Matveev Andrey Matveevich (1701-1739) - one of the first envoys of Peter I to Western Europe to study art. One of the founders of secular painting and portrait genre in Russia. Icon painter, author of allegorical, decorative and monumental compositions. Court painter.
In 1739, Irina Stepanovna, the painter’s wife, after his death reported, “that she stayed after her husband Matveev with young evo children and her husband did not have to bury her body in anything”.
Emperor Peter I and pensioner Andrei Matveev in Western Europe
It is difficult to find reliable information about the early years of the life of the Russian portrait painter Matveyev Andrey Matveevich. Almost always, in the description of his biography, the name of Emperor Peter I is mentioned, who saw a talented boy and gave him, as they say, a ticket to creativity. So it was or not, but Peter the Great, no doubt, played a significant role in the fate of the artist.
The crowned reformer readily studied with Western masters, he mastered fourteen crafts and hoped for such zeal from young Russian talents. Peter introduced training in Europe to shipbuilding, astronomy, engineering and other technical sciences at the expense of the state "pension". The art direction was no exception. The emperor was guided by the practical tasks facing the country: artists were needed as participants in the transformation of the state, assistants in scientific works and promoting the technical development of the empire. Russia needed specialists who could illustrate books, treatises, make drawings and plans, fix any object: "Artists are necessary for drawing anatomical figures, herbs and other straights."
The aesthetic side of the issue at first did not stand or was not in the first place. Nevertheless, Peter I strove to be no worse than European sovereigns in all respects. He wanted a generation of domestic masters in the art industry to appear. The first pensioners of Peter in a picturesque profile were Ivan Nikitin and Andrei Matveev. Andrei was sent to Holland to receive an education. At that time he was 15 years old. He then studied in Flanders.
The return to Russia of artist Andrei Matveev
In total, Matveev spent 11 years in Western Europe and returned to Russia in 1727. By this time, Peter the Great had not been alive for two years. Empress Catherine I may have already died: she died in May 1727, and the first mention of the artist after returning from abroad dates back to August of this year. For the Empress Matveyev and the death of Peter I in 1725, he wrote and sent his work "Allegory of Painting", thereby showing achievements in studies and, apparently, wanting to extend his retirement. Catherine favored him, and Andrei Matveev managed to study in Europe for another two years. This picture of the period of his West European apprenticeship has been preserved and is in the collection of the Russian Museum in St. Petersburg.
Andrey Matveev. Allegory of painting.
Andrey Matveev and the "scenic team" of the Office of the buildings
On August 8, 1727, Alexander Danilovich Menshikov instructed the Chancellery of buildings to accept the service of Andrei Matveev, and instructs the painter Karavakka to examine him. Yesterday's senior citizen successfully passes the exam and enters the service in the Office. This institution was engaged in restoration, painting and decorative works in St. Petersburg and its environs. So in 1730, on one of the facades of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the painting "The Anticipation of the Apostles Peter and Paul before Christ" was installed.
In 1731, after architects Mikhail Zemtsov and Domenico Trezzini confirm that Matveyev "is much skilled in drawings, " he receives the rank of "painter" and becomes the first Russian head of the Chancellery from buildings.. Under the leadership of Andrei Matveevich, gifted artists and capable students gathered in the "painting team", and, in fact, it turned into an art school, which influenced the development of 18th-century national art.
Andrey Matveev - portrait painter
Before the era of Peter the Great, secular painting in Russia was not developed. The portrait genre did not exist. One of the first Russian portrait painters was Andrei Matveevich Matveev. Portraits of the Italian doctor I.A. Acaretti and the Golitsyn spouses that he wrote have survived to our time.
Andrey Matveev. Portrait of a doctor I.A. Acaretti.
Andrey Matveev. Portrait of Prince Ivan Alekseevich Golitsyn in armor, 1728
But the most unusual work is Self-Portrait with a Wife. In 1729, a serious event happened in Matveev’s personal life: he married Irina Stepanovna Antropova, cousin of the artist Alexei Antropov, who was his student. Presumably, the creation of the painting belongs to the same year. There is a lot of innovation in it: it is the first self-portrait in Russian painting and at the same time the first double and family. In addition, the artist frankly showed love and touchingly portrayed the tender feelings of the couple. He showed the woman equal to a man worthy of respect and friendship, which was not accepted in the 18th century society.
Matveev Andrey. Self-portrait with his wife, 1729
