This Painting Was an Act of Revenge. Here's Why. 

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One detail in this painting which is just immaculate is that the flowers in her crown are still buds and not yet fully bloomed. I think this symbolizes how she herself is not yet ready for the situation she is in.

I love that she mentions how carelessly the bride is holding the candle, as if she could easily drop it. At this time in history, deaths caused by petticoats catching on fire were not terribly uncommon. In fact, both of the writer Oscar Wilde's sisters died this way; absolutely horrific. This depiction in the painting in regard to the way she's holding that candle almost seems as if she's considered ending her life to avoid this marriage. Fascinating!

If it's true that elderly grooms called off their weddings to their much younger and unwilling brides, it is a fantastic example of the impact art can have on society. It is wonderful that this painting struck a chord and became so acclaimed that other artists did their own versions of this theme. Thank you for doing this very informative video, it was very thought-provoking for me.

In Russia it is commonly considered that two older brides are the ghosts of the groom’s late wifes. Ghost topic was very popular in Russian literature and conversation at that time. The condemning look on the old bride tells a lot. As if she were saying “ you mistreated me and led me to the grave, now you wouldn’t stop and still want to take a fresh life.”

Women, especially from middle through very wealthy classes, were consistently forced to marry the family choice, a choice based on status and money. Girls were commodities. I am 71. When teaching at a University, one if my most intelligent female students, who came from an old wealthy family confessed she wanted to go to medical school but could not because her marriage into another old wealthy family had already been arranged. She loathed her prospective groom. When I asked her why she could not refuse, she told me she would be disinherited and never see her siblings, whom she loved, again. She also had no ability to support herself. So…I’m guessing her wedding night, as it was for many women of the period during which this piece was created, was a rape.

This got me emotional. He was so thoughtful in portraying female pain. He actually made people sympathetic to what women went through during that time.

This literally reminds me of the life of one of my ancestors, except she chose to elope with the poor farm boy rather than marry the old man she was engaged to. In the 1860s, they eloped from Ireland all the way to New Zealand (where i am today). She was an aristocrat and one day happened to meet a English Captain of a ship who recognised her, but he turned his back on her the moment he realised who she was. He must have told her family he saw her, because years later her father came all the way to NZ to beg her to return. He saw her on two occasions, the first time she was peeling potatoes and the second time she was baking and covered in flour (humiliating moments considering she came from an aristocratic family and never did work like this at home). He told her if she went home with him (leaving behind her small children) and married the old guy, the family would accept her back. She chose to stay in NZ, disowned and disconnected from her family for the rest of her life. Im proud of my ancestor~~ but i feel sorry for any woman who had to go through something like this is the picture. It would have been horrible to marry an old man, leaving behind someone you love. I can’t imagine that pain… but either situation is painful. I guess it comes down to what decision the individual thinks they can live with.

How do you find these paintings with such interesting backstories?? Your channel is so delightful, please do this for the next 10 years

I love that he would risk so much to express his distaste for what was going on at the time, not knowing how the public would take it. He deserves some applause not only for a phenomenal, expressive painting, but for having the guts to paint it.

I'm a Russian artist and I know the history of this painting, we learn about it in schools. The second theory is true. The man behind the bride (Sofja Rybnikova) is the Pukirev's friend - Sergey Varentsov. He threw a tantrum because of the cynical use of his personal tragedy, so Pukirev had to add his facial features (like a beard) to the portrait in order to solve the problem and to save the friendship. The groom (Karzinkin) on the painting is a general, but in real life he was a rich manufacturer. And he wasn't too old, he was 38 years old.

Such a beautiful painting, you can truly feel the pain in the bride's eyes. I love how you can analyze paintings, it's very interesting to listen to someone with a good idea of art explain such an amazing piece.

A reminder of how women have, through the ages, been treated like commodities. Families used attractive young daughters as a way to gain a connection to money and power. Glad to learn some such weddings were called off, after the painting was seen!

The bride's pain is so palpable. It's devastating to witness. Some of the best art is honest art; art that shows the whole truth, especially when that particular truth usually goes ignored.

This reminds me of how my great grandma was forced to marry man that she didn’t love. He snuck into her room and laid in bed with her. When her parents entered the room and found him in her bed, they forced them to get married. She hadn’t even known he was there and had only awoken when her parents started yelling after finding him there.

I love how most of the flowers on the young bride are closed buds yet to bloom. Beautiful detail!

