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Sometimes it's better not to know the life history of prototype characters famous works. The girl with the peaches actually lived only 32 years (she died of pneumonia), her husband never remarried, and three children remained. The future in the eyes of the heroine of Valentin Serov’s film cannot be read. It is not even clear from her that she is the daughter of a wealthy industrialist.

1 girl. The mischievous nature of Vera Mamontova can be read both in her sly gaze and in the fold of her lips - you’re about to laugh. Disheveled hair, a blush all over her face, and a glowing earlobe indicate that she has just been running around the yard. And in a minute he will jump up and run further. However, this was her first experience of posing for a long time. Art critic Eleanor Paston says: “It is believed that Vrubel gave her external features to “The Snow Maiden,” “The Egyptian,” and Tamara in the illustrations for “The Demon.” Vera Savvishna was eventually nicknamed the “Abramtsevo goddess.” Vasnetsov also painted her portraits (“Girl with a Maple Branch”, “Hawthorn”).

2 blouse. Vera is wearing casual clothes, although decorated with a bright bow. The loose blouse seems a little baggy and too childish for an 11 year old girl. The fact that she does not change clothes specifically for posing emphasizes the spontaneity of the situation and the simplicity of the relationship. The pink blouse becomes the brightest and most festive accent of the picture, and it seems that the light comes not only from the window, but also from the heroine.

3 room. The scene is the Mamontovs’ dining room in the Abramtsevo estate, one of the enfilade rooms.

4 table. There were always a lot of people around the large extendable table - family members and friends. Eleanor Paston says that Serov often worked here.

5 peaches grown in the Mamontov greenhouse. The family bought trees for her from the Artemovo and Zhilkino estates in 1871. The peaches were grown by an Artemovsk gardener, whom the Mamontovs invited to their place after he sold them the trees.

6 maple leaves. Serov completed work on the portrait in September. The yellowing leaves outside the window and on the table are evidence of the girl’s long patience. In addition, autumn maple leaves next to summer peaches seem to remind you: life is fleeting, and you should be happy while you are young and the sun is shining.

7 grenadier. The toy wooden soldier in the left corner is a product of Sergiev Posad artisans. According to Elena Mitrofanova, Deputy Director for Science at the Abramtsevo Museum-Reserve, the Mamontovs bought the toy from the Trinity-Sergius Lavra in 1884. The figurine was unpainted; Serov painted it. The Abramtsevo Museum even has a sketch of the painting made by the artist. The Grenadier still stands on the nightstand in the same corner.

8 red living room. The neighboring room, part of which is visible on the left, is the so-called Red Living Room, where writers and artists, friends of the Mamontovs, gathered. There they read by role the works of Pushkin, Gogol, Turgenev, played music, and discussed.

9 chairs. The Mamontovs inherited good-quality mahogany chairs from the Aksakovs, along with the tradition of artistic gatherings. Those two that stand by the window - with lyre-shaped backs - were very fashionable in early XIX centuries, and at the end of it they already turned into antiques. A Jacob style chair is visible in the Red Drawing Room. Similar furniture with strict straight outlines, with gilded brass inserts, appeared in Russia under Catherine II. In Abramtsevo both the lyre chairs and the Jacob, which still stands in the Red Drawing Room, have been preserved.

10 dining room windows, like the terrace adjacent to the Red Living Room, opens onto Abramtsevo Park, onto the alley named Gogolevskaya in honor of the writer who loved to walk here. It is clear that the window frames are far from new; the paint on them has peeled off in some places. This adds naturalness to the picture and a feeling of that coziness that can only be experienced within the “native walls”.

11 plate. Savva Mamontov was fond of applied arts. In 1889, he even opened a pottery workshop at the estate, in which ceramic products were created using the majolica technique. In particular, Vrubel was involved in this. The fate of the plate, depicted by Serov two years before the opening of the workshop, is unknown, but it fits so harmoniously into the interior that later another majolica plate, this time from the Mamontovs’ workshop, appeared on the same wall. It still hangs in the dining room in this place.

