Аннотация: An unhuman horror. A note on chapters 13-18 of the book "Vereshchagin"
An unhuman horror. A note on chapters 13-18 of the book "Vereshchagin"
Vereshchagin participates in the Russian-Turkish (Balkan) war of 1877-1878.
A separate topic is mysticism.
Vereshchagin acts on a small ship against a large Turkish ships.
Several Turkish shells fall into the small ship on which Vereshchagin is located. Vereshchagin recalls a hell. Vereshchagin is wounded.
A healing after an wounding is going very difficult. In delirium, Vereshchagin sees images of a hell.
The artist, recovering, directs his younger brother Sergey "to look at the war", "to listen to the bullets sounds".
Sergey was killed during a failed attack. His body remained in the territory occupied by the Turks, and was not found. Vasily Vereshchagin tried to find his brother"s body, cried ...
Another topic is events and thoughts from the sphere of a rational.
Meetings with Emperor Alexander II. Again - the impression of a cooling relationship.
A disbelief of Vasily Vereshchagin in a war, as a way to achieve success, to achieve a foreign policy results ...
"[Vasily] Nemirovich-Danchenko, who lived after the fall of Plevna in the same house as Vereshchagin, wrote:" At first I saw the artist only in the evening; he spent all days on the plain ... ... the whole area around the trenches, where before the decisive battle there were on duty units of the grenadier division, WERE LITTERED WITH CORPS [BODIES OF DIED] AND WOUNDED. Until the evening dawn, V.V. worked there every day, drawing from nature [from a real situation] paintings full of unhuman horror. " (Here and further - quotes from the book by A.I. Kudrya "Vereshchagin").
After a century and a half, you can try to direct a generalized view of the situation.
For certain reasons (economic? political? moral? others?) a war began.
What does the situation look like in a country where there is a real political opposition? The government is under fire, trying to formulate the least vulnerable to criticism line of conduct.
The Russian Empire is organized in accordance with the principles of absolute monarchy.
Many lives have been lost. Many millions of rubles have been spent. After relative victories over the Ottoman Empire, it turns out that Britain and other Western countries are de facto against Russia. Russia is forced to retreat.
Question: Before the start of the war, such an option as Western support for the Ottoman Empire was considered? What actions were planned in case of a such scenario?
"Vereshchagin, - using his words, - first of all saw the "terrible ghost of war" .... This "terrible ghost of war" took away [from Vereshchagin] half a dozen of his relatives, and that is why he was not ready to sing in honor of any military deeds and victims of the" Russian citizen. "
"... on the frame of the painting "Near Plevna" ["Под Плевной"], depicting Alexander II with his retinue, watching the progress of the next assault on Plevna, it was written: "Tsar"s birthday" ["Царские именины"]. The ironic meaning of the signature did not raise any doubts. With the same bitter irony, a painting [triptych] about a soldier freezing at a post was called - "Everything is calm on Shipka" ["На Шипке всё спокойно"]".
Emperor in 1880 in St. Petersburg examined a collection of paintings by Vereshchagin in solitude. His opinion, it seems, - in relation to paintings on the Balkan war? - was negative. The "Indian" collection of Vereshchagin was sold at auction among more than 20 purchasers for 140 thousand rubles. At the auction were sold and paintings of "Balkan themes." One of the main buyers was Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov. The auction was organized by the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, led by the famous writer D. V. Grigorovich.
After the Balkan war of 1877-1878, subsequent events (exhibitions in London, Paris and St. Petersburg), after the loss of a brother, the death of his father, strained relations with his mother, the semi-bankruptcy of the previously wealthy Vereshchagins, Vasily Vereshchagin felt a desire to "get away" from the theme of war, from the military theme.
(The Balkan war of 1877-1878 had an extremely negative impact on the previously prosperous Vereshchagins family. A certain "compensation" was the growing, worldwide fame of a family member - Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin).
The Russian-Turkish war of 1877 - 1878 was completed.
Having been wounded, having lost brother Sergei, having seen horrors of war, having breathed an air of heavy, difficult, heroic tactical victories, having learned about strategic retreat (defeat?) of Russia, having witnessed another manifestation of the "tradition of defeat" [1856... -... 1878... -... 1905... -... 1917...], Vasily Vereshchagin is headed to Paris in 1878.
May 21, 2020 15:35
Translation from Russian into English: May 22, 2020 07:09.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский "Нечеловеческий ужас. Заметка о главах 13-18 книги "Верещагин"".