Portrait of Ivan Krylov
Taras Shevchenko. Portrait of Ivan Krylov. A copy of the work by K. Briullov.
[1839 – 1841, no later than early May. St. Petersburg].
Watercolour. 24,6 × 19,5 cm.
Russian Museum of A.S. Pushkin (St Petersburg), № 3552 – p.
On the mat, with which the portrait was received by Pushkin museum, placed inscription in ink: Watercolor by K.P. Briullov – 1768 – I.A. Krylov – 1844. collection of A.F. Onegin.
Free copy of an incomplete portrait of Ivan Andreevich Krylov (1769 – 1844) by K. Briullov (1839. Oil on canvas. 102 × 86,2 cm. The State Tretyakov Gallery (Moscow), № 5050). In the Pushkin museum it was attributed as work of unknown artist of the first half of XIX century, K.P. Briullov's school.
For the first time as Shevchenko's work was mentioned in the article by A.A. Fomin "Poet and the King" [Fomin A.A. Poet and king // Russian bibliophile. – 1912. – № 7 / 8. – p. 174], where the letter of V. Zhukovsky on June 7, 1848 to the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm IV was published. Zhukovsky asking him to buy a collection of 354 works of Russian and foreign artists, in particular «Schevchenko – "Portrait de Kriloff", une scene». M.I. Matsapura based on historical data and comparisone of the portrait style with Shevchenko's watercolor portraits of A.I. Lagoda, M.P. Sokolovsky, M.O. Lunin, portrait of an unknown suggested it was a copy by Shevchenko [Matsapura M.I. Portrait I.A. Krylov brush T.H. Shevchenko // Taras Shevchenko -artist. – K., 1963. – p. 113 – 121].
Tentatively dated seeing Briullov started working on a portrait of I.A. Krylov in 1839, and in early May 1841 V.A. Zhukovsky, who owned the portrait, went abroad and never returned home.
Reproduced first in 1963 by M.I. Matsapura [Ibid. – Between the p. 112 – 113].
Storage areas: property of V.A. Zhukovsky, from 1852 – P.V. Zhukovsky, from 1912 – A.F. Onegin, from 1928 – Pushkin House of the USSR (Leningrad); from 1953 – Russian Museum of A.S. Pushkin (St Petersburg).
Exhibition: 1930. Leningrad. Exhibition of A.F. Onegin's collections [Pushkin House. Exhibition of A.F. Onegin's collections. – L., 1930. – p. 5].
M.A. Korniychuk
After publication: T.H. Shevchenko Complete Works in 12 volumes. – K.: Naukova Dumka, 2003, v. 7, p. 76 – 77 (image), p. 380 – 381 (notes).