On an August day in 1887, 11-year-old Vera Mamontova, distracted from street games, ran into the house and sat down at the table, grabbing a peach. Her cheerful appearance impressed Valentin Serov so much that he invited the girl to pose. The artist knew the model from infancy. He often visited and even lived for a long time at the Mamontovs’ Abramtsevo estate, which they bought from the daughter of the writer Sergei Aksakov in 1870. Even under the Aksakovs, the estate was the center of Russian cultural life. Under the Mamontovs, the traditions continued. Turgenev, Repin, Vrubel, Antokolsky stayed here... Abramtsevo was both a “house of creativity” and a place where friends gathered in an atmosphere of home comfort.

Serov was first brought to Abramtsevo by her mother-composer in 1875. He grew up with the older Mamontov children, constantly enduring their pranks. The younger Vera also made fun of young Serov. Everything changed in 1887, when the 22-year-old artist returned from Italy, inspired by sunny landscapes and Renaissance masterpieces. Then Serov, according to his recollections, was in a daze in his head and the desire to “write only what is gratifying.” Until recently, the artist was an involuntary participant in Vera’s games, and now the one whom until now no one could force to sit still, posed for him for hours every day for almost two months. On the girl’s part, it was a tribute to close family relationships. And the painting was “a kind of gratitude from Serov to the warmth and comfort of the Mamontovs’ house, which became a second family for the artist,” says Eleanor Paston, Doctor of Art History, senior researcher at the Tretyakov Gallery.

“There are creations of the human spirit that outgrow many times the intentions of their creators... Among these... we must include that amazing Serov portrait. From the sketch of “a girl in pink”... it has grown into one of the most wonderful works of Russian painting,” artist Igor Grabar wrote about the painting.

Valentin Serov gave the painting to Vera's mother, Elizaveta Mamontova, and for a long time the portrait was in Abramtsevo, in the same room where it was painted. Now a copy hangs there, and the original is exhibited in the Tretyakov Gallery.

Model

Vera Savvishna Mamontova depicted in the painting (October 20, 1875 - December 27, 1907) is the daughter of Savva Ivanovich Mamontov and his wife Elizaveta Grigorievna.

In 1896 (when Vera was 21 years old), Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov painted another portrait of her - “Girl with a Maple Branch.” In addition, Serov painted several more portraits of Praskovya Mamontova, Vera Mamontova’s cousin.

Vasnetsov V. M. Girl with a maple branch (Portrait of Vera Savvishna Mamontova)
1896 Wikimedia Commons

In November 1903 in Moscow she married A.D. Samarin. After a honeymoon to Italy, the newlyweds settled in their house in the city of Bogorodsk. Three children were born in the marriage:

* son Yuri (1904-1965) - philologist, suspected of collaboration with the OGPU during the times of repression. This fact is largely confirmed in the autobiographical book of Alexei Artsybushev, “The Doors of Mercy”;

* daughter Elizaveta, married to Chernyshev (1905-1985) - author of memoirs;

* son Sergei (1907-1913).

Five years after the wedding, at the end of December 1907, at the age of 32, she fell ill with pneumonia and died three days later. She was buried in Abramtsevo near the Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands.

Artist
Valentin Aleksandrovich Serov

Self-portrait. 1901
Wikimedia Commons

1865 - Born in St. Petersburg.
1874 - Began taking painting lessons from Repin in Paris.
1880 - Entered the Academy of Arts.
1887 - Traveled to Vienna and Italy. Wrote "Girl with Peaches."
1894 - Became a member of the Association of Itinerants.
1900 - Joined the World of Art association.
1903 - Elected full member of the Academy of Arts.
1905 - Resigned from the Academy in protest against the shooting of the demonstration on January 9, accusing the president of the Academy (and at the same time the commander of the troops of the St. Petersburg Military District) of organizing it.
1908 - Elected full member of the Vienna Secession.
1911 - Died in Moscow from a heart attack.

