A life worthy of admiration. Soldatenkov Kozma Terentyevich. Kozma Soldatenkov: Russian Medici and generous sponsor

Moscow entrepreneur, textile manufacturer and major book publisher. Owner of an art gallery and an old Naryshkinsky estate "Kuntsevo".

When the manifesto on the abolition of serfdom came out, a rumor spread throughout the peasant country: in fact, the tsar did not sign anything, but simply the generous Soldatenkov ransomed all the peasants and set them free. This story is about how fatally the external obscures the main thing - a kind of charitable parable. Kozma Terentyevich Soldatenkov- one of the most unusual figures in the history of Russian patronage. Contemporary Pavel Mikhailovich Tretyakov, he did about the same thing - he made money, and with the money he earned he bought paintings by outstanding or, at least, promising artists. Sometimes the same artists. Nevertheless, the attitude towards them in bohemian society was different.

Pavel Mikhailovich was loved, respected and feared. When he appeared in someone's workshop, he was greeted with trepidation. Demonstrated all the brightest and most interesting. Themselves were ready to pay extra, if only the picture was in the famous gallery. Yes, and it was not necessary Tretyakov to visit all these workshops - they themselves went to him, and they themselves brought, and showed, and waited with trepidation for the decision. Completely indifferent to alcohol, despising any idleness, Pavel Tretyakov cherished every minute of his time. When guests came to his wife, he immediately went to his office. And this way of life, this unearthly, and some kind of cosmic detachment from worldly goods, made acquaintance with Tretyakov even more tempting, more high-status.

Soldatenkov is a completely different matter. He was 14 years older than Tretyakov, but when Pavel Mikhailovich decided to start collecting in 1850s, he did not even remember the existence of Kozma Terentyevich. Meanwhile, in his mansion at the current address Myasnitskaya, house number 37, reigned Kozma Terentyevich Soldatenkov, "Butcher's patron", as the artists called him. Or "Butcher's Medici", but this is already with a touch of irony.

Vera Pavlovna, Tretyakov's daughter, described Soldatenkov as follows: " In the summer he always wore a gray frock coat, a gray cape and a gray felt hat with large brim. He was short, dense, wide, with an ugly, but intelligent, expressive face ... He had a small beard and rather long hair, slicked back; he felt great strength, physical and mental, often found among Russian Old Believers".

And here is another description of the appearance of Kozma Terentyevich: " He was a man of about forty, rather obese and ugly, pockmarked, with little pig's eyes; he spoke very hastily and, as it were, confused in words; waving his arms, mincing legs, laughing ... generally gave the impression of a foolish, spoiled and extremely proud guy. He himself considered himself an educated man, because he dressed in German and lived, although dirty, but openly, he knew rich people - he went to the theater and favored cascading actresses with whom he spoke in some unusual, supposedly French, language. The thirst for popularity was his main passion: sins, they say, Golushkin, all over the world! Either Suvorov or Potemkin - or Kapiton Golushkin! This same passion, which defeated his innate avarice, threw him, as he expressed himself not without self-righteousness, into opposition (before he simply spoke "into a position", but then he was taught) - brought him to the nihilists: he expressed the most extreme opinions, mocked his own old beliefs, ate fast food during fasting, played cards, and drank champagne like water. And he got away with everything; therefore, he said, I have everything where it should be, the bosses have been bought, every gap is sewn up, all mouths are plugged, all ears are veiled".

This could have been sued, but only the author of these lines was insured. This is the description of the merchant Golushkina derived I. S. Turgenev in the novel "Nov"... Everyone perfectly understood who exactly Golushkin was copied from, giggled on the sidelines, but preferred to remain silent, so as not to divert from themselves those bounties that Kozma Terentyevich willingly bestowed on his bohemian contemporaries.

I. Shishkin, "Forest" (1895). The first owner of this painting was Kozma Terentyevich

It seemed that Soldatenkov himself did not believe that he was worthy to communicate with these magical people, to breathe the same air with them, to share a common meal. He was generally inclined to belittle his merits. Everything that Kozma Terentyevich was up to seemed to him frivolous and secondary.

