The author of the picture is a stranger in a stroller. Mystical paintings by Russian artists

"Unknown" is a portrait of a beautiful, but somewhat agitated woman against the backdrop of Nevsky Prospekt.

I.E. Repin told in his memoirs that when this picture appeared at the XI-th exhibition of the Itinerant artists, everyone was literally intrigued - who is this woman?

Neither the first biographers nor his daughter Kramskaya-Juncker confirm any of the assumptions - who is this woman? And there were many versions. The artist's daughter claimed that the portrait was painted from different models, and this image is collective. Some said that the artist saw this beauty on the street, in a passing carriage, others said that it was the image of Anna Karenina (several years before the appearance of Kramskoy's painting, Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina was published).

Although the literary images of women, which would serve as the prototype of the picture, could be named and named. In many works of Russian writers and poets, the image of a woman opposing society was very popular. And in the picture, the beauty is perceived just like that.

Perhaps Kramskoy also touched on this topic. The artist, as it were, looks at his model from the side, forcing the audience to think about who she is, what her fate is, what feelings are hidden behind this beauty and the haughty gaze of the half-lowered gaze of beautiful eyes. But among the sketches of Kramskoy, one was found, which depicts a young woman sitting in a carriage. She looks defiantly at the passers-by.

Her appearance - disheveled hair and not quite fresh toilet, causes ridicule. Was that how the artist originally wanted to portray a beauty? Kramskoy deliberately calls the portrait "Unknown", as if he knew that he would stop the audience and make them think about her fate. The picture caused a lot of commentary for its mystery. Who is she?

Many agreed that Kramskoy portrayed a rich kept woman. V. Stasov came up with a definition - "Cocotte in a wheelchair", and P. Tretyakov did not want to buy this work. And in the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery, it appeared as a result of the nationalization of private collections only in Soviet times in 1925, when the scandalous image of "Unknown" was gradually forgotten, and the picture of the unknown became the embodiment of aristocracy.

Kramskoy once said to Repin: “The point is not to write this or that scene ... of life. It will be a simple photograph from nature, a sketch, if it is not illuminated by the philosophical worldview of the author and does not bear the deep meaning of life ... ”. This is what the artist was probably thinking about when drawing a portrait of a beauty, about her life ...

Kramskoy was a gifted portrait painter. His ability to convey the inner world of the person depicted in the portrait seemed supernatural to many. Kramskoy paints the pictures "Moonlit Night", "Inconsolable Grief", "Unknown". Three women, three destinies.

Unknown differs in that the woman's face is close to the viewer. You can see the dullness of velvety skin, and shadows from long eyelashes, and tears in the eyes, which are masked by a cold and proud expression on the face, the pink frosty haze is written so masterly that in reality it brings a feeling of cold.

Some call the image of the unknown magical. Look at the picture, every detail on it makes us wonder - who is this, we consider the soft blue of her velvet suit, decorated with

One of the most outstanding works of the Russian school of painting of the second half of the 19th century is the painting "The Stranger". Kramskoy painted it in 1883. For the first time the painting was presented to the public in the same year at the exhibition of the Itinerants in St. Petersburg. Its original name is "Unknown". After the audience saw her, many rumors immediately appeared. Who is the young lady that Ivan Kramskoy portrayed in the picture? An exact answer to this question has not been obtained until today. A study of the artist's diaries and personal correspondence also failed to clarify the situation: Kramskoy never mentioned the personality of the woman who became the main character of his most famous work.

Search for the prototype of an unknown girl

There are several versions about whose image the painting "The Stranger" conveys. The description of the appearance of the Kursk beauty of the peasant woman Matryona Savvishna, who became the wife of the nobleman Bestuzhev, is most suitable for the heroine of the canvas. Some researchers of Kramskoy's work believed that his daughter Sophia was the model posing for him when painting the picture. Some art critics were of the opinion that the prototype of the girl from the canvas was Anna Karenina, others attributed her resemblance to Nastasya Filippovna Barashkova, the heroine of Dostoevsky's novel The Idiot. At the beginning of the 20th century, the young lady from the picture became associated with the tender and mysterious Blok's "Stranger".

