Vasily Petrovich Botkin (russian: link=no, Васи́лий Петро́вич Бо́ткин; – ) was a Russian essayist, literary, art and music critic, translator and publicist.

Early life

Vasily was born in Moscow, the son of Alexandra Antonovna (Baranova) and Petr Kononovich Botkin, a wealthy tea merchant. His brothers were Sergey Botkin, a well-known physician, and

Mikhail Botkin Mikhail Petrovich Botkin (russian: Михаил Петрович Боткин; 26 June 1839 – 22 January 1914) was a Russian painter, engraver, art collector, archaeologist and philanthropist. Vasily Botkin, the writer, and Sergey Botkin, the p ...

, a painter and art collector. Vasily was a moderate liberal in the 1830s and 40s, associating with members of the circle of Nikolai Stankevich, and with the

Westernizer Westernizers (; russian: За́падник, Západnik, p=ˈzapədnʲɪk) were a group of 19th-century intellectuals who believed that Russia's development depended upon the adoption of Western European technology and liberal government. In their v ...

s, including Mikhail Bakunin, Vissarion Belinsky and Alexander Herzen. Vasily was a man of expensive tastes, a connoisseur of art and music, and a polyglot. He travelled widely in Europe, meeting well known figures such as

Karl Marx Karl Heinrich Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, economist, historian, sociologist, political theorist, journalist, critic of political economy, and socialist revolutionary. His best-known titles are the 1848 ...

, Louis Blanc and

Victor Hugo Victor-Marie Hugo (; 26 February 1802 – 22 May 1885) was a French Romantic writer and politician. During a literary career that spanned more than sixty years, he wrote in a variety of genres and forms. He is considered to be one of the great ...

Career

Vasily was the first Russian publicist to acquaint Russian readers with the works of

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ,"Engels"
'' Notes of the Fatherland''). He published articles on art exhibitions as well as on

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

E. T. A. Hoffmann Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann (born Ernst Theodor Wilhelm Hoffmann; 24 January 1776 – 25 June 1822) was a German Romantic author of fantasy and Gothic horror, a jurist, composer, music critic and artist. Penrith Goff, "E.T.A. Hoffmann" in E ...

and George Sand. In the field of music he wrote ''Italian and German Music'' (1839), ''On the Aesthetic Significance of the New School of Piano'' (1850), and works on

Italian opera Italian opera is both the art of opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language. Opera was born in Italy around the year 1600 and Italian opera has continued to play a dominant role in the history of the form until the present day. Many famous ...

. Between 1847 and 1849 he published the essays ''Letters on Spain'' in '' The Contemporary'', which have remained his most popular works. He translated

Thomas Carlyle Thomas Carlyle (4 December 17955 February 1881) was a Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher. A leading writer of the Victorian era, he exerted a profound influence on 19th-century art, literature and philosophy. Born in Ecclefechan, Dum ...

's ''

On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History ''On Heroes, Hero-Worship, & the Heroic in History'' is a book by the Scottish essayist, historian and philosopher Thomas Carlyle, published by James Fraser, London, in 1841. It is a collection of six lectures given in May 1840 about prominent h ...

'' (1841) into Russian. His extensive correspondence with Belinsky, Tolstoy, and others is of great social interest. Much of his aesthetic and literary theory can be found in his letters, especially those he wrote to Ivan Turgenev, and in his essay ''The Poetry of A. A. Fet'', published in 1857 in ''The Contemporary''. Vasily's sister was married to Fet. The

Revolutions of 1848 The Revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the Springtime of the Peoples or the Springtime of Nations, were a series of political upheavals throughout Europe starting in 1848. It remains the most widespread revolutionary wave in Europea ...

scared Vasily, and he broke with his liberal associates, becoming more politically conservative as time went by. He also became a more conservative critic, espousing the theory of "art for art's sake" along with Alexander Druzhinin and Pavel Annenkov.

English translations

*''A. A. Fet'', from ''Russian Literature Triquarterly #17'', Ardis Publishers, 1982.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Botkin, Vasily 1812 births 1869 deaths Russian art critics Russian literary critics Russian music critics Translators from the Russian Empire Essayists from the Russian Empire Male writers from the Russian Empire Male essayists Writers from Moscow 19th-century journalists Russian male journalists 19th-century translators from the Russian Empire 19th-century male writers from the Russian Empire 19th-century essayists 20th-century essayists 20th-century Russian male writers