"Girl with Peaches" is one of the most famous paintings the great Russian artist Valentin Alexandrovich (1865-1911). The painting was painted in 1887, oil on canvas. 91 × ​​85 cm. Currently on display at the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow.

Girl with peaches Serova description

The painting depicts the daughter of the famous Russian entrepreneur and philanthropist Savva Ivanovich Mamontov, 12-year-old Vera Savvishna. Valentin Serov painted a picture at the estate of Savva Mamontov in Abramtsevo. Vera is sitting at the table in the dining room. She is wearing a pink blouse with a dark blue bow. There is a knife and peaches on the table. In 1871, the Mamontovs bought peach trees and planted them in their own greenhouse.

The portrait of Vera Savvichna amazes the viewer with its realism and vitality. Everything in the picture is simple and natural, there are no frills or unnecessary details, and this simplicity of life forces a person to accept the picture not with his mind, but with his heart and soul, to believe in what is happening and to feel that very moment, the silence and calm of a sunny and warm day. The painting became a real masterpiece of Russian painting and even “ business card» Serova. The picture has become so famous that today almost everyone in our country knows it. Schoolchildren write an essay based on a picture already in the third grade of school.

The history of the painting Girl with Peaches

As you know, it all started with the fact that Valentin Serov, who was visiting the Mamontovs in 1887, saw the owner’s daughter Vera, who ran into the house, took a peach and sat down at the table. The artist immediately saw this as a subject for his painting and invited the girl to pose, to which she agreed. Serov painted the picture for almost two months and every day Vera sat at the table, posing for the artist.

After completion of the work, the painting was presented to Vera’s mother Elizaveta Grigorievna Mamontova. It hung in the room for a long time. Later the painting was replaced with a copy, and the original was sent to Tretyakov Gallery. As noted in the documents, the painting was purchased from A. S. Mamontova in 1929.

In 1888, Valentin Serov was awarded the prize of the Moscow Society of Art Lovers for this painting. Valentin Serov himself said that during the entire time he worked, he exhausted the poor girl, who had to constantly sit motionless. He begged her: “Well, sit down, do me a favor... I’ll paint such a portrait, you won’t recognize yourself. You will be a beauty!”, to which she replied: “You will torture me... It’s boring to sit, it’s summer...”. Maybe that's exactly what Summer mood, happiness from sunny days and childish impatience were reflected in the picture, giving it freshness, lightness, and a wonderful atmosphere.

But I don’t want to end the post about such a life-affirming and joyful picture “Girl with Peaches” on a sad note. After all, there are still the main characters of the picture - peaches. The appetizing ripe peaches lying on the table in front of the girl grew in the greenhouse of the Abramtsevo estate. The greenhouse was a source of special pride for the owners. They built it in Abramtsevo in 1871, shortly after acquiring the estate. The decision came to the owners spontaneously: greenhouse plants were being sold on a neighboring estate, and the Mamontovs bought fruit-bearing peach and plum trees for almost nothing. It was for them that two greenhouses were built and an old gardener, Mikhail Ivanovich, was invited from a neighboring estate. Transplanted with a light hand Mikhail Ivanovich, peaches and plums in the Mamontov greenhouse regularly produced a harvest. - About this from the letters of Savva Ivanovich, one of which is dated February 28, 1873: “Yesterday I went to Abramtsevo... At Mich. Iv. (just a golden old man) there is such order that you couldn’t wish for better, the peaches are blooming in the first greenhouse, they are blooming in the second, there is such an air that I was simply delighted. There will be a lot of fruit, peaches and plums, as long as the stomachs are in order.”

