Bogdan Wenig

Russian Baltic German painter
Katharina Nummelin
​
(m. 1866)​
Children3

Johann Gottlieb Wenig,[1] commonly russified as Bogdan Bogdanovich Wenig (Russian: Богдан Богданович Вениг; 30 July 1837 – 13 May 1872[2]) was a Russian Baltic German painter of historical and religious scenes.

Biography

His father, Gottlieb (1804–1874), was a music teacher and organist at St. Nicholas Church in Reval. His mother Agathe (1808–1895), an amateur artist, was the aunt of Peter Carl Fabergé.[3] In 1848, he and his family moved to Saint Petersburg, where his father had found employment with the Directorate of the Imperial Theatres. In 1851, he joined his brother Carl at the Imperial Academy of Arts, studying historical painting with Fyodor Bruni.[4]

He was especially noted for his draftsmanship; receiving three small silver medals (1854, 1856, 1857), two large silver medals (1856, 1857), a small gold medal (1859) and, finally, a large gold medal for his sketch depicting the Kiss of Judas (1862).[4]

In 1863, he was one of the artists involved in the "Revolt of the Fourteen"; refusing to participate in the 100th anniversary competition for a large gold medal. From then until 1871, he was a member of the Artel of Artists, led by Ivan Kramskoi.[5]

He graduated from the academy in 1864 with the title of "Artist 2nd Class". In 1865, together with Kramskoi and Nikolay Koshelev, he worked on painting the main dome at the Cathedral of Christ the Savior.[6] During his last years, he worked as a portrait painter. The cause of his early death was apparently not recorded.

  • Sophia of Lithuania at Vasily II of Moscow's Wedding, 1861, oil on canvas, 62,5 by 77,5 cm, Museum of the Academy of Arts [ru], St. Petersburg
    Sophia of Lithuania at Vasily II of Moscow's Wedding, 1861, oil on canvas, 62,5 by 77,5 cm, Museum of the Academy of Arts [ru], St. Petersburg
  • Johann Reimers [ru], after photograph by Andrey Denyer, 1869, oil on canvas, 73 by 58 cm, Museum of the Academy of Arts, St. Petersburg
    Johann Reimers [ru], after photograph by Andrey Denyer, 1869, oil on canvas, 73 by 58 cm, Museum of the Academy of Arts, St. Petersburg

References

  1. ^ EAD, cited in Popova-Yatskevich 2015, p. 360 n. 2, records him as Johann Gottlieb Fried[rich] Wenig. Neumann 1908, p. 168, uses the name Johann Gottfried Wenig, and so do Vollmer 1942, p. 376 and Gudymenko 2022, p. 477.
  2. ^ EAD; Popova-Yatskevich 2015, p. 360 n. 2.
  3. ^ Valentin Skurlov, "Фаберже и Эстония" (Fabergé and Estonia), In : Aрхив Валентина Скурлова, 2009
  4. ^ a b Kondakov 1915, p. 35.
  5. ^ O. L. Leykind and D. R. Severyukhin, "Артель художников", In: Encyclopedia of Saint Petersburg (Online)
  6. ^ Y. V. Alekseyev-Alyurvi, Painting technology in the dome of the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in Moscow (Online)

