The Tretyakov family. Tretyakovs: dogs bark, but the caravan moves on
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The Tretyakovs came from an old, but not wealthy, merchant family. Elisha Martynovich Tretyakov, the great-grandfather of Pavel and Sergei Mikhailovich, from the merchants of the city of Maly Yaroslavets, arrived in Moscow in 1774, a seventy-year-old man, with his wife Vasilisa Trifonovna, née Bychkova, and two sons, Zakhar and Osip. In Maloyaroslavets, the Tretyakov merchant family existed since 1646. In 1800, Zakhar Eliseevich, left a widower with young children, married again in 1801; from his second wife, Avdotya Vasilievna,
son Mikhail was born. In 1831, Mikhail Zakharovich married Alexandra Danilovna Borisova. He died in 1850, at the age of 49. He had children: the eldest son Pavel Mikhailovich, born in 1832, Sergei Mikhailovich (1834), Elizaveta Mikhailovna (1835), Sofya Mikhailovna (1839) and Nadezhda Mikhailovna. Pavel Mikhailovich was married to Vera Nikolaevna Mamontova, Sergei Mikhailovich - to Elizaveta Sergeevna Mazurina. Elizaveta Mikhailovna was married to Vladimir Dmitrievich Konshin, Sofya Mikhailovna was married to Yakov
Fedorovich Hartung. All children received a complete home education. Teachers visited homes, and Mikhail Zakharovich himself supervised the children’s education.
The history of the Tretyakov family essentially boils down to the biography of two brothers, Pavel and Sergei Mikhailovich. It is not often that the names of two brothers are so closely related to each other. During their lifetime, they were united by genuine family love and friendship. They live in eternity as the creators of the Gallery named after the brothers Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov. Both brothers continued their father's business, first trading, then industrial. They owned the most famous new Kostroma linen manufactory. They were flax workers, and
flax in Russia has always been revered as an indigenous Russian product. Slavophile economists like Kokorev always praised flax and contrasted it with foreign “American” cotton. The Tretyakovs' commercial and industrial affairs were very successful, but still this family was never considered one of the richest; mentioning this, I emphasize that when creating his famous Gallery, Pavel Mikhailovich spent huge amounts, especially for that time, - money, perhaps somewhat to the detriment of his own well-being
families. Both brothers were diligently engaged in their industrial affairs, but this did not prevent them from devoting a lot of time to other activities: both of them were widely involved in charity work, in particular, they created the very valuable Arnold-Tretyakov School for the deaf and dumb in Moscow. There was something else: Sergei Mikhailovich worked a lot in city government, was the mayor. Pavel Mikhailovich devoted himself entirely to collecting paintings. Both brothers were collectors, but Sergei Mikhailovich collected as an amateur; Paul
Mikhailovich saw this as a kind of mission entrusted to him by Providence.
There is a whole literature about the Tretyakov Gallery. Recently, a book compiled by his daughter, Alexandra Pavlovna Botkina, “Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov in Life and Art,” was published in Soviet Russia. No, therefore, I think there is no reason to dwell on this in detail here. I will only quote, for completeness, a few lines outlining how he himself understood his mission: in his application to the Moscow City Duma about the transfer of his gallery and the gallery of his late brother to Moscow, he wrote,
that he does this “wishing to contribute to the establishment of useful institutions in my dear city, to promote the prosperity of art in Russia and, at the same time, to preserve the collection I have collected for eternity.” This last thought was reflected in his codicil to his spiritual will, made shortly before his death. Giving a different purpose for the bequeathed capital for the acquisition of new paintings, he says: “I find it neither useful nor desirable for the business for the Art Gallery to be replenished with art objects
after my death, since the collection is already very large and can still be increased, why it may become tiresome for viewing, and the nature of the collection may change, then for this reason I”... etc...
It must be said that this postscript, the legal significance of which was debated by lawyers, remained unfulfilled, and the Gallery began to change its character even before the revolution, when I. Grabar was at the head. Transfer of the Gallery to the city of P.M. I wanted to do it as quietly as possible, without any noise, not wanting to be the center of general attention and the object of gratitude. He failed and was very unhappy. He was especially upset by the congress of artists held in Moscow, which he did not attend, and by the article by V.V. Stasov in “Russian Antiquity”.
This article appeared in the December 1893 book and made a great impression. It was the first to outline the significance that Tretyakov’s collecting of paintings had for the development of Russian art and, in particular, painting. This is how Stasov characterizes Tretyakov as a collector:
“With a guide and a map in his hands, zealously and carefully, he reviewed almost all European museums, moving from one large capital to another, from one small Italian, Dutch and German town to another. And he became a real, deep and subtle connoisseur of painting. And yet he did not lose sight of the main goal; he never ceased to care most about the Russian school. This is why his art gallery is so little like our other Russian galleries. It is not a random collection of paintings, it is the result
knowledge, considerations, strict weighing and, most of all, deep love for your dear business. Kramskoy wrote to him in 1874: “I have been very interested, all the time I have known you, in one question: how could such a true lover of art be formed in you. I know very well that it is very difficult to love with reason.”
From marriage with N.V. Mamontova at P.M. there were six children - two sons and four daughters. One of the sons, Ivan, died as an eight-year-old boy. Another, Mikhail, survived his father, but was mentally ill. Two of the daughters, Alexandra and Maria, were married to two Botkin brothers, Sergei and Alexander Sergeevich. Sergei Sergeevich was a doctor of medicine, later a physician, like his father Sergei Petrovich. Vera Pavlovna was the wife of the famous musician A.I. Ziloti, and Lyubov Pavlovna married the artist
N.I. Gritsenko. Sergei Mikhailovich from his first marriage (with Eliz. Serg. Mazurina) had a son, Nikolai Sergeevich, who died relatively early; other sons from S.M. did not have. Nikolai Sergeevich was married to Alexandra Gustavovna Dunker, sister of engineer K.G. Dunkera. They had two sons and three daughters. The eldest son, a famous public figure, Sergei Nikolaevich Tretyakov, is married to N.S. Mamontova. I will have to talk about his social activities in Russia later.
TRETYAKOVS- the surname of two families of Russian merchants and entrepreneurs who were not related to each other.
The most famous Tretyakovs come from serf peasantry in the Kaluga province. The founder of the family, Elisey Martynovich Tretyakov, a merchant of the 3rd guild from 1774, was engaged in buying flax, after which, together with his son Zakhar, he moved from the Kaluga province to Moscow, began producing fabrics and acquired several flax spinning factories, mainly in Kostroma.