There is a known case of how he released the most luxurious collection Nekrasov with high quality color illustrations and gold trim. He was advised to give a print run of 5 rubles per book, but Soldatenkov only laughed - here, they say, jokers. I gave away one and a half rubles, having a profit of twenty kopecks per copy.

The circulation was sold out in two days. On the third day at the second-hand booksellers that Nekrasov was already on six rubles. The price continued to rise, and the writer who came to Moscow Alexandr Duma he was terribly happy about the profitable purchase - he found this book for sixteen rubles, but everywhere it cost forty.

The merchant was not offended by reproaches for such blunders, as well as a disdainful attitude towards himself. He enjoyed life with might and main, and not without reason believed that he was lucky. Actor Mikhail Schepkin revealed the reason for this joy, explaining at the same time some naivety in matters related to art: " Soldatenkov was born and raised in a very rude and ignorant environment of the Rogozhsky outskirts of Moscow, did not receive any education, was barely trained in Russian literacy and spent his entire youth in the "boys" behind the counter of his rich father, receiving copper pennies from him for daytime feeding in cold trading rows ". He was happy with what he has, and admonished his son: "Write, Vanka, you will become a writer - I will write off all the fortune for you."".

One of his contemporaries described Kozma Terentyevich's "dwelling": " In the bedroom above the master's bed hangs "Madonna" by Plockgorst, and in one of the mezzanine rooms - the original "Magdalene" Praying before the Crucifixion, by Maes, which in lithographs and various copies traveled all over Russia. In the master's office, in the corner of the back wall, you will find the originals of two Fedotov genres known from drawings: "The Widow" and "The Breakfast of an Aristocrat." Between the landscapes one can find "Winter" by Meshchersky, "Sea Views" by Orlovsky, "Sorrento" by Bogolyubov and four paintings by Aivazovsky: "Chumaks in the Steppe", "Patmos Island", "Sea View" and "Yalta": two paintings by Lageris belong to his best pieces: Capri and Pontine Marshes. You will also stand in front of Shishkin's "Forest"".

And the famous collector Alexey Bakhrushin wrote: " His house is a museum, in which I was once, which I consider an honor and pleasure, as well as a visit to the Tretyakov Gallery".

Soldatenkov did not spare money for his paintings, in contrast to the same Tretyakov, who liked to bargain with artists to a penny. Spent them lavishly and with ease. He was not limited to fees - tables were bursting on Myasnitskaya with treats for bohemian leaders.

And in gratitude he received most of the bullying. " Why are you, Kozma Terentyevich, won't you treat us with asparagus?"- somehow one of the many freeloaders quipped. " Asparagus, my friend, bites, - five rubles a pound", - answered the rustic Soldatenkov. And thus gave rise to a new wave of anecdotes.

When, at the request of an unknown archaeologist to finance an absolutely senseless, but at the same time very costly expedition, Soldatenkov refused, he received right in front of all the society present: “ You are not Kozma Medici, but some kind of Kozma coachman».

Maly Theater actor D. T. Lensky wrote poems:

"Dinner was very bad for us,
there was little intelligence;
Pogodin spoke to us,
and the money was paid by Kuzma".

What can I say: myself Chekhov, who for many generations has been revered as a model of the Russian intellectual (remember Dovlatov's “ however, I only want to be like Chekhov"), Joined in the laughter. Once, having appeared at the mansion on Myasnitskaya, Anton Pavlovich began to examine the last collection of paintings and chuckled at the same time. " Are the pictures bad?"- the patron was upset. " No, the pictures are good, but why did you, Kozma Terentyevich, hang them up so badly?».

Meanwhile, Soldatenkov considered his expenses on art insufficient to justify his own stay on earth. After all, all these paintings, books and sculptures were bought, by and large, for themselves. And what about others?

And now - about the main thing. Of course, it is interesting to know that our hero was the first owner "Forests" Shishkina, but is it really that important?

