Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov (Russian: Александр Андреевич Иванов; July 16, 1806 – July 3, 1858) was a Russian painter who adhered to the waning tradition of Neoclassicism but found little sympathy with his contemporaries.
Alexander Ivanov studied together with Karl Briullov at the Imperial Academy of Arts under his father, Andrey A. Ivanov. He spent most of his life in Rome where he befriended Gogol and succumbed to the influence of the Nazarenes. He has been called the master of one work, for it took 20 years to complete his magnum opus, The Appearance of Christ before the People (1837-57). Ivanov's disappointment with the public reception of this grand work undoubtedly contributed to his premature death.
It was for the next generation of art critics to do him justice. Some of the numerous sketches he had prepared for The Appearance have been recognized as masterpieces in their own right. Although Ivanov's major painting is a gem of the Tretyakov Gallery, the most comprehensive collection of his works can be viewed at the Russian Museum in St Petersburg.