Serov wrote “Girl with Peaches” during all three summer months of 1887, while he was visiting Savva Mamontov in Abramtsevo. I wrote with difficulty: firstly, I barely persuaded Savva’s daughter, 12-year-old Verochka Mamontova, to pose, and secondly, she had trouble sitting at the table for hours in the heat without moving. Serov completed work on the portrait in September. The yellowing leaves outside the window and on the table are evidence of the girl’s long patience. In addition, autumn maple leaves next to summer peaches seem to remind you: life is fleeting, and you should be happy while you are young and the sun is shining.

Vera Mamontova. Abramtsevo, 1890s.

She died very early - at thirty-two, and everyone who is at least a little familiar with Russian painting will forever remember her at the age of twelve. The same as Valentin Serov wrote it in “Girl with Peaches”. But, besides Serov, Viktor Vasnetsov, Nikolai Kuznetsov, Mikhail Vrubel wrote to Vera Mamontov.

She was the beloved and long-awaited daughter of the railway magnate, famous industrialist and entrepreneur Savva Ivanovich Mamontov and his wife Elizaveta Grigorievna. Before Vera, they already had three sons and, according to family legend, after the third birth, when it became clear that there would be a boy again, Elizaveta Grigorievna promised her husband: “But the next one will certainly be born a girl!” And so it happened. After three boys, two more daughters appeared in the Mamontov family - Vera and Alexandra.

And it was not by chance that they called her Vera.

The Mamontovs chose the names of their children with intention: their first letters had to sequentially form the name SAVVA: Sergey - Andrey - Vsevolod - Vera - Alexandra.

Elizaveta Mamontova was truly, without hypocrisy and hypocrisy, religious. Valentin Serov wrote to his fiancée Olga Trubnikova: “Here, at the Mamontovs, they pray and fast a lot, that is, Elizaveta Grigorievna and the children are with her. I don’t understand this, I don’t condemn, I have no right to condemn religiosity and Elizabeth Gr<игорьевну>because I respect her too much - I just don’t understand all these rituals. I always stand like such a fool in church (in Russian especially, I can’t stand sextons, etc.), I feel ashamed. I don’t know how to pray, and it’s impossible when there is absolutely no idea about God.”

But for Elizaveta Grigorievna, what caused the rejection of her favorite Antosha Serov was fulfilled deep meaning. For her, the name “Faith” was associated with the most important Christian virtue: faith was an integral component of her spiritual life.

Savva Mamontov with his daughters Vera (pictured on the right) and Alexandra.

Elizaveta Grigorievna Mamontova with her daughter Vera.

Vera Mamontova. Abramtsevo. 1890s.

In the Mamontovs’ house on Sadovo-Spasskaya, known throughout enlightened Moscow, and especially in their Abramtsevo estate near Moscow, an atmosphere of creativity, joy, mutual sympathy and love reigned. Artists, sculptors, writers, and musicians gathered there. Home performances, hide and seek and tag, games of small towns - ordinary and special, “literary”, Cossacks-robbers, in which the artist Repin participates along with children, and his own children’s boat “fleet” on the Vorya River, led by the artist Polenov, horseback riding , fascinating creative activities - wood carving, watercolors, ceramics... So Serov’s complaints about Verusha posing for him are easily explained. “I tortured her, poor thing, to death” - the girl couldn’t wait to run away and do something more interesting. And yet, for almost a month and a half, Vera obediently sat at the Abramtsevo living room table. This was the price of the masterpiece.

About ten years before this significant moment for Russian art, the aged Ivan Turgenev visited Abramtsevo. He visited the estate long before the Mamontovs bought it. Turgenev, like Gogol, was a welcome guest of the former owner, writer Sergei Timofeevich Aksakov. Now the author of “Notes of a Hunter” examined the estate, renewed through the efforts of the Mamontovs, and recalled with nostalgia how they used to hunt here, go for mushrooms, and fish. Turgenev funny said that Aksakov meticulously recorded in his diary: in 1817, 1858 shots were fired while hunting, 863 units of game were killed, and in 1819 - so many... Once while fishing, Turgenev incredibly upset Aksakov, who was proud of his book “Notes on Fishing", because while the theoretical fisherman and the owner of the estate caught only a brush and a roach, Turgenev was lucky enough to extract a pike of one and a half arshins. It was during these cheerful conversations that the living classic met the younger Mamontova.