Kozma Terentyevich was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Art and Industrial Museum, a full member of the Society of Amateurs of Commercial Knowledge at the Academy of Commercial Sciences, a member of the Board of the Charitable Society at the Basmanny Hospital, a member of the Guardian Committee of Gerje's Courses for Women, the founder of the Almshouse of Commerce of the advisor K. T. Soldatenkov.

After the death of Kozma Terentyevich, according to his will, most of his capital went to the construction of one of the largest Moscow hospitals - a free hospital for the poor, regardless of class and religion. In Soviet times, this hospital was known as the Botkin hospital, and only relatively recently it was returned to its historical name - Soldatenkovskaya. And in 1990, here, on the territory of the hospital, a monument to the philanthropist was unveiled. That is, our Soldatenkov built the Botkin hospital.

Soldatenkov Hospital, 1913-1914

And when in 1861 year, the tsar's manifesto on the abolition of serfdom was issued, a rumor immediately spread throughout the country - they say, in fact, the tsar did not sign anything like that, but simply the generous Soldatenkov bought all the peasants from the landlords and set them free. And this case speaks about the personality of Kozma Terentyevich much more than all the numerous memoirs, anecdotes, figures and other historical documents.

Monument to K. T. Soldatenkov in the courtyard of the Botkin Hospital

K.T. Soldatyonkov is one of those figures who were unlucky enough to gain a foothold in historical memory, despite the fact that they did a lot of good deeds in their lives. At the beginning of the 20th century, his name was known as widely as the name of P.M. Tretyakov. Now, at the beginning of the 21st century, it has lagged far behind in recognition. In the whirlpool of the turbulent 20th century, it mixed with many other names that are now known to only a few lovers of antiquity. Meanwhile, the history of the life of these people, the makeup of their personality deserve close attention from the educated public.

Kozma Terentyevich Soldatenkov not only lived in the period of transition from the ancient, traditional foundations of the posad world to the era of European educated merchants, but also became one of the figures that determined this transition. He embodied the most striking features of both eras. This was reflected in his character and lifestyle in the form of a certain contradiction, duality, which is noted by many of those who knew him personally.

Contemporaries called K.T. Soldatenkov as a pillar of the Moscow Old Believers 272. Indeed, a deeply religious man, he was very active in everything that concerned the faith of the fathers. An Old Believer in the Rogozhsky cemetery, 273 Kozma Terentyevich never started writing letters or notes without first putting "G" and "B" in the two upper corners of the paper, which meant: "Lord, bless." In the soldieronkovsky house on Myasnitskaya, 37, a large prayer house was arranged, where the owner himself served, as well as his relative S.T. Bolshakov, "why both wore a caftan of a special cut" 274. According to the memoirs of V.P. Ziloti, nee Tretyakova, was a person in whom "one could feel great strength, physical and mental, often found among the Russian Old Believers" 275. At the same time, on ordinary days, Kozma Terentyevich dressed in European style: in the summer he wore a gray frock coat, a gray cape and a gray felt hat with large brim276. The owner of a fortune of eight million, Soldatenkov throughout his life took an active part in the life of the Old Believers not only in Moscow and the Rogozh community277, but throughout Russia - he supported them with money and deeds.

On the level of public respect for K.T. Soldatenkov is given an idea of the following fact. According to P.I. Shchukin, - and his father with K.T. Soldatyonkov had more than half a century of friendly relations - in general, the service in the Sandunov baths was not up to par, the elementary rules of hygiene were often neglected; meanwhile, some clients were received in separate rooms and presented with silver basins and gangs; such a special approach was to the Moscow governor-general, K.T. Soldatenkov and rich brides 278.

Kozma Terentyevich was born in 1818 in a family of merchants, Old Believers in the Rogozhsky cemetery. His grandfather, Yegor Vasilyevich, who by the end of his life was in the second guild, came from the peasants of the village of Prokunino, Vokhonskaya volost, Kolomensky district. In 1797 he moved to Moscow. Father, Terenty Yegorovich Soldatenkov, the owner of a paper mill in the Rogozhskaya part279, was a member of the first guild merchant class, and from 1835 he became a hereditary honorary citizen. The family had six children, four of them - three daughters and one of the sons - died in childhood. Brothers Ivan and Kozma became the successors of their father's business.

