Ivan Khrutsky was a distinguished Belarusian painter. He was a recognized master of still life, as well as a gifted portraitist and the author of landscapes, interiors, altar paintings and icons. The distinctive features of his creativity include attention to detail, careful study of texture and poeticizing of everyday life. Also, Khrutsky was one of the prominent representatives of the Biedermeier style in European painting.
Background
Ivan Khrutsky was born on February 8, 1810, in the village of Ulla, Lepel Uyezd, Vitebsk Governorate, Russian Empire (present-day Ulla, Vitebsk Region, Belarus). His family was descended from the nobility of Leliwa coat of arms. Ivan's father, Thomas Khrutsky, was a Greek Catholic priest.
Education
Ivan Khrutsky spent his childhood and youth in Polotsk. It was there, that he received his early education, including some skills in drawing. Khrutsky learned the basis of drawing at Polotsk Piarist high school.
In 1827, Ivan left for Saint Petersburg, where he studied art under the tutelage of George Dawe, an English portraitist, who worked in the years 1818-1828 in Russian Empire. At the same time, Khrutsky attended the Imperial Academy of Arts as an external student. In 1830, Ivan became a full-time student of the Academy, where he remained during the next nine years. His teachers there included such great artists, as Alexander Varnek, Maksim Vorobyov, Karl Bryullov and Fyodor Bruni.
During his studies at the Academy, Khrutsky received numerous medals and was awarded a golden clock from Czar Nicholas I of Russia.
In 1830, thanks to the patronage of Joseph Oleshkevich, Khrutsky worked in the Hermitage Museum. In 1833, he presented his works at the exhibition of the Academy of Fine Arts for the first time. Works of the young painter drew the attention of senior colleagues — in 1836, Ivan was awarded a large silver medal and in 1838, he received a small gold medal. One year later, in 1839, Khrutsky became an academician.
Among the works of the Saint Petersburg period, stored at the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus, there are early student works, such as "Grapes and fruit" (early 1830's), "Portrait of an unknown woman with a basket in her hands" (about 1835) and others. Among the latter, "Portrait of an unknown woman with flowers and fruit" (1838) should be noted. This painting was awarded a small gold medal at an academic exhibition. Complex compositional structure, idealized model, the thoroughness of details and the ability to place accents distinguish this work.
During the stay of Khrutsky in Saint Petersburg, the genre of "flowers and fruits" became very popular. The painter himself had a hand in this popularity by creating a lot of spectacular, subtly and poetically painted still lifes. The most successful works were "replicated" by the painter. However, these were not the exact author's repetitions, but variations — each subsequent product had its own peculiarities. The repeatedly occurring variants include such paintings, as "Fruit and melon" (second half of the 1830's), "Still life. Flowers and fruit" (1839), "Fruit and candle" (late 1830's - early 1840's) and others.
Having the right to leave Saint Petersburg in early spring of 1840 (permission was granted because of the death of the artist's father in 1839), Ivan Khrutsky returned to the hometown. But there he lived and worked only on short visits, still spending much time in the capital.
In Belarus, Ivan was principally engaged in portraiture. In 1841, he wrote a portrait of P. E. Rubtsov. Petr Rubtsov, the head of the Vitebsk Government Chamber, is presented as an official person — in uniform with all decorations, medals and honorable distinctions. The image, created by the painter, feels documentary accuracy.
In 1843, while in Saint Petersburg, Khrutsky wrote one of his best portraits — "Portrait of I. I. Glazunov". Most likely, this may be contributed to personal sympathy for the portrayed person — a representative of one of the most famous Russian family of book publishers. Ilya Glazunov is presented in a black coat against a dark background. Thanks to such a solution, it became possible to emphasize the significance and inner nobility of this man.
The sojourn of Khrutsky in Belarus was associated with work and with the arrangement of his own life. He bought Zaharnichi estate not far from Polotsk and built the house there in 1844. In 1845, he married. However, the painter didn't remain at home for long.
In 1846, the Archbishop of Lithuania (later — Metropolitan) Iosif Semashko gave to Ivan Khrutsky an order for the creation of the iconostasis. This marked the beginning of Vilna period of creativity of the painter. In Lithuania, Ivan was evaluated as an icon painter and as a portraitist. Semashko, knowing about this artist's talent, along with icons, instructed him to write a series of small portraits of "the leaders of reunification" of Uniates with the Orthodox Church. These works were to be placed in the bishop's house.
Apart from the mentioned series, ordered by Iosif Semashko, Ivan Khrutsky also painted other portraits. The year 1847 saw the creation of "Portrait of V. Lisovsky". Monk Vincent is shown detached from everything outside. However, the image is not static, not closed in itself. At the heart of it, there is the diagonal compositional structure, that fully reflects the strong internal movement of the human soul.
In 1849, in Vilna, Khrutsky portrayed Reverend Joseph. In 1851, he created "Portrait of a man". The portrayed person is presented without a hint of idealization, a touch is rapid, expressive enough. It characterizes, to some extent, the changes, that occurred in the portraiture of the artist.
The Vilna period of creativity of Khrutsky was completed approximately in 1854. That year, he wrote one of his last works, associated with I. Semashko and his Lithuanian residence — the work, entitled "Metropolitan Joseph Semashko listens to the report of his secretary in the office". The same year, in 1854, the painter created the picture "Dressed game, vegetables and mushrooms" — an example of another returning of the painter to the genre of still life and the creation of a new original work. In contrast to the still lifes of Petersburg period, the focus in this work is not on exotic peaches, lemons and grapes, but on the fruit, grown in the native land — cabbage, carrots, onions.
Beginning from the second half of the 1850's and till the rest of his life, Ivan Khrutsky lived and worked mainly in Belarus. In 1854-1855, the canvas "In the rooms of the artist's estate. Children at the easel" was painted. The work is a short story about his own life. In a cozy, well-lit room, a boy and a girl sit at the easel. Children are surrounded by a simple setting. A distinctive feature of the interior is the large number of paintings and sculptures.
The painter worked until the last days of his life. He painted his last picture "Self-portrait" 9 months before his death.