Vilnius Calvary

Sergey Yuzhanin (1862–1933) was a graduate of the Stroganov School of Technical Drawing in Moscow. He worked as a teacher at a specialised school in Vilnius from 1909, and from 1912 to 1915 he was head of the Vilnius School of Drawing. He liked to paint townscapes, and painted outdoors in the Vilnius area. One of his favourite places was Verkiai, with the Stations of the Cross in the woods. The thirty-five Stations of the Cross, tracing the route that Jesus took in Jerusalem, had been built in the 17th century by Jurgis Bialozaras, the Bishop of Vilnius. After that, the site became very important to Catholics: pilgrims from Lithuania, Poland and Belarus would come and visit it. On Whit Sunday, thousands of singing and praying worshippers would climb the steep slopes of the hills at Verkiai, going from one chapel to another. The natural surroundings, the relief covered with fir trees, and the sandy path through the hills are particularly suitable for the Stations of the Cross. Yuzhanin’s watercolour shows just one detail, with some brick chapels of the Stations of the Cross. The watercolour is light and airy, and the drawing of the branches, the roots of the trees and the sandy ground is stylised in an Art Nouveau way. During the First World War, Yuzhanin left Vilnius for Russia, and settled in Samara. In 1962, the Soviet government destroyed the chapels at Kalvarija, and they were only rebuilt in 1990, after the collapse of the Soviet regime.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album VILNIUS. TOPOPHILIA I (2014). Compiler and author Laima Laučkaitė
Expositions: “Académie de Vilna. Vilnius Drawing School (1866–1915)”, 5 October – 26 November 2017, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Jolanta Širkaitė). Published: Académie de Vilna: Vilniaus piešimo mokykla 1866-1915 / Vilnius drawing school: Exhibition Catalogue, Nacionalinė dailės galerija 2017 m. 4 d. - lapkričio 26 d., compiled by Jolanta Širkaitė, Vilnius: Lietuvos kultūros tyrimų institutas, 2017, p.58. "Sacred Vilnius: Pilgrimage from the Gates of Dawn to Kalvarija Way of the Cross", 20 April – 4 July 2021, Vilnius Picture Gallery (Didžioji St. 4, Vilnius). Curators: Rasa Adomaitienė, Rūta Janonienė, Sigita Maslauskaitė-Mažylienė.

Sergey Yuzhanin (1862–1933) was a graduate of the Stroganov School of Technical Drawing in Moscow. He worked as a teacher at a specialised school in Vilnius from 1909, and from 1912 to 1915 he was head of the Vilnius School of Drawing. He liked to paint townscapes, and painted outdoors in the Vilnius area. One of his favourite places was Verkiai, with the Stations of the Cross in the woods. The thirty-five Stations of the Cross, tracing the route that Jesus took in Jerusalem, had been built in the 17th century by Jurgis Bialozaras, the Bishop of Vilnius. After that, the site became very important to Catholics: pilgrims from Lithuania, Poland and Belarus would come and visit it. On Whit Sunday, thousands of singing and praying worshippers would climb the steep slopes of the hills at Verkiai, going from one chapel to another. The natural surroundings, the relief covered with fir trees, and the sandy path through the hills are particularly suitable for the Stations of the Cross. Yuzhanin’s watercolour shows just one detail, with some brick chapels of the Stations of the Cross. The watercolour is light and airy, and the drawing of the branches, the roots of the trees and the sandy ground is stylised in an Art Nouveau way. During the First World War, Yuzhanin left Vilnius for Russia, and settled in Samara. In 1962, the Soviet government destroyed the chapels at Kalvarija, and they were only rebuilt in 1990, after the collapse of the Soviet regime.

Source: Law firm Valiunas Ellex art album VILNIUS. TOPOPHILIA I (2014). Compiler and author Laima Laučkaitė
Expositions: “Académie de Vilna. Vilnius Drawing School (1866–1915)”, 5 October – 26 November 2017, National Gallery of Art, Vilnius (curator Jolanta Širkaitė). Published: Académie de Vilna: Vilniaus piešimo mokykla 1866-1915 / Vilnius drawing school: Exhibition Catalogue, Nacionalinė dailės galerija 2017 m. 4 d. - lapkričio 26 d., compiled by Jolanta Širkaitė, Vilnius: Lietuvos kultūros tyrimų institutas, 2017, p.58. "Sacred Vilnius: Pilgrimage from the Gates of Dawn to Kalvarija Way of the Cross", 20 April – 4 July 2021, Vilnius Picture Gallery (Didžioji St. 4, Vilnius). Curators: Rasa Adomaitienė, Rūta Janonienė, Sigita Maslauskaitė-Mažylienė.