What vices are described in Gogol's story Portrait. Gogol “Portrait”: analysis of the work. Atonement for sins and service to art

Case No. 6 Lesson on the topic: “Analysis of the story by N.V. Gogol "Portrait"

Summary stories

1834

The tragic story of the artist Chartkov began in front of a bench in the Shchukinsky yard, where, among many paintings depicting peasants or landscapes, he spotted one and, having given the last two kopecks for it, brought it home. This is a portrait of an old man in Asian clothes, seemingly unfinished, but captured with such a strong brush that the eyes in the portrait looked as if they were alive. At home, Chartkov learns that the owner came with a policeman, demanding payment for the apartment. The annoyance of Chartkov, who has already regretted the two-kopeck piece and is sitting, due to poverty, without a candle, is multiplied. He reflects, not without bile, on the fate of a young talented artist, forced to a modest apprenticeship, while visiting painters “with just their usual manners” make noise and collect a fair amount of capital. At this time, his gaze falls on the portrait, which he has already forgotten - and the completely alive eyes, even destroying the harmony of the portrait itself, frighten him, giving him some kind of unpleasant feeling. Having gone to sleep behind the screens, he sees through the cracks a portrait illuminated by the moon, also staring at him. In fear, Chartkov curtains it with a sheet, but then he imagines eyes shining through the canvas, then it seems that the sheet has been torn off, and finally he sees that the sheet is really gone, and the old man has moved and crawled out of the frame. The old man comes behind the screen to him, sits at his feet and begins to count the money that he takes out of the bag he brought with him. One package with the inscription “1000 chervonets” rolls to the side, and Chartkov grabs it unnoticed. Desperately clutching the money, he wakes up; the hand feels the heaviness that was just in it. After a series of successive nightmares, he wakes up late and heavy. The policeman who came with the owner, learning that there is no money, offers to pay with work. The portrait of an old man attracts his attention, and, looking at the canvas, he carelessly squeezes the frames - a bundle known to Chartkov with the inscription “1000 chervonets” falls on the floor.

On the same day, Chartkov pays the owner and, consoled by stories about treasures, drowning out the first impulse to buy paints and lock himself in the studio for three years, rents a luxurious apartment on Nevsky, dresses smartly, advertises in a popular newspaper, and the next day he accepts the customer. An important lady, having described the desired details of the future portrait of her daughter, takes her away when Chartkov, it seemed, had just signed and was ready to grab something important in her face. The next time she remains dissatisfied with the similarity, the yellowness of the face and the shadows under the eyes, and finally mistakes it for a portrait old job Chartkov, Psyche, slightly updated by the disgruntled artist.

IN a short time Chartkov becomes fashionable: grasping one general expression, he paints many portraits, satisfying a variety of demands. He is rich, accepted in aristocratic houses, and speaks harshly and arrogantly about artists. Many who knew Chartkov before are amazed how his talent, so noticeable at the beginning, could disappear. He is important, reproaches young people for immorality, becomes a miser, and one day, at the invitation of the Academy of Arts, coming to look at a canvas sent from Italy by one of his former comrades, he sees perfection and understands the entire abyss of his fall. He locks himself in the workshop and plunges into work, but is forced to stop every minute due to ignorance of elementary truths, the study of which he neglected at the beginning of his career. Soon he is overcome by terrible envy, he begins to buy the best works of art, and only after his early death from a fever combined with consumption, it becomes clear that the masterpieces, for the acquisition of which he used all his enormous fortune, were cruelly destroyed by him. His death was terrible: he saw the old man’s terrible eyes everywhere.

Chartkov's story had some explanation a short time later at one of the auctions in St. Petersburg. Among the Chinese vases, furniture and paintings, the attention of many is attracted by an amazing portrait of a certain Asian man, whose eyes are painted with such art that they seem alive. The price quadruples, and then the artist B. comes forward, declaring his special rights to this canvas. To confirm these words, he tells a story that happened to his father.

Having first outlined a part of the city called Kolomna, he describes a moneylender who once lived there, a giant of Asian appearance, capable of lending any amount to anyone who wanted it, from old women to wasteful nobles. His interest seemed small and the payment terms were very favorable, but by strange arithmetic calculations the amount to be returned increased incredibly. Worst of all was the fate of those who received money from the hands of the sinister Asian. The story of a young brilliant nobleman, whose disastrous change in character brought upon him the wrath of the empress, ended in his madness and death. The life of a wonderful beauty, for the sake of her wedding with whom her chosen one made a loan from a moneylender (for the bride’s parents saw an obstacle to the marriage in the upset state of affairs of the groom), a life poisoned in one year by the poison of jealousy, intolerance and whims that suddenly appeared in the previously noble character of her husband. Having even encroached on the life of his wife, the unfortunate man committed suicide. Many not so notable stories, since they happened in the lower classes, were also associated with the name of the moneylender

The narrator's father, a self-taught artist, planning to portray the spirit of darkness, often thought about his terrible neighbor, and one day he himself came to him and demanded that he draw a portrait of himself in order to remain in the picture “exactly as alive.” The father happily gets down to business, but the better he manages to capture the old man’s appearance, the more vividly his eyes appear on the canvas, the more painful a feeling takes over him. No longer able to bear the growing disgust for work, he refuses to continue, and the old man’s pleas, explaining that after death his life will be preserved in the portrait by supernatural power, completely frighten him. He runs away, the old man’s maid brings him the unfinished portrait, and the moneylender himself dies the next day. Over time, the artist notices changes in himself: feeling envious of his student, he harms him, the eyes of a usurer appear in his paintings. When he is about to burn a terrible portrait, a friend begs him. But he too was soon forced to sell it to his nephew; his nephew also got rid of him. The artist understands that part of the moneylender’s soul has entered into the terrible portrait, and the death of his wife, daughter and young son finally assures him of this. He places the elder in the Academy of Arts and goes to a monastery, where he leads a strict life, seeking all possible degrees of selflessness. Finally, he takes up his brush and paints the Nativity of Jesus for a whole year. His work is a miracle, filled with holiness. To his son, who came to say goodbye before traveling to Italy, he communicates many of his thoughts about art and, among some instructions, telling the story of the moneylender, he conjures to find a portrait passing from hand to hand and destroy it. And now, after fifteen years of futile searches, the narrator has finally found this portrait - and when he, and with him the crowd of listeners, turns to the wall, the portrait is no longer on it. Someone says: "Stolen." Maybe you are right. Retold by E. V. Kharitonova

PROGRESS OF THE CLASS

I. Org moment.

II. Announce the topic and goals of the lesson. Appeal to the epigraph on the board.

Guys, the epigraph to our lesson is the saying of Theodore Dreiser:

Art is the nectar of the soul,

collected in labor and torment.

Should I sacrifice myself for the sake of art or be content with a well-fed life, placing my art in the service of the crowd of ordinary people?

- What choice to make? Is it easy to make?

On the one side of the scale is labor. Service to art, poverty, on the other - money, wealth, fame.

What happens to an artist who succumbs to temptation and betrays art? We will find the answer to this question in the first part of Gogol’s “Portrait”.

- How do we see the young artist at the beginning of the story? Find a description of it appearance, the apartment where he lives. (pp. 280, 283)(Before us is a poor artist who is “dedicated to his work with selflessness”).

- What prospects open up to him? What is the professor warning him about? (Reading the scene of Chartkov’s conversation with the professor) (p. 285).

CONCLUSION: Undoubtedly, Chartkov is “an artist with a talent that prophesied much.” The professor warns him that given by God the gift can be ruined by gaining fame and fortune by drawing “fashionable pictures for money.” “Be patient,” he advises.

But it’s hard not to give in to temptation. And the young artist, suffering from cold and hunger, thinks about the injustices of life.

Find his thoughts in the text. What words, from your point of view, are important, key to understanding his nature?

“Sometimes he became annoyed when... even not a painter by vocation, with just his usual manner, the quickness of his brush and the brightness of his colors, he made a general noise and instantly accumulated capital for himself... envious pictured in his hungry imagination was the fate of a rich man - a painter... to give up everything and wrap up out of grief in spite of everything ».

- Remember where we first meet the artist? Why exactly in Shchukin Dvor? What artistic value, from the author’s point of view, are the paintings exhibited there?

Gogol is very ironic in his description of masterpieces that are popular among the people: “tinsel frames,” “a Flemish man with a pipe and a broken arm, looking like ... on an Indian rooster in cuffs” and the like.

- What is the artist’s opinion of these works?

“The same colors, the same manner... belong to a crudely made automaton rather than to a person...”

- What struck him about the portrait of the old man?

Looking at the portrait, everyone felt the reality of the person depicted. But the old man’s eyes are especially attractive, possessing terrible destructive power.

- What fantastic power does this portrait contain? Tell us about the artist's strange dream.

Chartkov is unable to resist the portrait: he unexpectedly buys it for himself and cannot take his eyes off it.

(Guys, did you notice that the word “unexpectedly” is often repeated in the story. Chartkov does a lot unexpectedly for himself, as if against his will).

An artist's dream is a fantastic reality. The old man comes to life. He, like the devil, beckons the unfortunate Chartkov with the shine of gold. And the artist finds himself in the hands of an evil creature.

Guys, follow the feelings and movements of Chartkov, who saw the bundle of money that rolled a little further than the rest. (We work with the text. We find keywords:“he stared at the gold, looking motionless, grabbed it convulsively, full of fear, etc., his heart was beating strongly, he squeezed the package tighter, he squeezed the package full of despair, he used all his efforts).

