“Smolyanki” — the first “role portraits” in Russian Art History of the first Russian “femmes émancipées”
In 1764, the Empress Catherine II decided to found the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens with the objective of “[giving] to the State educated women, good mothers and useful members of family and society.” According to the decree, girls would enter the Institute before the age of 6, and stay there for twelve years. The parents, who usually belonged to the middle class or the small landowners’ aristocracy, had to sign a document, agreeing not to take their daughters back home before their graduation, at which many of them became maids of honor at the royal court.
The year 1773 commemorated the first public ceremony and appearance of the “Smolyanki” (students at the Smolny Institute), celebrating the transfer of the girls of “middle age” to “high age”.
The audience was so impressed, and the Empress so proud of the “Smolyanki”, that she decided to order the portraits of the best students to Dmitry Levitsky — academician and Professor of Portraiture at the Imperial Academy of Arts between 1771 and 1787.
Levitsky was born in Kiev. His father, a priest and engraver, was also his first painting teacher. At 17 years old, Levitsky met Aleksey Antropov who was then directing the decoration of St. Andrews Chruch in Kiev. After the works, Levitsky followed Antropov to St. Petersburg, remaining his student until 1764. Wide acclaim arrived to Levitsky in 1770, after he exhibited six magnificent portraits at the Academy of Arts. One of them, the portrait of the famous Russian architect who designed the building of the Imperial Academy of Arts, Alexander Kokorinov, brought Levitsky the title of academician.
The seven portraits of the “Smolyanki”, painted between 1772 and 1776, are probably Levitsky’s most remarkable and admired works. The Empress’s order specifically instructed Levitsky to create portraits that shall “establish and praise the results of the “intelligent education” received by the young ladies at the Institute”. Although at first Levitsky did not have a well-defined plan for the whole series, he decided to depict the students demonstrating their abilities to the public. Ideas for the portraits arose on different occasions.
For instance, the first portrait representing F. Rzhevskaya (right), and the little princess N. Davidova (left) was the result of their excellent exam recitation. Davidova, dressed in brown — the colour characterising students of “little age”, is holding a white rose — symbol of youth and virtue. Rzhevskaya stands in light blue — the colour reserved for the “middle age”. Classicism can be felt in the girls’ frozen poses, and the carefully designed composition, balanced by the presence of the curtain in the background that fills the emptiness above the head of the little Davidova.
Theatre, music, and dance occupied an important place in the curriculum of the Institute and were encouraged by the Empress. The quality of the girls’ performances was considered to be even higher than that of professional artists.
Among them, one of the most talented was Catherine Nelidova. The 15 years-old lady, who would later become the favorite of the Emperor Pavel I, is depicted dancing a minuet while performing the main role in Pergolesi’s work “The Servant Turned Mistress”. The Empress was so amazed at her play, that she gave Nelidova 1,000 roubles and a ring with diamonds.
Levtisky captures the moment when Nelidova is going to start her next dance step. The graceful movement of her body shows her elegance, while the spark in her eyes and her naive coquettish smile render her charming. She wears a stage costume with a straw hat and a slightly shorter than usual skirt to make movements easier. The background shows, as in the next pair-portrait a theatrical decoration representing a bucolic landscape.
C. Khrushchova and C. Khovanskaya are involved in a pastoral scene of “Le caprice amoureux, ou Ninette à la cour” (C. Simon). The 10 years-old Khrushchova, dressed in a long men’s coat, is performing the role of the shepherd in love, while the shy Khovanskaya, wearing a silver-pinky dress, plays Ninette.
In the fourth portrait, A. Levshina is dancing among pillars and vases in a theatrical costume. At 17 years old, this young lady, already looks like a genuine woman, ready to graduate.
The whole series was designed to be hung in the Peterhof Palace (St. Petersburg). The first three portraits had to be finished before the arrival in 1773 of the French philosopher Denis Diderot, invited by the Empress. The last three portraits were designed to be exposed as a triptych with N. Borsheva in the middle, symmetrically surrounded by E. Molchanova and G. Alymova sitting in splendid, white (colour of the “high age”), silk dresses. The portrait of A. Levshina, the Empress’s favorite, was the only stand-alone masterpiece, perhaps meant to occupy the centre of the entire series.
Holding a book in her left hand, Molchanova could be considered as the allegory of Science. The vacuum pump on the table testifies that the Smolyanki did not only have to study arts and humanities, rhetoric, etiquette, theology, Russian, and foreign languages, but also sciences.
N. Borsheva — allegory of Dance -, is beginning her performance at the sounds of the harp played by G. Alymova — allegory of Music.
All these paintings are unified by the rhythmical smoothness of the girls’ movements, the graceful, slightly affected gestures and poses, the joyful, young faces, and the uniform silver, pinky, olive green, white and beige colour shades. Levitsky managed to make these ladies attractive, not by making them seem more beautiful than they really were, but by showing the sincerity in their eyes and their charming naivety: “This is the true XVIIIth c. with all its affected manners and coquettish simplicity” (A. Benois, 1902).
Levitsky’s portraits are free from Rokotov’s elusiveness and enigma. Although his classical, fine but slightly artificial painting manner is very distinct from Antropov’s baroque dense style with almost sculptural figures, Levitsky probably inherited from his teacher the clearness and sobriety of compositions and the objectivity towards his models.
In all the portraits, Levitsky slightly lowered the line of the horizon, so that the spectator would look at the models as if sitting in the stalls of an opera house. The 2010 restoration of the portraits revealed that Levitsky was also an innovator in the use of wax as the liaison material, making his paint multi-layered and transparent at the same time.
“Smolyanki” are the first examples of “role portraits” in Russian Painting History. By depicting the young ladies in action, Levitsky not only showed their faces, but also conveyed the characters of those, who would become the first generation of Russian “femmes émancipées”.
