“The slaughter at the window”, Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky – overview of the painting 
- Posted by Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky
- Museum: Omsk Museum named after. M. AND. Wrubel
- Year: 1885
Overview of the painting :
The slaughterhouse at the window is Konstantin Egorovich Makovsky. Oil on canvas. 174 x 117 cm
At the time of writing, interest in the past of Russia was more great than ever. It was largely romanticized, which was reflected in this canvas. It conveys the feeling of the history of Russia, which developed under the influence of the past and fairy tales – embellished, elegant, romantic.
The canvas depicts a young married woman from high society. It is impossible to accurately indicate the historical period from her clothes, only one thing can be said – it refers to the times before the Petrov reforms, when everyone was massively forced to change into western clothes.
This portrait can be considered a collective image of the Russian hawthorn. This is a full-blooded young beauty, exceptionally rich and pompous. She sits in a window opening of a stone theorem, abundantly decorated with painting. Small glasses are tucked into frequent metal binding, and thin, embroidered with colored silk curtains emphasize the decorativeness and complexity of the canvas.
The slaughterhouse sits, leaning against the wall, in front of a massive chest, in which, most likely, its dowry or the most valuable things are stored. A slide of jewelry hints at this, which the beauty went over before she was distracted from this lesson.
Among the jewelry there are many bright beads, a long massive chain that the hawthorn holds in his kneeled hand, a female headgear made of gold-fabriced brocade with embroidery with small pearls. The second hand of a woman lies on the frame of a golden icon.
She is extremely richly dressed. An artist with great skill reproduces a complex multi-colored outfit. On a woman, a scarlet lower dress made of gold-stained fabric with a wide border on the floor. The upper dress is shorter than the lower, and its sleeves are wide and free. This allows you to partially open the expensive fabric of lower clothes for viewing.
The upper dress is even more spectacular. It is bright with large multi-colored patterns in the oriental style. The neck, shelves along the fastener, hem and bottom of the sleeves are decorated with a wide strip of gold halon. The dress is buttoned on large precious buttons and girded with a golden woven couch. A cloak finished with sable on the shoulders of the beauty.
The woman has a lot of precious jewelry, mainly from pearls, very popular in Russia. A luxurious coconut stands out especially – the headgear that the ladies of all estates wore, and beautiful earrings from huge pearls.
This beautiful woman is a collective image of the Russian beauty of that time, as if coming to us from a fairy tale or tradition. The artist very subtly caught this connection with the fabulous, mythological and past of the country. The portrait looks like an illustration of a fairy tale or a spectacle on historical subjects.