- Why did Chartkov find money in the portrait? Is this in itself fantastic or real?

Realistically, but Gogol emphasizes the fantastic nature of money in the portrait - this is a particle of evil that makes up the essence of the moneylender.

- How does the artist manage this money? What does he decide to spend it on?

Let's follow his actions: first he went to the tailor, then, by bargaining, he rented the first magnificent apartment that came his way, accidentally bought an expensive lorgnette, accidentally bought an abyss of ties, for no reason got stuck in a stroller, etc.

CONCLUSION: Chartkov cares about his pleasures. The bad side of nature begins to triumph in him. We sense a dramatic change in the artist. Having become rich, Chartkov does not notice his teacher, orders articles about the extraordinary talents of the newly minted painter, and admires himself, looking at his reflection in the mirrors.

How has his attitude towards art changed?

Considering himself an unsurpassed master, he overthrows authorities, criticizes Raphael and Michelangelo, Chartkov declares that “too much has already been attributed to the former artist,” and “a genius creates boldly and quickly.”

Let us remember: he worked on the first portrait of a young girl, as it seemed to the lady who ordered it, for too long, but “soon he... himself began to marvel at the wonderful speed ... his brush."

Now he paints in just two days.

- Does the creative process still bring joy and satisfaction?

“He had already begun to tire of the same portraits and faces...”, “... his brush grew cold and dull, and he... concluded himself in monotonous, definite, long-worn forms...”.

Guys, let’s compare these feelings of the artist with those that he experienced at Shchukin’s yard.

The conclusion is disappointing: he became a fashionable, famous artist, but gradually the realization comes that his paintings – a mediocre daub, completely far from real art.

- What happened to the artist? How does the author feel about this rebirth?

Gogol pronounces a harsh sentence: “Glory cannot give pleasure to those who stole it and did not deserve it.” The artist is reborn into a miser “with a dead man for a heart.”

- Why, having seen the painting of his former classmate, was the hero unable to pass the “vulgar judgment of callous artists” about it?

- What impression did the picture make on him?

Comrade Chartkov, “like a hermit, plunged into work.” He passed life's trials with dignity, maintaining the purity of his soul. His spiritual power was embodied in a “pure, immaculate, beautiful, like a bride” work of art.

- Did Chartkov realize that he had ruined his talent?

So, a person always faces a certain choice - the choice of fate. It happens that when choosing, a person makes a mistake, and again he is tormented by the choice of what to do next: realizing his mistake and correcting it is a good path; or understand that you are mistaken, but pride does not allow you to correct yourself, then the final fall is an evil choice, immoral.

- What choice does Chartkov make?

Chartkov became a vandal. He bought and destroyed all “the best that art produced.” Never has any monster of ignorance destroyed as many as this ferocious avenger has destroyed.”

The complete degradation of the artist’s personality is terrifying.

CONCLUSION: From poverty, a talented artist accidentally rises to wealth, but this is evil, and it does not bring good either to him or to people. Talent cannot serve immorality.

What, according to Gogol, should a real artist be? (Address to the epigraph, which reflects the main idea of ​​the argument).

Homework; read carefullyIIpart of the story, select all the opinions of the characters and the author about art, prepare for independent written work.

Vocabulary work: temptation, usurer.

Artistic analysis of the story by N.V. Gogol "Portrait", part I, II.Part I. Eternal and material in the story by N.V. Gogol "Portrait". The theme of man's responsibility for his destiny. A person's choice in life.

Goals:

Educational: creating conditions for creative comprehension of a work, consolidating skills in working with literary text, expanding knowledge about composition.

Developmental: deepen students’ understanding of the personality of N.V. Gogol, development of research skills.

Educational: help to see the complexity and dialectic nature of life.

Methods and forms of work: lecture, collective form of work, heuristic conversation, analytical conversation, reflection.

DURING THE CLASSES

I. Teacher's opening speech.

The story “Portrait” was first published in 1835 in the collection “Arabesques,” which collected the writer’s articles on art. What prompted me to write this story was the publication of Pushkin’s “The Queen of Spades” and variations on the theme of “Little Tragedies.” Gogol examines the life of a modern artist against the backdrop of history and art. The writer separates vanity and eternity, searches for the true meaning of human life and determines the purpose of art.

One of the most significant critics of that time, V.G. Belinsky disapproved of the story: “Portrait” is an unsuccessful attempt by Gogol in the fantastic genre. The first part of this story cannot be read without fascination; even in fact there is something terrible, fatal, fantastic in this mysterious portrait, there is some kind of invincible charm that makes you forcibly look at it, although you are scared. But the second part is absolutely worthless; Mr. Gogol is not visible in it at all. This is an obvious addition in which the mind worked, and imagination did not take any part.”

N.V. Gogol’s story “Portrait” was created in 1834, at a time when there was lively debate in society about the essence of art. Musicians and artists become characters in romantic works - they are vulnerable people of art, often despised and misunderstood by those around them. And the very life of many famous talented artists of the 19th century. Things were not going well at all. Examples of this are the fates of Levitan, Van Gogh, Alexander Ivanov, whose moral purity and devotion to the high ideals of art admired Gogol.

We will get acquainted with the second option, which differs significantly from the first.

Having left Russia after the scandal associated with the production of The Government Inspector, Gogol finds refuge in Italy. He lives in Rome, surrounded by great works of art, contemporary Russian artists who, having graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts with a medal, received money to improve their art in Italy.

Among Russian artists, Gogol was especially attracted to Alexander Ivanov, who painted the painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People,” making many sketches from life. One of the sketches was drawn from Gogol. Constantly drawing the writer, Ivanov made him first one, then another, then the third character in the picture, but in the end he assigned him a place in the figure closest to Christ. Do you think this location of the writer is coincidental? What does it symbolize?

Gogol, indeed, in his works wants to take on the mission of a biblical prophet. Seeing self-interest, insignificance, “the down-to-earthness of people, the writer is indignant and lectures.”

However, location does not determine the spiritual power of a figure. On the contrary, the manifestation of genuine good turns the “closest” (to Christ) into a shadow, which is embarrassedly covered in a cloak with a hood. This was the verdict pronounced by Alexander Ivanov on Gogol. Is he fair? And what does it consist of?

Criticism V.G. Belinsky and the tireless work of A. Ivanov prompted Gogol to reconsider his attitude towards the story “Portrait” and remake it. By 1841 this work was completed. The surname of the main character has changed: previously his name was Chertkov, which emphasized the connection with evil spirits. Gogol excluded from the story scenes of mystical appearances of the portrait and customers. The images of minor characters were added and expanded: Nikita, the professor, the owner of the house, the neighborhood guard, and the ladies who ordered them.

N.V. Gogol compares his literary work with the work of a painter, which, of course, is not accidental: the writer studied at the Academy of Arts for several years. And the meeting with the artist A.A. Ivanov in 1841 in Rome greatly influenced the writer. He suddenly sees with his own eyes the ideal painter from his own story. Gogol lived in Rome as the artist Ivanov, from whom he wrote the hero of the new edition of the “Portrait”. He walked around in a simple blouse and pants stained with paint, in a wide-brimmed hat that protected him from the Roman sun, never caring about his outfit or how he looked from the outside. This is how N.V. Gogol edits a work already published in Arabesques.

II. About the fate of the artist A. Ivanov and the painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People”(Appendix No. 1).

Ivanov Alexander Andreevich. From an early age, this artist carried within himself a passion for art, broke away from friends and family and rushed to that wonderful Rome, at the name of which a fiery heart beats so strongly. He left only the divine Raphael as his teacher. With a high inner instinct, he sensed the true meaning of the word: historical painting. And his inner feeling turned his brush to Christian subjects, the highest and last degree of the high.

Huge historical meaning Ivanov's creativity was not understood by his contemporaries. The painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People,” with which Ivanov pinned his enthusiastic hopes for the revival of world and, above all, national Russian art, was received coldly, with distrustful and sometimes mocking indifference. The grandiose work, which consumed almost half of the artist’s life, remained, in essence, almost unappreciated by anyone. Ivanov received neither the honors nor the noisy admiration that Karl Bryullov received twenty-five years earlier as a reward for “The Last Day of Pompeii.”

The history of the creation of the painting.

Critics greeted Ivanov's picture with restrained praise, which showed disappointment. Even the most sensitive viewers admitted that “The Appearance of Christ to the People,” especially at first glance, did not live up to their expectations and only gradually, peering attentively at the picture, did they discover in it such merits as were not present in Bryullov’s spectacular and brilliant creation. True, Gogol already called Ivanov’s painting “an unprecedented phenomenon,” the like of which “has not yet been shown since the times of Raphael and Leonardo da Vinci.”

The painting is surrounded by a grand gallery of preparatory studies, sketches and drawings. There are more than six hundred of them, and the time of their execution falls on the 1830s, 1840s and even the 1850s, when the main elements of the picture seemed to have already been determined. The center of gravity of all of Ivanov’s work moved from the painting to the sketches, and it was here, in the sketches, that his enormous pictorial gift, his brilliant innovation and his realism were revealed with the greatest clarity and strength.

Ivanov was not even thirty years old when he began work on “The Appearance of Christ to the People.” At this time he was not only a fully established, mature artist. Ivanov's creative maturity came unusually early. Ivanov hesitated for a long time, choosing a plot for a large work in which he could fully express his attitude to the world. Academic aesthetics required him to have a historical or biblical theme. He could not be satisfied with simply reproducing a scene from the past, but demanded from the plot comprehensive significance and deep ideological content.