Critics' score

Many of Kramskoy's contemporaries believed that the painting "The Stranger" was painted with the aim of exposing the moral foundations of society, which could not serve as an example to follow. Art critic V. Stasov called the beauty on the canvas "a cocotte in a carriage." According to N. Murashko, the canvas depicted "an expensive camellia", that is, a woman of easy virtue. Describing "The Stranger", critic P. Kovalevsky called her "one of the fiends of big cities."

Description of the young lady
What is the painting "Stranger"? Kramskoy depicted on it a beautiful young woman driving in an open carriage along the Anichkov bridge. The young lady, who looks regal against the background of snowy St. Petersburg, is dressed expensively and fashionably. The artist paints all the details of the stranger's elegant wardrobe with great care. A luxurious coat with blue satin ribbons, trimmed with sable furs, a hat with feathers, gloves made of the finest leather, a gold bracelet - all this gives her a wealthy woman.

The look of the beauty, framed by fluffy eyelashes, is haughty, contempt for others slips in it. But at the same time, in her eyes you can read the uncertainty inherent in all people who depend on the world in which they live. Despite the dismissive attitude, the girl is very beautiful, graceful, she attracts enthusiastic glances to herself. The unknown young lady clearly did not belong to the high society. Her dressing in the latest fashion, as well as her painted lips and profusely furrowed eyebrows, indicate that she was most likely the kept woman of some noble gentleman.

Czech find

Approximately 60 years after the painting of "The Stranger", a sketch for this painting was accidentally discovered in one of the private Czech collections. On it, the young lady is dressed in a dark closed dress, her hair is gathered in a high hairstyle. The woman depicted in the sketch is strikingly similar to "The Stranger", but her gaze reveals even more contempt for those around her. Kramskoy portrayed the beauty as arrogant and self-satisfied, giving her expression a kind of caricature. The sketch shows that the master has long cherished the idea of ​​creating an accusatory portrait, ridiculing the vices of society.

Rumors of the curse of the painting

The painting "The Stranger" attracts art lovers not only by the mysteriousness of the image of the main character. The artist created a truly mystical work, because for decades it attracted troubles and failures to its owners.
Having painted the canvas, Kramskoy offered Tretyakov to buy it for his gallery, but he refused, being sure that portraits of beautiful women can draw strength from a living person. "Stranger" found shelter in private collections, first in Russia, then abroad, but she brought misfortune to all its owners. A curse hung over Kramskoy himself: a few months after the picture was released, his 2 sons passed away one after the other.

After long travels in 1925, the mysterious "Stranger" returned to Russia and still took her place in the Tretyakov Gallery, where it is located to this day. Since then, she stopped bringing misfortune to others. Admirers of Kramskoy's work are sure that if the canvas had originally fallen into Tretyakov's collection, then ill fame would not have reached for it, because it was there that it should have been from the very beginning.

I. Kramskoy. "Unknown".

One of the most unusual works by Kramskoy, "Unknown" (1883), still excites critics and viewers with its mystery. Who is depicted in the portrait? It is not known, even the artist himself, neither in his diaries nor in letters, never once mentioned the picture either with a word or a hint. Almost all of St. Petersburg loved to look at the picture, enthusiastic contemporaries wrote about it ("a lama in a carriage, at one hour of walking along the Nevsky, from three to five in the afternoon, in a velvet dress with fur, with a stately dark beauty of the half-gypsy type ..." ), but no one ever corrupted her secret.

The vagueness of the plot of "Unknown" (1883) led to mutually exclusive interpretations of the picture. Perhaps, in none of his paintings is a person present on the canvas with such a tantalizing certainty and at the same time does not remain so internally mysterious and closed to the viewer. "Unknown", as it were, embodies the reality of the ideal's presence in life and, at the same time, its unattainability.

