Аннотация: A month in the Far East. A completion of the earth path of Vasily Vereshchagin. A note about chapter 38 of the book "Vereshchagin"
A month in the Far East. A completion of the Earth path of Vasily Vereshchagin. A note about chapter 38 of the book "Vereshchagin"
Vasily Vereshchagin met the news (about a month after the beginning of 1904) about the Russo-Japanese war with great anxiety.
Being on a slippery road of assumptions, it is possible to build the following logical chain characterizing the psychological and political "movement" of Vereshchagin.
Departure from France to Russia led to the writing of paintings on the theme "Napoleon 's invasion of Russia."
And Theodore Roosevelt 's benevolent reception in regard of Vasily Vereshchagin in the United States prompted the Tsar government to acquire the "Napoleonic Collection."
The acquisition by the imperial government of the "Napoleonic Collection" restored the material position of the artist 's family and financially secured his wife and children in case of unforeseen circumstances, became a sign of the artist 's "introduction into the political elite."
There was a sharp warming of relations between the Emperor, the ruling circles and Vereshchagin. Accordingly, both a pleasant psychological consequences and an external manifestations of a sense of duty has increased in Vereshchagin.
According to the logic of the situation Vereshchagin believed that at a difficult moment for the government his place in the Far East. (Let us not deny that the outlook and intuition, the beginning of the Russo-Japanese war, generated in Vasily Vereshchagin a general rise of the sense of patriotism and the feeling of approaching social catastrophe). (An anxiety was a little late thing, of course. Prussia 's victory in the war of 1870-1871 began to be created after the Tilsite Peace of 1807, that is, it demanded about 60 years of preparation. Let us say that Stalin 's regime managed, in general, to prepare for war in 10-15 years...).
Vasily Vereshchagin, as a person with extensive knowledge, is trying to assist the Russian government . He writes three letters to Emperor Nicholas the Second. (A.I. Kudrya suggests that Vereshchagin was to a certain extent under the influence of a sense of gratitude due to the acquisition of the "Napoleonic collection" by the Russian government).
Vereshchagin 's recommendation to the emperor to appoint Aleksey Kuropatkin to one of the most important posts in the army fighting against Japanese troops raises questions...
Of course, the main role in the relatively successful end of the Russo-Japanese war was played not by Aleksey Kuropatkin and not by Anatoly Stessel, but by Sergei Witte and the leaders of Western countries (first of all - the United States), who did not want especially large victories of the Japanese and especially large defeats of Russian troops.
Maybe Vereshchagin 's proposed to Emperor Nicholas the Second the candidacy of Kuropatkin had its advantages, and Kuropatkin 's line to delay the war - had some positive strategic meaning? Aleksey Kuropatkin is a kind of Fabius Maximus of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905?
Can you imagine both a person with a powerful political imagination and a picture of Manchuria, controlled by the Russian Empire, the Chinese Eastern Railway, an efficiently operating, a convenient and profitable Russian ports in the South Seas? Prince Gagarin flies into space - in 1941 ... It is hard to imagine, but - nevertheless, nevertheless ... Where were they in 1904, a Suvorov Eagles? (A more number of Talleyrands would not prevent - to strengthen Sergei Witte ...).
Vasily Vereshchagin seeks secondment to the active army.
Around the first half of March 1904, Vereshchagin arrived in the Far East. He is allocated a separate railway car.
In one of the letters, Vereshchagin talks about an interesting observation. 'Gunners, shooters - everyone accepts [Vereshchagin] with open arms, repeating that 'everything is calm on Shipka. '
Recall that the 'Triptych' "Everything is calm on Shipka" ["На Шипке всё спокойно"] (in the name of the painting were used words from the cheerful report of General Radetsky) depicted the stages of freezing during a snowstorm of a Russian soldier standing on a watch in the Balkan Mountains' (A.I. Kudrya 'Vereshchagin').
A soldier, freezing at his post, through mysterious mental transformations has turned from a negative symbol into a symbol of victory over the enemy. The soldier maintained control of the situation and calm. Both official propaganda and some deep-seated (optimistic in nature) currents in the public mind 'evaporated' the ironic meaning from the name and left the topic of victory and heroism. 'Have we not won?' 'A soldier does not quit his post no matter what! Despite the new difficulties (a cold and a snow), he shows courage! '
Relations Vereshchagin with Admiral Stepan Makarov. Again, as in the case of the provision of a separate wagon, proximity to a state power ...
Quick and honorable (during a naval battle) death. For many great people, the ocean has become a grave ...
I will make a daring assumption. Perhaps the wife and children of Vereshchagin would have been happier with their living husband and father, although without the hundred thousand rubles paid for the 'Napoleonic collection', without the grace expressed in a separate railway car and in invitations to the battleship 'Petropavlovsk'?
As the events of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-1905 developed, some eyewitnesses might have come to the conclusion that the Balkan War of 1877-1878 did not go into a deep, distant past ...
Another presumptive consideration is related to the influence of the Russian-Turkish (Balkan) war of 1877-1878 on the life, fate, and a creativity of Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin.
It can be assumed that the psychological shock, which was perceived by Vasily Vereshchagin (during and after this Balkan war), was so powerful that he deprived him (to some extent) of his mental equilibrium for many years to come and had some a non-positive effect on his whole subsequent life. (A counter, positive influence was exerted by family, wife, children, creativity, cultural environment, travel, nature, architecture ...).
The situation of Vereshchagin's proximity to power during the Balkan war of 1877-1878 (the ability to 'arrange' his brother Sergei in the official hierarchical structure) was partially repeated during the Russo-Japanese war. ... Of course, Vereshchagin tended to strive for the center of events, Vereshchagin relied on his luck.
In the Turkestan campaign (Turkestan military campaign), Vereshchagin found himself in the "stream of success" that still existed (from the time of Alexander Suvorov?).
As events unfolded, it became harder and harder to be in such a stream. If the soldiers and officers showed and continued to show courage and heroism, then the administrative machine of the empire increasingly generated a negative results ...
Perhaps, at some point it was more appropriate for Vereshchagin to strive not to draw closer to the leading structures of empires, but to distance himself, to move away from them to an autonomous lifestyle ... (Who managed to keep a distance? Alexander Herzen? But Herzen was, rather, a public and cultural figure; probably no one considers him among the creative leaders of Russia ...).
Environment, traditions, general social culture, habits ... Leo Tolstoy was forced to take a decisive step - to defiantly leave his own home ...
The greater could be the degree of autonomy of Vereshchagin, the more would be a possibility of saving the life of his brother Sergei, of saving the life of Vasily Vasilyevich Vereshchagin himself.
Of course, the lack of a good relationship would lead to many understandable difficulties ... But, it seems, the foreign correspondents operating under the Russian army did not see the special favor of the military authorities, but they continued their work in relatively acceptable conditions ...
Vereshchagin's life is unusual in terms of luck. He is a very lucky man.
Vereshchagin's creativity is unique and brilliant. Perhaps his creativity has not yet been decrypted ...
The book "Vereshchagin" (by A.I. Kudrya) is a worthy, excellent, well-written biographical work.
May 23, 2020 16:59
Translation from Russian into English: May 24, 2020 00:29.
Владимир Владимирович Залесский 'Месяц на Дальнем Востоке. Завершение земного пути В.В. Верещагина. Заметка о главе 38 книги 'Верещагин''.