На основі педагогічних видань та історичних архівних документів досліджується життєвий шлях одного із видатних художників
другої половини XVIII ст. – українського живописця, педагога, основоположника російського історичного живопису А.П. Лосенка.
Antin Losenko was born on August 10, 1737 in the family of a
Ukrainian Cossack in Hlukhiv, the capital of Hetmanate. In 1738, a famous
singing school was opened there, that prepared singers for Ukrainian
(Malorosiiskykh) choirs and a court singing chapel. Antin studied singing
and instrumental music at this Hlukhiv school of singing. When in 1744
the conductor of the royal chapel traveled about Ukraine, recruiting
boys with perfect voices, his attention was attracted by seven-year-old
orphan Antin Losenko, Kyrylo Holovachevskyi and Ivan Sabluchko. Until
the 16th year of his life, Antin sang the old cantos, new concerts in the
St. Petersburg court chapel and he received a serious music education,
played the flute. He was friends with Oleksii Rozum. When he has some
free time he came to the workshop of the painter Olkhovskyi, where
he took paid lessons. When the age-old change of voice happened, he
was sent for training to the portraitist Ivan Arhunov (the servant of
Earl Petro Sheremetiev). Five years later, Count Ivan Shuvalov enrolled
Losenko at the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, where he studied under
the guidance of French artists Louis-Joseph Le-Lorraine and Jean-Louis
Devellier. In 1760, Losenko painted portraits of the President of the St.
Petersburg Academy of Arts, Count Ivan Shuvalov, the poet Oleksandr
Sumarokov. Beginning from September of the same year he perfected his
mastery with the portraitist Jean Retou in Paris (where he was tutored
by D. Holitsyn). Antin deliberately wrote: «Losenko is from Ukraine».
Antin Losenko created a great picture according to the gospel story there
«Wonderful Fishing». The Ukrainian did not have his own funds, he was
the first pensioner of the Academy, so he depended on the officials. When,
in the autumn of 1762, he was not sent money, Losenko walked home in
despair. Through the lands of France, Holland, Germany the young man
walked in late autumn and in winter, carrying the biggest treasure – the
picture «Wonderful fishing».
Petersburg was impressed with the painting, the queen bought it. At
the same year he painted a portrait of the founder of the first Russian
public theater, Fyodor Volkov, and the actor Yakov Shumsky. For the
next three years, Losenko studied in Paris again. His teacher, Jean Rheet,
went blind, so he was engaged in the workshop of historical painting of
Joseph-Marie Wien. There he painted «Adonis’s Death», «Andrew the
First Called (Pervozvanny)» (both in 1764), «The Sacrifice of Abraham»
(1765). In France, Losenko’s talent was recognized and appreciated with
three medals from the Paris Academy of Arts.
From 1766 he studied antiquity and copied the masters of the
Renaissance in Italy, painted «Zeus and Thetis» (1769).
In 1769, Losenko returned to St. Petersburg, where he was asked to
create a painting for the title of Academician of Historical Painting (the
plot was to be on the subject of the Bible, ancient or mythological). The
artist first took a story from the history of Kyivan Rus – «Volodymtr and
Rohnida», claiming equality of national history with the history of the
ancient world. He received the title of Academician for the painting, which
Catherine II bought for a private collection, and he held the position of
Associate Professor of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts. Although today
the work seems to be a naive sentimental parody, but since its painting,
Losenko has been proclaimed the «creator of the historical school».
In 1772 he became a professor and director (together with the French
sculptor Nicolas-François Gillet) of the Petersburg Academy of Arts.
Antin Losenko was the first in the Russian Empire to create a manual
on artistic anatomy called «Explanation of the short proportion of
man, based on a reliable study of the different proportions of ancient
statues, by efforts of the Imperial Academy of Arts and the professor of
painting Mr. Losenko for the benefit of adolescence». He also prepared
recommendations for working on the historical painting. His pedagogical
activity, as well as his textbook (used until the middle of the nineteenth
century), significantly influenced the development of art education in the
Russian Empire. The work on rector’s post took a long time, and Losenko
did it honestly. In addition, there were a lot of the intrigues, the money
lessness, because the artist did not have time to paint.