Many hypotheses arose about who the lady who served as a model for the artist was. A fairly popular version is that the image is collective and the traits of various women are used. There is also a rather sensational assumption that "Unknown" is a portrait of Ekaterina Dolgoruka, His Serene Highness Princess Yuryevskaya ...

In 1878, Emperor Alexander II became a father and had a daughter. But ... his daughter was born not by the legitimate empress, but by his beloved woman, his last and most ardent love - Ekaterina Dolgorukaya. And the emperor asked I. Kramskoy to paint her portrait. The artist prepared for his writing, but all this was kept in deep secrecy. Ekaterina Mikhailovna and her children were not recognized by the relatives of the emperor, and this offended her very much. Therefore, when posing for Kramskoy, she expressed a desire to look proud and independent in the portrait, and indicated the place by which she should drive in a carriage in the picture. This is Anichkov Palace, where the heir to the emperor lived with his family.
Kramskoy worked on the portrait for a long time, reworking it many times. Two years passed and ... the customer of the portrait, Emperor Alexander II, was killed. The meaning of the work was lost. Dolgoruka with her children was sent abroad.
The portrait stood sadly in the studio, and only three years after the death of the emperor, in 1883, the artist exhibited the painting at a traveling exhibition, calling it "Unknown" ...

I don’t know whether it’s it or not, but modern art critics have dug it out, comparing and researching it.
Here is the original, compare and decide: is Ekaterina Dolgorukaya similar to "Unknown" or not;)

Princess E.M. Dolgorukaya. The photo.

The 41-year-old Emperor Alexander II first saw Catherine Dolgoruky in 1859, when she was 13 years old, visiting their estate in Ukraine. Soon, the father of Ekaterina Mikhailovna went bankrupt and died, the mother with four sons and 2 daughters was left without funds. The Emperor took care of the Dolgoruky family: he assisted the Dolgoruky brothers in the St. Petersburg military institutions, and the sisters in the Smolny Institute. Dolgoruky's training was carried out at the expense of the sovereign. In 1865, the emperor traditionally visited the Smolny Institute. He remembered the Dolgoruky sisters and wanted to see them. 18-year-old Ekaterina Dolgorukaya struck down Alexander II, he fell in love with her without memory. Empress Maria Alexandrovna was already ill and did not get out of bed. The Tsar completely lost his head and persistently courted Catherine.

Ekaterina Dolgorukaya for the sake of love for the tsar forever ruined her reputation, sacrificed not only life in the world with its inherent entertainment, but also a normal family life in general. When her son George was born with the tsar, and then two daughters, she had a new sadness: her children were bastards. Alexander was proud of his son, he spoke with a laugh (why with a laugh?) That this child has more than half of Russian blood - such a rarity for the Romanovs! In 1874 the children were given the title of the Most Serene Princes of Yuryevsky ...

The empress was still alive, and the tsar settled Dolgoruky with the children in the Winter Palace. The emperor's novel met with the condemnation of the imperial family, the emperor's entourage was divided into two parties: the party of Dolgorukoy and the party of the heir to the throne, Alexander Alexandrovich. Maria Alexandrovna suffered in silence. On May 2, 1880, the Empress died, and on July 6, Alexander II secretly married E.M. Dolgorukoy. He thought about crowning her. She was awarded the title of Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya, emphasizing that her family originated from Yuri Dolgoruky. On March 1, 1881, the emperor was killed by terrorists from the People's Will organization.

______________________

Most Serene Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Yurievskaya (nee Princess Dolgorukaya)

****

"I love you, my dusya Katya"

Another comparison photo, courtesy of one of the readers of the diary. Here is a slightly different perspective, perhaps even more similar to the one used by Kramskoy ...

And here is another story about a woman who could have been Kramskoy's model. True, art critics note that history is not confirmed by any documentary evidence and it is generally not clear where its legs grow from.
But history, even being a myth, is beautiful in its own way.