Kozma Terentyevich did not receive a systematic education, he was taught only the basics of literacy - a common occurrence for the merchant environment of the 1820-1830s. In this sense, he was not in the least like P.I. Shchukin and S.I. Mamontov. From an early age, the merchant's son worked as a clerk in his father's shop, receiving an extremely small salary - and the necessary practical experience. I must say that the father kept his offspring "in a black body" had a considerable meaning, confirmed by centuries of experience: the future merchant on his own ridge felt how much he was, a sonorous silver ruble, how much sweat and blood had to be shed to "make money" ... Indeed, many years of service at the father's office developed in K.T. Soldatyonkov's instinct as an entrepreneur, he became a very successful businessman, a true professional in his field. In 1850, his father died, two years later - his older brother Ivan, so that Kozma became the only heir to the family business. Having quickly multiplied the capital acquired by his father, K.T. Soldatyonkov already in the mid-1850s became one of the largest traders of cotton yarn in Russia. In addition, he began to discount promissory notes, became a shareholder in a number of financial and industrial enterprises: the Gübner factories, Danilovskaya and Krengolmskaya manufactories, as well as the Moscow Accounting Bank, the Moscow Fire Insurance Company; was one of the founders of the Trekhgorny Brewery Association in Moscow280. In addition, Soldatenkov held socially significant positions: he was a public official of the Moscow City Duma (1863-1873), an elected member of the Moscow Exchange Society (1870-1881) and a foreman of the Moscow Exchange Committee (1855-1858). At each place he stayed for many years. Therefore, they trusted him, they saw in him a responsible person. Kozma Terentyevich quickly took an honorable place in the merchant circles of Moscow. The name of the merchant of the first guild, hereditary honorary citizen, commerce adviser281 Kozma Terentyevich Soldatenkov was known throughout the Mother See.

Being a convinced Old Believer, Soldatyonkov, nevertheless, in his ideological quests, was guided not by Russian antiquity, but by Europe. A close familiar historian, archaeologist, one of the founders of the Historical Museum in Moscow, Ivan Yegorovich Zabelin, in his notes for the years 1893-1894, distinguishes several types of "our (Russian - AF) Europeans", citing an example for each type. The type of "European merchant" is illustrated by Soldatyonkov282. Kozma Terentyevich traveled abroad every year, usually with a medical translator who accompanied him on a cursory examination of museums and art galleries — each trip began with this examination. On foreign travels, he usually spent about three months, from the beginning of August to the beginning of October284, in addition, in the winter he lived in Rome285. Kozma Terentyevich perfectly knew the life of wealthy Europeans. He saw that education and exposure to high culture became an integral part of the daily life of the entrepreneurial class. I saw - and went the same way. Perhaps he liked the "cultured" way of life of the European bourgeois. Perhaps Soldatenkov perceived the cultural component as one of the markers of social status. Perhaps both. In any case, he began to make efforts, making up for the lack of his own education. He never learned any of the foreign languages during his entire life. However, feeling the need to get away from the traditional life of the native posad environment, to become like - at least in external manifestations - a European enlightened businessman, Soldatenkov surrounded himself with people of science and art, and himself contributed to the enrichment of Russian culture. From the "Europeanness" of Soldatenkov, apparently, two important affairs of his life emerged.

So, the need for an intellectual life pushed K.T. Soldatenkov to rapprochement with Moscow Westernizers headed by T.N. Granovsky. Under their influence, in 1856 Soldatenkov together with N.M. Shchepkin founds a publishing company. Its goal was to publish books that could not count on a large circulation, but were necessary for domestic science or culture. The first book of the publishing house was a collection of poems by A.V. Koltsov. Then the works of N.P. Ogareva, N.A. Nekrasov, V.G. Belinsky. In 1862, there was a gap between the partners, and Soldatyonkov founds his own firm “K.T. Soldatyonkov ". The first book published by this publishing house in 1862 was the novel by I.S. Turgenev "Fathers and Sons".

