Before the crown

The artist is Zhuravlev

The picture “Before the crown” is inherent in the literature of the plot. The artist depicts the drama unfolding during the blessing by the father of the daughter before the wedding. The female fate in the 19th century was unenviable – often parents gave their daughters to marry by calculation in order to correct the material well -being of the family. The grooms of young brides were rich old people or wealthy, but unattractive men.
The painter placed the multi -figure composition in the interior of the house full of icons, which gives out in the owners of pious people. A father with an icon in her hands and a mother, frozen with a loaf on a tray, is not known at the sight of a sobbing daughter, they do not know how to behave in this unexpected situation.
For this, the canvas Zhuravlev received the title of academician and recognition of the public. It has become so popular that he had to perform several options-replacements. Later, the masters’ paintings will be marked as the best illustrations of life and morals of the 1860-1870s, and the well-aimed characteristics of human types and features of their behavior will become classical for understanding Russian culture.

In 1874, Firs Zhuravlev depicts the situation of marriage by calculation as a girl’s personal tragedy, the collapse of all her illusions and expectations. This is a musical creature, similar to a delicate wedding cake, is forced to be a currency in a family deal, and the artist is full of compassion for it. Lyubov Shakirova. Family album of the Russian Museum // Portrait of Family. SPb, 2014. With. 10.