In search of a topic, Ivanov settled on the Gospel legend about the appearance of the Messiah (Teacher). It seemed to him that here, on the first pages of the Gospel, he saw almost the essence of all Christianity. According to Ivanov, it was impossible to find a more sublime and comprehensive plot, for “with the revelation of the Messiah the day of moral perfection for humanity began.” A. Ivanov was interested not just in a church story, but in the great moral revolution, the spiritual rebirth of people with the appearance of Christ.

III. About the fate of N.V. Gogol and the history of the creation of the “Portrait”.

So, the emigration of N.V. Gogol after the publication of The Inspector General. He has a lot of debts and misses Russia. “At the beginning of 42, I will pay everything... - Gogol writes to S. T. Aksakov. - Now I am yours; Moscow is my homeland. At the beginning of autumn I will press you to my Russian breast. Everything was wonderfully and wisely arranged by a higher will: both my arrival in Moscow and my current trip to Rome - everything was good.” We are talking about paying off debts that Gogol is going to cover with the publication “ Dead souls” and a collection of works, but it also talks about the highest payment - the payment of gratitude for salvation. “My whole life from now on is one grateful hymn.”

He now views both his life and his work as gratitude for the extra minutes allotted to him. From now on, this work does not seem to belong to him - it is all retribution and a happy tribute to the one who extended Gogol’s days, who showed him the rest of the road and the road itself. This idea becomes the main idea of ​​the second edition of the “Portrait”.

In the first edition, the image of the moneylender at the end of the story disappeared from the canvas. In the second, the portrait disappears, which again went for a walk around the world. How do these changes change the meaning of the story?

Gogol is trying to convey the contrast between divine art and fashionable crafts.

The artist Alexander Ivanov wrote to Gogol: “Know how to find the inner thought in everything and most of all try to comprehend the high mystery of Creation.”

Among the protocols of Gogol’s moneylender, he names a well-known Indian moneylender in St. Petersburg, whom actor Pyotr Karatygin describes: “His bronze face was tattooed with multi-colored paints, his black icons, like coals, shone on yellowish beams with blood streaks.”

In the image of an artist living in Italy and sending his brilliant creation to an exhibition (in St. Petersburg), one can see the features of the artist Alexander Ivanov, whose work on the painting “The Appearance of the Messiahs” became for Gogol an example of the true charm of art.

Ivanov’s traits also appear in another character – an old artist, indifferent to the blessings of life.

The artist Ivanov himself wrote a review in 1838: “The artist must be free in modern times, never subordinate to anything, his independence must be unlimited.”

Soviet-era artists Kukryniksy (Krylov, Kupriyanov, Sokolov) created a series of demonstrations for the story “Portrait”.

Chartkov's face changes from painting to painting. His character.

1) Exit to the topic of the lesson

Explain the meaning of the name. Determine the lexical meaning of the word “portrait”.

PORTRAIT-

1.Work visual arts, containing an image of someone.

2. General characteristics, character traits anyone.

Both meanings are important: it tells the story of the creation and “life” of the portrait of the moneylender and gives characteristics of two (and maybe more?) artists.

2) Working with text

So, a portrait is the most important part of the artistic world of a work. What is this - a detail, a symbol, an allegorical figure or something else? (We think this is one of the images of the entire system)

What is the role of the portrait in the composition? (Composition Center: Creation and Purchase)

What is unusual about the composition? (The work consists of two parts, highlighted by N.V. Gogol himself; Part I is devoted to the history of the artist Chartkov, II - the circumstances of the creation of the portrait and the fate of its author. The events of Part II in reality precede the events of Part I: first the portrait was painted, and then By the will of fate I ended up with Chartkov).

Why does the writer rearrange events, changing their sequence? (This construction keeps the reader in constant voltage, increases the entertainment of the story: after all, part I actually contains a riddle, the key to which the reader receives only in part II. With the direct order of the parts, this mystery naturally would collapse).

Each part of the work is a completed short story. What is the specificity of the plot of the short stories?

What unites two apparently independent short stories? Let's go back to the beginning of the story. (First we are in front of an art shop at the St. Petersburg market - Shchukin Dvor, then - in a luxurious hall where the treasures of a wealthy art lover are being sold).

Both in the shop and in the hall they sell (!) art. Pay attention to the peculiar narrative of Part II: the beginning and end of the story. (The excitement over the incredibly rising price of a very mysterious portrait and the sensational disappearance of the same unusual painting).

- N.V. Gogol, like other writers, feels that monetary relations imperiously invade areas of life, human connections: “Our 19th century has long acquired the boring face of a banker.”

And the portrait itself, which appeared at the sale, becomes, as it were, the personification of the world of self-interest. Thus, two leading themes can be distinguished: art and money. The short stories are united not only by a single compositional center, but also by a common theme.

Art is a creative artistic activity (dictionary entry). How can you call a person who knows his job subtly, has high skill in something, skillful? (Skillful)

One word: art-skillful-art.

"Test" means a serious test, a long and difficult test of someone's qualities. Indeed, both Chartkov and the creator of the portrait are tested for their attitude to creative artistic activity. This means they overcome (or succumb to?) temptation. Another motive (theme) arises.

What do we know about Chartkov? (I wasted my talent because I succumbed to temptation and changed my art. There is not only a loss of talent, but, ultimately, a loss of one’s own personality, its moral and mental decay, and then physical degeneration.)

What is the creative path of the portrait creator? (Through suffering, self-denial and church repentance to the creation of a great work of art).

Which artistic technique is at the heart of the story? (Method of antithesis-contrast).

What becomes a compositional and semantic antithesis? (Madness is death and the monastery).

The second edition of “Portrait” (1842) indicates that N.V. Gogol quite consciously followed the path of religious understanding of art. In the work, the writer seemed to outline the program of his life.

Using the reference diagram, tell us about the features of the composition. Determine the meaning of the name.

So, the portrait becomes an impetus for discovering oneself, for the birth of desires, for the formation of the will to create one’s life. The seeds of evil may or may not germinate in the human soul. What is the power of a portrait? This is a topic of conversation for the next lesson.

Appendix No. 1

About the fate of the artist A. Ivanov and the painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People”

Gogol lived in Rome as a poet, as an artist Ivanov, from whom he wrote the hero of the new edition of “Portrait”. He walked around in a simple blouse and pants stained with paint, in a wide-brimmed hat that protected him from the Roman sun, never caring about his outfit or how he looked from the outside.

“At the beginning of 42, I will pay everything... - Gogol writes to S. T. Aksakov. - Now I am yours; Moscow is my homeland. At the beginning of autumn I will press you to my Russian breast. Everything was wonderfully and wisely arranged by a higher will: both my arrival in Moscow and my current trip to Rome - everything was good.” We are talking about paying off debts, which Gogol is going to cover with the publication of “Dead Souls” and his collected works, but they also talk about the highest payment - payment of gratitude for salvation. “My whole life from now on is one grateful hymn.” He now views both his life and his work as gratitude for the extra minutes allotted to him. From now on, this work does not seem to belong to him - it is all retribution and a happy tribute to the one who extended Gogol’s days, who showed him the rest of the road and the road itself. This idea becomes the main idea of ​​the second edition of the “Portrait”.

Much is copied here from Italy, from its nature and texture, enriched by the experience of getting to know its painting and nature. The abstract Italy of the first edition comes to life here, the artist, who impressed Chartkov with his fidelity to art and ideal, begins to acquire the features of the great Russian painter Ivanov, and the “divine plot” of his painting is the plot of “The Apparition of the Messiah.” The entire appearance of the artist - Chartkov's former classmate at the academy, who went to Italy to improve his skills and moved away from the arts of the world - is copied from Ivanov: his costume, his habits, his ostracism among even the artists themselves, his love for Raphael and his tireless work on copying the classics of the Italian Renaissance, giving him the opportunity to develop his own color and line.

But the most important thing in the second edition of the “Portrait” is the fate of another artist, the same one who painted the old moneylender and released him into the world for the death and suffering of people. This artist must go through the path of redemption, the path of retribution for his sin (the sin of art, seduced by the brightness of evil, the irresistibility of evil) - and he pays for it with the lives of his sons and wife. But this is not enough - and the artist’s own life has changed since then. He retires to a monastery, where through years of repentance and renunciation of the worldly, he inwardly approaches a new truth, the truth of knowing the beauty of goodness contained in the divine image. “The abbot of the monastery, having learned about the art of his brush, demanded that he paint main image in church. But the humble brother flatly said that he was not worthy to take up the brush, that it was desecrated, that through labor and great sacrifices he must first cleanse his soul in order to be worthy to begin such a task.” In the previous edition, his son, an officer, came to visit him at the monastery and found his father a withered and distant old man. He prophesies about the coming of the Antichrist and asks his son, after fifty years from the date of painting the portrait, to find and destroy the ominous portrait. In the new edition, the father is enlightened: “And no traces of exhaustion were noticeable on his face, it shone with the lightness of heavenly joy.”

And his son here is not an officer, but also an artist, and he comes to his father for a blessing before leaving for Italy - “the best dream of a twenty-year-old artist.” He, like the author of the painting with the “divine plot” that defeated Chartkov, chooses the path of higher service to art. He comes to his father as the heir to his business, so that, after listening to the story of the terrible experience of suffering, he can go out on his own bright path. “Save the purity of your soul,” his father will tell him. – ...Most of all, try to comprehend the high secret of creation. Blessed is the chosen one who owns it. There is no low object in nature for him. In the insignificant, the artist-creator is just as great as in the great; in the despised, he no longer has the despicable, for the beautiful soul of the creator shines through him invisibly, and the despicable has already received a high expression, for it has flowed through the purgatory of his soul.”

