Fyodor Stepanowitsch Rokotov

Portrait of Alexandra Strujskaja (1772)

Fyodor Stepanovič Rokotov ( Russian Фёдор Степанович Рокотов , scientific transliteration Fëdor Stepanovič Rokotov ; * around 1736 in Voronzowo (now in Moscow ); † December 12th ^July / December 24th  1808 ^Greggian painter in Moscow) was a Russian painter of the Rokoko . who specialized in portraiture .

Life

Fyodor Rokotov was born into a family of serfs belonging to the Repnins family. Much in his biography remains unknown. He studied at the Russian Art Academy in Saint Petersburg and was able to buy himself out of serfdom in the late 1750s. After that he became a sought-after portrait painter who received commissions from the highest circles in Russian society. In 1765 he was elected an academician , but did not work long as a professor in the academy as this clashed with his painting. In the same year he moved to Moscow , where he stayed until the end of his life. There he had a large number of commissions and rose to become the best portrait painters of his time.

His most famous portraits include the portrait of Alexandra Strujskaja (1772), sometimes also called the Russian Mona Lisa and recognized as one of the most famous works of art in Russian painting of the 18th century . Rokotow also painted the portrait of Countess Elisabeth Santi (1785) and the Miss in a Pink Dress (1770s). Rokotow avoided formal commissions with many awards and decorations. Instead, he was one of the first Russian painters to develop the psychological portrait , paying a lot of attention to visual and atmospheric effects.

gallery

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  Miss in a pink dress

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  Katharina the great

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  Tsar Paul

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  Ivan Shuvalov

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  Countess Kvaschnina-Samarina

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  Ivan Orlov

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  Dmitri Golitsyn

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  Portrait of an Unknown Woman

literature

• Молева Н. Загадки Рокотова. М., 1994.

Web links

Commons : Fyodor Stepanowitsch Rokotow  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• A collection of Rokotov's works