Apparently, the instinct inherent in Kozma Terentyevich in his entrepreneurial activity did not disappoint him in the publishing business either. After the reforms of the early 1860s, a mass reader appears, and with it the demand for criticism and journalism, for historical, economic and fiction literature grows. And Soldatenkov satisfies this demand by releasing more and more new capital works, giving preference to history, among other sciences. It is very important that the largest part (about 60%) of the books published by him is serious translated literature. Soldatenkov paid for the work of the best translators (in particular, N.G. Chernyshevsky translated Weber's "General History" in 14 volumes) 286.

Kozma Terent'evich was passionate about typing, and in 1899, two years before his death, he said: "I will not give up this activity while I am alive, and until my last breath I will think about printing the planned books." 287. During the half-century of the firm's existence, he has published about 200 titles of books on fiction, historical, philosophical, economic, art history topics.

K.T. Soldatenkov not only published already written books, but also helped many Russian writers in difficult moments of their lives, ordering them to write or translate this or that work. So, with invariable warmth N.G. Chernyshevsky, who throughout the second half of the 1880s lived with translations of Western European historians, generously paid and published by K.T. Soldatenkov: “The publisher is a very rich and completely honest man. He does more for me than I could ever wish for ”288. Other contemporaries also perceived K.T. Soldatenkov as a disinterested benefactor. This is reflected in the nickname given to him: Cosma de Medici289.

In the diary entries of I.E. Zabelina draws attention to the following episode. One day at lunch he complained about the meager payment for his research, said that there was nothing to work for, that it was more expensive for himself. Kozma Terentyevich immediately replied that he would take on his support and finance the third volume of his work290. ON. Soldatyonkov helped Nekrasov to save Sovremennik from closure by giving him funds in 1855 to maintain the magazine. True, they subsequently developed a difficult relationship, as can be judged from the letters of N.A. Nekrasov to friends 291. It should still be noted that Kozma Terentyevich had clear ideas about what he was ready to donate money for, and what he was not. It sometimes came to curiosities. For example, the archaeologist and curator of the Moscow Armory, Yu.D. Filimonov, offended by Soldatenkov's refusal to donate money to a certain scientific publication, accused him of being “not Kozma Medici, but some Kozma-coachman” 292.

Many contemporaries of K.T. Soldatenkova, including the poet N.A. Nekrasov, noted that "he does the publishing business not for his own benefit, but at a loss for himself, out of a pure desire for the benefit of the Russian public." Often his books were sold at a price lower than their cost; this made fundamental publications available to the poor reader.

On the other side. the selection of editions issued by Soldatenkov makes one wonder: was there not a "back thought" behind his philanthropy in the sale of books, some not obvious at first glance, but a very specific goal? After all, Kozma Terentyevich supported opposition publications with his wallet, and even outright revolutionary ones. The names of N.G. Chernyshevsky, V.G. Belinsky, N.P. Ogareva speak for themselves. On the example of Soldatenkov, the diversity of Old Believer charity is clearly visible. Among its fruits were poisoned ones; their poison contributed to future revolutionary upheavals. The publishing activity of Soldatenkov, being in no small measure aimed at undermining the traditional foundations, the main guardian of which was the Orthodox Church, undermined the state from the inside, like a woodworm beetle sharpens a tree trunk.

One way or another, Soldatenkov did not spare money for everything that was connected with the world of the book, which earned the venerable name of an ideological book publisher. But this is just one of the aspects of his charity. Passion for Europe gave rise to another, no less important, direction of the patronage activity of Kozma Terentyevich.

He became famous as an art collector.

