Róka Enikő szerk.: Zichy Mihály, a „rajzoló fejedelem” (A Magyar Nemzeti Galéria kiadványai 2007/4)
Zichy Mihály művészi pályája Oroszországban ASZJA KANTOR-GUKOVSZKAJA
Mihály Zichy's Artistic Career in Russia ASYA KANTOR-GUKOVSKAYA As a result of many coincidences, Mihály Zichy's life was closely connected to Russia. In 1847 Grand Duchess Yelena Pavlovna made an offer to Mihály Zichy's Viennese master, Waldmüller, to teach her daughter to paint. The master recommended Mihály Zichy for this position. In January 1848 Zichy arrived in St Petersburg where he was supposed to teach Yekaterina Mikhailovna, the daughter of the brother of Tsar Nicholas I. However, the young and ambitious artist found the commissions of his high-born patron demeaning for his art and subsequently resigned from teaching. Although he was living in a foreign country without steady work and income, many an illustrious person tended to commission him and a small group of painters, draughtsmen and journalists was beginning to evolve around him. Then he married a Russian woman, Alexandra Yershova. Nevertheless, he was compelled to delay the fulfillment of his dreams of high art for a while. He made an extra income in Wenninger's photographic studio where he was retouching and colouring photographs. Zichy invited several clients back to the studio to pose for him afterwards resulting in the beginning of his portrait painting period. In 1852 and 1853 Zichy drew a series of humorous caricatures of tsarist officers, two of which he offered to Tsar Nicholas I who was amused with them. The tsar invited Zichy to his stately home in Gatchina and commissioned him to make drawings of the events of the few days he was spending in the tsarist court there. This was how the first series of The Chronicle of Three Days in Gatchina came about. In 1852 Tsarina Alexandra Fyodorovna commissioned Zichy to make two albums of drawings of officers, (fig. 143.) These artistic portraits attracted the attention of the tsarist court as well as of the aristocracy of St Petersburg who subsequently showered him with commissions. At the same time Zichy was thriving to realize his ideas of historical painting. No doubt he was dreaming of becoming a court painter, so he presented the tsar with a sketch of his plan of The Allegory of Russia's Glory, but it failed to receive a graceful acceptance. In 1856 the group of artists which included Zichy himself was commissioned to make lithographs for an album containing all the images of the crowning of the new monarch, Alexander II. (fig. 148.) This work of Zichy's appealed to Alexander II. In 1858 the artist was awarded by the Academy of Arts the title of the Academician of Aquarelle Painting and in 1859 Tsar Alexander II granted him the title of His Imperial Majesty's Painter. From that time on Zichy was living in financially sound conditions, but his activities were determined by a set of rules. He was supposed exclusively to dedicate his time to the tsarist court in order to compile a detailed record of courtly life by making portraits of members of the ruling dynasty, as well as of all the high-ranking personalities of the tsarist court, including the painting of official events, images of tsarist huntings, the complete and exact recording of the Romanovs' everyday life, theatre plays, festivities and balls. However, the quick recording of events on the spot did require more dynamic means of graphics. Apart from commissions generated by the court itself, portraits and illustrative graphics became a major part of Zichy's art. He was devoted to Russian poetry which explains the making of a series of drawings illustrating The Demon, a narrative poem by Lermontov (fig. 109.), and some motifs of The Fountain of Bakhchisarai, The Prisoner of the Caucasus as well as of The Lay concerning the Wise Oleg by Pushkin. Zichy took a profound interest in all types of arts and was able to integrate without any difficulty into a society which was extremely keen on graphics. In 1857 he became a member of the Society for the
