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Sweet flower girls: "flower-girls" in paintings by French artists.

In the second half of the nineteenth century Paris was considered the city of flower girls. In the second half of the 19-th century Paris was considered a city of flower girls, and in the era of "La belle époque" they were considered to be the symbols of Paris.

Russian scientist-naturalist and traveler Nikolai Fedorovich Zolotnitsky, was so inspired by the "beautiful flower girls" that he wrote an essay "Floral History of Paris" and a book "Flowers in Legends and Legends", (1913):

"...almost the entire flower trade in Paris is conducted is carried on exclusively by women. The reasons for this are very clear: to compose boutonniere, wreaths, bouquets, plateaus and various kinds of jardinier requires a lot of taste, a lot of grace, and in this respect, women, of course, immeasurably superior to men".

Woman and flowers - became a great source of inspiration, not only for the Russian publicist, but also for French artists. Images of charming, cheerful, thoughtful, sad and businesslike flower girls, sang in his work - Victor Gabriel Gilbert, Louis Marie de Shreve and Henry Victor Leser.

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WEEKEND EXHIBITION. WHERE TO GO ON THE WEEKEND ?!

The exhibition "Beautiful Life Magazine" is inspired by the first Russian glossy magazine "Capital and Estate", published from 1913 to 1917 and addressed to the secular public.

The sections of the exhibition refer to the sections of the magazine and immerse the contemporary viewer in the atmosphere of "Capital and Estate". Nostalgia for the way of life on the estate is represented by paintings by Stanislav Zhukovsky, Konstantin Vroblevsky and Sergei Vinogradov, and the gloss of the capital's everyday life by Valentin Serov, Nikolai Feshin and Sergei Malyutin. The theater life of the early twentieth century, inseparable from the work of the "Miriskusniki", is represented by sketches of scenery and costumes by Alexander Benois, Mstislav Dobuzhinsky, Lev Bakst and others.

The project united a record number of art collections from Kaliningrad to Tomsk, 100 works from 44 state and 14 private collections (State Hermitage Museum, State Russian Museum, State Museum of Fine Arts of the Republic of Tatarstan, S. D. Erizi Mordovian Republican Museum of Fine Arts and others).

In any case, it is quite interesting to look at Russian art through the prism of tastes and preferences of the elite of the early 20-th century.

Paintings:

🖼️К. Vroblewsky, "Homestead", 1913.
🖼️А. Rubtsov, "In the Living room", (ХХ century).
🖼️И. Brodsky, "Portrait of Lubov Brodsky, wife of the artist", 1916.
🖼️С. Zhukovsky, "Brasovo estate", 1916.
🖼️С. Vinogradov, "In the dining room", 1910-1930-ies.
🖼️И. Kulikov, "In russian attire," 1916.
🖼️Nikolai Becker, "In the Crimea". 1917.
🖼️Н. Bogdanov-Belsky, "Portrait of M.K. Kudasheva", 1903.
🖼️Е. Kisleva, "Dachniki", 1915.
🖼️Н. Kharitonov, "Autumn", 1913.

🏛️Moscow, Museum of Russian Impressionism.
📆 Until October 6.

After 8 months of restoration, Giuseppe Arcimboldo's famous "Seasons" have returned to the Louvre.

The portraits literally glow - the meticulous restoration has restored clarity and color range to the canvases.

The most radical change, however, was the removal of the floral garland frames in the backgrounds of the portraits. It is believed that these curlicues were added much later. Arcimboldo is usually painted on a solid black background. As analysis has shown, these additions are from the 18th and 19th centuries. The floral garlands concealed about 4 cm of the edges of Arcimboldo's original canvas, sometimes hiding key marks, such as the coat of arms of Augustus of Saxony in the "winter" portrait.

The paintings were also cropped - restorers reconstructed the missing parts based on copies made around the 17th century. And now the portraits will reappear to the public as Arcimboldo intended them.

"Seasons" - allegorical portraits of the four seasons, symbolizing the ages of man - youth, youth, maturity and old age. The Italian painter, representative of international Mannerism, Arcimboldo created this pictorial cycle in 1563. The paintings were presented to Emperor Maximilian II in 1569. The style of these works is unique and not typical for the XVI century.

Which paintings do you prefer, with or without a flower frame?

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