Alexander Ivanov painted Christ’s Appearance to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection in Italy as a progress report to his sponsors — the Society for the Encouragement of Artists in St Petersburg. The canvas was sent to the Russian capital in May 1836, and exhibited to great acclaim at the Imperial Academy of Arts. Ivanov was elected an academician and the Society for the Encouragement of Artists donated the painting to Tsar Nicholas I. Although Ivanov paints a canvas wholly in the traditions of academic art, the work is also enriched by the artist’s direct contacts in Italy with High Renaissance paintings.

Ivanov Alexander

Ivanov, Alexander Andreyevich
1806, St Petersburg -1858, St Petersburg
Painter, landscapist, history painter. Son of professor of history painting Andrei Ivanov. Studied under his father and Alexei Yegorov at the Imperial Academy of Arts. Awarded a gold medal (1827). Fellow of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists, lived in Italy (1830-58). Academician for Christ''s Appearance to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection (1835). Worked for over twenty years on Christ''s Appearance to the Peofile, painting four-hundred studies. Pioneer of plein-air painting in Russia.