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Two portraits of the actress Strepetova
There are destinies that strike the imagination with unusualness and inner completeness — such is the life of Pelageya Antipevna Strepetova (1850–1903), difficult and bright, full of dramatic turns. At the age of seven she first appeared on the stage. She was not yet fifteen, when she became a professional artist. And after a while rumors about her brilliant game began to spread throughout Russia. Continue reading
Kanoplasta from Tanagra
The Greek words “tanagra”, “tanagryanka” about a hundred years ago entered the Russian language. They are now used to denote everything fragile, feminine and plastic. The artist V. Serov invented on its basis his term “tanagretika”, meaning beneath it artless, elegant, opposite to the cold and rational in art.
The ancient city of Tanagra in Boeotia, in the north-east of the Balkan Peninsula, has gained wide popularity in recent times thanks to an archaeological sensation – finds of Tanagrian statuettes. Continue reading
Venice School of Painting
The heritage of the Venetian school of painting is one of the most striking pages in the history of the Italian Renaissance. The “Pearl of the Adriatic”, a quaintly picturesque city with canals and marble palaces, spread out on 119 islands among the waters of the Gulf of Venice, was the capital of a powerful trading republic that held all trade between Europe and the countries of the East. Continue reading