N.V. Gogol saw St. Petersburg not only as a flourishing capital, whose life is full of magnificent balls, not only as a city where the best achievements of art in Russia and Europe are concentrated. The writer saw in him a concentrate of depravity, poverty and cowardice. The collection “Petersburg Tales” was dedicated to identifying the problems of society in northern Palmyra, and at the same time throughout Russia, and searching for ways of salvation. This cycle includes “Portrait,” which will be discussed in our article.

The writer came up with the idea for the story “Portrait” in 1832. The first edition was published in the collection "Arabesques" in 1835. Later, after writing “Dead Souls” and traveling abroad, in 1841 Gogol subjected the book to significant changes. In the third issue of Sovremennik, a new version was published. In it, the epithets, dialogues, and rhythm of presentation were changed, and the surname of the leading character became “Chartkov” instead of “Chertkov,” which was associated with the devil. This is the story of "Portrait".

The motif of an image possessing ominous power was inspired by Gogol’s then-fashionable novel by Maturin “Melmoth the Wanderer.” In addition, the image of a greedy moneylender also makes these works similar. In the image of the greedy businessman, whose portrait turns the life of the main character upside down, one can hear echoes of the myth of Agasphere - the “Eternal Jew” who cannot find peace.

Meaning of the name

The ideological concept of the work lies in its title – “Portrait”. It is no coincidence that Gogol names his brainchild this way. It is the portrait that is the cornerstone of the entire work, which allows you to expand the genre range from a story to a detective story, and also completely changes the life of the main character. It is also filled with special ideological content: it is the symbol of greed and depravity. This work raises the question of art and its authenticity.

In addition, this title of the story makes the reader think about the problems that the writer reveals. What else could the title be? Suppose, “The Death of the Artist” or “Greed”, all this would not carry such a symbolic meaning, and the ominous image would remain only a work of art. The title “Portrait” focuses the reader on this particular creation, forces him to always keep in mind, and subsequently, see in it more than the captured face.

Genre and direction

The direction of fantastic realism set by Gogol showed up relatively little in this work. There are no ghosts, animated noses or other humanized objects, but there is a certain mystical power of the moneylender, whose money brings people only grief; The painting, completed at the end of his life, continues the terrible mission of the man depicted in it. But Gogol gives a simple explanation for all the terrifying phenomena that happened to Chartkov after acquiring the canvas: it was a dream. Therefore, the role of fiction in “Portrait” is not great.

The story in the second part receives elements detective story. The author gives an explanation of where the money could have come from, the discovery of which at the beginning of the work seemed magical. In addition, the fate of the portrait itself has the features of a detective: it mysteriously disappears from the wall during the auction.

The portrayal of the characters of Chartkov's capricious clients, his naive craving for tasteless pomp - all these are comic techniques embodied in the book. Therefore, the genre of the story is correlated with satire.

Composition

The story “Portrait” consists of two parts, but each of them has its own compositional features. The first section has a classic structure:

1. exposition (life of a poor artist)
2. tie-in (purchase of a portrait)
3. climax (Chartkov's mental disorder)
4. denouement (death of the painter)

The second part can be perceived as an epilogue or some kind of author’s commentary on the above. The peculiarity of the composition of “Portrait” is that Gogol uses the technique of a story within a story. The son of the artist who painted the ominous portrait appears at the auction and claims ownership of the work. He talks about the difficult fate of his father, the life of a greedy money lender and the mystical properties of the portrait. His speech is framed by the auctioneers' bargaining and the disappearance of the very subject of the dispute.

About what?

The action takes place in St. Petersburg. The young artist Chartkov is in extreme need, but with his last pennies he buys a portrait of an old man in a shop on Shchukin’s yard, whose eyes “stroking as if they were alive.” Since then, unprecedented changes began to occur in his life. One night the young man dreamed that the old man came to life and stuck out a bag of gold. In the morning, gold chervonets were discovered in the frame of the picture. The hero moved with the best apartment, acquired all the things necessary for painting in the hope of devoting himself entirely to art and developing his talent. But everything turned out completely differently. Chartkov became a fashionable popular artist, and his main activity was painting commissioned portraits. One day he saw the work of his friend, which awakened in the young man his former interest in real creativity, but it was too late: the hand does not obey, the brush performs only memorized strokes. Then he goes berserk: he buys up the best paintings and brutally destroys them. Soon Chartkov dies. This is the essence of the work: material wealth destroys a person’s creative nature.

During the auction, when his property is being sold, one gentleman claims rights to the portrait of an old man, which was bought by Chartkov at Shchukin’s yard. He tells the background and description of the portrait, and also admits that he himself is the son of the artist, the author of this work. But during the auction the canvas mysteriously disappears.

The main characters and their characteristics

We can say that each part of the story has its own main character: in the first it is Chartkov, and in the second the image of a moneylender is clearly presented.

• The character of the young artist changes dramatically throughout the work. At the beginning of “Portrait,” Chartkov is a romantic image of an artist: he dreams of developing his talent, learning from the best masters, if only he had the money for it. And then the money appears. The first impulse was quite noble: the young man bought everything necessary for painting, but the desire to become fashionable and famous in an easier way than through many hours of work took over. At the end of the first part, the artist is overwhelmed by greed, envy and frustration, which forces him to buy up the best paintings and destroy them, he becomes a “fierce avenger.” Of course, Chartkov is a small man, unexpected wealth turned his head and eventually drove him crazy.
• But it can be assumed that the effect of the golden chervonets on the main character is not connected with his low social status, but with the mystical effect of the money of the moneylender himself. The son of the author of the portrait of this Persian tells many stories about this. The moneylender himself, wanting to preserve part of his power, asks the artist to paint a portrait of him. The narrator's father took on this job, but could not cope with it. In this painter, Gogol portrayed the true creator in the Christian understanding: to undergo purification, pacify his spirit and only then begin to work. He is contrasted with Chartkov, the artist from the first part of the story.

Themes

This relatively short story touches on many topics relating to quite diverse areas of human life.

• Theme of creativity. Gogol introduces us to two artists. What should a true creator be like? One strives to study the works of masters, but is not averse to gaining fame in an easier way. Another painter first of all works on himself, on his desires and passions. For him, art is part of his philosophy, his religion. This is his life, it cannot contradict it. He feels a responsibility to creativity and believes that a person must prove his right to engage in it.
• Good and evil. This theme is expressed through both art and wealth. On the one hand, feathered means are needed so that the creator can freely go about his business and develop his talent. But using the example of Chartkov, we see that initially good intentions to invest in one’s improvement can turn into death, first of all, the death of the human soul. Is it only the mystical sweetness of the moneylender's heritage that is to blame? Gogol shows that a person can overcome anything, if only he is strong. The main character demonstrated weakness of spirit, and therefore disappeared.
• Wealth- the main theme in the story “Portrait”. Here it is presented as a way to find happiness. It would seem that just a little money, and everything will be fine: there will be a happy marriage with the first beauty, creditors will leave the family alone, everything necessary for creativity will be acquired. But everything turns out differently. In addition to satisfying needs, money has a downside: it creates greed, envy and cowardice.

Issues

• The problem of art. In the story, Gogol offers the artist two paths: to paint portraits for money or to engage in self-improvement without any special claims to wealth. The artist faces a difficult choice: to develop, he needs funds for paints, brushes, etc., but many hours of work and infamy will not bring any money. There is a way to get rich quick, but painting portraits does not mean increasing your skill level. When deciding what to do, you need to remember one thing: if the one who follows the path of the master monk makes a mistake, he can still be saved, but he who follows the easy road will no longer get rid of the “hardened forms.”
• Vanity. Gogol shows in the story how Chartkov, who suddenly became rich, gradually comes to vanity. At first he pretends that he does not recognize his teacher, then he agrees to endure the whims of clients for the sake of money and fame. The omen of trouble is the censure of the classics, and the result of this path was madness.
• Poverty. This problem faces most of the characters in "Portrait". Poverty does not allow Chartkov to freely engage in creativity; due to his not very high position, one of the heroes of the second part cannot marry his beloved. But poverty here is not only a material problem, but also a spiritual one. Gold drives the heroes crazy, makes them greedy and envious. According to the author, a cowardly person with a lot of money is not able to cope: it completely destroys him.

The meaning of the story

Always remember about your soul, and not chase wealth - this is the main idea of ​​​​the story “Portrait”. All the possibilities for achieving a goal, finding happiness in a person already exist - Gogol talks about this. Later, Chekhov would turn to this idea in his drama “Three Sisters,” where the girls will believe that the path to joy is Moscow. And Nikolai Vasilyevich shows that to reach the goal, in in this case– it is possible to comprehend art without special material costs. The main thing is not in them, but in the inner strength of a person.

The narrator in the second part talks about the fatal effect of the moneylender's money, but is it fair to attribute all the troubles to mysticism? A person who puts money first is vulnerable to envy and depravity. That is why wild jealousy awoke in the happy spouse, and despair and vindictiveness awoke in Chartkov. This is the philosophical meaning of the story “Portrait”.

A person with a strong spirit is not subject to such low qualities; she is able to cope with them and get rid of them. This illustrates the life path of the artist, the author of the portrait of a moneylender.

What does it teach?