I have no doubt that this painting was popular in it’s time, especially with women. The fact that this piece actually shamed some older grooms (who, were quite literally “groomers”) into breaking their engagements makes me so happy 🙌 A case of life imitating art, as it were - and I am here for it! BTW, does anyone else think that the bride resembles Queen Victoria?

her eyes just hold the entire story in them, the sorrow , the pain , her hopelessness , the bitter truth she can't walk away from....the artist was truly great for putting all such emotion in her eyes

I’ve always been intrigued by this painting and the story behind it. I was lucky to be the most happy bride on the planet when marrying my spouse last Sunday! BUT this painting is a stark reminder that for a lot of people during history, and even today, marriage can be worse than a funeral

An interesting fact about the groom's award : the cross on his neck - the Order of Vladimir of the second degree, which in the history of Russia was awarded to about 3 thousand people(which is about 22 awards per year from 1782 - 1917) and 700 people the first degree. The Cavalier of this order must always wear this award and when receiving higher awards, the order had only to change its place. The star on the chest complements this order. Upd: wow! Thank you for so many likes,I didn't expect this. So I added another cool fact in the comments

Imagine drawing the most heartbreaking scene of his life. Man... I am an artist but I can't do that.

Interesting to know that at traditional orthodox wedding nobody asking if anyone objects to this union - by the time of actual wedding ceremony the union is already looked on and approved by the church and nobody has an authority to dispute it. The priest doesn't even asks newlyweds do they want to get married or not - it's assumed they do so he just ask them to say their vows, which are also scripted. The whole ceremony, with vows and blessings, takes 40-60 minutes.

This is sadly still the fate of some women. (Story time!) A high school friend of mine was engaged at age 13 to a man in his 30s. The man was rich and politically powerful in her homeland. He covered the family's cost of immigrating to America, with the family planning to repay him by giving him their daughter. Until she was old enough to marry, he was basically holding her father hostage, refusing to let him immigrate and rejoin the family until they "paid up." Her family told her that she had to obey her future husband in all things because, if she disobeyed or shamed him, her father was in grave jeopardy. That included being pressured into intimacy at just 15. She would tell me about this between classes, and while it sounded like she was thrilled by sex and the danger of him being an older man (like, serious LEGAL DANGER but we weren't fully aware of laws like that back then) there was still the fact that she believed she COULDN'T disobey him. So in reality, there was never true consent, and she cried on my shoulder some days when the thrill turned into feelings of intense guilt, believing she was sinning. Shortly after turning 16, she got pregnant. Her fiance demanded she tell no one, get an abortion (despite it being against their religion), or her father would be put to death! She showed up to school sobbing and vomiting from fear. I convinced her, he had no power here, the ball was fully in her court, and it was time she broke this off. We hatched a plan to blackmail her fiance: free her father and call off the wedding, or she would go to the police to report him for having sex with a minor. I would be on standby: if she "vanished," I would go to the police with a letter handwritten by her. He'd be arrested for both being a sexual predator and extortion, and he could lose his businesses in the United States. It was a massive gamble, but it worked. His reputation was more important to him than money or some teen bride. Her father finally made it to America, and she was free from the engagement. The whole experience was so stressful, she miscarried. Which in a way further liberated her, since she didn't want a baby yet, and a custody battle could've ended up ugly. To celebrate, she removed her head scarf, cut her hair, and bought her first pair of blue jeans. To her, this was symbolic of her feeling like she could finally be FULLY an American teenager.

I love these posts. Please keep making more. I don’t have an eye for detail, and your deep dives into the meaning of these works is invaluable to me. I love art, but know so little of it. Thank you for these graduate lessons.

This painting takes “paint your pains” to a whole ’nother level.

The bride wears orange blossoms wreath/tiara on her head, traditional at that time for brides, as the orange blossoms symbolised purity, innocence, virtue, and fertility. And sometimes they were also ascribed to signify the desire for true & pure love.

