Botanical Attributes in the Portrait of P.A. Demidov by D.G. Levitsky: the Realism of Pictures and the Symbolism of Images

The article analyzes the botanical attributes depicted in the famous portrait of P.A. Demidov by D.G. Levitsky from the collection of the Tretyakov Gallery (1773). It is shown that the set of these attributes, their location in the overall composition of the portrait, and the features of their images constitute a thoughtful symbolic program that combines the ideas of the natural evolution of plants and the education of a new person. This evolution unfolds from left to right in relation to the central figure of Demidov, which makes up the vertical-diagonal axis of the portrait. The idea of the evolution of nature (both wild and metaphorically human) within a given plan is consistently embodied from the statute of the Moscow Orphanage (the first, lower book lying on the table, as if the foundation), through the “theoretical image” of the plant (illustration in the botanical catalog), to its roots (the first bulb), then to the appearance of a sprout (the second bulb), its watering (watering can), its embodiment in natural reality (primrose), and finally, to the beginning of a new human life (a blooming rose), blooming already in full force in a regular “garden” under the shadow of the educational institution itself (the building of the Moscow Orphanage). The works of Demidov, the “gardener”, give birth in many ways to the spring of life, which is the embodiment of the very essence of this picture.