Further reading

Contemporary sources
  • Kramskoi, Ivan N. (1965). Goldstein, Sofya N. [in Russian] (ed.). Крамской: Письма. Статьи (in Russian). Vol. 1. Moscow: Iskusstvo. pp. 17, 22, 23, 26, 28, 30–36, 46, 47, 51, 53, 58, 60, 63–65, 67, 481, 482, 486–489, 491, 492, 494, 496. OCLC 178907413.
  • Kramskoi, Ivan N. (1966). Goldstein, Sofya N. (ed.). Крамской: Письма. Статьи (in Russian). Vol. 2. Moscow: Iskusstvo. pp. 344, 345, 477, 479. OCLC 178907474.
  • Petrov, Pyotr N. (1866). Сборник материалов для истории Императорской Санкт-Петербургской академии художеств за сто лет ее существования (in Russian). Vol. 3. Saint Petersburg: Gogenfelden and Co. pp. 222, 271, 278, 322, 324, 334, 335, 356, 365, 367, 387, 410, 416, 429, 434, 435. OCLC 676719786.
Scholarly notes
  • Barsheva, Irina N.; Sazonova, Kira K. (1962). "Богдан Богданович Вениг". In Leonov, Alexei I. (ed.). Русское искусство. Очерки о жизни и творчестве художников. Вторая половина XIX века (in Russian). Vol. 1. Moscow: Iskusstvo. pp. 149–154. OCLC 71538004.
  • Bogdan, Veronika-Irina T. [in Russian]; et al. (2003). Russian Academy of Arts, Moscow; et al. (eds.). Немцы и Академия художеств (exhibition catalog) (in Russian). Moscow: Russian Academy of Arts Museum. pp. 35–37, 76–77; cat. nos. 40–41, 166–169. OCLC 886361785.
  • Bogdan, Veronika-Irina T. (2007). Исторический класс Академии художеств второй половины XIX века (in Russian). Saint Petersburg: NP-Print. pp. 31, 35, 40, 76, 102, 237, 294, 308, 322–323. ISBN 978-5-901751-75-6. OCLC 300033545.
  • Goldstein, Sofya N. (1965). Иван Николаевич Крамской (in Russian). Moscow: Iskusstvo. pp. 34, 35, 41, 47, 52, 54, 58, 375. OCLC 7262671.
  • Neumann, Wilhelm (1902). Baltische Maler und Bildhauer des XIX. Jahrhunderts (in German). Riga: A. Grosset. p. 111. OCLC 25471919. Archived from the original on November 10, 2021.
  • Popova-Yatskevich, Yelena G. (2015). "Российские Вениги". In Sakharov, Igor V. (ed.). Выходцы из Германии и их российские потомки [Einwanderer aus Deutschland und ihre Nachkommen in Russland] (conference papers) (in Russian). St. Petersburg: Presidential Library. pp. 351–366. ISBN 978-5-905273-44-5.
  • Punina, Irina N. (1966). Петербургская артель художников (in Russian). Leningrad: Khudozhnik RSFSR. pp. 9, 21, 31, 76. OCLC 8966449.
  • Vereshchagina, Alla G. [in Russian] (1990). Историческая картина в русском искусстве: Шестидесятые годы XIX века (in Russian). Moscow: Iskusstvo. pp. 92, 95, 140, 221. ISBN 5-210-00311-6. OCLC 25456986.
Reference books
  • Bulgakov, Fyodor I. [in Russian] (1889). "Вениг, Богдан Богданович". Наши художники (in Russian). Vol. 1. St. Petersburg: Suvorin Typography. p. 77. OCLC 38661216.
  • Gudymenko, Yuri Y. (2022). "Wenig". In Beyer, Andreas; Savoy, Bénédicte & Tegethoff, Wolf (eds.). Allgemeines Künstlerlexikon (in German). Vol. 115. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter. pp. 477–479. ISBN 978-3-11-055066-5. OCLC 1286914467.
  • Kondakov, Sergei N. [in Russian] (1915). Юбилейный справочник Императорской Академии художеств. 1764–1914 (in Russian). Vol. 2. Saint Petersburg: Golike and Vilborg. p. 35. OCLC 707072219.
  • Neumann, Wilhelm (1908). Lexikon baltischer Künstler (in German). Riga: Jonck & Poliewsky. p. 168. OCLC 23573969.
  • Vollmer, Hans, ed. (1942). "Wenig (Венигъ)". Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler (in German). Vol. 35. Leipzig: E. A. Seemann. p. 376. OCLC 310032554.
  • Voltsenburg, Oskar E. [in Russian], ed. (1972). "Вениг, Богдан Богданович". Художники народов СССР (in Russian). Vol. 2. Moscow: Iskusstvo. pp. 230–231.
  • "Wenig, Johann Gottlieb (fried) / Bogdan Bogdanovič". Erik-Amburger-Datenbank (in German). Leibniz-Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung (IOS). Retrieved 2024-04-09.
  • Brief biography @ Yavarda
  • Brief biography @ ArtInvestment.ru