Stepan Semenovich Shchukin (1762-1828)

Stepan Semenovich Shchukin - one of the great masters of Russian portrait painting in the late XVIII - the first quarter of the XIX century. A contemporary F.S.Rokotova and VLBorovikovsky , he studied at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts Levitsky , and was considered one of the most talented and promising his disciples. Not just for their achievements in painting Shchukin received academic awards. At the end of the Academy in 1782, the artist was sent to the pensioner's trip to France, and on his return was appointed to the rank of academics.

In 1788, Shchukin was determined to place Levitsky and for many years led the class of portraiture. In this field, clearly manifested his talent teacher. Among the students Shchukin we find the names of such famous artists as VATropinin , A.G.Varnek , M.I.Terebenev. The activity of the artist received official recognition: in 1798 he became an academician, and in 1802 he was appointed advisor to the Academy of Fine Arts.

VATropinin took drawing classes and entered the studio portraiture, which was headed SSSchukin. It is significant that in 1810-ies in the portrait class Shchukin students and seniors were asked the following themes: "The Return of the Warrior to his family," "Russian peasant wedding", "Russian Peasant Dance" and "Divination on the cards." Thus, Shchukin oriented their students to transfer truthful scenes of people's life. In the workshop Shchukin were laid as stylistic and technical foundations of painting Tropinina. Being a serf, Tropinin lived in the teacher's home, rubbed his paint, pulled and primed canvas.
Hence - a similarity palettes artists. A favorite Tropinin comparison reddish-ocher tones with deep olive green and light blue-gray evokes one of the best works of Russian art abroad XVIII and XIX centuries - "Self-Portrait" Shchukin.

Shchukin lived and worked in the complex for the Russian art of the time when co-existed and interacted with various art trends and directions: classicism, sentimentalism, romanticism. The variety of artistic life in turn of the century was reflected in the works, and in teaching Shchukin. It Shchukin, artist and educator, largely determined the development of the genre of portraiture of the first half of the XIX century.