In the Fatezhsky district of the Kursk province there was the estate of the pillar noblewoman Bestuzheva. She had many relatives in St. Petersburg and a mansion there.
The landowner's nephew, an officer, having retired and returning home from the Caucasus to St. Petersburg, stopped by to see his aunt.
Young Bestuzhev was struck by the extraordinary attractiveness and beauty of her maid - a peasant woman taken from a neighboring village. Because of this, he stayed on the estate ... Having secured the consent of his chosen one, the nephew turned to his aunt with a prayer that she would let the maid go with him, whom he decided to marry after introducing her to his parents.

Having listened to an unusual request, the landowner was outraged - how can a columnar nobleman marry a simple peasant ?! But he stood his ground so zealously that, although not immediately, he still won.
In St. Petersburg, young Bestuzhev introduced his chosen one to his parents. There were no particular objections, for the bride also captivated the groom's parents. They began to teach her etiquette, dancing, she had a pleasant voice. At the same time, they also taught ordinary literacy.
After the wedding, the happiness of the young was sometimes overshadowed by the fact that "in public" misunderstandings arose because of the unusual beauty and attractiveness of Matryona Savvishna. The painter Ivan Kramskoy was also her "prisoner". He sometimes visited their family. The beauty, undoubtedly, could not fail to interest Kramskoy as a painter.
... Once on a winter day in inclement weather, when a piercing wind was blowing from the sea bay, Kramskoy came to the Bestuzhevs. He was met by Matryona Savvishna's husband, who helped the guest to take off his coat and hat, and then led him into the hall and ordered hot tea to be served. Soon Matryona Savvishna rushed into the hall, unusually excited and ruddy. When her husband helped her take off her fur coat, she impatiently said several times: "Oh, what a meeting I just had!"
Right there, over tea, she told her husband and guest that she had met her former mistress, a landowner from the Fatezh district. She, in turn, recognized her former maid and, obviously, decided that Matryona Savvishna should immediately shower her with thanks for allowing her to leave with her nephew. But the former maid drove by with such an independent and proud look, they say, I don't know you and I don't want to know ...
The story made an indelible impression on Kramskoy. In the picture that he decided to paint, it will certainly be necessary to express not only her attractiveness, but to show at least to some extent the inner world of this charming young woman. How much the artist succeeded in this, art critics argue to this day.
But family life did not work out, her husband happened to call too zealous gentlemen to a duel. There were three such duels, but they all ended in reconciliation. However, they could not help but spoil family relationships. In addition, their son fell ill and died. All this prompted the relatives of Matryona Savvishna's spouse to file a petition before the church for divorce, which was done.
Upon learning of this, Kramskoy considered it his duty to see Matryona Savvishna off - she decided to return to her native village to her older sister. At the same time, it was agreed that she would write to him. For a long time there was no news. Kramskoy himself wrote a letter to the village, but did not receive an answer. Arriving in Fatezh, Kramskoy learned the sad news: on the way Matryona Savvishna fell seriously ill and died in Fatezh, in the zemstvo hospital.
According to the order that existed in those years, only townspeople were buried in the city cemetery, Matryona Savvishna was buried in the cemetery in the village of Milenino, close to the city.
During his stay in Fatezh and in the native village of Matryona Savvishny, Kramskoy made several sketches, according to which such famous paintings as "A Man with a Bridle", "Woodsman" and "Rural Smithy" were later written.

Source © Dmitry Kramarenko

www.old.kurskcity.ru/events/kram-n.html

1. IVAN KRAMSKOY

Unknown. Etude. 1883 Private collection of Dusan Friedrich, Prague

Unknown 1883 Tretyakov Gallery

Calling his painting "Unknown", the clever Kramskoy has forever attached to her a halo of mystery. Contemporaries were literally at a loss. Her image caused anxiety and anxiety, a vague premonition of a depressing and dubious new - the appearance of a type of woman who did not fit into the old system of values. “It is not known who this lady is, decent or corrupt, but there is a whole epoch in her,” some stated. In our time, "Unknown" by Kramskoy has become the embodiment of aristocracy and secular sophistication. Like a queen, she rises above the foggy white cold city, driving in an open carriage along the Anichkov bridge. Her outfit - a Francis hat decorated with graceful light feathers, Swedish gloves made of the finest leather, a Skobelev coat decorated with sable fur and blue satin ribbons, a muff, a gold bracelet - all these are fashionable details of a woman's costume of the 1880s years, claiming expensive elegance. However, this did not mean belonging to the high society, rather the opposite - the code of unwritten rules excluded strict adherence to fashion in the highest circles of Russian society.