Elisha's grandson, Mikhail Zakharovich Tretyakov (1801–1850), heir to flax and flax spinning factories, became one of the largest industrialists. He gave his children, Pavel and Sergei, an excellent classical education. Both sons, without stopping their commercial and industrial activities, began collecting Russian art, investing their income in works of painting and sculpture.
Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov (1832–1898) began collecting paintings in 1856 and became close to the Association of Traveling Art Exhibitions (). He preferred works of a realistic nature. In selecting paintings, he was guided by the advice of famous artists and critics, visited private collections in Russia and Western Europe to replenish the collection, ordered paintings from artists himself, and acquired their painting collections. He considered his philanthropic activities as part of a national cause, the duty of a Russian patriot. Together with his brother Sergei Mikhailovich Tretyakov (1834–1892), who was the mayor of Moscow in 1877–1878 and also collected paintings, but Western ones, he also invested significant funds in the material support of beginning Russian artists and sculptors. In 1874, Pavel Tretyakov, using his own funds, built a special building in Moscow for an art gallery, opening halls for visitors in it in 1881 and laying the foundations of the Tretyakov Gallery as a publicly accessible public museum. After the death of his brother in 1892, who bequeathed to him his own art collection (1276 paintings and 471 drawings with a total value of 1 million 300 thousand rubles), Pavel Mikhailovich donated it to Moscow. After which he continued collecting and expanding the collection at his own expense and remained its lifelong trustee. In 1893 he was elected a full member of the Academy of Arts.
The grandson of Sergei Mikhailovich Tretyakov, Sergei Nikolaevich Tretyakov (1882–1943), after graduating from the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of Moscow University in 1905, headed the Partnership of the Greater Kostroma Linen Manufactory. In 1909 he replaced A.I. Konovalov ( cm . KONOVALOV) as chairman of the Kostroma Committee of Trade and Manufactures. Since 1910 - Chairman of the All-Russian Society of Flax Industrialists. In 1912 - foreman of the Moscow Exchange Committee and at the same time a member of the Central Committee of the Progressive Party. Together with A.I. Konovalov and P.P. Ryabushinsky, he was a member of the group of “young” (30–40-year-old) Moscow progressive entrepreneurs who advocated the creation of a constitutional system in Russia with the transfer of power from the nobility to the business bourgeoisie. He was married to Natalya Savvishna Mamontova (daughter of Savva Mamontov), a representative of the richest Moscow merchant family. During the First World War, Tretyakov was deputy chairman of the Moscow Military-Industrial Committee (since 1915), which supplied the army with weapons and ammunition. In 1915 he headed the Moscow Military-Industrial Committee and was a member of the Central Committee of the Central Military-Industrial Committee. In 1916 - Deputy Chairman of the Moscow Exchange Committee. In the February Revolution of 1917 - comrade-chairman of the executive committee of the Committee of Public Organizations of Moscow, in March 1917 - comrade-chairman of the All-Russian Union of Trade and Industry; according to the list of cadets, he was then elected a member of the Moscow City Duma. In September 1917 he joined the Provisional Third Coalition Government as chairman of the Main Economic Committee. On October 25, together with other ministers of the Provisional Government, he was arrested in the Winter Palace and imprisoned in the Peter and Paul Fortress. He was released from there at the end of February 1918, went to Paris, from where, at the suggestion of Admiral Kolchak, he agreed to come to Siberia, to Omsk. There, in November 1919, he headed, as Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers, the anti-Soviet Provisional Government, which soon moved to Irkutsk. After the defeat of Kolchak's armies, he fled from Irkutsk to Paris. In January 1920 he became one of the organizers of the All-Russian Trade, Industrial and Financial Union in Paris. In August 1921 he was elected chairman of the Committee for Famine Relief in Russia. In 1924 he was one of the organizers of the Russian Committee of United Organizations, representing right-wing emigrant public organizations. He was in great need of emigration (his wife worked as a perfume saleswoman, his daughter made ladies' hats, his son remained unemployed). While working at the publishing house Illustrated Russia, in 1929 he met with I.A. Kirillov, a former leader of the Union of Cities in Siberia, as well as with a certain Okorokov, who once held the post of trade manager in Omsk. Both of them had long been associated with the Bolsheviks. Not wanting to enter into close contact with NKVD agents, but in great need of money, Sergei Tretyakov, nevertheless agreed to rent three apartments in Paris in his name, which began to be used by an agent network and were equipped with wiring leading directly to the USSR embassy in Paris on Rue du Grenelle.
During the occupation of Paris by the Nazis, he was exposed as a Soviet agent, arrested by the Gestapo and executed on April 16, 1944 in the concentration camp in Oranienburg.
Other famous Tretyakovs in Russia, also entrepreneurs, originate from the merchants of the city of Tarusa. The ancestor - Vladimir Nikolaevich (1780–1847, Moscow; buried with his descendants in the Spaso-Andronikov Monastery) was a Tarusa merchant, from 1808 he lived in Moscow; in 1830 - hereditary honorary citizen, manufacturing adviser; until 1847 church warden of the Assumption Cathedral in the Kremlin (in 1844 he made a large donation to the cathedral). He owned a cotton printing establishment in Serpukhovsky district. Moscow province, a paper weaving factory, which after his death were inherited by his widow Ulyana Alekseevna (1790 - ca. 1863) and sons. Since 1848, the enterprises existed under the name “V. Tretyakova’s widow and sons.”
The son of Vladimir and Ulyana Tretyakov, Alexander Vladimirovich (1816–1869), a manufacturing adviser, strengthened the position of the family by marrying in 1839 Natalya Konstantinovna Kumanina, the daughter of the Moscow mayor K.A. Kumanin. Since 1871, the family business was headed by his brother Konstantin Vladimirovich Tretyakov (1830–1908); it was he and his nephew V.A. Tretyakov who owned five houses on Pyatnitskaya Street, including their family estate. They became famous as donors for the development of education, for charity homes for widows and orphans of the merchant class. Konstantin Tretyakov was also an agent of the Serpukhov branch of the Ladies' Guardianship of the Poor, a trustee of the Moscow Teachers' Institute, and also vice-president of the Russian Society of Gardening Lovers. According to his spiritual will, the Moscow City Duma received in 1910 over 1 million rubles for the construction of free city hospitals.
