The slow roast of the logs. It creates a scent that is comforting. It moves through the chimney and out to coat the chill in the atmosphere. The breeze carries the smoke through the trees causing a stir in the birds that congregate there. On the snowy surface below them, their shadows flutter as busy silhouettes. Clouds part and unite, puffing and spinning into various shapes and sizes. All is quiet this morning as the villagers sleep. Soon, they'll awaken to the sounds that the rooks make. The seasons are changing and the landscape is accepting. The poetic brush of the artist, it has captured all of this, and more...
The precision and artistic grace of couple Tatarkiny, from the village of Fedoskino, are responsible for this entrancing landscape. Realsim and beauty dominate this composition. There is exceptional depth as well as exceptional meaning. As far as tribute works go, this piece is inspirational in its own right.
This pastoral composition is an interpretation of the famous oil on canvas painting "The Rooks Have Come". It was painted in 1871 by Aleksey Savrasov, and it currently is on display in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.
Aleksey Savrasov (1830-1897) graduated from the Moscow School of Painting and Sculpture in 1950, where he also began teaching in 1957. Some of his more famous students were Isaac Levitan and Konstantin Korovin. Already an established artist, Savrasov traveled from Russia to England and Switzerland in the 1960s. His introduction to English landscape painting proved very enlightening, and he produced such paintings as "View of the Swiss Alps from Interlaken" (1862), Rustic View" (1867), and "Rafts" (1868). "The Rooks Have Come" is considered by many critics to be the pinnacle of Savrasov's artistic career. By combining a common and even trivial theme with a very simple landscape, Savrasov managed to show very emotionally the transition of nature from winter to spring. It was a new type of lyrical landscape painting, called later by art critics the mood landscape. It was this painting that gave Savrasov real fame, and in some circles it was his only known work.
Russian lacquerware expert Lucy Maxym featues the "Rooks" box on page page_10 of Maxym L., 1997, "RUSSIAN LACQUER LEGENDS AND FAIRY TALES", Corners of the World Inc., 855F Conklin Street, Farmingdale, N.Y. 11735, ISBN0 940202-01-8 . Here is an excerpt from that page: During the nineteenth century, Fedoskino miniature art took much of its inspiration from classical Russian engravings and popular painting, as well as from ancient Russian engravings and popular paintings. One example is "Morning in the Woods," a scene showing a bear and her cubs in the early morning mists of the forest. Another is "The Rooks are Returning," depecting the first birds of Spring returning while the snow is still on the ground and trees are bare. These paintings hang in the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. Still another subject is "The Boyar's Wedding," a magnificent painting by Makovsky which is now part of the Marjorie Merryweather Post collection housed in the Hillwood Museum in Washington.
In this miniature interpretation of the famous scene, aluminum powder, reminiscent of miniatures from the Vishnyakov era, has been used as the base for the snow and the sky. The light blue between the clouds and the blackened areas within the clouds increases the depth and the realistic values of the composition. The horizon seems to stretch on and on. The artist has then used strong earth tones for the expanding countryside and the trees, adhering to the original's detail and realism. The cathedral is painted in softened tones of pink for the brick and green for the tile roofs. Although stationary, occasionally one of the rooks appear to be moving. The organization is that good.
The bark of the Russian birch trees is clearly visible below the nesting rooks, and the branches at the tops of the trees are painted with thin lines. One of the rooks is on the ground with a broken branch in its beak, destined to be the foundation of a future nest. The composition fills the entire surface of this rectangular box, and has no border.
The box itself is constructed from paper-mache made in the village of Fedoskino. Black lacquer is used to paint the exterior of the piece while red lacquer completes the interior of the work. The lid is hinged to the left to be used for ease of opening. Lovely golden scrollwork is used to accentuate each of the four base sides. The traditional Fedoskino factory insignia has been painted within the lid's interior with gold paint. Upon completion of the piece the artist signs their name, the village name of Fedoskino and the year of 2002 of which the piece was finished along the bottom of the composition.
Materials: Oil-based paint, paper-mache, gold paint, aluminum powder and lacquer.
Item Specifications:
- Title: "The Rooks Have Arrived 2002"
- Weight: 10.4 oz 295 g
- Price: $450.00
- Status: SOLD
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