About a beautiful lady. Poem "Madonna"

So, we continue the conversation about Pushkin’s love lyrics. This time we’ll touch on his sonnet “Madonna,” which he dedicated to his wife, Natalya Nikolaevna Goncharova.

Pushkin met the Goncharov family in the winter of 1828, at a ball. Natalya Nikolaevna was then only 16 years old, she attracted everyone's attention with her extraordinary external beauty and modesty.

According to a contemporary (A.P. Arapova), “Natalya Nikolaevna was modest to the point of painfulness; When they first met, his (Pushkin’s) celebrity, the authority inherent in a genius, were not only embarrassed, but somehow crushed. She shyly responded to enthusiastic phrases, but this innate modesty only elevated her in the eyes of the poet.”

Everyone around the young poet immediately started talking about the upcoming wedding. The reason for this was, in general, compelling - Pushkin himself repeatedly stated in society that he intended to end his bachelor life, having been captivated by Natalya Goncharova.

Pushkin’s sonnet “Madonna” (1830) was addressed specifically to Natalya Nikolaevna.

Not many paintings by ancient masters
I always wanted to decorate my abode,
So that the visitor might superstitiously marvel at them,
Heeding the important judgment of experts.

In my simple corner, amidst slow labors,
I wanted to be forever a spectator of one picture,
One: so that from the canvas, like from the clouds,
Most Pure One and our divine Savior -

She with greatness, he with reason in his eyes -
They looked, meek, in glory and in the rays,
Alone, without angels, under the palm of Zion.

My wishes came true. Creator
Sent you to me, you, my Madonna,
The purest example of pure beauty.

We see to what spiritual heights the poet’s love for his Beautiful Lady rises, who for him is “the purest example of pure beauty.” The very form of the work - a sonnet - and the high style of presentation give rise to associations with the Renaissance.

Veresaev V.V. Pushkin in life: A systematic collection of authentic testimonies from his contemporaries. – M.: Moscow. worker, 1987. – P. 133.

When I first heard that Pushkin wrote the sonnet “Madonna” under the impression of Raphael’s painting “The Bridgewater Madonna,” I was somehow wary.
I am a man from the last century. During my school years, the sonnet “Madonna” was not on the list of works required to be studied in literature classes. Although “we didn’t go through this, we weren’t asked this,” I knew this sonnet. I also knew about the iconographic identification of Pushkin’s wife with Raphael’s Sistine Madonna.

Later, in 1994, the newspaper “Echo of Lithuania” published an article “He called her Madonna” with an image of another Madonna by Raphael, which was imprinted in my memory, and the name of the painting was different – ​​“Donna Velata”.

The publication alerted me and prompted me to independently familiarize myself with the history of the search for a painting in which Raphael’s “Madonna” and Pushkin’s wife are “one person”...
In the early 1960s, Pushkin scholars had not yet found the painting that served as the poet’s source of inspiration, and, therefore, did not come to a consensus.
Pushkin scholars had several versions of which painting inspired the poet to create the sonnet, originally called “The Picture.”
MADONNA

Not many paintings by ancient masters
I always wanted to decorate my abode,
So that the visitor might superstitiously marvel at them,
Heeding the important judgment of experts.

In my simple corner, amidst slow labors,
I wanted to be forever a spectator of one picture,
One: so that from the canvas, like from the clouds,
The Most Pure One and our divine savior -

She with greatness, he with intelligence in his eyes -
They looked, meek, in glory and in the rays,
Alone, without angels, under the palm of Zion.

My wishes came true. Creator
Sent you to me, you, my Madonna,
The purest example of pure beauty.

All researchers were unanimous that A.S. Pushkin was inspired by the work of a certain master of the Italian school.

The earliest assumption about the attribution of the painting was made on the basis of the so-called “Notes” of Alexandra Osipovna Smirnova-Rosset, probably written by her daughter, writer Olga Nikolaevna Smirnova. In “Notes,” Olga Nikolaevna hints that the image for Pushkin’s sonnet was Perugino’s “Madonna” from the collection of her father Nikolai Mikhailovich Smirnov.