Natalia Pushkareva,Irina Pushkareva
TRETYAKOVS
Merchants and patrons
The Tretyakovs are Russian merchants, famous for their artistic taste and philanthropy, a family to which Russian culture owes a lot. Russian merchant Maloyaroslavl family (mentioned since 1646). They traded in linen and yarn and owned textile enterprises.
In 1774, the first Tretyakov, seventy-year-old Elisey Martynovich, moved to Moscow. His son, Zakhar Eliseevich, settled in Zamoskvorechye with his wife Lukerya Lukinichna and five children. When his wife died, he married a second time, and in this marriage two sons were born - Mikhail and Sergei.
In 1816, Zakhar Eliseevich was the owner of five adjacent shops on the corner of Kholshchevoy and Zlatokruzhevy rows near Ilyinka. Feeling the approach of the last hour, he contributed the necessary amount of money to the guardianship council ahead of time to provide for his minor sons.
After the death of Zakhar Eliseevich, the brothers traded each for themselves, and in 1830 the final division took place. The parental home and inheritance of the deceased Sergei went to Mikhail Zakharovich, but still in Moscow he was considered a poor merchant and an unenviable groom. When in 1831 Mikhail Zakharovich married the daughter of the merchant Borisov, who exported lard to England, Muscovites considered that the marriage was unequal: after all, Borisov gave a dowry of 15 thousand rubles, and the bride was 11 years younger than the groom.
Nevertheless, the young people loved each other. They lived modestly, but in complete harmony. His wife, Alexandra Danilovna, ran the household, and Mikhail Zakharovich spent all day doing business. But there was also a place for relaxation: we went on holidays to Sokolniki, and during the season we visited the theater on Sundays.
In total, this happy couple had 11 children, but six of them died of scarlet fever, but two sons, Pavel and Sergei, became the pride of the family and earned the gratitude of their descendants.
The Tretyakov brothers were friends with the parish priest A.A. from childhood. Vinogradov, with the Rubinstein family and with their neighbors Medintsev. Of the five Medintsev brothers, the most famous was Alexander, the owner of the first numismatic collection. The company was noisy and cheerful, the young people often visited each other and formed a kind of circle in which Pavel Tretyakov was nicknamed Archimandrite for his extraordinary seriousness (inherited from his mother) and external resemblance to hermits from ancient Byzantine images. He was tall, stooped, wore a light brown beard, had brown eyes and surprisingly thick eyebrows. His arms were long and his fingers were surprisingly thin. For this “elongation” and sophistication he was also called the Englishman.
Once at the Bolshoi Theater at the Italian opera, Pavel Mikhailovich saw a girl who captivated him at first sight. It was Vera Nikolaevna Mamontova. But the lover Tretyakov did not dare to approach the beauty and only from afar, hiding in some corner, admired her for several winters. A closer acquaintance occurred only in 1865, when, after the death of her mother and brother, Vera Nikolaevna settled with her brother’s widow, Elizaveta Mikhailovna. They were both wonderful pianists and often visited the Kaminskys. Kaminsky took on the role of matchmaker and brought together Pavel Mikhailovich and Vera Nikolaevna. The wedding took place on August 22, 1865.
Vera Nikolaevna fell into favor with Tretyakov. She had extraordinary femininity and a simply fantastic ability to resolve any conflicts and misunderstandings, and she did it unobtrusively and extremely kindly. The young wife did not understand anything about economic matters, so she did not touch them. At the insistence of Pavel Mikhailovich, who loved music, she continued to improve her performing skills.
On November 10, 1868, Pavel’s brother Sergei also got married. His wife, Elena Andreevna Matveeva, was a woman of extraordinary beauty, but had a very quarrelsome character. She did not seek to win the love of her new family, directing all her efforts to promoting her husband through the ranks. And Elena Andreevna succeeded in this field: in the same year, Sergei Mikhailovich was already a member of the Moscow Council of Trade and Manufactures. In January 1877, he was elected Moscow mayor, in 1878 he became a state councilor, and in 1882 - a full state councilor.
While serving as mayor, he organized the All-Russian Trade and Industrial Exhibition in Moscow, organized a fundraiser for the maintenance and repair of the monument to A.S. Pushkin, built permanent bridges across the Moscow River. For a long time he served as chairman of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists, and invested his own money in the publication of the Art Magazine.
In 1866, Pavel Mikhailovich’s family grew - their first daughter, Vera, was born, then there were two more daughters and two sons. At the same time, the family trading business expanded, branches and offices were opened in other cities, and in 1866 the “Association of the Greater Kostroma Linen Manufactory” was established with a capital of 270 thousand rubles.
Pavel Mikhailovich became the director of the board of the Partnership, a member of the board of the Moscow merchant bank, a member of the boards of the Guardianship of the Poor in Moscow and the Moscow Art Society, he maintained the Arnold School for deaf and mute children.
Pavel Mikhailovich provided financial assistance to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, and to individual artists - I.V. Kramskoy, N.N. Ge, A.K. Savrasov (buying their paintings and lending money). He was also worried about the health of artists, for example, about I.I. Shishkin, when he fell ill with typhus, or about F.A. Vasiliev, who suffered from tuberculosis.
Pavel Mikhailovich himself loved to varnish and restore paintings. These activities brought him more joy than balls and feasts. Therefore, Vera Nikolaevna went on visits and to the merchant’s club with her sister Zinaida, and Pavel Mikhailovich was content with her stories.
Their son Ivan was a very musically gifted child, but in 1887 he died of scarlet fever. For Pavel Mikhailovich, this was a huge grief, which forced him to reconsider his relationships with other children. So, he agreed to the marriage of his daughter Vera with musician Ziloti, although he had previously been categorically against it.
Since 1856, with the help of his close friends - I.E. Repin and I.I. Kramskoy Pavel Mikhailovich collected works of Russian art. In 1892, his collection - one of the largest collections of national painting - became the basis of the Tretyakov Gallery. But even before that, in 1869, he donated a large collection of lithographs from paintings by European masters to the Academy of Arts. And in 1874, he presented the Turkestan series of paintings by V.V. to the Moscow Society of Art Lovers. Vereshchagin.
Pavel Tretyakov came up with the idea of creating a portrait gallery. By his order, portraits of M.S. were painted. Shchepkina, A.I. Goncharova, L.N. Tolstoy, A.G. Rubinshteina, F.M. Dostoevsky. But Tretyakov himself agreed to pose only twice - for Kramskoy and then for Repin.