In the fictional presentation of Vladislav Bakhrevsky it looks like this:

“We came to the red living room and sat down.
Verusha, flushed and blowing away a strand of hair that was getting into her face, ran in with red cheeks and sparkling eyes.
- Oh, what an angel! - Ivan Sergeevich exclaimed and extended his hands, inviting the girl to come to him.
Fearless Verusha, without hesitation, threw herself into the arms of the giant with a white head and settled on her knees.
- She's three and a half? - asked Turgenev.
- There will be three in October.
- So I'm not quite old yet. If a person has not forgotten how to understand how old children are, he is fit to live.
- Verusha is very playful. “She looks older than her age,” agreed Elizaveta Grigorievna...”

There is no doubt that the charming Vera Mamontova was everyone’s favorite from birth. Memories and letters from numerous family friends speak about this as well. One day Savva Ivanovich sent family photo to a close friend, sculptor Mark Antokolsky. Antokolsky’s response letter is enthusiastic:

“Your photograph is so charming that it makes you happy and laugh with you. May God grant you to always rejoice and laugh. The Abramtsevo goddess is lovely, lovely! Please kiss her for me. In a word, I repeat about everything: “lovely, wonderful!” And this is the absolute truth.”
As you might guess, Mark Matveevich calls Vera “Abramtsevo goddess” and “charm.”

Vera Mamontova poses in a chair for artist Nikolai Kuznetsov. Photo. 1880s

Vera Mamontova, dressed in the costume of the biblical Joseph to participate in a home performance. 1880s

Easter table in the Mamontov family. 1888 At the table - Vera with her older brothers.

Live painting “Russian dance”. Vera with cousin Ivan Mamontov. 1895.

Vera and Vsevolod Mamontov on horseback in Abramtsevo.

In memoirs about the Abramtsevo circle you can often find the words “Yashkin’s hut” or “Yashkin’s house”. Either Abramtsev’s owners will settle Ilya Repin and his family in this “hut on chicken legs” for the summer, or the Vasnetsov brothers. The eldest, Victor, admitted that he had never worked as calmly and well as here, and the youngest, Apollinaris, even included “Yashka’s hut” in his landscape.

What kind of name is this? The Abramtsevo Chronicle helps you find out - a journal where they wrote down all the most important things: what they worked on, what they played, what they were doing and who came to visit. At the beginning of May 1877, a note was made in the hand of Savva Mamontov: “A separate dacha called “Yashkin’s House” was built. This name was given because little Verushka called this house her own, and since her nickname was “Yashka,” the house was called Yashkin.”

Mamontov’s biographer Bakhrevsky explains the origin of the nickname: “Little Verusha has yakaled a lot since childhood.” Well, perhaps so - for everyone’s favorite, there would be nothing out of the ordinary. But among the Mamontovs, as in many families, this was a common thing; all children were given affectionate nicknames: Andrei was called Dryusha, Vsevolod - Voka, Vera - Yashka, younger Alexandra- Shurenka-Murenka. It seems that for the Mamontovs this was the same “everyday exchange of family jokes hidden from others that make up secret code happy families”, as Vladimir Nabokov would wonderfully formulate much later in “Other Shores”.

Yashkin's house
Apollinary Mikhailovich Vasnetsov

When “The Girl with Peaches” was written, Verusha was 12, Serov was 22. Serov first came to Abramtsevo as a ten-year-old boy; Vera had just been born at that time. He was the same age as her beloved brothers, since childhood he lived for a long time with the Mamontovs, and participated in many of Abramtsevo’s “creative outrages.” He was completely at home in the Mammoth family.