The following Pushkinists adhered to this assumption:
A.V. Sredin (1872 – 1934) – painter, graphic artist, writer;
M.D. Belyaev (1884 – 1955) – organizer and head of the literary museum of the Pushkin House, creator of the Pushkin museum-apartment on Moika 12;
V. Danchenko is the author of the book “Pushkin about Italy”;
E. Egorova, who wrote “Our Lover Pushkin” (“...saw an image among the paintings/ of Perugino’s Madonna...” 2000s).

The writer V.F. Savodnik (1874 - 1940) suggested that it could be the painting “Madonna” by Raphael, known in Pushkin’s years, and advised looking in the Hermitage for exactly that painting that has a landscape background with the palm tree of Zion. The search began with a review of archival documents from that period. First of all, they looked for paintings by Raphael acquired for the Hermitage, including at auctions. The picture described in the sonnet was not found.

Another writer, N.K. Piskanov, drew attention to the fact that one should look not for a lithograph or engraving of an unknown painting of the Madonna, but for a painting on canvas.
The famous literary critic B.V. Tomashevsky (1890 -1957) was closest to the solution, drawing attention to the original title of the sonnet “Picture”:

“Apparently, the sonnet implies a very specific picture ‹…›. Obviously, we are talking about the “Madonna” of some major Italian master that was being sold at that time.”

There is nothing random or contrived in Pushkin's lyrics. In the sonnet “Madonna” A.S. Pushkin talks about a specific picture. Moreover, in a letter dated July 30, 1830 to his bride - future wife Natalie - he writes:

“I don’t go out much in the world. They are looking forward to seeing you there. The beautiful ladies of St. Petersburg ask me to show you your portrait and cannot forgive me for not having it. I am consoled by the fact that I stand for hours in front of the blond Madonna, who resembles you like two peas in a pod; I would buy it if it didn’t cost 40,000 rubles.”

This letter may serve as a clue.
“I stand for hours... in front of a blond Madonna who looks like you... I would buy...” the meticulous Pushkinist thought, “The painting should have been sold somewhere!”
While some researchers of Pushkin’s work (pay attention to their years of life – until the 1960s) painstakingly searched for the canvas, sat and reasoned, others were of the opinion that Pushkin admired a copy of Raphael’s “Sistine Madonna”.

Shustov A. “The purest example of pure charm.” White nights. Lenizdat, 1980
Petr Kiele “Madonna” of Pushkin: who is she?” 2000s. From the Internet.
Valery Lepakhin “Icon in the works of Pushkin.” 2011 From the Internet.
V. Mironenko (candidate of historical sciences, Ukraine) “Has the secret of Pushkin’s Madonna been revealed?” About the miraculous Yeletsk icon of the Mother of God. 2012 From the Internet.
M.V. Stroganov (Kalinin State University) argues that the sonnet is built on the synthesis of images of two Raphael Madonnas: the Sistine and the Bridgewater. See in the Library of the Pushkin House.

The identification with Raphael’s “Sistine Madonna” was readily believed. This was the first thing that came to mind, because the picture was widely circulated on postcards, reproductions, copies, it was popular and known to everyone.
We trusted the learned men and took on faith what they offered us. Looking at the face of the Madonna, everyone wanted to know not only its religious, but also its philosophical meaning and to discern or at least catch in it the features of Alexander Sergeevich’s wife.
When a new iconographic identification with Raphael’s painting “DONNA VELATA” – Veiled Lady (Newspaper “Echo of Lithuania” No. 235, 1994) appeared, I, trusting what was written and taking on faith what I read, lingered for a long time in the captivity of this particular image.

Compare with the portrait of N.N. Pushkina V. Gau 1841.

Or with a painting by I. Makarov, 1849.

Very similar! But unproven! Because Pushkin must be read!