Sergei Mikhailovich often traveled abroad on official business, where he became seriously interested in collecting. I started by buying paintings by Russian artists (F.A. Vasilyev, V.D. Polenov, V.G. Perov). In Paris, he began visiting exhibitions, antique shops and art salons. This is how paintings by Sh.F. appeared in his collection. Daubigny, T. Rousseau, J. Despres, T. Geric, and E. Delacroix. He was especially attracted by the creativity of the Barbizonians. He tried, as far as possible, to present the entire history of French painting. Sergei Mikhailovich died suddenly on July 26, 1892, bequeathing his collection of paintings to the city of Moscow.
After the death of his brother, Pavel Mikhailovich united both collections and began preparing for the opening of an art gallery. The grand opening of the “Moscow City Gallery named after the Tretyakov Brothers” took place in 1893. The gallery then had 22 halls, 1276 paintings by Russian artists, 471 drawings and 10 sculptures of the Russian school, as well as 84 paintings by foreign painters - the legacy of Sergei Mikhailovich.
Since 1893 P.M. Tretyakov is a full member of the Academy of Arts, and since 1897 an Honorary Citizen of Moscow.
Pavel Mikhailovich was helped in his work in the gallery by his son Nikolai, who continued his father’s work for 58 years.
Pavel Tretyakov is the founder of the Tretyakov Gallery. How was the life of this philanthropist? We will talk about this in the article.
Brief information about the life of the great philanthropist
Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov was born on December 27, 1832 in Moscow. His parents were merchants. Throughout his childhood, Pavel Mikhailovich was an excellent assistant to his father at work. He and brother Sergei were inseparable. From an early age they worked together and later created the famous art gallery.
By the end of the 40s of the 19th century, the Tretyakov merchants owned five trading shops. But soon the family breadwinner, Mikhail Zakharovich Tretyakov, fell ill with scarlet fever and died. Pavel and Sergei took full responsibility for the family and trade. After the death of his mother, Pavel Mikhailovich headed a paper spinning factory, where he was very successful.
By nature, Pavel Tretyakov, interesting facts from whose life you will learn further, was a kind and sensitive person. He loved comfort and appreciated art. At work they spoke of him as a businesslike, persistent and firm person. But it cannot be said that he was extremely strict with his subordinates.
Tretyakov's early years
His interest in great art began at the age of twenty, after visiting the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. It was then that the idea arose to collect my own collection of paintings. He understood that collecting a unique collection would take up all his free time, but Pavel was inspired by the idea.
The first paintings were purchased in 1853, the next year he bought nine paintings by old Dutch masters - they decorated his living rooms until Tretyakov’s death. A couple of years later, his collection was replenished with works by N. G. Schilder “Temptation”, V. G. Khudyakov “Finland Smugglers”, followed by the purchase of paintings by I. P. Trutnev, A. K. Savrasov, K. A. Trutovsky, F. . A. Bruni, L. F. Lagorio, as well as the famous portrait of the archaeologist Lanci of Italian origin.
The purpose of collecting Pavel Tretyakov was not enrichment and fame, but a love of art and the gift of his collection to the people.
Marriage
The year 1865 was marked for the young philanthropist by his marriage to a twenty-year-old girl, Vera Nikolaevna Mamontova, who was quite educated for that time. The bride was brought up in the same family as him, and had a very warm attitude towards music and art in general. After a while, daughters are born to them, and later a son, Mikhail. But, unfortunately, he grew up as a sickly child and required constant attention. Mikhail's life was short.
Pavel Mikhailovich's activities are aimed at collecting works of his contemporaries and artists - democrats of the national school. The heart of the Tretyakov Gallery is considered to be the works of I. N. Kramskoy, V. I. Surikov and E. Repin.
First steps
Communicating with famous people, Tretyakov decides to create a large hall of portraits of his compatriots and contemporaries. To do this, he created a list of names, according to which Tretyakov accepted orders for portraits.
Pavel Mikhailovich chose the location for the future museum of painting in Lavrushinsky Lane, where he began constructing a luxurious two-story building for the future Tretyakov Gallery. In the summer of 1893, the long-awaited opening took place. Later, the fate of the gallery was decided by the people. It was transferred to the city of Moscow. As a reward, the autocrat offered Pavel Mikhailovich a noble title, but he refused, choosing the merchant class of which he was so proud.
The history of the emergence of the Tretyakov family of merchants
P. Tretyakov came from an old merchant family. The great-grandfather of Pavel and Sergei, Elisey Martynovich Tretyakov, came from the merchants of Maly Yaroslavets, known since 1646. In 1774, he moved to Moscow with his wife Vasilisa and children: Osip and Zakhar. Elisha later remarried, and his second wife bore him a son, Misha. In 1831, the matured Mikhail married Alexandra Borisova. This is how Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov were born. They also had sisters: Sophia, Elizaveta and Nadezhda. The father carefully monitored the education of his children. The Tretyakov family was a model of obedience and politeness. There were no quarrels or resentments between the children. The brotherly love of Pavel and Sergei later laid the foundation for the creation of the famous Tretyakov Gallery.
Tretyakov brothers
After the death of their parents, Pavel and Sergei had to take control of the factories into their own hands. Their work proceeded smoothly and successfully. According to written sources, the Tretyakov family was not rich enough. The Tretyakov brothers took the money that was spent on purchasing the collection from the family budget and the income of their enterprises.
Sergei fully supported his brother and was actively involved in charity work. They worked, rested and together founded the Arnold-Tretyakov School. It is still famous today because this educational institution was created for the deaf and dumb in Moscow.
Sergei Mikhailovich Tretyakov was the head of the city and a passionate collector of collections.
Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov devoted his entire life to collecting. There was one difference between the brothers: Sergei Mikhailovich regarded collecting as his hobby, while Pavel Tretyakov saw a certain mission in his desire, and later in his activity.
Happiness and love of philanthropist Tretyakov
The biography of Pavel Tretyakov indicates that he became the last of his family members to marry. This happened in the thirty-third year of his life. His wife was Vera Nikolaevna Mamontova. All her life this woman was a guiding star for Pavel Mikhailovich. Vera Nikolaevna could not come to terms with only one main rival - her husband’s art gallery, on which he spent his entire fortune and most of his time.
At thirty-two years old, Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov was the only bachelor in the family. Nobody expected him to get married anymore. But soon he announces his engagement to Vera Mamontova, and then his wedding.