It reminds me ALOT from an animation showcase on Gobelins called "Louise", about ballerinas going backstage after a show in order to get together with these older but richer men I personally love the animation and shows how wealth is portrayed in the play, the main character looks for a man of high status offering herself to obtain the money she is looking for, very sad but true its a great animation that I was reminded of with this video

This instantly reminded me of the painting 'The Wedding' (also known as 'Unequal Marriage') and 'An unequal marriage' by Spanish painter Goya, which were painted at the end of the 18th century. In them, Goya critiques this custom of marring off young women to ensure their financial stability, often to much older men, which was a topic often broached by neoclassical thinkers in Spain at the time (i.e.: 'The Maidens' Consent, Leandro Fernández de Moratín) . I'd like to think Pukirev was inspired by Goya (at least in the naming of the piece) to continue protesting this reality 70 years later, especially since it affected him so deeply (which as far as I know wasn't Goya's case, he was doing a social commentary). Also, excellent video, this channel is amazing :)

It honestly pains me seeing unequal marriages with an unhappy person in the marriage, groom or bride. Having people or their parents choose more well-off partners to “give them a brighter, better future” is most likely just setting them up and giving them an unhappy marriage.

Just stumbled across this channel last week - love it. Thank you for all the work you put into your videos!

Im so glad that you took a look at the Russian art. I hope you will discuss more and more great works (Demons by Vrubel or Princess Tarakanova by Flavitsky and even more) There is a little detail about the candles in the brides' and grooms' hands. Back in those days in Russian wedding tradition there was a belief that whoever holds theirs candle higher would be senior and leading the household. Here we see how the groom holds his candle strictly mostly like a leash even. While the bride's hand is almost willingless as her future position in this marriage. It may be assumed that she is an orphan who is forced to marry "well" so it's no doubt that bride, being a literal purchase, is gonna be suffocated and abused, especially financially by her husband.

I love the way I could instantly feel her sadness. The way he drew her expression to be so clear that she's distraught is amazing. As a person who draws (traditionally) its so difficult to express such deep emotions of sorrow, anger, insanity, ECT. Emotions to me is something special that people express and seeing it drawn so accurately is really lovely.

This reminds me of my wedding day. Feeling forced to marry someone whom I wasn't actually in love with. Luckily, the marriage only lasted 2.5 years, and we never had kids together, thank God.

Whoa! That's so sad! Thank you, suffragettes! You did more for women than you might have realized! Thank you for your bravery! ❤

I‘m so happy to hear that the painting had an effect in the public eye. It reminds me that art can have a huge effect on the zeitgeist of an era and that it can foster progressive change. Thank you for putting so much work into your RU-vid channel! ❤️ Altough I don’t consider myself a huge art fan, the way that you tell the storys behind these paintings sparks my interest and makes me connect to them.

the way that the groom look at her seems like he's just checking to make sure she's doing everything right. It really emphasizes how she's being forced into this marriage.

I love how this painting showed how forced, loveless, arranged marriages for merely the sole purpose of social climbing was awful for everyone, especially the bride. Marriage should be for love and many loving relationships between two people meant for each other were ruined because a girl's parents were more obsessed with status or some old rich guy wanted a trophy / baby factory even if he had distain for her. I'm happy that this painting and those like it acted as a catalyst for people to slowly start to change their attitudes. Granted upward social mobility has a lot harder to do back then and some very poor people get desperate but stuff like this marriage seems to be more out of greed on the bride's parents than desperation since it's likely that they were a people of means with jobs, a home, food, etc. (but of a more modest background). Better to be of modest means but deeply in love and compatible than to be in a marriage of monetary wealth with without love, compatibility or mutual attraction. When a marriage and home is loving, there will be a loving family and thus, happier, more well adjusted kids... leading to a society of well adjusted people. Wealth is overrated. As long as one lives in relative comfort with bills paid and needs met, that's all that truly matters. Also, these arranged marriages often involved a woman who was already "spoken for" with a guy she liked. Basically the old rich guy stole another man's sweetheart and that's just a dick move. Get your own woman, you idiot! Don't grab another man's woman! This was just as much about macho posturing as it was about social climbing, contracts and alliances.

I really like the way you go about explaining the history of paintings in your videos❤️❤️

I cant help but notice how handsome the artist looks in the painting. He’s the second most beautiful person after the bride.

"Strange placement of a woman" is not because she is a ghost, but she is standing there on groom's side, because she is a matchmaker, watching the result of her efforts, and maybe, thinking of money to come to her after the wedding.

I love stories of art that influence a society. This piece was a message that the artist wanted to convey, and it reached people. I’m sad that the girl didn’t get to live a more happier life, but hearing that marriages were called off in response to this message’s resonance makes me hope that at least some women were able to avoid an unfulfilling marriage

The skill the painter shows in every face, fabric, and ringlet is astounding! I wonder if painting with such perfect detail has become a lost art.