The story “Portrait” warns about the danger of exalting money. The conclusion is simple: wealth cannot be set as the goal of life: this leads to the death of the soul. It is important to note that for the image little man characterized not only by material poverty, but also by spiritual poverty. This can explain the troubles of Chartkov and the moneylender’s borrowers. But Gogol does not give a single positive example when money would be useful. The author's position is clearly expressed: the only the right way the writer sees it in spiritual improvement, in renunciation of secular temptations. The main character understands this too late: he did not heed the warnings of his teacher, for which he was severely punished.

In this story, Gogol is closest to Hoffman in style and method of correlating the fantastic and the real. Every one here unusual thing can be explained rationally, and the characters are as close as possible to the society of St. Petersburg. Such persuasiveness alarmed the reader of the story and made “Portrait” a relevant work both for Gogol’s contemporaries and for his heirs.

Criticism

Literary criticism of the author's contemporaries was varied. Belinsky disapproved of this story, especially the second part, he considered it an addition in which the author himself was not visible. Shevyrev also adhered to a similar position, accusing Gogol of a weak manifestation of the fantastic in “Portrait.” But Nikolai Vasilyevich’s contribution to the development of Russian classical prose can hardly be overestimated, and “Portrait” also makes its contribution here. Chernyshevsky speaks about this in his articles.

When considering critics' assessments, it is important to keep in mind that the final edition of "Portrait" took place during the late, critical period of Gogol's work. At this time, the writer is looking for a way to save Russia, mired in bribery, greed and philistinism. In letters to friends, he admits that he sees an opportunity to correct the situation in teaching, and not in introducing any newfangled ideas. From these positions one should consider the validity of the criticism of Belinsky and Shevyrev.

Interesting? Save it on your wall!

In light of this program, the story is offered for compulsory study in secondary vocational institutions

N.V. Gogol “Portrait”.

Studying the story takes 2 hours. During this time, it is necessary to study the ideological orientation, composition, and artistic value of the work.

It is necessary to teach students how to analyze a work, and for this you need to know the history of the creation of the story, master the text, and know information from the writer’s biography. This development has a practical orientation:

help the teacher cope with the above tasks, properly organize study time, give a complete understanding of this work, the problems that N.V. Gogol set for himself.

The methodology of teaching literature has developed several approaches to the implementation of problem analysis of a literary work: highlighting moral, aesthetic, and philosophical problems in a literary text.

In my work, I relied on monographs and numerous scientific articles by Professor V. G. Marantsman.

He writes: “Problem-based learning as the structure of the educational process is a system of interconnected and increasingly complex problem situations, during which the student, under the guidance of a teacher, masters the content of the subject, methods of studying it and develops the qualities necessary for a creative attitude towards science and life.” .

“Portrait” is the most important work not only for Russian, but also for world literature. It has not lost its importance in our time. After all, in the world there are always rich people who want to become even richer, and poor people who want to take the place of the rich. This problem can be classified as an eternal problem.

A. S. Pushkin wrote about this in his works “The Queen of Spades” and “Mozart and Salieri”. Currently, the problem posed by N.V. Gogol is especially acute. What is more important: true art or easy money? Gogol claims that true talent is a gift from God,

the artist simply does not have the right to waste it in vain for the sake of profit.

Therefore, the hero of the story, Chartkov, dies: he was unable to defend his art in the face of the thirst to enrich himself financially.

In my methodological development I present:

• materials for teachers from the history of the creation of the story “Portrait”;
• development of lessons in accordance with calendar planning.

Plan.

1. Introduction.
2. N.V. Gogol’s story “Portrait” (material for teachers).
4. Methodological development classes on the story “Portrait” by N.V. Gogol.
5. Literature

Introduction

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol divided all his stories into two large cycles: “Evenings on a farm near Dikanka”, “Mirgorod” and “Petersburg stories”. Many works of the last cycle convey the idea of ​​the merciless and destructive power of money. “Portrait” is one of these stories.

It tells about Chartkov, an honest, hardworking artist, a man with talent and the ability to subtly feel nature. But with one drawback. This flaw is greed. The money accidentally found in the portrait frame deprived him of peace and suppressed his interest in real art.

“Portrait” is a story about the tragedy of an artist who learned the joy of inspired creativity and was unable to defend his art in the face of the thirst to enrich himself financially. Gogol, under the guise of a fantastic incident, shows the reader the true capital of Russia as it is, the whole of St. Petersburg, striking with pictures of contradictions and contrasts. All the forces of evil are embodied in the hidden image of the city; it expresses all the tragedy of Russian reality. All its inhabitants are divided into businessmen and people who want to become them. “Our age has long acquired the boring face of a banker,” Gogol notes in the story. In general, the St. Petersburg cycle collected all the injustices that were happening in society, and “Portrait” became the embodiment of the fight against destructive greed.

To reveal the action of the story, Gogol chose an interesting technique. The work consists of two parts. The first tells about the tragic fate and death of the hero, the true reason of which is shrouded in mystery for the reader. In the second, the author explains the mysterious circumstances and causes of Chartkov’s death, without saying a word about him.

The theme of the work is expressed in the title - this is a mysterious portrait of a strange moneylender. “It was no longer a copy from life, it was a strange painting that would illuminate the face of a dead man rising from the grave.”

The painting forced one artist to waste his talent, another to go to a monastery. In order to show the reader the meaning of the story as transparently as possible, Gogol makes the portrait disappear at the very end. In the first edition of the story, it was not the painting that disappeared, but the image of the old man from it, but in the final version the author wanted to make sure that the portrait was stolen again, so that a person would be found who would become the next victim of the Asian moneylender.

The main idea of ​​the story is that true service to art requires from a person moral fortitude and courage, an understanding of the high responsibility to society for talent. Chartkov lacked either one or the other.

“Portrait” can be compared with “Mozart and Salieri” by Pushkin. Seduced by the devil, Chartkov “recognized that terrible torment... when a weak talent tries to speak out in excess of it and cannot speak out; that terrible torment that makes a person capable

to terrible atrocities. He was overcome by terrible envy, envy to the point of rage.” He recognized the torment that Pushkin's Salieri suffered. But Salieri killed the creator of music, retaining the ability to enjoy his works. And Chartkov destroys “all the best that art has ever produced,” trying to destroy art itself. Salieri committed a crime and thereby ruined his talent. Chartkov ruined his talent and his soul and therefore commits atrocities.

The story “Portrait” by N.V. Gogol.

(Teacher's material)

Problem-based learning is one of the ways to comprehend educational material. It fosters conceptual thinking and promotes the development of a systematic approach to phenomena.

Studying Gogol’s story “Portrait” requires a problematic approach to activate students’ attention; problematic questions make them think about the significant issues of the work.

The works of Gogol, which are studied by students of secondary vocational education, deepen the topics outlined in previous cycles. The author and his heroes find themselves not under the sultry sun of a “delightful summer day” and not under the cover of a “divine” night, but in a city illuminated by a dim lantern. In “Petersburg Tales” the author’s focus on the problems of spiritual self-determination of man, the problems of art, and creativity is most clearly revealed; the writer directed his gaze into the depths of the human soul, trying to see the essence behind the form, the inner behind the external. Gogol constantly warns the reader: “Oh, don’t believe this Nevsky Prospect! Everything is a deception, everything is a dream, everything is not what it seems!” Through the prism of the fantastic, the writer examines the known in a different way, and tries to see an anomaly in the familiar. “The originality of the artistic system of St. Petersburg stories lies in Gogol’s principles of the relationship between the real and the fantastic.”

In a world turned inside out, a person feels fragile and lonely, like Tyutchev’s hero standing on the edge of an abyss:

And the man is like a homeless orphan,
Now he stands weak and naked
Face to face before the dark abyss...

The tragedy is manifested both in the “behavior” of the environment (...the bridge stretched and broke on its arch...), and in the feelings of a person (Piskarev “seemed that some demon had chopped up the whole world into many different pieces and all these pieces mixed together senselessly”). By shifting the proportions, the author shows how the apparent easily replaces the essential, the real becomes fantastic, how a thing easily replaces a person, how the boundary between good and evil is imperceptibly erased. At the same time, the characters experience an existential feeling of loneliness and melancholy. At such critical moments, people need to learn to live and love with a constant “awareness of the fragility and doom of everything.”

The story “Portrait” is dedicated to the main and burning theme of N.V. Gogol - the theme of creativity, the fate of the artist, aesthetic and moral.

The idea of ​​the story dates back to 1831-1832. Three works - “Nevsky Prospekt”, “Portrait” (1st ed.), “Notes of a Madman” - were included in the collection “Arabesques”, published in 1835. The author dreamed of creating a book about St. Petersburg artists, sculptors, and musicians. The first two stories echo a number of Arabesque articles on art issues. The author so deeply and sincerely believed in its saving power that he hoped to influence the world order through it. “...I know that before I understood the meaning and purpose of art, I already felt with the instinct of my whole soul that it should be holy... In art there are creations, not destruction. Art is the establishment of harmony and order in the soul, and not confusion and disorder...” - says N.V. Gogol in a letter to V.A. Zhukovsky.

In the early 40s, the author returned to work on the story, since its first edition was not accepted by his contemporaries. V. G. Belinsky noted: “Portrait” is an unsuccessful attempt by Mr. Gogol in the fantastic genre. There's talent here. The first part of this story is impossible to read without fascination...