It is surprising that the author of the newspaper article did not correlate his assumption with the text of Pushkin’s sonnet.
There is no religious plot in the film “Donna Velata”. Also not taken into account is the line in one of the versions of Pushkin’s manuscript: “The Most Pure One and the Savior playing with her.” Where is the Baby? And the date of newspaper publication is late - 1994.
Probably, the Pushkinist was captivated by the images of the Madonna of Raphael’s last Florentine period, for which his beloved Fornarina served as the model, and did not pay attention to the absence of the Child.
Wasn’t the researcher familiar with the notes of the famous Pushkin scholar M.A. Tsyavlovsky, who, back in the forties, began to dot the i’s in the debate between researchers about options and guesses? Unfortunately, Mstislav Aleksandrovich did not have time to complete his works - he died in 1947.

“Tsyavlovsky never gave up long-term searches and collecting, archival excavations, “combing,” as he put it, old magazines and books.” (Bondi S.M.)

However, only by “combing” or sifting through the information was it possible to “catch” two newspaper articles about an old painting that was sold in Selenin’s bookstore and was displayed in the window.

Tsyavlovsky writes that Langer V.’s newspaper article (“Literary Newspaper” dated April 1, 1830!) mentions an old painting attributed to Raphael. The canvas depicting the Madonna and Child was exhibited in the window of a bookstore on Nevsky, owned by I.V. Selenin, in July 1830.
It is interesting that the note was published in the newspaper due to doubts about the authorship and the assumption that the painting is not an original, but a copy. It also contained Langer’s request and appeal to readers, regardless of authorship, to purchase “our rich compatriots to purchase this painting for their gallery, the history of which is unknown to us, changed by time and amendments.”

After some time, a new message appeared in the Literary Gazette (August 14, 1830) that a lithograph was being made from an unknown painting depicting the Virgin and Child and attributed to Raphael.
Tsyavlovsky guessed that since the painting had not been found, it was necessary to look for the lithograph and its author. It turned out that the lithograph was made by the young artist A. Bezlyudny. The scientist discovered it in the graphics department of the Russian Museum in Leningrad. The lithograph is signed: “Fig. on stone A. Deserted from an original painting by the Italian school.”
Thus, Mstislav Aleksandrovich Tsyavlovsky convincingly proved that Pushkin saw the painting at Selenin’s, and he wrote about it to Natalya Nikolaevna. In addition, Tsyavlovsky identified the author of the lithograph.
Georgy Mikhailovich Koka took up further development of this issue, making a presentation at the “Pushkin Reading” in the Pushkin House in early January 1960. The speaker argued that Pushkin had in mind a copy of Raphael’s painting “The Bridgewater Madonna” (see A. Antonov. “How Pushkin created the sonnet “Madonna.” - “Evening Leningrad”, 1960, No. 13, January 16). - T .
Source: http://pushkin.niv.ru/pushkin/articles/cyavlovskij/madona.htm

Moreover, Georgy Mikhailovich suggested that unknown persons offered Selenin a copy of Raphael’s painting for sale. The sellers passed off the painting as an original (this is evidenced by its high price) and, since none of the St. Petersburg collectors bought it, the painting (copy) was removed from sale and taken away somewhere.

G.M. Coca finds a message from biographer Raphael Passavant that this painting was listed in the catalogs of the Städel Institute of Arts (Germany) from 1833 until the end of the 19th century. She disappeared during the Second World War. Her current whereabouts are unknown.
For 150 years of searching and “throwing up” options, no one in our country has seen the picture.
And yet, where is the original painting?

Researchers spent a lot of time to establish the exact authorship, name of the painting and find its real location.
It is possible that the painting was known to many, if only because five copies and more than 10 lithographs and engravings were made from it.
Now we know that the painting was painted by Raphael, called “Madonna of Bridgewater”, named after the owner, Duke of Bridgewater, 1756 - 1829. After the Duke's death, the painting was kept in the Bridgewater House gallery in London for more than a century. The original is now in the National Art Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh.

A few words about lithography.
Georgy Mikhailovich Koka in his study “Pushkin in front of Raphael’s Madonna” indicated that in M.S. Vorontsov’s office, in all likelihood, there was a lithograph of the Bridgewater Madonna, possibly by the artist A.A. Romane. She was known to Pushkin.
I cannot leave without mentioning the lithograph of the Bridgewater Madonna, which hangs at the dacha in the office of A.S. Pushkin in Tsarskoe Selo. Curious when the poet got it? Or is this just a museum reconstruction?