"A lady in a carriage, at one hour of walking along Nevsky, from three to five o'clock in the afternoon, in a velvet dress with fur, with a stately swarthy beauty of the half-gypsy type ..." in the capital city "Unknown".

Almost all of Petersburg came out to look at this mysterious lady. Proudly leaning back in the carriage, looking at the audience with a teasing gaze of half-open shimmering eyes, enticing with a gentle rounded chin, an elastic smooth smooth matte cheeks and a lush feather on her hat, she rode under the pearly firmament of a huge canvas, as in the middle of the world.
Date of creation of the work: 1883

Unable to calm his excitement, Kramskoy decided to leave the exhibition, where his "Unknown" was first shown, and return to the end of the opening day. A noisy crowd met him at the entrance and carried him in their arms. The success was complete. With the keen eye of the artist, he noted - everything is here: princes and officials, merchants and contractors, writers and artists, students and artisans ...

Tell me who is she? - friends pestered the artist.

- "Unknown".

Call it what you want, but tell me - where did you get this treasure?

Invented.

But he wrote from nature, didn't he?

Maybe from nature ...

Many artists have painted mysterious women over the centuries. But they all had prototypes. They could be guessed about, argued about, but in the end the secret was revealed. Even the carefully concealed image of Botticelli's "Madonna" became famous, it turned out to be Simonetta Vespucci, a noble lady, another's wife, passionate love of Giuliano Medici. Even Sistinskaya was painted from life, which, albeit slyly, Raphael admitted: “To paint this portrait of the Madonna, I needed to see many.” How can one explain such a daring challenge from Kramskoy, who, emphasizing the absolute incognito of his model, called her Unknown?

On this score, I have two versions: either the Unknown's nature was initially ugly, and the artist in the portrait gave her almost ideal features, or they were connected by something else. One thing is certain: of course, "Unknown" by Kramskoy is a masterpiece. But ... a masterpiece of a special kind. With its own, separate from all other works of the artist, life.

http://www.exposter.ru/kramskoi.html

A pictorial sketch for the painting "Unknown", which is kept in Prague, in a private collection (1883).

This is perhaps the most famous work of Kramskoy, the most intriguing one, which remains incomprehensible and unsolved to this day. Calling his painting "Unknown", the clever Kramskoy has forever fixed her aura of mystery. Contemporaries were literally at a loss. Her image caused anxiety and anxiety, a vague premonition of a depressing and dubious new - the appearance of a type of woman who did not fit into the old system of values. “It is not known who this lady is, decent or corrupt, but there is a whole epoch in her,” some stated. Stasov loudly called Kramskoy's heroine "a cocotte in a wheelchair." Tretyakov also admitted to Stasov that he liked Kramskoy's "previous works" more than the latter. There were critics who combined this image with Anna Karenina of Lev Tolstoy, who descended from the height of her social position, with Nastasya Filippovna Fyodor Dostoevsky, who rose above the position of a fallen woman, the names of the ladies of the world and half-light were also called. By the beginning of the 20th century, the scandalousness of the image was gradually overshadowed by the romantic-mysterious aura of Blok's "Stranger". In Soviet times, "Unknown" by Kramskoy became the embodiment of aristocracy and secular sophistication, almost the Russian Sistine Madonna - the ideal of unearthly beauty and spirituality.

