Description of the painting by Alexey Venetsianov “Reaper”

Description of the painting by Alexey Venetsianov Reaper

The picture was painted by Venetsianov in the mid-twenties. The canvas is small, the size of only 30×24, but it makes admire the realistic, the beauty of the lines, the solemnity of the whole moment.

The reaper is a very young woman, almost a girl, beautiful in its naturalness. Her face, as if, is illuminated by the sun. Venetsianov often used such a technique, in his understanding to lighten some part of the picture, “to penetrate the sun” meant “to revive”.

Indeed, the entire image of a young reaper is breathing with the fullness of life. The soft oval of the face, which has not yet lost its childish roundness, high, clear forehead, hair tucked away, full lips, a serious, even slightly strict look of huge eyes, the correct shape of eyebrows – the harmony of the image creates real beauty.

The woman’s face is calm and open. The hand does not squeeze the sickle, it is relaxed, now

the girl is not working, the artist has chosen the moment of the celebration of Zazhnivye, a holiday that was celebrated especially colorfully. They prepared themselves for Zazhnivyu, sewed clothes for themselves in advance, women decorated their heads with colorful headdresses.

It can be seen that this reaper was also dressed in an elegant kokoshnik, decorated with a ribbon, her shirt was made of a thin, silky cloth, and was worn only on holidays, the sundress is trimmed with a braid. A wave of ripe, golden spikes complements the image of the reaper.

The whole pose of a peasant woman is permeated with solemnity, grandeur and a kind of symbolism.

The purity and clarity of the image of the reaper transmits the spiritual height of the Russian, peasant woman, the beauty of her aspirations and chastity.

With his picture, Venetsianov tries to show not only grave peasant everyday life, but also the joy of work, bright, festive parties. And most importantly, the painter wanted to show the dignity of the common people, their greatness and true nobility.


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Description of the painting by Alexey Venetsianov “Reaper”