An interesting observation can be found in the interpreter of Raphael’s work, Eugene Muntz. Examining a number of Raphael's works, he came to the conclusion that there was nothing religious left in them. (S.M. Stam “Florentine Madonnas of Raphael” Saratov University Publishing House 1982, p. 18)
Compare this idea with the statement of the unknown (1839) in a letter:

“My God, how good she is, this same Madame Pushkina - she eminently possesses all those chaste and peaceful properties that quietly attract the eye and awaken in the heart of the one who observes them, a thought, I would say, almost religious...”

There was something about this woman that set her apart from many beauties and was a feature of her nature.
“He is fascinated by his Natalie and speaks of her as if she were a Divinity,” wrote Nadezhda Osipovna Pushkina to her daughter Olga.
“The purest example of pure charm” - literally all the contemporaries of the great poet, both women and men, agreed with this when it came to Natalya Nikolaevna Goncharova. Moreover, in the world Natalya Nikolaevna began to be called Madonna among themselves and in correspondence.

05/21/1831. Pushkin arrived from Moscow with his wife, but does not want to show her at all. I saw her at Maman's. This is a very young and beautiful person, slender, flexible, tall, with the face of a Madonna, extremely pale, with a meek, shy and melancholy expression, greenish-brown eyes, light and transparent, with not exactly a sideways, but vague look, gentle features, beautiful black hair (Daria Fikelmon's Diary)

Pushkin himself believed that he did not deserve anything before God for a sweet, pure, kind, charming creature - Natalie was so extraordinary, absolutely in no way similar to his friends and women he had previously met.
On August 21, 1833, already married, Pushkin wrote to Natalie:

“Have you looked in the mirror, and have you become convinced that nothing in the world can be compared to your face - and I love your soul even more than your face.”

Due to financial difficulties, the poet was unable to buy the portrait he admired so much. But instead the immortal sonnet “Madonna” appeared. The word was found precise and sacred, it became the title of Pushkin’s sonnet and a description of his divine wife Natalie.
Looking at Raphael’s Madonna, you really feel the resemblance to Natalya Nikolaevna Pushkina.
Thinking about portrait resemblance, I wanted to use modern technical capabilities to verify what Pushkin’s keen eye saw.
To do this, you need to combine the images using the overlay method.
This is what happened when the portrait of Natalya Nikolaevna by V. Gau was gradually superimposed on the painting “Donna Velata”.

"Madonna" Alexander Pushkin

Not many paintings by ancient masters
I always wanted to decorate my abode,
So that the visitor might superstitiously marvel at them,
Heeding the important judgment of experts.

In my simple corner, amidst slow labors,
I wanted to be forever a spectator of one picture,
One: so that from the canvas, like from the clouds,
The Most Pure One and our divine savior -

She with greatness, he with intelligence in his eyes -
They looked, meek, in glory and in the rays,
Alone, without angels, under the palm of Zion.

My wishes came true. Creator
Sent you to me, you, my Madonna,
The purest example of pure beauty.

Analysis of Pushkin's poem "Madonna"

Among the love lyrics of Alexander Pushkin there are several works that he dedicated to his wife Natalya Goncharova. One of them is the poem “Madonna,” written in 1830, six months before the wedding.
At this time, the poet is in Moscow, where he again asks Natalya Goncharova to become his wife. Having received consent, Pushkin is euphoric and begins to prepare for the wedding, while his bride and her family leave the capital for a while, going to the family estate. To brighten up the days of separation, Pushkin hangs in his room a portrait of a “blond Madonna,” who, according to the poet, is like two peas in a pod like his chosen one. He even reports about this amazing similarity in a letter addressed to Natalya Goncharova, receiving a very encouraging answer in which the young girl reports that very soon Pushkin will not need to admire the painting, since he will have a wife.