Pavel Tretyakov met Vera Nikolaevna at one of the family evenings at the Mamontovs’ house. Vera Nikolaevna grew up in a merchant family. Her femininity, high intelligence, and love of music charmed the patron of the arts.
The wedding date was set for August 22, 1865. To the surprise of everyone, the marriage of Pavel and Vera turned out to be strong and happy. Their family was large. They and six children lived in the house. Vera Nikolaevna maintained warmth and harmony in the family throughout her life. However, their family life was not so rosy. The husband was strict and kept financial records. New clothes were bought only after the old ones wore out. The fact is that Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov spent all the family’s money on replenishing his art collection and on charity.
Despite such huge expenses, Vera Nikolaevna never blamed her husband for this. She valued his love and always agreed with him.
Grief in the Tretyakov family
Not all of Pavel Tretyakov’s children were able to become the pride of their parents. In 1887, the Tretyakov family was overtaken by an inevitable misfortune: the youngest son of Pavel Mikhailovich died, seriously ill with scarlet fever. Another blow that followed the first was the doctors’ verdict that the second son had dementia. Unable to bear such a surprise of fate, the philanthropist withdrew into himself and became completely detached.
In 1893, Pavel Mikhailovich’s beloved wife suffered a mini-stroke, and five years later she fell ill with paralysis. And then Tretyakov realized that Vera Nikolaevna was dearer to him than anything in the world. He himself fell ill from the experience, and on December 16 he left this world. Vera Nikolaevna passed away three months after the death of her husband. In 1898, according to his will, the gallery became the property of the city of Moscow. And in 1918, by order of the leader of the proletariat, it received the name of the State Tretyakov Gallery. During Soviet times, the Tretyakov Gallery collected not only paintings by artists of the 18th and 19th centuries, but also works by artists of the post-revolutionary period: Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, Yuri Pimenov, Semyon Chuikov, Arkady Plastov, Alexander Deineka...
Death of a patron
The merchant Pavel Tretyakov was known not only as a collector of the collection, he was an honorary member of the Society of Connoisseurs of Art and Music. He also took an active part in charity work. At one time, together with his brother, he founded a school for the deaf and dumb in Moscow.
At the beginning of December 1898, Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov fell ill with a stomach ulcer. Even in the last hours of his life he thought about business in the gallery. The last request of the dying man was to save the gallery, and our contemporaries did just that.
Philanthropist Pavel Tretyakov was buried at the Danilovsky cemetery. Now his ashes rest in the Novodevichy cemetery.
Substitution of a famous painting
In 1913, the mentally ill icon painter Abram Balashov, while in the Tretyakov Gallery, cut up the artist Repin’s painting “Ivan the Terrible Kills His Son.” The faces in the painting had to be restored again. And the gallery keeper (at that time he was E.M. Khrustov), having learned about this, threw himself under the train.
The surprising fact was that the artist himself did not notice any changes in his work. This saved the gallery from collapse.
Interesting facts about the Tretyakov Gallery
- In 1929, the Church of St. Nicholas was closed in Tolmachi, which immediately became one of the storerooms of the Tretyakov Gallery. It was connected to exhibition halls on the top floor of a two-story building, which was intended to display the painting “The Appearance of Christ to the People” by Alexander Ivanov.
- During the Great Patriotic War, Tretyakov's collection was evacuated to Novosibirsk. The meeting occupied seventeen carriages.
- The history of the painting “The Rooks Have Arrived.” This picture was painted by the famous artist Alexey Savrasov. After the death of his newborn daughter, he tried many times to repeat his work. It all ended with the artist painting the walls of taverns with a copy of this painting. And with the money he earned he bought himself bread and vodka.
- In order to get the desired painting, Pavel Mikhailovich paid for the artists’ trips. In 1898, Osip Braz painted a portrait of A.P. Chekhov, which Pavel Mikhailovich sent to Nice. However, the writer himself did not like the portrait.
- The well-known Malevich wrote four versions of the famous “Black Square”, and two of them are in the Tretyakov Gallery.
Immortal Legacy
To summarize, it can be noted that the meaning of Pavel Tretyakov’s life is his famous collection. In Russia, a rare person with such obsession and fanatical desire tried to convey “beauty” to all people, not paying attention to prejudices and social inequality. There was truly a great man who loved his homeland and people, Pavel Tretyakov. The Tretyakov Gallery is his greatest contribution to world art. And the memory of the man with a capital M, which Tretyakov was, will never die!
Among Moscow patrons of the arts, the name of Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov has a special place: it is to him that we owe the unique collection of paintings stored in the famous Tretyakov Gallery. The Tretyakov merchant family could not boast of special wealth, but Pavel Mikhailovich did not spare money to purchase paintings. Over the course of 42 years, he spent an impressive amount of money on them at that time - over a million rubles. Unfortunately, Pavel’s brother, Sergei Mikhailovich, is much less known to our contemporaries.
He collected Western European paintings, and after his death in 1892, all the paintings he acquired passed, according to his will, into the possession of Pavel Mikhailovich. They were also donated to the city. On August 15, 1893, a new museum appeared in Moscow - the City Art Gallery of Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov. At that time, the collection consisted of 1,362 paintings, 593 drawings and 15 sculptures. Art critic V. Stasov wrote about it: “An art gallery... is not a random collection of paintings, it is the result of knowledge, considerations, strict weighing and, most of all, deep love for one’s dear business.”
The Tretyakovs are Russian merchants, famous for their artistic taste and philanthropy, a family to which Russian culture owes a lot. Russian merchant Maloyaroslavl family (mentioned since 1646). They traded in linen and yarn and owned textile enterprises.
In 1774, the first Tretyakov, seventy-year-old Elisey Martynovich, moved to Moscow. His son, Zakhar Eliseevich, settled in Zamoskvorechye with his wife Lukerya Lukinichna and five children. When his wife died, he married a second time, and in this marriage two sons were born - Mikhail and Sergei.
In 1816, Zakhar Eliseevich was the owner of five adjacent shops on the corner of Kholshchevoy and Zlatokruzhevy rows near Ilyinka. Feeling the approach of the last hour, he contributed the necessary amount of money to the guardianship council ahead of time to provide for his minor sons.