In a private collection in Prague, a pictorial sketch for the painting is kept, convincing that Kramskoy was looking for the ambiguity of the artistic image. The etude is much simpler and sharper, more articulated and more definite than the painting. It shows the insolence and imperiousness of a woman, a feeling of emptiness and satiety, which are absent in the final version. In the painting "Unknown" Kramskoy is carried away by the sensual, almost teasing beauty of his heroine, her delicate dark skin, her velvety eyelashes, a slightly haughty squint of her brown eyes, her majestic posture. Like a queen, she rises above the foggy white cold city, driving in an open carriage along the Anichkov bridge. Her outfit - a Francis hat decorated with graceful light feathers, Swedish gloves made of the finest leather, a Skobelev coat decorated with sable fur and blue satin ribbons, a muff, a gold bracelet - these are all fashionable details of a woman's costume of the 1880s years, claiming expensive elegance. However, this did not mean belonging to the upper world; rather, on the contrary - the code of unwritten rules excluded strict adherence to fashion in the highest circles of Russian society.

Refined sensual beauty, majesty and gracefulness of "Unknown", a certain alienation and arrogance cannot hide the feeling of insecurity in the face of the world to which she belongs and on which she depends. With his painting, Kramskoy raises the question of the fate of beauty in an imperfect reality.

The heroine is dressed in the latest fashion (season 1883), according to experts in the history of the costume.

The pink frosty haze is written so masterly that it seems to bring a feeling of coldness in reality. Kramskoy knew how to paint light and air when he wanted it.

The place of action is beyond doubt - this is Nevsky Prospekt in St. Petersburg. Famous buildings were painted by Kramsky, on the one hand, rather sketchy, and on the other, quite recognizable.

In 1883, Kramskoy finished this "strange" painting and called it abruptly, with a challenge - "Unknown". The mystery has been plaguing those who look at this picture for almost 160 years. Who is this woman? The secret is sealed with seven seals. Kramskoy, neither in his diaries nor in his numerous letters, said a word or a hint about her.

This is perhaps the most famous work of Kramskoy, the most intriguing one, which remains incomprehensible and unsolved to this day. Calling his painting "Unknown", the clever Kramskoy has forever attached to her a halo of mystery.

Contemporaries were literally at a loss. Her image caused anxiety and anxiety, a vague premonition of a depressing and dubious new - the appearance of a type of woman who did not fit into the old system of values. “It is not known who this lady is, decent or corrupt, but there is a whole epoch in her,” some stated.

In our time, "Unknown" by Kramskoy has become the embodiment of aristocracy and secular sophistication. Like a queen, she rises above the foggy white cold city, driving in an open carriage along the Anichkov bridge. Her outfit - a “Francis” hat trimmed with graceful light feathers, “Swedish” gloves made of the finest leather, a “Skobelev” coat decorated with sable fur and blue satin ribbons, a muff, a gold bracelet - all these are fashionable details of a woman's costume of the 1880s years, claiming expensive elegance. However, this did not mean belonging to the high society, rather the opposite - the code of unwritten rules excluded strict adherence to fashion in the highest circles of Russian society.

The young woman in furs with an arrogant expression was called by critics "the fiend of big cities." They saw an accusatory meaning in the picture. However, in the face of the heroine you can see not only arrogance, but also sadness, hidden drama.

Possible prototype history:

Other versions:
It is also believed that the artist's wife Yaroshenko Maria Pavlovna posed. The portrait of Kramskoy's niece (daughter of his older brother) is also a similarity in her face ... Or maybe it's just a collective image.

It is assumed that
in 1878, Emperor Alexander II became a father, his daughter was born, but his daughter was not given to him by the legitimate empress, but by his last and ardent love - Ekaterina Dolgorukaya. Therefore, Kramskoy kept a secret. Ekaterina Mikhailovna and her children were not recognized by the emperor's relatives. She expressed a desire to Kramskoy and indicated the place by which she should drive in a carriage in the picture. This is Anichkov Palace, where the heir to the emperor lived with his family.
Kramskoy worked on the portrait for a long time, reworking it many times. Two years passed and ... the customer of the portrait, Emperor Alexander II, was killed. The meaning of the work was lost. Dolgoruka with her children was sent abroad.
The portrait stood sadly in the studio, and only three years after the death of the emperor, in 1883, the artist exhibited the painting at a traveling exhibition, calling it "Unknown" ...