I’m learning more from your videos than I’ve ever learned in art history. You describing a piece of artwork has never been more entertaining for me. And not to mention the videos are in perfect bite size pieces without drawing it out too far and making it boring. I can’t thank you enough for creating this BRILLIANT concept for a video

old paintings are so impressive for no reason, why are people so talented?

I’ve never seen this painting, it is masterfully done, but the message is even more interesting. A reminder that behind much of the art are the stories of real men and women who lived well before our time.

This is one of my favorite paintings. When I saw it in the Tretyakov Gallery, I couldn’t stop looking at it. It has so many emotions and almost like the painting of not just a moment of life, an episode, but the whole life itself. Very powerful! Thank you so much for sharing the story behind this masterpiece! Very interesting! 🥰🥰🥰

I think the bride is beautifully painted. Her face tells the story.

I don't think the groom is looking at the bride but at the young man standing behind her, the painter. They're exchanging looks in a silent dialogue. The painter seems to say "Really? You happy now?" and the groom is showing his despise, looking down on him, like "see lad, this is what you get when you have money, now move on"

This painting reminds me of my cousin being a teenage bride to a 35 year old man and no one standing up for her

What a masterpiece of detail! Truly amazing how a whole story is told through a glance, a careless hand or the onlookers in the background. Everything is this painting serves a purpose, nothing left to chance.

This channel is really educating, it is amazing how much art could mean for the environment back in the days

Very interesting idea about the ladies in the background. The wreath on the woman in white does look like a Russian Orthodox wedding wreath so the woman could indeed be the groom’s deceased wife. Cool !!

I love your videos so much!! Thanks you for all the time you spend researching and sharing.

No one is better at bring out the details of a painting than you, and so enjoyably!

So this is the reason why people keep staring at a painting for 40 minutes in art gallery. At first i thought it was about devouring each stroke and texture of every colour but now i think it is really about looking at the art while knowing the backstory.

I love how you explain the paintings; straight to the point and not an hour long.

I'm so glad I found this channel that tells the stories of paintings in a interesting way not just a bunch of boring lectures. Well done 😁

In my genealogy research in the 17th to early 19th century, influential men often outlive several wives. The next wife was always young and bore several children. What is creepy is that the18-25 something wife often bears 6 to 8 children to the 40-65-year-old husband and at the end of his life he sires 4-5 deceased young children and15-18 children in total after being married three to four times. His last wife of 45 sees her husband's death and half of the total children not make it adult hood. Then the eldest son inherits the estate, and the last wife remarries and has a few more children by her older second husband.

Thanks artist. For freeing soo many young brides

I saw this painting at the Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow. I stopped and stared at it for almost an hour before realizing I should probably move on. EDIT: I was sitting here thinking about that trip, and suddenly I recalled that I actually went back the next day _just to look at this painting some more._ Well worth the money.

I just can't stop looking at how beautiful the lace on her dress is...

you make me see art , not just pictures. you are good at this...thank you.

I love that this painting had a positive impact. Art had so much power. Maybe he wasnt rich, but he made a statement had a difference.

You’ve shown me a few amazing paintings that I had never seen before. I love your selections!

Sadly such abuse of power still happens today to many young women across the world, forced into marriages that benefited others more than the bride. At the very least, this issue was made aware and some call-to-action came from it...

I'm infatuated with your channel and your work. Thank you for presenting so many different types of paintings and making classical art accessible to all

This painting saved so many of the women of Europe. Thank you thank you thank you.

You did a WONDERFUL JOB relating to the audience what it was the Artist wanted to convey. Thank-God we live in a world that a woman DOES NOT HAVE TO MARRY SOMEONE SHE DOESN'T LOVE!!!!

My mother tried to arrange my marriage when I was not wedded at 22-23. I told her absolutely NOT. I was actually quite terrified that she would actually do it behind my back. ... God knows, who I would have ended up with if She had carried through with that plan to ask an uncle to send a man from her home town. Luckily I met a wonderful, wonderful man just two years younger than myself several years later... my mother wasn't happy with him and she fussed some, because he wasn't our faith nor our culture, but I told her that I was truly in love and she relented because she realized I could cut all ties with my family. Thank God, we women have such power now!

I've never seen this painting before, it's quite beautiful and sad. But the background story was amazing, thank you.

Honestly when i first saw this painting the first thing i thought is "the bride looks very sad..:("

This guy has photographic skill, I’m so blown away. It’s a great asset to truly depict this moment in a compelling way.

