun: Versailles stopped acting. "How good!" - says the audience and widely, widespread.
Benouua Alexander Nikolaevich (1870-1960) Artist-schedule, painter, theater artist, publisher, writer, one of the authors of the modern image of the book. Representative of the Russian Modern.
Versailles (Versailles).
The post about the work of Alexander Benoit was already published in our community:
You are offered to your attention a few more watercolors of this wonderful artist.
Versailles. (Versailles).
Paris. Karruzel.
Versailles. Versailles.
Versailles. Versailles.
Fountain "Neptune" in Versailles. Versailles.
Fontainebleau.
Villa Maurel, Cassis.
Pont Marie, Paris.
Capitol, Rome. Le Capitole, Rome.
Ufficio Scavi, Rome.
Pavlovsk.
Venice. Venice.
Palace under the lunar light. (Gouache, paper)
Cassis. Cassis.
Cassis. (Grove in Cassis).
Walk king.
Chinese pavilion in the royal village. (Watercolor on paper. 23 x 25.5 cm).
Picture source:
From the comments to the post:
"..... Beno'a has long held me in captivity of his sophistication. I can not disregard not only the post about him, but also some secondary watercolor worker, set up for maintaining the prestige and status status. Attracts the eye, attracts the mind, attracts the essence. What kind of attack is this: to challenge the Beno'a! Already the XX1 century, and he himself is a gift that the founder of the community, as we would say now, the horror of what is formalized in content, and the stormy (with beating of individuals, novels, scandals and scraps) in essence. What clings me so? Calligraphic accuracy of parts? Color gamma, muted and aristocratic? Lack of fuss and melting in skill, in hand? Visible, hanging over the borders of work, education? Longing for an unprecedented and not trimmed era? Samples of French parks, rated and vested, living in phantoms in his watercolors? Since childhood learned-Assioma: he could see partially preserved, and you don't even think, because you will never see? Envy to his scenery and costumes made for Dyagilev, how many luxury editions of the Dyagilevsky seasons do not take it, do not understand a delicate, but deafening effect? What makes me all my life, in thoughtfulness to stop near these cold-blooded sheets of high-quality paper hidden under the glass, celebrate what it was put up there, and there was no nothing? Maybe a landscape without a person? And how is the landscape without a person, from which only the trouble and destruction by the verified classical harmony standards? I do not know. But I look, I look .... "
A. N. Benua was born in the family of a famous architect and grew in an atmosphere of honoring art, but did not receive art education. He studied at the Law Faculty of St. Petersburg University (1890-94), but at the same time he independently studied the history of art and was engaged in drawing and painting (mostly watercolor). It did it so thoroughly that he managed to write the chapter about Russian art for the third volume "painting history in the XIX century" R. Mother, published in 1894
He was immediately spoken about him as a talented art historian who turned the established ideas about the development of domestic art. In 1897, on the impressions of trips to France, he created the first serious work - a series of watercolors "the last walks of Louis XIV," - showing himself an original artist.
Repeated trips to Italy and France and copying artistic treasures there, the study of the writings of Saint-Simon, the literature of the West of the XVII-XIX centuries., Interest in the ancient engraving was the foundation of his artistic education. In 1893, Benois made a landscape officer, creating watercolors of the surroundings of St. Petersburg. In 1897-1898, he writes a watercolor and a gouache series of landscape paintings by Versailles Parks, having recreated the spirit and atmosphere of antiquity in them.
By the end of 19, the beginning of the 20th century, Benua is back to the landscapes of Peterhof, Oranienbaum, Pavlovsk. He glorifies the beauty and greatness of the architecture of the XVIII century. Nature is interested in the artist mainly in her connection with the history. Possessing a pedagogical gift and erudition, he at the end of the XIX century. Organized the unification of the "World of Art", becoming his theoretical and inspiration. He worked a lot in the book graphics. Often spoke in the press and every week published his "artistic letters" (1908-16) in the newspaper "Speech".
No less fruitfully worked as a historian of art: published in two releases (1901, 1902) who received wide fame of the book "Russian painting in the XIX century", substantially recycling his early essay for her; He began to produce serial editions "Russian School of Painting" and "The History of Painting All Times and Peoples" (1910-17; the publication was interrupted with the beginning of the revolution) and the magazine "Artistic Treasures of Russia"; Created a wonderful "Hermitage Picture Gallery Guide" (1911).
After the 1917 revolution, Benoit took an active part in the work of various organizations related mainly to the protection of monuments of art and antiquity, and from 1918 he also took up the museum business - began to head the art gallery of the Hermitage. It was developed and successfully implemented a completely new plan of the common, the museum's exposition that contributed to the most expressive demonstration of each work.
At the beginning of the XX century. Benoit illustrates the works of Pushkin A.S. It acts as a critic and historian of art. In the 1910s, people fall into the center of interests of the artist. Such is his picture "Peter I on a walk in the summer garden," where the appearance of the last life seen by the eyes of a contemporary is recreated in a multi-digurine scene.
The work of Benois-artist resolutely prevailed history. Two topics invariably enjoyed his attention: "Petersburg XVIII - early XIX century." and "France Louis XIV". He turned to them first in his historical compositions - in two "Versailles series" (1897, 1905-06), in the widely known pictures "Parade with Pavel I" (1907), "Event of Catherine II in the Tsarskoselsky Palace" (1907 ) And others, reproducing a long life with deep knowledge and a subtle sense of style. The same topics, in essence, were devoted to both his numerous intensive landscapes, which he usually performed in St. Petersburg and his suburbs, then in Versailles (Benua regularly traveled to France and lived there for a long time). In the history of Russian book graphics, the artist entered his book "ABC in the paintings of Alexander Beno'a" (1905) and illustrations for the "peak lady" A. S. Pushkin, filled in two versions (1899, 1910), as well as wonderful illustrations for the copper rider ", Three options for which he devoted almost twenty years of labor (1903-22).
At the same years, it takes part in the design of the "Russian seasons" organized by Dyagilev S.P. In Paris, which included not only opera and ballet productions, but also symphony concerts in their program.
Benouua issued Opera R. Wagner "The Death of Gods" on the stage of the Mariinsky Theater and followed the sketches of scenery to the ballet N. N. Cenenin "Pavilion Armida" (1903), whose libretto composed himself. The passion for ballet was so strong that, on the initiative of Benois and, with his direct participation, a private ballet troupe was organized, which began in 1909, triumphal performances in Paris - "Russian seasons". Benoit, who took the post director of the artistic part in the troupe, executed registration to several performances.
One of its top achievements was the scenery to the ballet I. F. Stravinsky "Parsley" (1911). Soon, Benua began cooperation with MHT, where he successfully designed two performances on the plays of J.-B. Moliere (1913) and for some time even participated in the leadership of the theater along with K. S. Stanislavsky and V. I. Nemirovich-Danchenko.
From 1926 he lived in Paris, where he died. The main works of the artist: "Walk of the king" (1906), "fantasy to the Versailles" (1906), "Italian comedy" (1906), illustrations to the copper rider Pushkin A.S. (1903) and others.