But its second part is absolutely worthless: Gogol is not visible in it at all...” In Rome, the author subjected the story to a thorough revision. In the first edition, Gogol conducted an open dialogue with the reader, exposing all the “nerves” of the work. In the second edition, he deepened the aesthetic issues and more clearly expressed the aesthetic ideal. In the first part there is an implementation problem

artistic gift, the influence of art on the human soul entered sporadically. In the final version, this question is posed with complete certainty: “Or is slavish, literal imitation of nature already an offense and seems like a discordant cry?” True art, according to Gogol, should be illuminated by the highest light and not obey the laws of the momentary, temporary. As a result of the edits, the plot was changed: the subtext was deepened, the exposition and ending were changed, and the fantasy was veiled.

The story consists of two parts: The first deals with tragic story artist Chartkov; the second tells the story of human transformation. Here N.V. Gogol used the technique of “inverted composition”, well known in world literature (after all, the events of the second part chronologically precede the events of the first). Why did Chartkov’s talent die? Why did the hero fail to preserve his talent, but the author of the mysterious portrait managed to overcome the painter of a “discordant life” in himself? What is the meaning of the composition?– answers to these and other questions will help young readers unravel the many mysteries of Gogol’s text. During the lessons we will talk about the secret of creativity, the mystery of the human spirit, possible ways to comprehend the nature of art, how important it is for a person not to betray himself, not to betray his talent and to believe in his calling. Problem analysis will help students overcome many “discordances” in the perception of the text.

The beginning of the story is promising: before us is a young, talented artist, “who prophesied many things: in flashes and moments his brush responded with observation, content, and a strong impulse to get closer to nature...”. He knows how to distinguish genuine art from fakes, and see the “mask” behind the so-called face. Thus, in the paintings exhibited in the Shchukinsky yard, what is first striking is not only the mediocrity of their authors, but also the distorted reality: “He stopped in front of the shop and at first laughed inwardly at these ugly paintings. Here one could see simply stupidity, a powerless, decrepit mediocrity that had arbitrarily entered the ranks of the arts... A Flemish man with a pipe and a broken arm, looking more like an Indian rooster than a man.” Examining portraiture with the hero, the author sadly notes the lack of light, beauty and harmony of inner life in the depicted. Very little time will pass, and bright, flashy colors will begin to play on Chartkov’s canvases; Psyche’s pretty head will be replaced by Lisa’s languid face, on which “one can detect heavy traces of indifferent diligence in various arts.”

Each new customer will have “different claims.” They will try to hide the traces of deformed reality behind the mask of Mars, Byron, the appearance of Corinne, Ondine, Aspasia, Chartkov with “great willingness to agree to everything and add plenty of beauty to everyone... He will marvel at the wonderful speed and agility of his brush... “In the meantime, he has been standing “motionless for some time now,” as if spellbound, in front of one portrait, in large, once magnificent frames...”

Let's compare the editions:

II edition:

“He was an old man with a bronze-colored face, high cheekbones, and stunted; the features of the face seemed to be captured in a moment of convulsive movement and responded not with northern strength. The fiery afternoon was captured in them. He was draped in a loose Asian suit. No matter how damaged and dusty the portrait was, when he managed to clean the dust from his face, he saw traces of the work of the great artist... Most unusual of all were the eyes: it seemed that the artist had used all the power of his brush and all his diligent care in them. They simply looked, looked even from the portrait itself, as if destroying its harmony with their strange liveliness.”

I edition:

“...He began to impatiently rub his hand and soon saw a portrait in which a master’s brush was clearly visible, although the paints seemed somewhat cloudy and blackened. It was an old man with a kind of restless and angry expression on his face; there was a smile on his lips, sharp, sarcastic, and at the same time some kind of fear; the blush of illness was thinly spread over the face, distorted by wrinkles; his eyes were large, black, dull; but at the same time some strange liveliness was noticeable in them. It seemed that this portrait depicted

some kind of miser who spent his life over a chest, or one of those unfortunates who are tormented all their lives by the happiness of others... Some kind of incompleteness was visible in the whole portrait...”

In the first edition, the portrait of the moneylender clearly reveals him as a demonic character. In the second edition, Gogol veiled, hid in the subtext the entire infernal essence of the moneylender, leaving the reader in an aura of mystery.

Looking at the mysterious portrait at home, Chartkov simultaneously experienced two opposite feelings: on the one hand, he was very frightened, on the other, some kind of longing gripped him. The young man tried to fall asleep, thinking about “poverty, about the pitiful fate of the artist, about the thorny path ahead of him in this world,” but the portrait did not give him peace: something attracted him, beckoned him behind the screen. The gold that flashed in the hands of the moneylender became a symbol of temptation, the spiritual test of the hero. In “Petersburg Tales” dreams are endowed with a special function of testing the soul. “The hero-dreamer appears as a kind of mediator between this and that light; the wandering soul of the hero reveals the state of crisis he is experiencing, which is expressed in loss of orientation, inability to answer the questions “where” and “when”.

Transitions from one dream to another metaphorically indicate the hero’s movement into the abyss of chaos. This episode is reminiscent in theme of the scene “Vakula at Patsyuk’s” from the story “The Night Before Christmas”. The dumpling, which magically fell into the blacksmith’s mouth during the “hungry kutya”, was a kind of “agreement” with evil spirits. However, Vakula’s piety did not allow him to commit a sin. Chartkov did not have an inner core, just as many people living in a broken world did not have it. “Beautiful life”, festive festivities with the ladies, delicious dinners - this was the secret dream of the poor artist in a small room on Vasilyevsky Island. Convulsively grabbing the package, Chartkov watched to see if the old man would notice...” This is how “the signing of a contract with the devil” took place. This topic is not new in literature: it worried Goethe and Byron. Pushkin. Lermontov. But Pushkin in “Scene from Faust” developed the idea that “human nature still retains reverence for concepts sacred to the human race.” Love is one of these concepts. When Mephistopheles tears out the root of love from the hero’s soul, he has no choice but to issue the order: “... drown everything.” Life loses all meaning when love turns into an illusion (see the analysis of “Scenes from Faust” in the book. Marantsman V.G. On the way to Pushkin. - M., 1999).

In Gogol's story there is no dialogue between the characters. Its participants (the artist and the moneylender) are in “different spatio-temporal and historical planes.”

At the same time, the dialogue formula is preserved in the story. The characters communicate using gestures and glances, and the bundle of coins is the result of this meeting.

Thus, receiving money is the first “wonderful moment” that “transformed” Chartkov. He settled down well, built a career for himself, and achieved success with the capital's nobility. Money introduced him to an atmosphere where the “despicable cold of trade and insignificance” reigns.

Creative tensions and impulses gave way to negligence and indifference

to your own creativity. “This man who spends several months poring over a painting, to me, is a worker, not an artist. A genius creates boldly, quickly...” – this is how Chartkov now thinks. How can one not recall Pushkin’s lines:

The service of the muses does not tolerate fuss,
The beautiful must be majestic...

Gogol lexically emphasizes the story of the painter’s spiritual death.

“Already he began to reach a time of sedateness of mind and age... Already in newspapers and magazines I read adjectives: “our venerable Andrei Petrovich,”

“our honored Andrei Petrovich”... Already they began to offer him positions of honor.” In all these rows, two opposing plans are revealed: one conveys career advancement, external ascension, and the other plane (internal) reveals the degradation of the artist’s personality (“ Already he began to believe that everything in the world is simple, there is no inspiration from above...”), who exchanged talent for simple trifles.

For his quick success, the hero had to pay with talent and soul.

Seeing the “divine” work of art brought from Italy, Chartkov saw the light for a moment, his youth returned to him, “as if the extinct sparks of talent flared up again.” Here the hero felt a second “beautiful moment,” which for some time restored the artist’s broken connection with the world of people, with the world of art. At that moment he realized that real talent cannot be bought for any money. Once again, the Faustian motif of the “beautiful moment” illuminated the hero’s life for some time and marked a turning point in his views and character: from blindness to insight, from error to truth. However, restoring his personality turned out to be impossible. Chartkov exhausted himself. When he looked at the painting, “pure, immaculate, beautiful, like a bride, stood before him the artist’s work.” He wanted to make comments, but “his speech died on his lips, tears and sobs burst out discordantly in response, and he ran out of the hall like a madman.” The hero became part of this “discordant” life, forgetting about his high purpose. Chartkorv, like Pushkin's Faust, was possessed by a passion for destruction, but the artist had different motives for such an act. The last days of his life were terrible: he mercilessly destroyed the best paintings, masterpieces of world painting. Evil became indestructible for Chartkov because he was unable to endure and hope. He lacked peace of mind and wise humility to overcome mental turmoil.

The second part of the story tells about the fate of the author of this mysterious portrait, who managed to overcome the painter of a discordant life within himself. The artist, like the young Chartkov, “was looking for that degree of mastery, that creative state that allows one to capture and convey the deep essence of a living human face.” The master, having heard the moneylender’s request to paint a portrait, “the next day, grabbing a palette and brushes, was in his house... “Damn it, how well his face is now illuminated! “he said to himself and began to write greedily, as if fearing that the happy light might somehow disappear.” Chartkov and the bogomaz artist are united by one image - a moneylender. One immortalized it, and the other gave it a second life, “revived it.” Even ancient people endowed portrait images with a magical function (the ability of a portrait to “come to life” and “revive” what is depicted on it.)