This painting is eery to me because I just got married and the man in the corner looks EXACTLY like my husband. It got me thinking about how if we were born in a different time we probably wouldn’t be together and looking at this painting is especially heartbreaking to me

You have an incredible gift for storytelling. Would love to see you cover other topics as well, but these painting analyses are fantastic

BABE WAKE UP NEW ART DECO VIDEO JUST DROPPED

Wonderfully narrated and interesting backstories! Love it!

I love this channel! I knew the painting but you explaining the meaning made it even more heartbreaking to look at.

That painting is so uncomfortable. I got excited though to hear it inspired other paintings, influenced others for the good and caused inapropriate weddings to be cancelled. A powerful painting indeed!!

This channel is excellent and more people need to see your videos. I don't know much about paintings or art but I find these fascinating and entertaining. Thanks!

When researching my family tree I discovered (as so many people do) some rather shocking things. My grandfather was youngest of his father's children. He was born in 1891. His father, rather appropriately named Adam, by then in his late 80's had 3 children with his second wife who was only 19 when she married him. Now Adam wasn't a wealthy man in general terms. But in the farming villages locally he probably was. He was a farmer and owned his farm. That meant security in very perilous times. Further research revealed that Adam had himself married a widow when he was a young man. His first wife was born in 1785 and almost 20 years his senior. It is how he came by the farm! They had three children. It was rather amusing because I ha to break it to their descendants on 'Ancestry' that Adam had gone on to have a whole other family (they assumed he had not remarried at that age and had died) .

I started admiring art pieces because of your videos 🥰

this is such an amazing work of art. we can see her suffering clearly. thank you for the explanation!

What a wonderful video. Thank you for helping me to actually SEE the complexity in this painting.

Those two faces! (Well, 4 if you add the late wives'.) That poor girl is little more than a child, and it takes no imagination to know what is in store for her. I can't decide if the other onlookers are disapproving, or voyeuristic ... but it is an honest depiction of a horrifying reality. One can only hope that the legend of old men calling off inappropriate/opportunistic weddings is true.

I cannot for the life of me understand paintings, or the stories behind them, I really love these videos, they're calming, funny and informative!

I'm obsessed with these Video's. They are actually so interesting and entertaining. Just well done😊

Thank you so much for the enlightenment.

Thank you for not having nonstop background mood music that seems ubiquitous. These are well done and the absence of demanding music is lovely

When she mentioned the 2 women could've been "ghosts" I thought they were 2 of his brides before the current bride which he by his own hands led to their death

I've watched all of these and hoping for many more to come out, I love these kind of videos. Hearing all the details and stories about such beautiful pieces of history is too interesting not to hear about (This must take tons of time to make though ngl)

I've loved watching (and potentially binging) these painting analysis videos. The points you bring up in each video are so fascinating. I myself am not so well-versed into art history and appreciation, but it's something that I explore from time to time out of interest. No video has been uninteresting or left blank, just like the paintings you discuss in each video. I have a particular request/recommendation for a painting you can delve into next. Could you please do a video on Edward Hopper's "Hotel Room"?

Not only is this painting stunning in every way, this is such a bold move from the artist that ended up helping the slow yet gradual movement of women's freedom. So much respect for the artist

this is just a true, beautiful peace of art..

I would also like to point out the reddish-pink looking "stain" on the bride's skirts near the groin area, which to me comes across as looking like blood for "loss of virginity and innocence", which adds to the horror of the painting

These videos have so much more personality that other art analysis channels'. These are so educational and entertaining💛

In the earlier sketch, the groom's expression looks less bored. He's smiling a bit - kind of lecherously, but it's a noticeable difference.

That painting made me actually shed a tear.

It's amazing what you are able to read from these pictures. They're all just a jumble of people painted on canvases to me with vague to no real rhyme or reason. The fact that you can help someone like me enter a conversation about a painting by putting up '1000 words' on it is a pretty awesome channel concept.

Just discovered you this morning. You are my new favorite channel! So bitchy and revealing. Love to see people in the past being subversive just like our favorite artists are today. Thank you for this revelation.

You could easily outsmart those geezers by letting them chase you on the wedding night, let them chase you whole night long until they drop dead at your feet, then you're free again to marry who the hell you want. That's what I would do, frick the money, status and the parents! 😆 Edit Beautiful, fascinating, heart burning painting, looking for more of this artist!