After the death of Zakhar Eliseevich, the brothers traded each for themselves, and in 1830 the final division took place. The parental home and inheritance of the deceased Sergei went to Mikhail Zakharovich, but still in Moscow he was considered a poor merchant and an unenviable groom. When in 1831 Mikhail Zakharovich married the daughter of the merchant Borisov, who exported lard to England, Muscovites considered that the marriage was unequal: after all, Borisov gave a dowry of 15 thousand rubles, and the bride was 11 years younger than the groom.
Nevertheless, the young people loved each other. They lived modestly, but in complete harmony. His wife, Alexandra Danilovna, ran the household, and Mikhail Zakharovich spent all day doing business. But there was also a place for relaxation: we went on holidays to Sokolniki, and during the season we visited the theater on Sundays.
In total, this happy couple had 11 children, but six of them died of scarlet fever, but two sons, Pavel and Sergei, became the pride of the family and earned the gratitude of their descendants.
The Tretyakov brothers were friends with the parish priest A.A. from childhood. Vinogradov, with the Rubinstein family and with their neighbors Medintsev. Of the five Medintsev brothers, the most famous was Alexander, the owner of the first numismatic collection. The company was noisy and cheerful, the young people often visited each other and formed a kind of circle in which Pavel Tretyakov was nicknamed Archimandrite for his extraordinary seriousness (inherited from his mother) and external resemblance to hermits from ancient Byzantine images. He was tall, stooped, wore a light brown beard, had brown eyes and surprisingly thick eyebrows. His arms were long and his fingers were surprisingly thin. For this “elongation” and sophistication he was also called the Englishman.
Once at the Bolshoi Theater at the Italian opera, Pavel Mikhailovich saw a girl who captivated him at first sight. It was Vera Nikolaevna Mamontova. But the lover Tretyakov did not dare to approach the beauty and only from afar, hiding in some corner, admired her for several winters. A closer acquaintance occurred only in 1865, when, after the death of her mother and brother, Vera Nikolaevna settled with her brother’s widow, Elizaveta Mikhailovna. They were both wonderful pianists and often visited the Kaminskys. Kaminsky took on the role of matchmaker and brought together Pavel Mikhailovich and Vera Nikolaevna. The wedding took place on August 22, 1865.
Vera Nikolaevna fell into favor with Tretyakov. She had extraordinary femininity and a simply fantastic ability to resolve any conflicts and misunderstandings, and she did it unobtrusively and extremely kindly. The young wife did not understand anything about economic matters, so she did not touch them. At the insistence of Pavel Mikhailovich, who loved music, she continued to improve her performing skills.
On November 10, 1868, Pavel’s brother Sergei also got married. His wife, Elena Andreevna Matveeva, was a woman of extraordinary beauty, but had a very quarrelsome character. She did not seek to win the love of her new family, directing all her efforts to promoting her husband through the ranks. And Elena Andreevna succeeded in this field: in the same year, Sergei Mikhailovich was already a member of the Moscow Council of Trade and Manufactures. In January 1877, he was elected Moscow mayor, in 1878 he became a state councilor, and in 1882 - a full state councilor.
While serving as mayor, he organized the All-Russian Trade and Industrial Exhibition in Moscow, organized a fundraiser for the maintenance and repair of the monument to A.S. Pushkin, built permanent bridges across the Moscow River. For a long time he served as chairman of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists, and invested his own money in the publication of the Art Magazine.
In 1866, Pavel Mikhailovich’s family grew up - their first daughter, Vera, was born, then there were two more daughters and two sons. At the same time, the family trading business expanded, branches and offices were opened in other cities, and in 1866 the “Association of the Greater Kostroma Linen Manufactory” was established with a capital of 270 thousand rubles.
Pavel Mikhailovich became the director of the board of the Partnership, a member of the board of the Moscow merchant bank, a member of the boards of the Guardianship of the Poor in Moscow and the Moscow Art Society, he maintained the Arnold School for deaf and mute children.
Pavel Mikhailovich provided financial assistance to the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture, and to individual artists - I.V. Kramskoy, N.N. Ge, A.K. Savrasov (buying their paintings and lending money). He was also worried about the health of artists, for example, about I.I. Shishkin, when he fell ill with typhus, or about F.A. Vasiliev, who suffered from tuberculosis.
Pavel Mikhailovich himself loved to varnish and restore paintings. These activities brought him more joy than balls and feasts. Therefore, Vera Nikolaevna went on visits and to the merchant’s club with her sister Zinaida, and Pavel Mikhailovich was content with her stories.
Their son Ivan was a very musically gifted child, but in 1887 he died of scarlet fever. For Pavel Mikhailovich, this was a huge grief, which forced him to reconsider his relationships with other children. So, he agreed to the marriage of his daughter Vera with musician Ziloti, although he had previously been categorically against it.
Since 1856, with the help of his close friends—I.E. Repin and I.I. Kramskoy Pavel Mikhailovich collected works of Russian art. In 1892, his collection - one of the largest collections of national painting - became the basis of the Tretyakov Gallery. But even before that, in 1869, he donated a large collection of lithographs from paintings by European masters to the Academy of Arts. And in 1874, he presented the Turkestan series of paintings by V.V. to the Moscow Society of Art Lovers. Vereshchagin.
Pavel Tretyakov came up with the idea of creating a portrait gallery. By his order, portraits of M.S. were painted. Shchepkina, A.I. Goncharova, L.N. Tolstoy, A.G. Rubinshteina, F.M. Dostoevsky. But Tretyakov himself agreed to pose only twice - for Kramskoy and then for Repin.
Sergei Mikhailovich often traveled abroad on official business, where he became seriously interested in collecting. I started by buying paintings by Russian artists (F.A. Vasilyev, V.D. Polenov, V.G. Perov). In Paris, he began visiting exhibitions, antique shops and art salons. This is how paintings by Sh.F. appeared in his collection. Daubigny, T. Rousseau, J. Despres, T. Geric, and E. Delacroix. He was especially attracted by the creativity of the Barbizonians. He tried, as far as possible, to present the entire history of French painting. Sergei Mikhailovich died suddenly on July 26, 1892, bequeathing his collection of paintings to the city of Moscow.
After the death of his brother, Pavel Mikhailovich united both collections and began preparing for the opening of an art gallery. The grand opening of the “Moscow City Gallery named after the Tretyakov Brothers” took place in 1893. The gallery then had 22 halls, 1276 paintings by Russian artists, 471 drawings and 10 sculptures of the Russian school, as well as 84 paintings by foreign painters - the legacy of Sergei Mikhailovich.
