Russian, 1862-1942 Russian painter. From 1877 to 1881 and again from 1884 to 1886 he studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture under the Realist painters Vasily Perov and Illarion Pryanishnikov. Between 1881 and 1884 he worked under Pavel Chistyakov (1832-1919) at the Academy of Arts, St Petersburg. At the estate of Savva Mamontov at Abramtsevo he met the most influential painters of the period, then at the epicentre of the development of Russian Art Nouveau. Nesterov sought to combine this style with a deep Orthodox belief; however, in his desire to revive religious art he was influenced more by French Symbolism, particularly by Bastien-Lepage, than by old Russian icon painting. All of Nesterov's canvases are marked by a lyrical synthesis between the figures and their landscape surroundings, as in Hermit (1888-9; Moscow, Tret'yakov Gal.), which shows the stooped figure of an old man against a northern landscape of stunted trees and still water. The large oil painting Vision of Young Bartholomew (1889-90; Moscow, Tret'yakov Gal.) depicts the legend of the childhood of the Russian saint Sergey of Radonezh. A monk appears to the young Bartholomew (the future St Sergius) and prophesies a glorious future for him.   Related Paintings of Nesterov, Mikhail :. | The Vision to the Boy Bartholomew | Portrait of Elizaveta Kruglikova | The Vision to the Boy Bartholomew | Tzarevich Dmitry | Portrait of Olga Nesterova, The Artist's Daughter |
Related Artists:
Edward Caledon Bruce
painted Robert E. Lee in 1865
Robert Morrison
1852-1925
Mednyanszky, Laszlo
Hungarian, 1852-1919 Ladislaus Josephus Balthasar Eustachius Mednyenszky was a Hungarian painter in the Impressionist tradition. Despite an aristocratic background, he spent most of his life moving around Europe working as an artist. Mednyenszky spent considerable periods in seclusion but mingled with people across society - in the aristocracy, art world, peasantry and army - many of whom became the subjects of his paintings. His most important works depict scenes of nature and poor, working people, particularly from his home region in Upper Hungary. Medny nszky was born in Beck, the Kingdom of Hungary (now Beckov in Slovakia), to Eduard Mednyenszky and Maria Anna Mednyenszky, (nee Szirmay) both from landowning families. Mednyenszky's family moved in 1861 to the chateau of his grandfather, Baltazer Szirmay, at Nagyőr (Strežky), near Szepesbela (Spišsk Bele) in north-eastern Hungary. This was to be the setting for many of his works. Medny nszky met the Austrian artist Thomas Ender in 1863 when Ender visited the chateau at Nagyőr. Ender took an interest in Mednyenszky's early efforts at drawing, lending his assistance to improve Mednyenszky's skills. Mednyenszky attended a grammar school in K??smerk (Kežmarok), near his home, then attended the Akademie der Bildenden Kenste (Academy of Fine Arts) in Munich in 1872 - 1873. Dissatisfied in Munich, he moved to Paris to attend the École des Beaux-Arts. After the death of his professor, Isidore-Alexandre Augustin Pils, in 1875, Mednyenszky left the École and began practicing independently from Montmartre. Mednyenszky returned to Nagyőr after 1877 to continue painting, and subsequently travelled widely in Europe, between his childhood homes in Upper Hungary and Budapest, Vienna, Paris and beyond. Mednyenszky visited the Szolnok artists' colony in the autumn of 1877 and Italy in 1878. His mother died in 1883, after which he lived in seclusion in Nagyőr. He returned to Nagyőr in 1887 to help deal with an outbreak of cholera but soon fell ill himself, with pneumonia. He spent much of 1889-1892 in Paris and returned regularly to Nagyőr until 1900.