Nikita Pustosvyat. Debate about faith is a large-format painting by Russian artist Vasily Perov (1834-1882), created between 1880 and 1881. It belongs to the collection of the State Tretyakov Gallery (Inventory 407). The size of the painting is 336.5 × 512 cm. The painting was not finished due to tuberculosis which caused death of the artist, who died of consumption in 1882. In the same year, the canvas was purchased from Perov's heirs by Pavel Tretyakov.
The painting depicts the dramatic moment of the "faith Debate" — a historical event of the Moscow Uprising of 1682, the bicentennial of which Perov planned to complete the work on canvas. The debate took place on July 5, 1682 in the Palace of Facets of the Moscow Kremlin. The composition of the painting is based on the opposition of the right part, where there is a group of schismatics of the Old Believers led by the Suzdal priest Nikita Pustosvyat, and the left part, which depicts the rulers — Tsarevna Sophia Alexeyevna, Patriarch Joachim of Moscow, Archbishop Afanasy (Lyubimov) of Kholmogorsk and others.
Contemporaries praised a number of figures on the canvas. Especially in the right part, which was better elaborated. The writer Nikolai Leskov noted that "the painting Nikita Pustosvyat represents an amazing fact of artistic penetration" and the critic Vladimir Stasov wrote that Perov had "not only a crowd, agitated, rebellious, rumbling with a storm, but also soloists, colossal singers". In the Soviet period, the historical works of the late period of Vasily Perov's work, including Nikita Pustosvyat, were sharply criticized, and his views on history and religion were considered reactionary. At the same time, Perov's role in creating the concept of a historical hero who was ready to give his life for his beliefs was recognized, and the historicism permeating the entire figurative structure of the canvas was noted.
History Vasily Perov worked on the painting Nikita Pustosvyat. Debate about Faith –the largest of all his canvases– in 1880-1881. Art historian Olga Lyaskovskaya believes that work on the canvas most likely started earlier, in the late 1870s, because "the sheer size of the complex painting required many years of work". Apparently, Perov wanted to time the completion of the canvas to coincide with the bicentennial of the event depicted, which took place in 1682. When painting the picture, the artist used information from the novel by Evgeny Karnovich, On the Height and on the Share: Tsarevna Sophia Alexeevna, which was published in 1879. According to some reports, Perov was assisted in his work on the canvas by his student Alexander Novoskoltsev.
In an article on Perov included in volume 13 of the Russian Biographical Dictionary, the art historian Alexei Novitsky reports some information given to him by Elizaveta Egorovna, the artist's widow. According to her, the idea of creating the painting Nikita Pustosvyat most likely came to Perov under the influence of his communication with the writer Pavel Melnikov-Pechersky, with whom the artist repeatedly discussed problems of schism history. Melnikov-Pechersky provided Perov with the portraits needed to paint the left side of the picture. According to the same source, the artist Ivan Shishkin convinced Perov to undertake the painting of such a large canvas. Perov had long been looking for a suitable sitter for Nikita Pustosvyat and finally "found one among the vagrants". Art historian Vladimir Kemenov reported that to create the image of Tsarevna Sophia Alekseevna, Perov used a print by Leonty Tarasevich, created in the 1680s.
In September 1880, Perov was visited in his Moscow studio by the artist Ivan Kramskoi. Later, from St. Petersburg, Kramskoy wrote to Pavel Tretyakov: "Was at Perov, saw the painting Nikita Pustosvyat and found it and himself, and, most importantly, the picture, much better than expected. There are heads positively good". There are references to this painting in the memoirs of the artist Mikhail Nesterov, who described how the students of the natural class of the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture, which taught Perov, came to him on his birthday: "The students met the birthday boy with his wife, invited him to the studio, where the entire wall stood Pustosvyat, and on the other Pugachevtsy" (referring to the painting Pugachev's Trial).In the last year of his life, Perov was very ill, and, according to Alexei Novitsky, the painting Nikita Pustosvyat was "the artist's last song" with Perov "working on it even when he was barely able to hold a brush in his hands". Nevertheless, the canvas remained unfinished. The art historian Nikolai Sobko wrote that Perov was dissatisfied with many aspects of the painting, especially its right side, and "planned a lot of rewrites here anew, but death prevented him from fulfilling this intention". On May 29 (June 10), 1882, Vasily Perov died of tuberculosis, and in the same year, the painting was purchased from his heirs by Pavel Tretyakov. The painting was not shown at exhibitions during the artist's lifetime, who, after leaving the Society for Travelling Art Exhibitions in 1877, practically did not participate in exhibition activities. Nikolai Sobko reported that the artist Mikhail Botkin managed to persuade Perov to send Nikita Pustosvyat (along with the painting The First Christians in Kiev) to the All-Russian Industrial and Art Exhibition, which opened in Moscow on May 20, 1882, a few days before the artist's death.XV Всероссийская промышленно-художественная выставка 1882 г. (HTML). «Узнай Москву» — um.mos.ru. Дата обращения: 26 February 2017. Archive: 20 December 2016. The painting, under the title Nikita Pustosvyat (from the times of Tsarevna Sophia Alexeevna), did appear in the exhibition catalog, but for some reason, was not exhibited there.
