Collection

Capri. Morning. View of Vesuvius

Jan Ciaglinski

  • Capri. Morning. View of Vesuvius 2
  • Capri. Morning. View of Vesuvius 3
Basic information
ID
Ж-2946
Author
Jan Ciaglinski
Name
Capri. Morning. View of Vesuvius
Date of creation
1903
Country
Italy
Technique
oil painting
Material
canvas on cardboard oil
Dimensions (height x width, cm)
31.5 x 23.5
Additionally
Information about author
Author
Jan Ciaglinski
Artist's lifetime
1858–1913
Biography
Jan Ciaglinski was a Polish painter who lived and worked in Russia. His works are considered the first examples of Russian Impressionism. The artist was born on February 8, 1858, in Warsaw. After graduating from the Third Men's Gymnasium in Warsaw in 1876, he entered the University of Warsaw at the Faculty of Medicine. He was also taking drawing lessons with Wojciech Gerson. Between 1877 and 1878, Jan Ciaglinski attended the Art Class in Warsaw. In the second year of study, he transferred to the Natural Sciences Department. In January 1879, the artist went to St. Petersburg, where he was a non-degree student from February; after passing the exam in life drawing in summer of the same year, under the guidance of Pavel Chystiakov, he began regular studies at the Higher Art School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. In 1881, he began his teaching career, initially lecturing at the Art School of the Imperial Society for the Encouragement of the Arts in St. Petersburg, and from 1902, as a professor at the Higher Art School at the Academy of Fine Arts. The artist founded a private school. The impressionist Jan Ciaglinski taught "Three Zosia'', the young Polish aristocrats, namely Zofia Nalepinska, Zofia Segno, and Zofia Baudouin de Courtenay who all three fell in love with Mykhailo Boichuk; later they became Boichukists. In the autumn of 1906, Jan Ciaglinski was named an Academician for his creative and pedagogical work; in 1911, he became a full member of the Academy of Arts. Until 1893, the artist showed his art works in St. Petersburg at the annual academic exhibitions, however, when in 1894 he and other artists were rejected, they organized their own exhibition "Refuses". In the same year, he went for a short period to Paris where he studied with Benjamin Constant. From 1899, he took part in the exhibitions of the Independents, and from 1900 – in the exhibitions of the society "World of Art '' organized with his participation. In addition to the above-mentioned exhibitions, Ciaglinski repeatedly had exhibitions in Warsaw, Lviv (1894), Krakow (1900), Berlin (1891), and several times in Paris. The artist died of a serious illness on January 6, 1913, in St. Petersburg. According to the will of the deceased, all his creative heritage had to be divided between Polish museums in Warsaw, Krakow, Poznan, Lviv, and Vilnius. However, the Heritage Distribution Commission decided to transfer the works to other museums as well, including the Lviv National Art Gallery. The entire collection of works by Jan Ciaglinski, which is housed at Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery, includes 137 works.
Object description
Capri is an island located on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy, opposite the Sorrento Peninsula. Here, since the time of the ancient Romans, the beauty of landscapes and idyllic atmosphere contributed to an increase in the number of majestic luxury villas inhabited by emperors, and later by intelligentsia, prominent politicians, and artists who loved to spend their holidays on Capri and enjoy its pristine tranquility. Capri is a true myth rooted in the distant past, when the ancients associated Odysseus and the myth of mermaids told by Homer with the island. As early as the mid-nineteenth century, Capri was the main goal of the Grand Tour journey, which was undertaken by wealthy young European aristocrats and famous artists, who described the abundant nature, mild climate, changing colors, and romantic play of light in the caves of that place. At the beginning of the twentieth century, Capri underwent extraordinary urban development, in particular dream houses and grand mansions of the international bourgeoisie were built there, and the first prestigious tourist spots and hotels were developed. The perfect combination of history, natural beauty, sophistication, luxury, and culture created the myth of Capri and made it undoubtedly one of the most popular islands in Italy. As was common in the early twentieth century, the artist sought inspiration in traveling to exotic countries. Since Jan Ciaglinski lived mainly in St. Petersburg, a city characterized by a monochromatic landscape and little light, it becomes obvious why the artist travelled to sunny climes.