The collection of paintings by Russian artists K.T. Soldatenkov, the largest after the Tretyakov Gallery. Kozma Terent'evich began collecting paintings in the late 1840s (several years earlier than Pavel Tretyakov). But the decisive stage in the folding of his collection began after a trip to Italy in 1872. There he met, through the Botkin brothers, with the famous artist A.A. Ivanov 293. Kozma Terentyevich asked Ivanov to buy the best paintings by Russian artists for him, the painter agreed and really helped the patron with purchases. Gallery K.T. Soldatenkova by the end of his life numbered 230 canvases, including "Bathsheba" by K.R. Bryullov, "Self-portrait" by V.A. Tropinin, "The Widow" by P.A. Fedotov, "Tea drinking in Mytishchi" by V.G. Perov and many other famous works. The gallery, created by Soldatenkov's works, became one of the artistic attractions of the capital and was opened for public viewing.

In the same way as he supported writers, he helped Soldatyonkov and Russian artists. In particular, he bought paintings, always inflating their cost.

In the world of entrepreneurs, few things are valued as highly as the reputation of a respectable person - reliable, open to society and firmly embedded in the daily life of society. Integrity of this kind created an aura of trust and respect around the businessman. The detachment from public life has a devastating effect on reputation. When the personality of an entrepreneur or his business evokes associations with people, as they used to say in the old days, “walking between the courtyard,” that is, those who have escaped from their social cell, who dares to cooperate with him ?! After all, here he is a man, and tomorrow there is no him - a free wind! Especially when his family not so long ago ascended to the highest level of the entrepreneurial hierarchy. Soldatenkov's grandfather was still a middle-class merchant. In other words, no one - from the point of view of the capital's bigwigs, And the grandson had to spend a lot of money "on culture", proving year after year: we, Soldatyonkovs, are not some bigwigs, we are serious people, we are in plain sight and our title we know how to watch. Due to such considerations, Kozma Terentyevich had serious reasons to support the cultural institutions of Moscow with the ruble.

Thus, since the establishment of the Rumyantsev Museum294, Kozma Terentyevich has allocated a thousand rubles annually for the needs of the museum, paying a total of 40 thousand rubles. No less regularly, he made donations to the fund of Moscow University, as well as to other educational institutions, charitable societies in which he was included in the number of their honorary members295.

Back in November 1887, K.T. Soldatenkov in a conversation with I.E. Zabelin said that after his death he would refuse his entire library to the museum296. In fact, he bequeathed to the Rumyantsev Museum not only his personal library, which consisted of 8 thousand books and 15 thousand magazines, but also his valuable collection of Russian paintings, as well as 28 paintings by foreign masters, 17 sculptures, a voluminous collection of engravings and drawings, a significant collection of ancient Russian icons 297. Kozma Terentyevich made the donation on the condition that all the items were placed “in a separate hall of the museum, with the name of that“ Soldieronkovskaya. ”It is curious to note that the soldieronkov's gift to the fine arts department of the Rumyantsev Museum doubled the composition of his picture gallery. Kozma Terentyevich personally published and which remained unsold - and there were more than 67 thousand of them (worth over 50 thousand rubles) - he bequeathed to public libraries and educational institutions in Moscow for free issuance.

The very life of K.T. Soldatenkova was largely furnished in a European manner. In 1865, he bought the picturesque estate of Kuntsevo, located a few miles from Moscow and previously owned by L.K. Naryshkin. The estate consisted of a main house and a dozen dachas, which he rented out to representatives of the eminent merchants. Exquisite dinners and balls for summer residents were held in Soldieronkovsky Kuntsevo, and luxurious fireworks were lit on the banks of the Moskva River. They also loved the fun traditional for the merchants - drinking tea in the bosom of nature, in a linden grove, which was called "Teapots". At the same time, K.T. Soldatenkov turned Kuntsevo into a kind of cultural center. Both adults and young people in their daily meetings discussed novelties in literature, including those published by Kozma Terentyevich. There was always someone visiting Soldatenkov. In the summer, artists came to him - Roman friends (in particular, A.A. Rizzoni, who graduated from the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts). The historian I.E. Zabelin, doctor P.L. Pikulin, writer and translator N.Kh. Ketcher, I.S. Turgenev and other famous people of that time. Kuntsevo and its inhabitants can be found both on the canvases of the paintings and on the pages of literary works of the second half of the 19th century. And I.E. Zabelin at the request of K.T. Soldatenkova wrote the work "The Village of Kuntsovo and the Ancient Setunsky Stan".