Since 1893 P.M. Tretyakov is a full member of the Academy of Arts, and since 1897 an Honorary Citizen of Moscow.
Pavel Mikhailovich was helped in his work in the gallery by his son Nikolai, who continued his father’s work for 58 years.
One hundred and twelve years ago, on August 31 (September 12, according to the present day), 1892, the famous Moscow businessman and philanthropist Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov transferred his art gallery into ownership of the city of Moscow. Pavel Mikhailovich was pushed to this decision by the last will of his brother, Sergei Mikhailovich Tretyakov. The new museum rightly began to bear the name “City Art Gallery of Pavel and Sergei Tretyakov.”
The Tretyakovs were one of the oldest merchant families, first mentioned in the mid-17th century. in Maly Yaroslavets. In 1774, Elisha Martynovich Tretyakov settled in Moscow, marking the beginning of a dynasty of capital entrepreneurs.
Sergei Mikhailovich Tretyakov.
However, at first the Tretyakovs did not stand out from the Moscow merchant class in any way. Elisey Martynovich and his son Zakhar Eliseevich belonged to the merchants of the third guild, that is, they were engaged in small trade.
The son of Zakhar Tretyakov, Mikhail Zakharovich, had already reached the second guild, manufactured and sold fabrics, supplied goods to the Nizhny Novgorod Fair, and owned five shops in the Old Trading Rows on Ilyinka. But he never got his own home, moving from one rented apartment to another until the end of his days. The Tretyakov family led a rather modest lifestyle; spending on “trifles” was not allowed. And yet, Mikhail Zakharovich’s wife Alexandra Danilovna, nee Borisova, was well educated, loved music and theater, and often played the piano herself.
Mikhail Zakharovich had nine children who were taught by invited teachers. The father was often present at lessons, did not tolerate pampering and empty pastime, and generally kept the children strict. The two eldest sons, Pavel and Sergei, were prepared for trading activities from an early age. From the age of fourteen they were already sitting in their father's shops, little by little acquiring the necessary business skills.
In 1850, Mikhail Zakharovich Tretyakov died. Pavel was then seventeen, and Sergei was fifteen years old. At first, their mother Alexandra Danilovna helped them run their business. The very next year after the death of their father, the Tretyakov family finally moved to their own house in Lavrushinsky Lane in merchant Zamoskvorechye. The old two-story mansion, surrounded by a garden, formerly belonged to the tea merchants Shestov.
The Tretyakov family business developed successfully. Sergei Tretyakov was especially successful in entrepreneurship. His older brother Pavel was also actively involved in issues of production and sales, but, apparently, he was distracted by his growing interest in painting. Pavel Mikhailovich received his first knowledge from illustrated publications. He did not miss a single painting exhibition in Moscow, and when he was abroad on company business, he always visited local art galleries.
P.M. Tretyakov makes acquaintances with artists and in May 1856 acquires his first paintings - “Skirmish with Finnish Smugglers” by V.G. Khudyakova and “Temptation” by N.G. Schilder. He bought, as a rule, paintings by young and little-known authors, but not only because he was limited in funds - the bulk of the capital was “in business”. Pavel Tretyakov was not a simple collector; he formed his own view, his own aesthetic concept, in tune with the new direction in Russian painting.
Tretyakov wrote: “I don’t need rich nature, magnificent composition, spectacular lighting, or miracles. Give me at least a dirty puddle, but so that there is truth in it, poetry, and there can be poetry in everything, that’s the artist’s job.” Gradually he began to play an important role in the artistic life of Moscow. In the early 1860s. The Moscow Society of Art Lovers was formed, uniting both professionals and amateur patrons of the arts. As a permanent member of the Society Committee P.M. Tretyakov invariably supported realistic artists at competitions.
Passion for painting by P.M. Tretyakov had to combine it with entrepreneurship. “I, less than anyone, would like to throw away money and should not even dare to do this,” Tretyakov wrote, “I get money with great difficulty, some physically, but more morally, and perhaps I will not be able to for a long time.” continue my trading business, and once I’ve finished it, I won’t be able to spend anything on paintings.”
1860s became a time of unprecedented economic and industrial growth in Russia, which was reflected in the entrepreneurial activities of the Tretyakovs. In Moscow they already owned four manufacturing stores; branches and offices of the family company were opening in new cities. Expanding industrial production, the Tretyakovs founded the Greater Kostroma Manufactory Partnership in Kostroma. During the first ten years of operation, the Partnership's fixed capital tripled.
In the financial sector, P.M. Tretyakov took an active part in the creation of the first Moscow merchant bank in the city and until the end of his life he was a member of its Council, although he was not one of the large shareholders. The Tretyakovs were also among the founders of the second commercial bank in Moscow - the Moscow Merchant Mutual Credit Society, and had great influence on the Board of the Moscow Accounting Bank. P.M. and S.M. The Tretyakovs were permanently elected officials of the Moscow Exchange Society.
As entrepreneurs, the Tretyakovs demonstrated the ability to resolve social conflicts. When a strike broke out at their cotton factory in Moscow, the Tretyakovs fulfilled the reasonable demands of the workers: they increased piecework wages from 3 to 8 kopecks, reduced prices for food in the tavern shop, and ordered the factory bathhouse to be heated not once, but twice a month. The Tretyakovs were also involved in charity, traditional for the Moscow merchants, and on a significant scale. Their funds supported the Arnold School for deaf and mute children, for which a three-story building was built on Donskaya Street.
Increased income allowed Pavel Tretyakov to direct large sums to replenish his collection, provide significant material support to talented artists, and also make their names known. It is no coincidence that, by general admission, “every young artist (and even old) cherished dream was to get into his gallery.” P.M. Tretyakov especially supported the Peredvizhniki artists who openly broke with the traditions of the Academy of Arts.
Remaining independent in his judgments, P.M. When purchasing a painting, Tretyakov always consulted with people whose opinions he valued. Tretyakov’s permanent consultants were the artist I.N. Kramskoy and art critic V.V. Stasov. It was only at the insistence of Stasov that the painting by I.E. was purchased. Repin "We weren't expecting" At the request of L.N. Tolstoy P.M. Tretyakov included in his collection a series of works by N.N. Ge on gospel themes.
Pavel Mikhailovich sought to display the greatness of Russian art, to show it in history and in perspective. “Many positively do not want to believe in the good future of Russian art and assure that if another artist of ours writes a good thing, it is somehow by accident, and that he then increases the number of mediocrities,” wrote Tretyakov, “I have a different opinion, otherwise I would not collect a collection of Russian paintings.”