Vsevolod, Vera’s elder brother, recalled Valentin Serov: “He was touchingly friendly with my sisters, who were much younger than him, and at the same time, surprisingly good-naturedly endured all sorts of pranks... It was on the basis of this friendship that Serov’s famous “Girl with Peaches” was born. , one of the Russian pearls portrait painting. Only thanks to his friendship did Serov manage to persuade my sister Vera to pose for him. A twelve-year-old, cheerful, lively girl on a fine summer day is so drawn to run free, run around, and play pranks. And then sit in the room at the table, and move even less. This work by Serov required many sessions, and my sister had to pose for a long time for it. Yes, Anton himself admitted the slowness of his work, was very tormented by this and subsequently told his sister that he was her unpaid debtor.”

Vsevolod and Vera Mamontov. Photographs from the 1880s.

Valentin Serov (far left) in the office of the Moscow Mamontov house. At the piano is the artist Ilya Ostroukhov. Standing: nephews of Savva Mamontov and his son Sergei. Photo from the 1880s.

The artist of the older generation, Viktor Vasnetsov, treated Vera with special tenderness. He saw her completely differently than young Serov. Fascinated by Russian antiquity, Vasnetsov painted Vera Mamontova in the image of a hawthorn. Both this gold-embroidered soul warmer and the “brocaded tunic on the crown” surprisingly suited the dark-eyed, serious, with thick sable eyebrows and the legendary blush inherited from her mother to Vera, the daughter of the hereditary merchant Savva Mamontov. And Vasnetsov made a comic promise from Vera that she would certainly marry a Russian. For the wedding, Vera’s fiancé Alexander Samarin (who completely satisfied Vasnetsov’s wishes, since he came from ancient noblemen), the artist presented another portrait of Vera - “Girl with a Maple Branch.” She is depicted on it in the same simple and sweet pearl-colored dress in which she will marry Samarin. “This was the type of a real Russian girl in character, beauty of face, charm,” Vasnetsov will say with admiration and bitterness about Vera after her sudden death.

Workshop in Abramtsevo. On the wall is a portrait of Vera Mamontova by Vasnetsov. Under the glass is her outfit. Photo source: anashina.com

Of course, Vasnetsov’s portraits of Vera cannot compare in popularity with Serov’s “Girl with Peaches.” But Vasnetsov also has a completely textbook picture, inspired by the image of Vera Mamontova - “Alyonushka”. The immediate model for her was another girl, a poor orphan from a village neighboring Abramtsev, but it was Vera who became the source of inspiration. Vasnetsov wrote:
“Critics and, finally, myself, since I have a sketch of an orphan girl from Akhtyrka, have established that my “Alyonushka” is a natural-genre work!
Don't know!
May be.
But I won’t hide the fact that I looked very closely at the facial features, especially at the shine of Verusha Mamontova’s eyes, when I wrote “Alyonushka.” These are the wonderful Russian eyes that looked at me and the whole world of God in Abramtsevo, and in Akhtyrka, and in Vyatka villages, and on Moscow streets and bazaars, and live forever in my soul and warm it!”

Vera's family life was happy, although, alas, short-lived.
And the marriage union itself between Vera Savvishna Mamontova and Alexander Dmitrievich Samarin did not become possible immediately.

In the mid-1890s, Vera Mamontova was engaged in social work in schools and shelters, following in this her mother Elizaveta Grigorievna, who did a lot to ensure that schools appeared in the villages of Akhtyrka and Khotkovo, neighboring Abramtsevo, and there was an infirmary and craft workshops to help employ peasant children. after graduation. Having grown up among people of art, Vera attended lectures on history and literature in Moscow. There she met Sofia Samarina, the niece of the Slavophile Yuri Samarin and a representative of a noble family related to the Volkonskys, Trubetskoys, Golitsyns, Ermolovs, Obolenskys, and the poet Zhukovsky.