Compare: is Ekaterina Dolgorukaya similar to "Unknown"

"Unknown" is the most famous work of the artist Ivan Kramskoy. Giving the picture the name "Unknown", Kramskoy forever endowed his work with mystery and understatement.

Description of the painting by Ivan Kramskoy "Unknown"

The painting depicts a young woman driving in a carriage across the Anichkov Bridge in St. Petersburg. The lady is dressed according to the latest fashion trends: she is wearing a Francis hat, trimmed with elegant light feathers, Swedish gloves made of the finest leather, a Skobelev coat decorated with sable fur and blue satin ribbons, a muff, a gold bracelet - all these are fashionable details of women's costume of the 1880s, pretending to be expensive elegance. However, this did not mean belonging to the high society, rather the opposite - the code of unwritten rules excluded strict adherence to fashion in the highest circles of Russian society.

Ivan Kramskoy, "Unknown", 1883, oil on canvas, 75.5 x 99, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

Most likely, in front of us is a lady of the half-light. Critics called her "a cocotte in a carriage", "an expensive camellia" and "one of the fiends of big cities", since the features of the woman in the picture have some demonicity: she is strong-willed, but refined and sensual, with a deep and penetrating look.

The painting "Unknown" is written in the style of realism and stands on the border of a portrait and a thematic painting. At the very first exhibition in which the picture participated, it was a huge success, and friends tried to find out from Ivan Kramskoy who is depicted in the picture. Kramskoy declined to answer.

Who is depicted in the picture

Ivan Kramskoy kept the secret of the personality of "Unknown" to the end: in any records he did not leave information about who this woman was.

There are several versions of who it is:

That the portrait was painted with Maria Yaroshenko - the wife of the artist Yaroshenko;

That the portrait is a collective image of a lady of the 1880s;

That this is the Georgian princess Varvara Turkestanishvili, who, allegedly, was the favorite of Alexander I and the maid of honor of the Empress Maria Feodorovna;

That this is a portrait of Ekaterina Dolgoruka, His Serene Highness Princess Yuryevskaya.

And the most common version is that it is Matryona Savvishna Bestuzheva, a former Kursk peasant woman who married Bestuzhev.

In particular, the Kursk Encyclopedia (compiled by Sh.R. Goizman, Kursk, 2004-2016) contains the following information:

“In the 1870s, K. was friends with the Bestuzhev family, in particular, with Matryona Savvishnaya Bestuzheva, which came from the peasants with. Milenino of Fatezhsky district. However, under pressure from relatives, Bestuzhev dissolved the marriage, and Matryona Savvishna decided to return to her homeland. At parting with her, K. agreed on a correspondence, but without waiting for the letters, he went to Fatezh and learned the sad news: on the way M. S. Bestuzheva became seriously ill and died in the Fatezhskaya zemstvo hospital. According to the order that existed in those years, only townspeople were buried in the city cemetery, therefore M.S. Bestuzhev buried in the cemetery of her native village. During his stay in Fatezh and in the village. Milenino K. made several portrait sketches of fatezhan and rural landscape sketches, on which such famous paintings as "Woodsman" (1874, Tretyakov Gallery) and "Rural Smithy", "A Man with a Bridle" (1883, Museum of Russian Art , Kiev) and others. K. also painted a portrait M. S. Bestuzhevoy, which later became widely known under the name "Unknown" (1883, Tretyakov Gallery). This portrait (see illustration for the article) was written by him under the influence of the story Matryona Savvishny about a chance meeting with her mother-in-law, a former lady of Fatezh, on one of the St. Petersburg streets. "

Etude

Ivan Kramskoy, “Unknown. Study ", 1883, Collection of Dr. Dusan Friedrich (Prague)

There is also a sketch "Unknown", it is in a private collection in Prague. In this version, arrogance, insolence, satiety are read in the eyes of a woman, which are not in the final version.

Where is the painting "Unknown"

The painting "Unknown" by Ivan Kramskoy is part of the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery and is exhibited at the department at the address: Moscow, Lavrushinsky lane, 10, room 20.