The image of Alexander Nevsky in art: a description, interesting facts and reviews

Alexander Nevsky is a great man and a prince,literate commander and diplomat, a model of spirituality and morality, played a huge role in the history of the Russian state. He was grateful not only for descendants, but for people living in modern times, many famous creators praised his image in art.

Alexander Nevsky: personality in history

Everyone who is familiar with history knows such a person as Alexander Nevsky. He was the Grand Duke of All Russia and did much for the development of the state, which was strong in spirit and known for its power.

Narrative about the life of the prince can be a long and a lot,but it is better to list all his titles, which will tell everything themselves: Prince of Novgorod, Prince of Kiev, Prince Vladimir, commander of the troops of Kievan Rus and the Holy Orthodox Church.

For his 42 years of life in the 13th century, the princemany, therefore for centuries the image of Alexander Nevsky in art is praised in many works. And beginning with his contemporaries and ending with our days.

The image of Alexander Nevsky in art: a summary

Alexander Nevsky is familiar to everyone, and his namealways on hearing, so are named streets, squares and lanes, and for St. Petersburg he is a heavenly patron. However, more than one image of the prince has not reached our days, and everyone sees it in his own way. His image from ancient times appears in various works of art, and you can only briefly list the directions:

• Old Russian literature.
• Fiction.
• Art.
• Cinema.
• Sculpture.

The image of Alexander Nevsky in works of art: a description

Literature, painting and icon painting, cinematography andmusic, sculpture and architecture are different kinds of art, so unlike each other. But in each direction there must be a significant figure, who defended her lands and her people, showing herself as an example.

You can lead a long monologue and quotedifferent people about what kind of person the prince was, describe his achievements, how often the image of Alexander Nevsky in works of art is mentioned, and each species can be considered separately to understand how important it is as a historical person.

Alexander Nevsky in Painting

The image of Alexander Nevsky in art is foundeverywhere, and in painting he paid a lot of attention. One part of the artists created his portraits and depicted during the battles, the other preferred to embody the image of a saint, whom many believers today worship.

The first appearance in Russian painting is embodied in the form of a miniature about the Battle of the Ice in the annals.

Attention to the Grand Duke was given to the well-knownartist Nikolai Roerich, writing several paintings, Vasnetsov, Korin and Moller, as well as Serov with his famous painting "Alexander Nevsky's Entry into Pskov after the Battle of Ice".

Most of the artists depicted Nevsky during wars and battles, showed him as a strong and brave military commander, under whose command more than one battle was won.

Nevsky in the works of Semiradsky

The image of Alexander Nevsky in the graphicart is vividly manifested in GI's paintings. Semiradsky. In 1875, as a student of the Academy of Art in St. Petersburg, he was commissioned to create four paintings dedicated to St. Alexander Nevsky. Over the years, they were lost, but in the Russian Museum you can see sketches that confirm their existence.

Subjects for pictures were not chosen byartist, but was discussed by a special commission that determined the following important stages in the life of the Grand Duke: when the prince visited the Khan Batu, when he received ambassadors, the day of his death, and the miracle that occurred during the burial.

Semiradsky was able to create spectacular paintings, in which he attached importance to details. On the canvas is combined the skill obtained in the academic school, and the influence of the German artist Piloti.

Written pictures, where the prince appears before thea spectator by a young energetic ruler, did not fit the temple at all. Holiness in the prince was difficult to guess, contemporaries noticed it and even wrote about it in the newspapers.

Alexander Nevsky and religion

Today for all Orthodox Alexander Nevskyis a saint who is prayed by hundreds of thousands of people every day, asking for help and thanking for the miracle that has happened. Already in 1280 he was honored as a saint, later the prince was canonized by the church. Alexander Nevsky is closely connected with religion, and it is expressed in different types of art.

The Order of St. Alexander Nevsky was established by order of Catherine I, and in the USSR in 1942 another was created, which was awarded for services in military operations.

There are two most famous icons, one of which was created by Ivan the Greek in the 18th century.

The image of Alexander Nevsky in art was expressed andin the construction of churches in different cities of Russia. In Moscow, the first stone was laid on the territory of the military unit in 1995 and was consecrated by Alexy II.

In St. Petersburg in 1710 was laid the firststone of Holy Trinity Alexander Nevsky Lavra, the construction lasted a long time and with interruptions, was completed only in 1790. The cathedral was also built in Petrozavodsk in the 19th century, although at first it was a church at the factory, built on the donations of workers.

