Portrait of F. I AM. Dubyansky, Alexey Petrovich Antropov – overview 
- Posted by Alexey Petrovich Antropov
- Museum: Hermitage
- Year: 1761
Overview of the painting :
Portrait of F. I AM. Dubyansky – Alexey Petrovich Antropov. Oil on canvas. 99.5 x 76.5 cm
Representative of Russian painting of the Baroque era A. P. Antropov is known as one of the founders of portrait art. As an official artist of the Holy Synod, Antropov had to write spiritual faces. Noteworthy is his portrait of Archpriest F. I AM. Dubyansky, stored in the Hermitage.
Fedor Yakovlevich Dubyansky was an influential person during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna and Catherine II. A native of the Chernihiv region and a native of the Ukrainian clergy, Dubyansky successfully married the daughter of the confessor of the Tsysarevna Elizaveta K. Chargorodsky. After the death of father-in-law F. I AM. Dubyansky, according to the custom of the white clergy, inherited this place.
Due to its proximity to the favorite of Elizabeth Petrovna Aleksey Razumovsky, Dubyansky had a great influence at court. The Empress was an exemplary Christian and always listened to the advice of her confessor. Through Dubyansky, she passed her orders to the Holy Synod. He, taking advantage of his position, often acted contrary to the opinion of the highest spiritual organ and even intervened in the appointment of bishops.
Fedor Yakovlevich retained his influence when he entered the throne of Catherine II. She was grateful to him for helping her in due time to avoid being expelled abroad. As a reward, Catherine II also made Dubyansky her confessor. In 1761, Fedor Yakovlevich was elevated to the nobility, he owned 8,000 serfs, several estates and mansions. Dubyansky was famous as a man of wide views and very enlightened for a representative of the clergy.
The portrait was written by Anthropov in the year of the 70th anniversary of the archpriest and the pity on him. A strong, self-dignity old man looks at us with a smart look, large features of his face, a plagued beard. With his left hand, he rests on a pastoral staff with a silver knob, holds a scroll in his right with the words from 145 psalm “Praise, my soul, the Lord”.
His rich robe emphasizes his new status as a nobleman and recalls his dignity. Then there were no strict rules in wearing clothes of spiritual faces. On Dubyansky dressed in golden braid green vestments with ornamentation, under it is a yellow silk shirt, girded richly with a sluggish sash. On the chest is a thimbled cross decorated with precious stones. In those days, only the highest representatives of the clergy could wear such crosses.
The yellow-green color of the picture and the static pose of Dubyansky sends us to the traditions of icon painting and parsun. These influences were still strong in the work of Anthropov, standing at the origins of the birth of the Russian portrait genre.