A person’s hope for “overcoming” death and a posthumous existence in a portrait image is associated with a portrait image (a moneylender to an artist: “I may soon die, I have no children; but I don’t want to die at all, I want to live”). The portrait turned out “perfect,” as if a living person was looking from the canvas. The author of the portrait, like Chartkov, strived for an accurate depiction and mastery of nature. The owner of the apartment says about Chartkov: “Here he draws a room... he drew it with all the rubbish and squabbles.” Everyone present in the shop was struck by the eyes of the moneylender, “living” eyes that pierce the soul through and through. Imitation of nature is apparently necessary for art, but clearly not sufficient. As V. A. Favorsky notes, “the living” in art is not where completely living heads look from a portrait, making you shudder, but where the artist manages to create an integral space - a world that in its integrity turns out to be independent, self-existent, and that means already to a very large extent and alive.” The second part of the story reveals the history of overcoming the “givenness” of art, the path of knowledge and overcoming the “impulses of suffering.” Only life in the monastery, fasting and prayer restored the harmony of the spirit of the portrait artist. The painting, created by the artist after his tonsure and hermitage, struck “the extraordinary holiness of the figures.” “The feeling of divine humility and meekness in the face of the Most Pure Mother... holy, inexpressible silence embracing the whole picture - all this appeared in such consistent strength and power of beauty that the impression was magical.”

The story “Portrait” presents the ideal of an artist - the author of a “magnificent” painting. Gogol expresses his position in a few phrases, but freely and with inspiration, enjoying the greatness of the master’s spirit. In this picture, “pure, immaculate, beautiful, like a bride,” the freedom of the artist’s creativity that the writer dreamed of was reflected. The artist’s life was spent far from the “free world”. “He didn’t care whether they talked about his character, about his inability to deal with people, about his failure to observe secular decency... He neglected everything, gave everything to art.” As noted in the research literature, the prototype of the young talented artist was Gogol’s friend A.A. Ivanov. “In the appearance of Ivanov, in his creative self-denial, Gogol saw the image of an ideal artist, which he wrote about in “Selected Places...”. The writer met Ivanov in Rome in 1838 with the assistance of V. A. Zhukovsky, when he was working on his main work, “The Appearance of the Messiah.” The acquaintance grew into a friendship that did not end until the writer’s death. Gogol highly valued the painter's talent and his inherent inquisitive, philosophical mindset. Ivanov devoted all the passion of his heart to working on the painting. Around 1833, Ivanov created sketches of his future creation. The painting unfolds a plot taken from the first chapter of the Gospel of John. In front of us is a lumpy area of ​​the earth's surface; closer to the audience, the soil rises slightly, goes deeper, then drops, again rises steeply into a hill and ends in a valley, behind which stretches a string of mountains. With these movements, the artist expanded the space of the picture: each character becomes visible. In the foreground, slightly shifted to the left, under a century-old tree, there is a group of apostles, led by John the Baptist. Opposing this group is a crowd descending from the hill, led by the Pharisees. Between these poles there is a line of people who are trying to understand what is happening, listening to what John tells them. The entire apostolic group is directed towards Christ, the group of Pharisees and scribes descending from the hill are directed away from Christ. They did not accept the Lord’s teaching, but they came to listen to Him. Each character chooses his own path: either deliverance from sins, or the opportunity to live as before. “Everyone will get it according to their faith,” according to their sense of self in a changing world. some are in confusion and doubt; the slave longs for freedom; the Pharisees live in the past; in the faces of the “trembling” ones one can feel the awakening of the consciousness of one’s own spiritual unsettlement. Some are still just listening to the calm, even step of Christ. He brings with him a covenant of calm and peaceful harmony. In the sketches there is a figure called “closest” to Christ. This is a man with tousled hair, wearing a lingonberry-yellow robe, with a thin face turned in profile. The whole figure gives the impression of a painful experience of his sinfulness. In the picture, besides him, there is not a single person who would be the bearer of such deeply hopeless dramatic features. In the sketches it is easy to detect facial features characteristic of Gogol in this character. The writer's introduction to the picture of the Messiah in the early period of his acquaintance with Ivanov could not have happened simply with his consent. But

and with his active assistance. Gogol was working on the second edition of “Portrait” during this period, and the repentant mood was very consistent with this process.

The connection between A. S. Pushkin’s “Scene from Faust” and N. V. Gogol’s “Portrait” is based on the commonality of certain aspects of the worldview of the two geniuses. If love is destroyed in a person, it is not found

“divine support”, the moral nature is destroyed, then the whole world may find itself on the brink of spiritual and physical destruction. When students see how Gogol, relying on literary traditions, reveals a new thought and creates a new plot, they are convinced that the events comprehended by the writer, remaining in the memory of mankind, provide an incentive for further creative searches.

The main methodological techniques with the help of which, in our opinion, students will conceptually master the story, bearing in mind the fact that calendar planning allocates 2 hours for studying Gogol’s story “Portrait”, is to conduct a seminar lesson.

1. During independent extracurricular work, students should get acquainted with the content, history of the creation of the story, reviews of contemporaries about the work, memories of Gogol during this period, get acquainted with articles, excerpts and letters from the author about the fate of the artist and the purpose of art.

To understand the content of the story, you can suggest the following questions:

1. What alarmed you about Gogol’s story “Portrait”?
2. How does Gogol relate to aristocrats, merchants, and commoners?
3. What is Chartkov’s appearance in his closet on Vasilyevsky Island and in his apartment on Nevsky Prospekt?
4. Imagine Chartkov at the moment when he finishes drawing Psyche and when he destroys the canvases of talented artists.
5. What would you call the first and second parts of the story? Is V.G. Belinsky right when he says that the second part is “an addition that is absolutely worthless”?
6. What is the meaning of the epithet and comparison: “In it (the bundle) there were ducats, all of them new, hot as fire”?
7. What destroys and what saves an artist’s talent?

Lesson-seminar on the topic: “The ideological concept of the story by N.V. Gogol “Portrait”.

Target: get acquainted with N.V. Gogol’s story “Portrait”; determine its ideological content.

Equipment: Portrait of N.V. Gogol, textbooks, notebooks.

Epigraph for the lesson:“...Talent is the most precious gift of God - do not destroy it...”

Methodical techniques: conversation on the content of the text of the story, student reports, answers to problematic questions.

Progress of the lesson

1. Introductory speech from the teacher.

Teacher: Today we will talk about the St. Petersburg period of N.V. Gogol’s work. In the first half of 1835, Gogol published the collection “Arabesques,” which included three stories: “Nevsky Prospect,” “Portrait,” and “Notes of a Madman.” With the St. Petersburg stories, then supplemented by the story “The Nose” and the story “The Overcoat,” Gogol completed a holistic picture of Russian life, an essential link of which was also the comedy “The Inspector General,” written during these years.

The main theme of the St. Petersburg stories is the deceptiveness of the external splendor of metropolitan life, its imaginary splendor, behind which lies low and vulgar prose. In addition, Gogol is concerned with the topic of creativity and the artist. He is convinced that talent is God’s gift, it is given in order to “comprehend the high mystery of creation.” The story “Portrait” is dedicated to this topic.

So, the topic of our lesson: “The ideological concept of N.V. Gogol’s story “Portrait”.”

Now we will listen to the students who prepared the reports: “The St. Petersburg period of N.V. Gogol’s creativity” and “The history of the creation of the story “Portrait””.

2. We listen to reports from previously prepared students.

3. Analysis of the story based on questions provided to students in advance:

Questions for analyzing the story.

Part I

1. What is Chartkov dissatisfied with while looking at the paintings in the shop in the Shchukinsky yard?
2. Why did Chartkov buy a portrait of an old man for the last two kopecks?
3. What is the significance of the landscape in the episode of Chartkov’s return home?
4. Why is Chartkov’s room described in such detail?
5. Did the professor have reason to fear that Chartkov would become a fashionable painter?
6. Why does the purchased portrait bother Chartkov and not seem to him like a work of high art?
7. What properties of Chartkov indicate the artist’s talent?
8. Is Chartkov right when he thinks that the portrait has a “secret connection with his fate”?
9. What opportunities does the unexpectedly discovered treasure give Chartkov, and how does he use it?
10. Why does wealth arouse the desire for fame in Chartkov?
11. Why do we recognize Chartkov’s first and patronymic from a newspaper article?
12. What is Gogol laughing at when conveying the chatter of a lady ordering a portrait of her daughter?
13. Why did the work on the portrait “attract” Chartkov? What and why is false in the portrait of an aristocratic girl?
14. Why is it that in the portraits that Chartkov paints, similarity is inferior to good looks?
15. Compare the appearance of Chartkov and the furnishings of his house on Vasilyevsky Island and on Nevsky Prospekt. How has he and his attitude towards art and great artists changed?
16. Why did “Gold become... passion, ideal, fear, goal” of Chartkov?
17. How does a Russian artist who perfected himself in Italy differ from Chartkov? What artist and what painting do you think we are talking about?
18. Why does the shock of a perfect painting in Chartkov turn into “envy and rage”, why does he destroy talented works of art?
19. Why did Chartkov fall into “hopeless madness” and die?

Part 2.

1. Why does Gogol compare the auction to a funeral procession?
2. Why are moneylenders necessary for the “sediment of humanity” that settled in Kolomna, and why is the main characteristic of a moneylender insensitivity?
3. What is so strange about the moneylender from whom the portrait was painted?
4. What changes occur in people who associate themselves with a moneylender?
5. Why does a terrible moneylender order a portrait from an artist and why does he agree to paint it?
6. What misfortunes did the portrait of a moneylender bring to the artist and how did he cleanse his soul of filth?
7. Which advice from a father to his son do you consider the most important? What is the connection between these tips and Christ’s Sermon on the Mount?
8. What is the meaning of art and why “talent...must be the purest soul of all”? What is the difference between Gogol’s thoughts and the words of Pushkin’s Mozart: “Genius and villainy are two incompatible things”?

