Masters/Alexander Ivanov
The Appearance of Christ Before the People, 1837–1857
Oil on canvas, 540 × 750 cm
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
A wing of the gallery
Alexander Ivanov
1806–1858 · Russia
A Russian painter who spent twenty years in Rome on one canvas, and in his last decade filled hundreds of sheets with biblical sketches.
01
A painter's son
Alexander Ivanov was born in St. Petersburg in 1806, the son of an art professor, and entered the Imperial Academy of Arts at eleven. In 1830 he left for Europe and settled in Rome, where he spent most of his life and befriended the writer Nikolai Gogol.
The Annunciation, late 1840s–1858
Watercolor and pencil on paper (Biblical Sketches)
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
02
Twenty years on one painting
His Christ’s Appearance to Mary Magdalene (1835) won him the title of Academician. He set it in the park of the Villa d’Este near Rome.
Then he began The Appearance of Christ Before the People, based on the first chapter of John. He worked on it from 1837 to 1857. It is 5.4 by 7.5 meters, and it shows John the Baptist on the bank of the Jordan pointing to Jesus, still far off. Ivanov said he wanted to show people who had known despair and suffering feeling “joy for the first time.”
Sources: Wikipedia, Christ's Appearance to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection · Wikipedia, The Appearance of Christ Before the People
Jesus and Nicodemus, late 1840s–1858
Watercolor and pencil on paper (Biblical Sketches)
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
03
The Biblical Sketches
In his last decade, from the late 1840s until his death, Ivanov made a cycle of watercolor sketches of the Old and New Testaments. The Tretyakov Gallery counts more than two hundred finished of the five hundred he planned. They are freer and stranger than his great canvas: light glows out of dark paper, and figures are only half there.
He died in St. Petersburg in 1858. The sketches stayed with his brother and later went to the museums of Moscow.
Sources: Tretyakov Gallery (Lavrus), Alexander Ivanov: Biblical Sketches · The Tretyakov Gallery Magazine, The Magic of Watercolour · Wikipedia, Alexander Andreyevich Ivanov
The Last Supper, late 1840s–1858
Watercolor and pencil on paper (Biblical Sketches)
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
The rooms
12 works, in the order of His life
Hung by the Gospel moment they show, across 12 rooms of the Gallery Walk.
2. Be It unto Me
The Annunciation, late 1840s–1858
Watercolor and pencil on paper (Biblical Sketches)
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
6. Good Tidings of Great Joy
The Shepherds Praise God, late 1840s–1858
Watercolor and pencil on paper (Biblical Sketches)
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
12. Prepare Ye the Way
John the Baptist Preaching, late 1840s–1858
Watercolor and pencil on paper (Biblical Sketches)
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
15. Come and See
The Appearance of Christ Before the People, 1837–1857
Oil on canvas, 540 × 750 cm
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
17. Nicodemus by Night
Jesus and Nicodemus, late 1840s–1858
Watercolor and pencil on paper (Biblical Sketches)
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
34. Five Loaves and Two Fishes
The Multiplication of the Loaves, late 1840s–1858
Watercolor and pencil on paper (Biblical Sketches)
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
38. Hear Ye Him
The Transfiguration, c. 1846–1858
Watercolor sketch
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
55. In Remembrance of Me
The Last Supper, late 1840s–1858
Watercolor and pencil on paper (Biblical Sketches)
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
57. Love One Another
Leaving the Last Supper, late 1840s–1858
Watercolor and pencil on paper (Biblical Sketches)
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
63. Laid in a New Tomb
The Burial of Christ, late 1840s–1858
Watercolor and pencil on paper (Biblical Sketches)
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
64. He Is Risen
The Angel Rolls Away the Stone, late 1840s–1858
Watercolor and pencil on paper (Biblical Sketches)
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
65. I Have Seen the Lord
Christ's Appearance to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection, 1835
Oil on canvas, 242 × 321 cm
State Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
See the originals
Where the works are
State Tretyakov Gallery
Moscow, Russia
The Appearance of Christ Before the People and the Biblical Sketches. Source: Wikipedia, The Appearance of Christ Before the People.
Google MapsGoogle EarthState Russian Museum
St. Petersburg, Russia
Christ's Appearance to Mary Magdalene (1835). Source: Wikipedia, Christ's Appearance to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection.
Google MapsGoogle Earth