Tretyakov was no longer limited to the circle of artists of one direction, even if it was close to him. Large sums were spent on purchasing paintings by Russian artists of the 18th - first half of the 19th centuries. P.M. Tretyakov tried to maintain the integrity of thematically related and complementary works. Thus, the entire collection of paintings by V.V. was acquired. Vereshchagin about Turkestan.
Pavel Mikhailovich always strived to make his collection open to the widest public. The purchased paintings occupied a place in the family mansion on Lavrushinsky Lane. Soon they filled the walls of all living spaces. Such crowding prevented connoisseurs from perceiving the painting. In addition, a large family lived in the mansion, which experienced understandable inconvenience from frequent excursions. Pavel Mikhailovich could never refuse a request to familiarize himself with his collection.
Finally, in 1874, the Tretyakov brothers built a new two-story building for an art gallery in the depths of the garden. This building was rebuilt and expanded to accommodate the growing collection five times. In 1906, the facade of the Tretyakov Gallery was decorated in the Russian national style according to the sketches of the artist V.M. Vasnetsova. In the first years, one could enter the gallery only with the permission of P.M. Tretyakov, and from 1881 entry became free for everyone; no money was taken from the public.
Replenishing the collection required large expenses. Meanwhile, Pavel Mikhailovich did not have a huge fortune. As he himself admitted, “in Moscow many are richer than my brother, and my means are six times less than my brother; but I don’t envy anyone, I work because I can’t help but work.” In everyday life P.M. Tretyakov could even be called stingy: “I spend on paintings, here the goal is serious, maybe it is not executed skillfully enough, that’s another matter, and besides, the money goes to working artists, whom life is not particularly pampering, but when it is spent in an unnecessary way, although If it were a ruble, it annoys me and it annoys me.”
The house of Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, detached from the bustle of the world, on Lavrushinsky Lane never became a secular salon, although many famous people visited here. The real soul of the society was Pavel Mikhailovich's wife Vera Nikolaevna, who came from a famous and highly cultured family of Mamontov merchants. Thanks to her, guests were always warmly received in the house, a sincere atmosphere reigned, and conversations were held about literature and art.
Life was completely different in the mansion of Sergei Mikhailovich Tretyakov on Prechistensky Boulevard. A brilliant audience gathered there - “all of Moscow”, and lavish receptions and balls were held every now and then. CM. Tretyakov sought popularity because he actively participated in city public life. What brought Sergei Tretyakov particular fame was the construction, at his own expense, in the center of Moscow “for the benefit of the city” of a transport interchange between Nikolskaya Street and Teatralny Proezd - Tretyakovsky Proezd. The efforts were not in vain - in 1877 S.M. Tretyakov was elected mayor.
Sergei Mikhailovich proposed a broad program for the development of public education institutions in Moscow, improving urban amenities, and strengthening fire and sanitary services. The energetic mayor's proposals were met with sharp criticism from both the right and the left. The liberals believed that what was needed was not private events, but a radical reform of the electoral law. Conservatives were against allocating funds for education given the extreme poverty of the majority of the population: “First life, then health, and then education, which to a certain extent is a luxury.”
CM. Tretyakov, having become the head of the Moscow administration, acted without regard to the City Duma, which caused protests from deputies - public officials. “We are the masters, and you are our clerks,” shouted the public at Duma meetings to the members of the Council - the city government. Finally, the Moscow Duma officially accused the Administration of violations in the management of the city economy. The reason was the story of the city’s purchase of Sokolnichiya Grove. The Duma debates resulted in a loud scandal, in which S.M. Tretyakov considered it beneath his dignity. In 1881 he resigned as mayor.
Sergei Tretyakov was also a collector, although not as enthusiastic as his brother. Tretyakov Jr. was attracted to Western European painting, primarily to the works of French masters of the 19th century. CM. Tretyakov also acquired paintings by Russian artists, which he then transferred to his brother’s collection. On June 25, 1892, Sergei Mikhailovich Tretyakov died suddenly in St. Petersburg. In his will, S.M. Tretyakov wrote: “Since my brother Pavel Mikhailovich expressed to me his intention to donate his art collection to the city of Moscow and in view of this to present his part of the house, which belongs to us in common, to the ownership of the Moscow City Duma, then I present the part of this house that belongs to me as property Moscow City Duma".
The death of his brother pushed P.M. Tretyakov to make the most important decision in his life. Before this, he assumed that the gallery he created would go to Moscow only after his death. However, on August 31, 1892, Pavel Mikhailovich addressed the Moscow Duma with an official letter: “Concerned, on the one hand, with the speedy implementation of the will of my dear brother, and on the other, wanting to contribute to the establishment of useful institutions in my dear city, to promote the prosperity of art in Russia and at the same time, to preserve the collection I have collected for eternity, I now present my entire art gallery as a gift to the Moscow City Duma and transfer the part of the house that belonged to me to the ownership of the city.”
The news of Tretyakov's generous gift quickly spread around Moscow; many wanted to personally express their admiration for Pavel Mikhailovich, but he immediately went abroad, where he lived until the end of the year. Returning to Moscow, P.M. Tretyakov began the painstaking work of compiling an inventory of his collection. It turned out that the collection includes 1276 paintings, 471 drawings and 9 sculptures from almost all schools and movements of Russian fine art of the 18th-19th centuries. The insured value of the collection was estimated at approximately one and a half million rubles, but all expenses of P.M. Tretyakov's funds for the creation of an art gallery amounted to about four million rubles.
After transferring his collection to the city, P.M. Tretyakov continued to replenish it with paintings purchased at his own expense. In November 1898, Tretyakov chose a painting by V.M. for the gallery. Vasnetsov’s “Bogatyrs”, it turned out to be the last for the collector - on December 4, 1898, Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov died. His last words were: “Take care of the gallery and be healthy.” According to the will of its founder, the Tretyakov Gallery received substantial financial support. Pavel Mikhailovich took special care that students could visit his gallery for free, and everyone else for a very small entrance fee - a principle that, unfortunately, is not fully observed in our time. Assessing the results of the life of Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, artist I.E. Repin wrote: “He brought his work to grandiose, unprecedented proportions and carried on his shoulders the question of the existence of an entire Russian school of painting. A colossal, extraordinary feat!”