Inspired by this message, the poet dedicates the poem “Madonna” to Natalya Goncharova, which is written in the form of a sonnet. In the very first lines, the author states that all his life he dreamed not of decorating a house with portraits of famous artists, but of having love and mutual understanding reign in it. According to the poet, it is a happy marriage that can create in the house that amazing atmosphere of harmony and well-being that is so easily captured by others. And it is precisely this that attracts people who enjoy being in families built on love, mutual respect and trust.

Pushkin sees his future marriage as happy and harmonious, so the poet notes in the poem that he dreams of “being forever a spectator” of just one picture that would reflect his life. The heroes of this canvas are “she with greatness, he with reason in his eyes,” i.e. an ideal married couple destined to live a long and happy life together.

Pushkin sees his upcoming marriage as if from the outside, but this does not prevent him from indulging in dreams of family well-being. It would seem that there is every reason for this, because Natalya Goncharova is pretty, quite smart and educated. That is why the poet thanks the Almighty for “sending you down to me, you, my Madonna,
the purest beauty, the purest example.” The author does not suspect that literally in a few months the first serious conflict related to the wedding dowry will occur between him and his chosen one. Pushkin knew that his bride belonged to a noble, but, alas, impoverished family. However, he did not imagine that together with his wife he would end up with a bunch of family debts. Paying them off was not part of the poet’s plans, so his marriage was on the verge of failure. Having gone to Boldino in order to take ownership of the estate, Pushkin even wrote to his future mother-in-law that Natalya Goncharova was free from any obligations to him, although if he himself married, it would only be to her. In the end, the wedding took place, but the image of Madonna, created by the poet in the poem of the same name, faded. It is known that after the wedding the poet did not devote a single poem to his wife. There are several reasons for this, although the poet himself claims that he found true happiness in this marriage. However, during the wedding in the Church of the Great Ascension, Natalya Goncharova first dropped the poet’s wedding ring, and later the candle in his hands went out. Being a rather superstitious person, Pushkin took this as a bad sign. And from then on, he perceived his marriage not as a gift from heaven, but as a punishment that is inevitable.

As a matter of fact, the poet turned out to be right in this, since the fatal duel with Dantes, which ended his life, took place precisely because of Natalya Goncharova. Nevertheless, until her death, the wife remained for the poet the most desired and beloved woman in the world, for whose possession he paid with his life.

The love lyrics of A. S. Pushkin reveal to the reader those facets of the poet that are invisible in insipid biographies. The poem “Madonna,” studied in the 9th grade, preserves the innermost dreams of Alexander Sergeevich, his ideas about an ideal family. We invite you to familiarize yourself with a brief analysis of “Madonna” according to plan.

Brief Analysis

History of creation- was created in 1830, after Natalya Goncharova agreed to marry Pushkin.

Theme of the poem– a dream of an ideal, happy family; the immaculate image of the Madonna.

Composition– the poem is written in the form of a monologue of the lyrical hero. According to the meaning, the poem is divided into three parts: a story about a dream picture, a description of the images of the Most Pure One and the Savior, a story about the fulfillment of a wish. The form of the work is a sonnet (two quatrains and two tercets).

Genre- elegy.

Poetic size– iambic hexameter, ring rhyme ABBA, cross ABAB and parallel AABB.

Metaphors – “I wanted to be an eternal spectator of one picture”, “looked at... in glory and in the rays”, “The Creator sent you to me, my Madonna.”

Epithets – “ancient masters”, “superstitiously marveled”, “important judgment”, “pure beauty”.

Comparisons – “from the canvas, like from the clouds.”

History of creation

The poem “Madonna” appeared in A. S. Pushkin’s notebook in 1830. The poet was inspired to write it by Natalia Goncharova’s consent to marry him. It is known that the first beauty from the capital accepted the proposal only the second time. It is not surprising that Alexander Sergeevich was very happy about this.

Before receiving the good news, the poet corresponded with Natalya. In one of his letters, he admitted that he was fascinated by a painting by the Italian artist P. Peruggio. The Madonna depicted on it very much reminded the poet of his chosen one. In his own house, Pushkin also hung a portrait of the Madonna with white hair. Soon Natalya replied that the poet would admire his wife, and not the painting. So, in anticipation of family life, six months before the wedding, the poet wrote “Madonna.”