In 1883, the canvas was included in the catalog of the posthumous exhibition of Perov's works held in St. Petersburg: according to some sources, it was exhibited there, and according to others, it was not. Be that as it may, during the exhibition, some specialists had the opportunity to familiarize themselves with the painting Nikita Pustosvyat. In particular, the artist Vladimir Osipov (a student of Pavel Chistyakov) expressed the following opinion about this work by Perov: "What beautiful things of his youth, what conscientiousness of execution. The two-fathoms canvas depicts the Faceted Chamber. The mass of figures, the extreme movements, the composition is confused, there is absolutely no stain - but the types are successful, the picture is only underpainted".
According to the catalog of the Tretyakov Gallery, the painting Nikita Pustosvyat. Debate about Faith was exhibited in Moscow in 1933-1934, and then at an exhibition in Leningrad in 1934. Both exhibitions were dedicated to the 100th anniversary of Perov's birth and were held in the buildings of the State Tretyakov Gallery and the State Russian Museum, respectively. The canvas also took part in the exhibition of Perov's works dedicated to the 150th anniversary of the artist's birth. This exhibition was held in 1984-1985, alternately in Moscow, Leningrad, Kyiv, and Minsk.
Plot and description
The plot of the painting is based on the "debate about faith" — a historical event of the Moscow uprising of 1682, also known as Khovanshchina. After the death of Tsar Fyodor Alekseevich on April 27, 1682, the struggle for power between the boyar families of Miloslavsky and Naryshkin intensified. Tsarevna Sophia Alekseevna decided to take advantage of the discontent of the streltsy, who sided with Miloslavsky and executed a number of representatives of the Naryshkin family and their supporters. As a result of this Streltsy revolt, Sophia Alekseevna was declared regent under the minor tsars Ivan and Peter, and Prince Ivan Andreyevich Khovansky was appointed head of the Streltsy order. At the same time, sensing the weakness of the central government, the Old Believers became active. Their representatives gathered in Moscow and preached their views on the streltsky regiments, as well as proposed to hold an open theological debate on Red Square. The leader of the Old Believers —opponents of the official church— was the Suzdal priest Nikita Dobrynin, nicknamed Pustosvyat. Despite the support of Khovansky, the Old Believers failed to hold an open discussion, but on July 5, 1682, a "dispute about faith" took place in the Faceted Chamber of the Moscow Kremlin in the presence of Tsarevna Sophia Alekseevna and Patriarch Joachim. In front of the entrance to the Palace of Facets, on the Red Porch, the Old Believers clashed with the priests, who were not allowed into the room; in the resulting scuffle, Nikita Pustosvyat himself was grabbed by the hair by one of the priests. The arriving riflemen separated the fighters and escorted the Old Believers to the place of the dispute. In The History of Russia from the Earliest Times, Sergei Solovyov described their arrival: "The schismatics entered the Palace of Facets with noise and set up their analogion and candles, as in the square; they came to affirm the old faith, to destroy all innovations, but did not notice what an unprecedented innovation met them in the Granovitaya Chamber: only women in the royal seat! Tsarevna-maidens openly before all the people, and one tsarevna is in charge of everything!" According to Solovyov's description, on the throne next to Sophia Alekseevna sat her aunt Tatiana Mikhailovna, and lower in the chairs were Tsarina Natalia Kirillovna and Tsarevna Maria Alekseevna.
Patriarch Joachim asked the Old Believers why they had come and what their demands were. Nikita Pustosvyat answered: "We have come to the tsar-sovereigns to ask them to correct the Orthodox faith, to give us their righteous consideration with you, the new lawmakers, and that the churches of God be in peace and harmony." The patriarch objected that it was not proper for them to correct anything in church affairs, since they had not yet "touched the grammatical mind". Nikita replied, "We have not come to talk to you about grammar, but about Church dogmas!" Then Archbishop Athanasius of Kholmogorsk tried to object to him, but Pustosvyat jumped up to him with a raised hand, saying: "Why do you, foot, put yourself above your head? I am not speaking to you, but to the patriarch". The Streltsy dragged Nikita away from Athanasius, and Sophia stood up and began to say, "Do you see what Nikita is doing? In our eyes he beats the bishop, and without us he would have killed him".
That moment of this dramatic confrontation, when the dispute was replaced by violence, is depicted by Perov on his canvas. A little to the right of the center of the picture, with a cross in his hand, is Nikita Pustosvyat. To his right is the monk Sergius with a petition. On the floor, putting his hand to his cheek, on which Nikita "imprinted the cross," lies Archbishop Athanasius. In the left part of the canvas is Tsarevna Sophia Alekseevna, who has risen from her throne, angered by the insolent behavior of the Old Believers. Next to her is Patriarch Joachim, to whom Nikita Pustosvyat is rushing. In the background is Prince Ivan Khovansky. Standing to the right of Sophia is a young boyar: apparently, Prince Vasily Golitsyn.