Sophia and Vera became close friends, and Mamontova began to visit her friend’s house. There there was a meeting with Alexander, Sophia’s brother. Charming Vera captivated Alexander Dmitrievich, her elder by seven years, immediately and forever. He asked his parents for blessings for his marriage with Vera Savvishna, but each time he received a categorical refusal. The owners of the ancient noble family and vast plots of land they did not even want to hear about intermarrying with the Mamontov merchants. For Russian artists, Verusha was an inspiration and “charm” - but for the elder Samarins, she remained the daughter of a dubious “millionaire”. “To marry a merchant’s wife means to dilute the blue ancient blood of the nobles, too thick, too red,” Bakhrevsky figuratively explains the resulting rejection. And then a period of serious trials began for the Mamontovs: Savva Ivanovich left the family, carried away by the soloist of his Private Opera Tatyana Lyubatovich, and in 1900 he was accused of embezzlement, arrested, and lost a significant part of his fortune. The scandals were public and covered in detail in the press. The Samarins pushed Vera Mamontova away and didn’t want to hear about her.

Thus, several years passed in a state of complete and painful uncertainty. The feelings of Vera and Alexander Dmitrievich did not die or weaken. And in 1901, Samarin decided to try again to get permission from his seventy-year-old father to marry Vera. The father refused this time too. Apparently, the conversation was so difficult that after it the elder Samarin was struck, and soon he was gone. Passed more than a year after his death, when Samarina’s mother Varvara Petrovna finally gave in and blessed her son for marriage.

On January 26, 1903, Vera Mamontova and Alexander Samarin walked down the aisle. One after another, three children were born into their family: Yura, Lisa and Seryozha. But the marriage, built on deep mutual respect and love that survived many years of trials, lasted less than five years. He was cut off sudden death Vera December 27, 1907. A young woman burned to death in three days from fulminant pneumonia.

Alexander Samarin outlived his beloved by exactly a quarter of a century and was never married again. He remained in Russian history as an independent figure, not just “the husband of the girl with peaches.” Since 1908, Samarin was the Moscow provincial leader of the nobility, since 1915 - Chief Prosecutor of the Holy Synod and member State Council. After resigning from the post of Chief Prosecutor, he was the chief commissioner of the Russian Red Cross, chairman of the Moscow Diocesan Congress. Alexander Samarin was more than once nominated to those positions in the hierarchy of the Russian Church that before him could not be occupied by the laity - only by clergy; a rare case. In 1919, he was arrested by the Soviets and sentenced to death, but the sentence was later overturned. In 1925, he was again arrested and exiled to Yakutia for three years. In 1931, he was arrested again. According to the recollections of those who served exile with Vera Savvishna’s husband, even there he remained faithful to his monarchical and religious convictions, worked a lot - taught doctors German, was working on a book on Yakut grammar.

Her younger sister Alexandra took upon herself the responsibility of raising Vera’s orphaned children.

Alexander Dmitrievich and Vera Savvishna Samarina.

Vera Savvishna Samarina with her son Yuri. 1904

Requiem service for Vera Savvishna, celebrated in the Abramtsevo Church of the Savior Not Made by Hands. 1908

Savva Mamontov (in the center) with his grandchildren Seryozha, Lisa and Yura (children of Vera). 1910. Far left is Alexandra Mamontova, Vera’s younger sister, who devoted herself to raising her little nephews.

Alexander Samarin with his daughter Elizaveta.

Lisa and Yura Samarin (Vera's children) and Natasha Polenova (the artist's daughter).

Daughter and husband of Vera Samarina (Mamontova) in Yakut exile. Late 1920s.

It must have been after the fact, after the death of the “Abramtsevo goddess,” that someone remembered bad omen. After all, long before physical death Vera was already “dying” in Mikhail Vrubel’s drawing “Tamara in the Coffin,” made in expressive and ominous black watercolor.

