Who Is the Man With Crossed Arms at This Wedding?

The Unequal Marriage (1862) by Vasily Pukirev: who is the man with crossed arms? At the edge of this wedding stands a young man with his arms crossed, and two old stories say who he is. State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. This is the story behind the painting, told through both versions and the evidence for each. Version one, from a Varentsov family memoir written in the 1930s: a real Moscow wedding of 1860 (its groom, other sources show, was 37, not old) and a best man, Sergei Varentsov, who is said to have loved the bride; the memoir says Pukirev painted him and then added a beard. Version two: Pukirev's friend Sergei Gribkov said (as Vladimir Gilyarovsky set down) that the bride was painted from Pukirev's own bride and that the man with crossed arms is Pukirev himself; the gallery worker Nikolai Mudrogel told a similar story about the bride. Neither version is proven. Also: a 1907 drawing whose inscription names a model for the bride, the groom, whom the sources tie to more than one man, the carved frame, and Pukirev's last years in poverty. CHAPTERS 0:00 The man in the corner 1:19 A professor of everyday life 2:34 Version one: the best man 5:01 Version two: the painter's bride 6:39 Three men in one groom 7:45 What became of them SOURCES • State Tretyakov Gallery: collection pages for "Неравный брак" (1862) and for its frame, quoting N. A. Mudrogel's memoirs. • National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus, page on the 1875 version in its collection (M. A. Shcherbakova). • Lyudmila Polozova, "Неравный брак. По следам судеб главных героев знаменитой картины", Rodina 2001, no. 10. • N. A. Varentsov, "Слышанное. Виденное. Передуманное. Пережитое" (written in the 1930s, published 1999), known through Polozova (2001) and Wikipedia's quotation. • Vladimir Gilyarovsky, "Москва и москвичи", chapter "Начинающие художники" (Gribkov's account). • Vladimir Stasov, "Академическая выставка 1863 года" (1863). • Russian Biographical Dictionary, "Пукирев, Василий Владимирович", vol. 15 (1910); Brockhaus-Efron Encyclopaedic Dictionary; Great Russian Encyclopedia, vol. 27 (2015). • N. and L. Anisov, Russkiy Dom 2012, no. 6. • Wikipedia (ru/en), used only as pointers. IMAGES (public domain, via Wikimedia Commons) • Vasily Pukirev: The Unequal Marriage (1862, Tretyakov Gallery; Google Art Project scan), In the Artist's Studio (1865), Self-Portrait (1868, Russian Museum), Head of an Old Man, study for The Unequal Marriage (Tretyakov Gallery), The Interrupted Wedding (c. 1877). • Vasily Pukirev, Portrait of Sergei Varentsov (1860s, whereabouts unknown), from an old book reproduction. • Ivan Kramskoi, Portrait of Pavel Tretyakov (1876, Tretyakov Gallery). Ilya Repin, Portrait of Vladimir Stasov (1883, Russian Museum). • Church of the Three Holy Hierarchs at Kulishki, Moscow, photograph of 1882 (album of N. A. Naidenov). • Russian Biographical Dictionary, vol. 15 (1910), p. 142 (page scan). Full list with source links: available on request. Narration: an AI-generated voice reading our own researched script. MUSIC • Chopin, Nocturne in E minor, Op. posth. 72 No. 1, Musopen recording, CC0. • The painting: Vasily Pukirev, The Unequal Marriage (Неравный брак), 1862, oil on canvas, 173 x 136.5 cm, State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow. A replica of 1875 is in the National Art Museum of the Republic of Belarus, Minsk. • Two versions of the story, both from memories written down long after: (1) the Varentsov family memoir (N. A. Varentsov, 'Слышанное. Виденное. Передуманное. Пережитое', written in the 1930s, published 1999) and Sergei Varentsov's great-nephew; (2) Pukirev's friend S. I. Gribkov (via V. Gilyarovsky) and N. A. Mudrogel. Neither is proven, and the pension accounts conflict. Main modern source: L. Polozova, Rodina, 2001, no. 10. • The 1907 pencil drawing of P. M. Varentsova by V. Sukhov (Tretyakov Gallery, acquired 2002) is quoted, not shown. • Pukirev's portrait of Sergei Varentsov is shown from an old book reproduction; the original's whereabouts are unknown. • The Church of the Three Holy Hierarchs at Kulishki is shown in a photograph of 1882 (album of N. A. Naidenov), 22 years after the 1860 wedding. The dictionary page is the Russian Biographical Dictionary, vol. 15 (1910), p. 142. • Dates are old style: Pukirev was born 1 Dec 1832 (13 Dec in today's calendar) and died 1 Jun 1890 (13 Jun). #ArtHistory #Pukirev #UnequalMarriage