Matveev Feodor 1758, Petersburg? - 1826, Rome
The master of classical landscape, one of the most gifted and appreciated pupils of the Art Academy. Matveev’s father was lifeguard-man in Izmailovsky regiment . At six-year age he was determined in Educational school in Petersburg. But he studied then in Schedrin's landscape class. In 1778 Matveev received the big gold medal and one year later went as the pensioner to Rome. There he acquired in a short period the principles of classicism included in force and became its follower. His ideal pattern was an art of antiquity which caused extraordinary interest that time. The requirement of classicism “noble simplicity and quiet greatness” assumed harmony and clearness in painting: the symmetric, counterbalanced composition with obligatory division into three plans and lateral "side scenes", sculptural understanding of the form, own color of a subject without taking into account its change under the influence of light and air. The best Matveev’s works — “ the Kind in vicinities of Naples ” (1806), “ the Kind of Rome. The Collosseo” (1816), etc. These landscapes have rare advantage: under all their idealism they do not turn to the circuit, here there is an alive feeling. Under his contemporaries’ recognition, Ìatveev so adored the nature that worked there the whole days, frequently forgetting about meal. At the same time his reality — changeable, raised, even heroic. Also he wrote and the composed landscapes.