Subject

In the poem, the poet reveals two themes, closely intertwining them with each other: the dream-idea of ​​an ideal family and the image of the Madonna. It is difficult to determine which topic is the main one. This interweaving of motifs is unusual for Russian literature. To reveal the themes, the author created an original system of images: the lyrical hero, the Madonna and the “savior” depicted in the picture, the Creator and the Madonna-lover of the lyrical hero. The system of images is formed gradually, each stanza supplements it with a new hero.

In the first lines, the lyrical hero admits that he would not like to decorate his house with paintings by famous artists in order to show them to guests and listen to the judgments of “experts.” His dream is to forever look at the picture depicting the Most Pure One and the Savior. In the following verses it turns out that the author is not talking about the icon. This is how he imagines an ideal family: “she with greatness, he with reason in his eyes.” The sacred attributes in the painting symbolize the pure relationship between spouses.

In the last terzetta of the poem, the hero says that the Creator heard him and fulfilled his wish. The hero met his Madonna. The man does not say a word about the woman’s appearance, but emphasizes her purity: “the purest beauty, the purest example.” Knowing the biography of A. S. Pushkin and the history of the creation of the analyzed poem, it is not difficult to guess that Natalya Goncharova is hiding under the image of Madonna.

Composition

The analyzed work is a monologue of the lyrical hero, which gradually reveals the author’s idea of ​​an ideal family, an ideal woman. According to the meaning, the poem is divided into three parts: a story about a dream picture, a description of the images of the Most Pure One and the Savior, a story about the fulfillment of a wish. The formal composition is a sonnet (two quatrains and two tercets).

Genre

The genre of the poem is elegy, as the lyrical hero indulges in dreams and leisurely thoughts. The poetic meter is iambic hexameter. A. Pushkin used all types of rhymes.

Means of expression

The poet does not oversaturate the work with means of expressiveness. However, tropes help to develop the theme and show the feelings and emotions of the characters. The text contains metaphors- “I wanted to be a viewer of one picture forever”, “they looked... in glory and in the rays”, “The Creator sent you to me, my Madonna”, epithets- “ancient masters”, “superstitiously marveled”, “important judgment”, “pure beauty” comparison - “from the canvas, like from the clouds”.

In 1830, A. S. Pushkin creates an incredibly tender work - a sonnet with the lyrical title “Madonna”. Literary scholars clearly saw here the image of his, at that time, bride - Natalya Nikolaevna Goncharova. Indeed, there are many reasons to interpret “Madonna” as a declaration of love to this beautiful woman: “The Creator sent you to me, my Madonna...”

Returning from St. Petersburg to Moscow in the summer of 1830, A. Pushkin wrote a letter to his bride in which he compared her with Raphael’s Bridgewater Madonna. Shortly before his departure, he saw a copy of this work at an exhibition on Nevsky Prospekt. The prohibitive price of 40 thousand rubles did not allow the poet to purchase the painting. In the letter, he lamented that he did not have the opportunity to keep this image with him, which was like two drops of water similar to the image of Natalya. Goncharova herself, in response to this, wrote that there is no need to be sad, because very soon he will be admiring not the painting, but her face. The wedding took place six months later, in March 1831.

Later, A. Pushkin nevertheless acquired an engraving of this painting. It still hangs in the museum in Tsarskoye Selo, in the poet’s study.

And you can read the text of the verse “Madonna” below:

Sonnet

Not many paintings by ancient masters
I always wanted to decorate my abode,
So that the visitor might superstitiously marvel at them,
Heeding the important judgment of experts.

In my simple corner, amidst slow labors,
I wanted to be forever a spectator of one picture,
One: so that from the canvas, like from the clouds,
Most Pure One and our divine savior -

She with greatness, he with reason in his eyes -
They looked, meek, in glory and in the rays,
Alone, without angels, under the palm of Zion.

My wishes came true. Creator
Sent you to me, you, my Madonna,
The purest example of pure beauty.