You can still enumerate temples, churches andchapels built under the name of Alexander Nevsky, but it is worthwhile to name cities where everyone can see the holy place: Yaroslavl, Veliky and Nizhny Novgorod, Ekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Pskov, Riga, Yalta, Tallinn and many others outside of Russia.

In the cinema

One of the important types of culture that store memoryPrince, you can call the cinema. In 1938 on the screens appeared the film "Alexander Nevsky" from the director Sergei Eisenstein. It was awarded the Stalin Prize and accepted by the people, today it belongs to the classical paintings of the 1930s.

In 1941, when the Great Patriotic War beganwar, the film was returned to hire to maintain the spirit, it was even more deafening success. In the film, all the favorite and well-known actors were shot: Nikolai Cherkasov, Nikolai Okhlopkov, Andrei Abrikosov and others.

The film takes place in 1242. The battle with the Swedes ended, the Teutonic troops began to advance on Russia. The painting ends with a battle on Lake Peipsi.

The image of A. Nevsky in art, including in this film, is very significant. The prince is a hero, who has always tried to protect his lands and his people.

Literary works

The image of Alexander Nevsky in variousworks of art, including in literature, was widely sung by writers and poets. The first mention in literature appeared due to the prince's contemporary. "The Life of Alexander Nevsky" refers to the monuments of Ancient Rus, tells about the exploits and courage of Nevsky.

In 1977 there was a story about the events of the 13th century,when Novgorod repelled the attack of the Germans. The story is about the fate of a wise man, mentally rich, who is a patriot of the Novgorod Republic. The story is called "Mister Veliky Novgorod", it was written by D.M. Balashov.

Interestingly written romance trilogy "AlexanderNevsky "from the author S.P. Mosiah. The work begins with the description of the power of the city of Veliky Novgorod, its significance and the purpose of capturing neighboring countries. But Novgorod does not give up, because in his defense rises the prince and the brilliant commander Nevsky.

Music

In 1938, the joint work of the director beganSergei Eisenstein and composer Prokofiev. The main task of the musician was to create music on the footage of the plot according to his ideas and opinions. Through the music, the composer managed to convey the image of the hero who fought in the fierce battles, all this was combined with pictorial-scenic episodes and singing-choral scenes.

The embodiment of the image of Alexander Nevsky is very brightsounded in the work of Sergei Prokofiev, whose music was written in the words of the poet Lugovsky. It was expressed in such a work as the cantata "Alexander Nevsky", consisting of seven parts. Each part is intended for different performers: a soloist, a choir or an orchestra, depending on the part: "The Battle of the Ice", "The Dead Field", "The Crusaders in Pskov", etc.

Historical monuments

The image of Alexander Nevsky in various forms of art, including sculpture, was expressed by many architects, today they can be seen all over the country. The most famous are the following:

• The monument in St. Petersburg, created under the projectarchitect Valentine Kozenyuk and installed in 2002 opposite the entrance to the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. The monument is made of pink granite, and the figure, sitting on a horse, is cast from bronze.
• In 1993 in Pskov a monument to Nevskyon Mount Sokolikha, since it was in this city in 1242 that the Teutonic Knights on the Lake Peipsi were defeated. The creator of the statue is the architect Joseph Kozlovsky.
• In Veliky Novgorod there is also a monument,established in 1985 on the waterfront. On the anniversary of the victory on Lake Peipsi, rallies are held in tribute to the memory of the great commander. Another monument is set in the center of the city in front of the church of Boris and Gleb.

In addition to these monuments, there are still monuments in Moscow, in Rostov-on-Don, in Aleksandrov (Vladimir region), in Vladimir and in Kursk.

Evaluation of the personality of Nevsky and the results of his reign

Alexander Nevsky lived and ruled in the distant 13th century,how much truthful information has reached the present, no one can say for sure. Historians of his personality do not put an unequivocally good estimate, sometimes the views are the most opposite.

However, in 2008 the prince was named "in the name of Russia"and in 2016 he became the patron saint of the land forces of the Russian Federation. It is difficult to argue with the fact that the image of Alexander Nevsky in art is present in many works that appeared in completely different times, he is praised and considered great.

However, reviews about this person are not onlypositive. Some historians express the opinion that the prince caused irreparable harm to the state, brought the Tatars to the Russian lands, making friends with Sartak, who was the son of Batu, and even betrayed his brother. But each person chooses what to believe in, and what has already happened can not be changed.