Alexander Dmitrievich Litovchenko( 1835 - 1890)
Charon carries souls across the river Styx, c. 1861
Oil on canvas
Russian Museum, St. Petersburg
In Greek mythology, Charon or Kharon was the ferryman of Hades who carried souls of the newly deceased across the river that divided the world of the living the world of the dead. A coin to pay Charon for passage, usually an obolus or danake, was sometimes placed in or on the mouth of a dead person. Some authors say that those who could not pay the fee, or those whose bodies were left unburied, had to wander the shores for one hundred years. More on this painting
Alexander Dmitrievich Litovchenko (1835, Kremenchuk - 28 June 1890, Saint Petersburg) was a Russian painter who specialized in depicting Muscovite Russia of the 16th and 17th centuries.
Alexander Dmitrievich Litovchenko( 1835 - 1890)
Ivan the Terrible shows his treasures to the English ambassador Horsey, c. 1875
Oil on canvas
Height: 153 cm (60.2 in); Width: 236 cm (92.9 in)
Russian Museum, Saint Petersburg
English: Ivan IV of Russia ("Ivan the Terrible") demonstrates his treasures to the ambassador of Queen Elizabeth I of England.
Litovchenko attended the Imperial Academy of Arts and, although criticised by his peers for rather stilted compositions, was awarded a lesser gold medal for his rendering of Charon transporting the souls of the dead across the Styx (See above). Along with several other young painters, he challenged the spirit of academism that was prevalent at the Academy and in 1863 left it to become a freelance painter, joining the Peredvizhniki movement in 1876.
Alexander Litovchenko (1835–1890)
The Italian envoy Calvucci draws the favorite falcons of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, c. 1889
Oil on canvas
Fine Arts Museum, Ukraine
Alexander Litovchenko (1835-90)
Tsar Alexis Praying Before the Relics of Metropolitan Philip in the Presence of Patriarch Nikon
I have no further description, at this time
In 1868, Litovchenko was recognized as an academician for his picture of a falconer serving at the court of Tsar Alexis (one of his several versions of the subject). Among his larger paintings, Ivan the Terrible Showing His Treasures to Jerome Horsey (1875) (See above) was purchased by the Tsar for the Alexander III Museum in St. Petersburg, and Tsar Alexis and Archbishop Nikon Venerating the Relics of Patriarch Philip (1886) (See above) was acquired by Pavel Tretyakov for his collection in Moscow.
Alexander Dmitrievich Litovchenko
Boyarina
Oil on canvas
17 1/2 x 9 1/4 in.
Private collection
A boyar or bolyar was a member of the highest rank of the feudal Bulgarian, Russian, Wallachian, Moldavian, and later Romanian, Lithuanian and Baltic German nobility, second only to the ruling princes (in Bulgaria, tsars) from the 10th century to the 17th century. The rank has lived on as a surname. More on the bolyar
Litovchenko is also remembered as the author of seven murals in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow and a set of icons for the Crimean War memorial in Sevastopol. More on Alexander Dmitrievich Litovchenko
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