Vasilii Vereshchagin: Master of the Historical Genre
In the second half of the 19th century Vasilii Vereshchagin was a major figure in the artistic life of Russia and the most well-known Russian artist in the West. Exhibitions of his paintings showing powerful, compelling and often unforgettable images were seen as major cultural events in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Paris, London, Berlin, New York, and many other major cities where they attracted thousands of visitors.
In addition to being an accomplished battle painter who documented the brutal nature of modern warfare and the devastating results of many military conflicts, Vereshchagin was arguably the most well-known Russian Orientalist. An historian, ethnographer, journalist, geographer and indefatigable traveler, Vereshchagin spent time in Central Asia, the Himalayas, India, Tibet, the Middle East, the Philippines, and Japan and aimed to document the places, people, clothing, and customs of the indigenous people with utmost accuracy and truthfulness at the time when ethnographic studies and systematic documentation of the native cultures were only beginning.
Solomon’s Wall: A Magnificent Work from the Palestinian Series
By the 1880’s, Vasilii Vereshchagin’s reputation as a master of the historical genre and Russia’s greatest battle painter was well established. Though he was embraced by the liberal art critics as an utter realist in art and idolized by the general public, Vereshchagin faced criticism and opposition from the Russian authority for his allegedly biased portrayals of wars and unnecessary brutal accuracy of depiction. Vicious attacks unleashed by the reactionary press led the artist to begin contemplating a new project, one that would take him far away from the stifling atmosphere of the political reaction that seized Russia after the tragic assassination of Emperor Alexander II in 1881 and would give him an opportunity to travel to another exotic and mysterious land –Palestine.
Upon arrival in Palestine in 1883, Vereshchagin was captivated by the solemn beauty of the Holy Land, and was inspired by its historic monuments and sites seen as sacred by the Christians, the Jews, and the Muslims. Inspired by the important cultural monuments in the region, Vereshchagin painted many sites significant to the Jewish as well as Christian traditions. Among his subjects were the Tomb of Abraham, the Valley of Ezdraelon, the Tombs of the Kings, the remains of the ancient town of Bethsaida, and old Jewish Tombs near Jerusalem. What was planned to be a short study trip for one painting became a two years adventure, which resulted in a collection of works known as the Palestinian Series, of which the current work is one of the finest examples.
Solomon’s Wall or Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, one of the Jews’ holiest places for prayer and assembly, left an unforgettable impression on the artist. Rather then romanticizing the subject, Vereshchagin shows a sun-drenched, weathered stone wall towering over the large crowd of weary pilgrims who sit, stand or kneel in front of the sacred remnants of the ancient Temple. Hundreds of worshippers of all ages and types crowd the space hoping to gain a solemn private moment at the Wailing Wall, but instead, find themselves queuing in the long line of pious believers. Vereshchagin presents not a Biblical drama, but a common scene, almost journalistic in its natural authenticity. It is not the enormity of the wall that captures the imagination; it is the parade of characters in the unfolding human drama.
The Western Wall (Hebrew: ????? ???????, translit.: HaKotel HaMa'aravi) (Arabic: ???? ???????, translit.: ??'i? Al-Bur?q), sometimes referred to as the Wailing Wall or simply the Kotel (lit. Wall; Ashkenazic pronunciation: Kosel), and as al-Buraaq Wall by Muslims, is an important Jewish religious site located in the Old City of Jerusalem.
The name “Wailing Wall”, and descriptions such as "wailing place" appeared regularly in English literature during the 19th century. The name Mur des Lamentations was used in French and Klagemauer in German. This term itself was a translation of the Arabic el-Mabka, or "Place of Weeping," the traditional Arabic term for the wall. This description stemmed from the Jewish practice of coming to the site to mourn and bemoan the destruction of the Temple.
The Western Wall commonly refers to an 187 feet (57 m) exposed section of ancient wall situated on the western flank of the Temple Mount. This section faces a large plaza and is set aside for prayer. In its entirety however, the above ground portion of the Western Wall stretches for 1,600 feet (488 m), most of which is hidden behind residential structures built along its length.
In the second half of the 16th century, Suleiman the Magnificent gave the Jews rights to worship at the Western Wall and had his court architect Sinan build an oratory for them there
Jews may often be seen sitting for hours at the Wailing-place bent in sorrowful meditation over the history of their race, and repeating oftentimes the words of the Seventy-ninth Psalm. On Fridays especially, Jews of both sexes, of all ages, and from all countries, assemble in large numbers to kiss the sacred stones and weep outside the precincts they may not enter.
