Vasily Yegorovich Rayev (1807, Volok, Kholmsky Uyezd — 1870, Moscow) was a Russian painter and draughtsman who worked during the reigns of Nicholas I and Alexander II.[1] A follower of "romantic academicism," he was a master of landscape and portraiture; he also painted historical and genre scenes and worked as a church decorator, including in mosaic. In addition to painting and mosaic, Rayev worked as an icon painter, reflecting the breadth of his professional activity.[1] He was also the author of memoirs.[2]

Artistic Education and Circle

Rayev received his professional training at the Arzamas drawing school of Alexander Stupin — one of the few provincial art institutions of the first half of the nineteenth century to have produced a significant number of painters for Russia. He was also connected with the circle and school of Maxim Vorobyov, a St. Petersburg landscape painter and teacher.[2] He later became a close assistant and protégé of the prominent Moscow patron of the arts Kuzma Soldatenkov.[2]

Academic Career and the Mosaic Department

In 1851 Rayev was awarded the title of Academician of the Imperial Academy of Arts.[2] During the same period — from 1851 to 1853 — he was one of the founders and first masters of the Academy's mosaic department, which stood at the origins of monumental mosaic art in Russia.[2]

Works in Museum Collections

The Russian Museum holds five works by Rayev, including three paintings from 1834 depicting the consecration of the Alexander Column in St. Petersburg: "The Alexander Column in Evening Light," "The Alexander Column During a Thunderstorm," and "The Parade of 30 August 1834 on Palace Square."[1] Among other works by Rayev in the Russian Museum are "View of Rome from Monte Mario" (1845) and "Blessed Alypius, the Icon Painter of the Caves" (1848), which attest to his engagement with religious subjects.[1]

Connection with Arzamas

Rayev is among the artists whose biography is inseparably linked with Nizhny Novgorod Province: it was precisely Stupin's Arzamas school that laid his professional foundations. Stupin's Arzamas School of Painting of art education in Russia during the first third of the nineteenth century and produced several painters who subsequently attained academic distinctions.[2]

Sources

  1. rusmuseumvrm.ru — RAYEV Vasily Yegorovich — Virtual Russian Museum — According to the Virtual Russian Museum, Rayev was born in 1808 in the selo of Volok, Kholmsky Uyezd, Pskov Governorate (now…
  2. Wikipedia (ru) — Rayev, Vasily Yegorovich