The children of Savva Mamontov, with whom Vrubel was friends, often served as his models. He was friends with the early deceased Andrei Mamontov, also an artist and aspiring architect. From Vera's other brother, Vsevolod, the artist borrowed many features for the Demon and Lermontov's Kazbich; he painted Tamara from Vera herself.

And Vera, teasingly, called her friend Vrubel “Monelli.” In Roman dialect it means "little sparrow" (Wróbel in Polish - sparrow). Some found this reversal of the surname very offensive. But it is known that Vrubel, who was very capricious, did not have an easy-going character and was categorically harsh in his judgments, wrote only those for whom he felt sympathy.

Perhaps the best thing is Vrubel’s relationship with Vera and the Abramtsevo atmosphere itself - the atmosphere of “warmth of a unifying secret”, a happy creative conspiracy, without which neither “Alyonushka”, nor “Girl with Peaches”, nor Vrubel’s masterpieces would have arisen - is conveyed by the story recorded by his son Professor Adrian Prakhov Nikolai. Once, while visiting Abramtsevo, Vrubel was late for evening tea. He unexpectedly appeared in the dining room “at the moment when Verushka said something in a whisper to my sister, who was sitting next to her... Mikhail Alexandrovich exclaimed: “Speak in a whisper! Speak in a whisper! - I just thought of one thing. It will be called “The Secret.” We all started fooling around, whispering something to our neighbor. Even the always quiet and calm “Aunt Liza” (Vera’s mother Elizaveta Grigorievna) smiled, looking at us, and herself asked Vrubel in a whisper: “Do you want another cup of tea?”
A day later, Mikhail Alexandrovich brought a woman’s head entwined with the sacred Egyptian snake Uraeus for evening tea.
“Here is my “Secret,” said Vrubel.
“No,” they objected to him, “this is “Egyptian” ...

M.A.Vrubel. Egyptian

M.A. Vrubel "Tamara in the coffin".

Original article:

• Plan:
• 1. Introduction.
• 2. The history of the creation of the painting.
• 3. Description of the girl in the picture.
• 4. Description of the room.
• 5. The fate of Vera.

In a large, bright room, a girl is sitting near a table with a peach in her hands. Her black, unruly hair is disheveled, and her dark eyes look directly at the viewer. This thoughtfully sly look is familiar to many from the description of the painting “Girl with Peaches” by Serov.

The girl depicted in the picture is called Verusha Mamontova. The young artist Serov first saw her, the daughter of a famous Moscow entrepreneur, at the age of 11. A girl with a peach in her hand ran into the room - and the artist invited her to pose. Thus a great painting was born.

Serov himself was still quite a few years old at that time: only 22. “Girl with Peaches” became one of his first famous paintings. The artist recalled that this work was not easy for him. He wrote to Vera for two whole months. The restless girl quickly got tired of posing. And Serov really wanted to paint her exactly as he saw her. Lively, cheerful and young. And he succeeded: until the artist’s death he will be recognized by this work.

Vera Mamontova sits at a table covered with a white tablecloth. There is a knife and several ripe large peaches on the table. When you first look at them, you are tempted to take a peach in your hands, twirl it and then bite it. That’s exactly what the girl did - she took one of the fruits and folded her hands on it. But she’s clearly not thinking about the peach. This is evidenced by both her pose and her gaze, going somewhere into the distance. Vera is dressed in a soft pink blouse, set off with a large black bow. It seems to me that this bow plays a big role in this picture. This is the detail that reveals Vera’s character, bright and full of surprises.

And the room around the girl is filled with light and warmth. Soft pink, gold and blue colors flow one into another. Even the dark brown backs of the chairs show reflections of the sun. It’s immediately clear what’s going on here joyful childhood. Subsequently, Serov gave the painting to the girl’s mother, and the canvas hung for a long time in the very room that was painted on it.

But what happened to the fate of Vera herself? Before writing an essay on the painting “Girl with Peaches” by Serov, I wanted to read about it. She would live a happy but short life and die at 32. Only a painting will survive of her beauty...

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