4. Analysis of the content of the story using problematic questions.

– So we repeated the content of the story, and now let’s pay attention to that fact from Gogol’s life:

It was in 1835 that Gogol collected articles on art (“Painting, sculpture and music”, “A few words about Pushkin”, “On the architecture of the present time”), lectures and articles on history and reflections on historical figures and published them along with the story “ Portrait". This indicates that Gogol is concerned with issues of creativity and the artist’s place in society.

Gogol is counting on the understanding of readers and critics, but what was the writer’s disappointment when the leading critic of the 30-40s, V. G. Belinsky, disapproved of the story “Portrait”: “The Portrait is an unsuccessful attempt by Mr. Gogol in a fantastic way. Here his talent declines, but even in his decline he remains a talent. The first part of this story is impossible to read without fascination; in fact, there is something terrible, fatal, fantastic in this mysterious portrait, there is some kind of invincible charm that makes you forcibly look at it, although it is scary for you. Add to this many fantastic paintings and essays in the taste of Mr. Gogol; remember the quarterly overseer talking about painting; then this mother, who brought her daughter to Chertkov to have her portrait taken, and who scolds balls and admires nature - and you will not deny the dignity of this story. But the second part of it is absolutely worthless; Mr. Gogol is not visible in it. This is an obvious addition in which it was not the mind that worked, and the imagination did not take any part.”

Please note: Belinsky calls the second part of the story “an addition in which the mind worked, and the imagination did not take any part”...

– A trained student talks about the further fate of Gogol and his story “Portrait”:

Having left Russia after the scandal associated with the premiere of “The Inspector General,” Gogol finds refuge in Italy. He lives in Rome. But nothing pleases the writer’s heart: neither warm weather, nor a comfortable life, nor local beauty... Gogol thinks about Russia. Here, in Rome, he meets artists, in particular, the artist Ivanov, who is working on the painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People.”

Gogol sees how selflessly the artist works, making many sketches from life, endlessly changing the poses of the characters in his painting, and the color that illuminates them and nature. He is haunted by the criticism of V. G. Belinsky. And he decides to remake the story “Portrait”. By 1841 this work was completed. Significant changes have appeared: the surname of the main character has changed (previously it was Chertkov, which emphasized his connection with evil spirits; Gogol excluded certain mystical scenes, quite realistic characters appeared: Nikita, a professor, the owner of the house, a policeman, ladies-customers. In the first edition, the appearance the moneylender at the end of the story disappeared from the canvas, and in the second edition the portrait disappears, which went around the world to sow misfortune.

Teacher: What made Gogol pick up the pen again and remake the story?

Student: Gogol was not satisfied with the criticism of his work, since he attached great importance to the idea of ​​the story: he was interested in the problem of true art and the place of the artist in the modern world; a real artist should not think about profit, about money, as this is destructive for real art).

Teacher: How is this shown in the story?

Student: Chartkov takes the path of lies and betrayal in relation to art: initially this manifests itself in the fact that he lied, giving the girl the image of Psyche. Chartkov is pleased: he received a significant amount, then the author shows Chartkov’s further “fall”: “whoever wanted Mars, he shoved Mars in his face; whoever aimed at Byron, he gave him Byron’s position and turn.”

Teacher: How was Chartkov punished?

Student: he dies in terrible agony, envy and malice destroyed his soul and talent: “A terrible envy took possession of him, envy to the point of rage... He began to buy up all the best that art had produced. Having bought a painting at a high price. carefully brought it into his room and, with the fury of a tiger, rushed at it, tore it, tore it apart, cut it into pieces and trampled it with his feet, accompanied by laughter of pleasure...”

Teacher: Affected by the microbe of profit and envy, the main character of the story dies in terrible agony, but the story does not end there. Why do you think Gogol writes the second part, what has he still left unsaid? After all, it would seem that the idea is expressed extremely clearly and clearly: a true artist should not sell his soul to the devil; one with talent, he should serve the beautiful on earth. What should the proximity of the first and second parts convince the reader of?

Student: The juxtaposition of the first and second parts in Gogol’s “Portrait” is intended to convince the reader that evil can take possession of any person, regardless of his moral nature. The artist who touched evil, who painted the eyes of the moneylender, which “looked demonically destructive,” can no longer paint good, his brush is driven by “unclean feeling,” and in the picture intended for the temple, “there is no holiness in the faces.”

Teacher: Absolutely right, the second part of the story is of great importance for the ideological content of the story. Belinsky's criticism made the great writer think about a lot. Life circumstances were such that in Italy he met a true artist (Ivanov), saw how selflessly he worked on a painting on a divine theme - all these facts forced him to take up Gogol’s pen again. In the second part, he talks about the fate of the artist, who, having come into contact with evil, goes through the path of internal purification: “...he withdrew with the blessing of the abbot into the desert... There for a long time, for several years, he exhausted his body, strengthening it at that time. time with the life-giving power of prayer...” Only after this did he allow himself to take up the pen again, and then from under his brush paintings full of holiness began to emerge: “... the holy higher power guided your brush and the blessing of heaven rested on your work,” the abbot tells him.

Only after this did he receive the right to give instructions to his son, an artist, who is going to go to Italy: “The hint of the divine, the heavenly is contained for man in art, and therefore alone it is already above all... Sacrifice everything to him and love him with all a passion that breathes earthly lust, but a quiet heavenly passion: without it, a person cannot rise from the earth and cannot give wonderful sounds of peace. For to calm and reconcile everyone, a high creation of art descends into the world.”

Conclusions: So, in today’s lesson we got acquainted with N.V. Gogol’s story “Portrait”,

found out what the author’s ideological intention was. “Talent is God’s most precious gift - don’t destroy it,” this is what the old artist teaches his son, this is the main idea of ​​the work. In conclusion, I would like to draw your attention to the ending of the story in order to link it with your homework.

Let's return to the ending of the story, we know that Gogol, having remade the end of the story, takes away the hope of eradicating evil: the portrait that brought so much evil to people disappears without a trace, which means that evil has not been destroyed, it continues to roam the world.

6. Homework

Write an essay on the topic: “Does the second part of the “Portrait” refutes or confirms the idea of ​​the omnipotence of evil?”

Literature

1. Bibliography Gogol N.V. Collection. Op. : in 9 volumes / Comp. preparation text and commentary by V. A. Voropaev and V. V. Vinogradov. – M.: Russian Book, 1994.
2. Belinsky V. G. From articles and letters. // Gogol in the memoirs of his contemporaries. – M. Without m. ed., 1952.
3. Khrapchenko M. V. Nikolay Gogol. Literary path. The greatness of the writer. – M., 1984.
4. Mashkovtsev N. G. Gogol among artists. – M.: Art, 1955.
5. Marantsman V.G. On the way to Pushkin. – M., 1999.

Analysis of the story

Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol loved to describe Mystic stories, and after the publication of Pushkin’s “Queen of Spades” in 1834, he decided to write something similar, at the same time unique. The story “Portrait” was first published in 1835 in the book “Arabesques. Various works by N.V. Gogol”, and after the second edition by the author again in 1842 in the magazine “Sovremennik”. The story has certainly attracted the attention of critics due to its plot and style.

It is difficult to single out one main thing in it.

hero, since each part has its own character around whom the plot is built. However, according to the external outline of events, the main character is still the young and talented artist Andrei Chartkov, who bought a portrait of an old man unknown to him at one of the St. Petersburg auctions. His attention was attracted by the liveliness of the portrait and the eyes of the sitter penetrating deep into the soul. He looked from the unfinished portrait as if he were alive and seemed about to come out of the frame and speak.

But the experienced Chartkov understood that this effect in the painting was preserved thanks to the masterful work of the artist, whoever he was. It's interesting what the author chose

such a strange surname for his hero. It not only hurts the ear, but indicates that the artist is under the power of an evil spell fraught with devilry. No other character in the story is given a first and last name. In the second part, the author introduces two more artists, the Son and the Father, who are directly related to the Moneylender depicted in the portrait. In it we learn the true history of the fateful picture.

In fact, the moneylender had a bad reputation during his lifetime. Everyone who has ever borrowed money from him has faced a series of misfortunes. Some went crazy, others committed suicide, and others became terribly envious or jealous. When he turned to a neighboring painter with a request to draw his portrait, he could not even suspect how this story would turn out. Unable to complete the portrait, he fled to the monastery. At the same time, he lost all his relatives, except for his eldest son, who studied far from home.

He had long tried to find and destroy this portrait, because he understood that he had committed a sin by capturing evil spirit on him, who could cause harm to people even after his death. One of the victims of the evil usurer was the artist Chartkov, whom the portrait first enriched, made him a famous and successful person in high circles, and then a madman. In the end, from envy of the works of other artists, Chartkov went crazy. He bought the best paintings and burned them. He himself soon died of consumption.

In the second part of the story, we see how the son of a Kolomna painter tries to buy a portrait of a moneylender at auction. He tells those present the terrible history of the painting so that they will allow him to buy it back and destroy it. But as soon as he completes the story, it turns out that the painting has somehow mysteriously disappeared, evaporated from the place where it hung. Someone suggested that it was stolen, but the artist strongly doubted it. No one managed to destroy the terrible portrait.

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