In winter, Kozma Terentyevich lived on Myasnitskaya. There were several richly decorated rooms in his house, including an Arabic-style couch, a large library, and a chapel. The main part of the paintings of his collection was located in this house.

K.T. Soldatenkov, the artist V.E. Raev, who contributed a lot to the decoration of his estate: new gazebos, pedestals with vases in the ancient Greek style appeared in the Kuntsevo park. The book of memoirs written by him V.E. Raev dedicated "to the kindest Kuzma Terentyevich Soldatyonkov who sheltered me at his hearth" 298. True, in the text of the book he does not mention Soldatenkov's name.

Thus, the environment in which Soldatyonkov moved cannot be called merchant in the strict sense of the word. The main circle of his contacts consisted of artists, historians, writers. He was familiar with almost all well-known representatives of the intelligentsia of his time. Of course, Kozma Terentyevich also communicated with entrepreneurs, and above all with Ivan Vasilyevich Shchukin, with whom he had more than fifty years of friendship. For many years, the Shchukin family rented from K.T. Soldatyonkov's dacha. The son of I.V. Shchukin, a famous collector and philanthropist P.I. Shchukin, wrote interesting memoirs, in which he gives a capacious, ironic and at the same time respectful portrait of K.T. Soldatenkov. In particular, he writes that all his guests K.T. Soldatyonkov received him cordially and treated him to fine dinners; but as he grew older he became stingier and began to invite no more than two or three people to dinner. And at one of the dinners, when asked to serve asparagus to the table, he answered: “Asparagus, my friend, bites: five rubles a pound” 299.

K.T. Soldatyonkov did not resemble the image of a millionaire merchant circulated in fiction. Despite some of his quirks (like buying the Kuntsevo estate), he lived modestly, patronizing the sciences and arts. Kozma Terentyevich Soldatenkov was one of those entrepreneurs who, in the middle of the 19th century, laid the cultural foundation for the "golden age of Russian patronage", which covered the period of the last third of the 19th - early 20th centuries. It is not for nothing that contemporaries noted the duality of Soldatenkov's nature. His whole life passed on this line - between the temptations of the "brilliant" West and the patriarchal silence of Russia. To make a choice in favor of one of the options was to refuse the other. But Kozma Terentyevich could not refuse. If Soldatenkov as a collector, Soldatenkov as a publisher grew out of his passion for the West, then Soldatenkov as a benefactor developed from a deep inner contradiction of his personality.

As already mentioned, Soldatenkov was a zealous Old Believer. However, he was never legally married, having spent many years in a "civil marriage" with the Frenchwoman Clemence Karlovna Dupuis. At the same time, Kozma Terentyevich, besides Russian, did not speak any other language, and Clemence Karlovna spoke Russian very poorly. She was the happiness and grief of Soldatenkov. Happiness - because she was beautiful and undemanding. Woe - because Kozma Terentyevich constantly felt his guilt before God. His life now and then plunged into prodigal sin, moreover. he could not have legitimate children300, and he really wanted to have a child to whom he could pass on his fortune. It was not without reason that throughout his life he took care of the son of his brother Ivan, who died in 1852. He did not leave his nephew with care even after his death: Vasily Ivanovich Soldatyonkov became the only heir of Kozma Terentyevich.

It was in the lawless alliance of Kozma Terentyevich with his beloved woman, in the fact that Soldatenkov had no legal heirs, in his desire to atone for sins before God, one should look for the roots of his traditional charity - and it was truly large-scale. Only one dry register of blessings rendered to them Moscow and Muscovites makes a grandiose impression!

Many of Soldatenkov's donations were addressed to institutions helping children or beggars: after all, it was they who traditionally purified the soul of their sinful benefactor with prayers. And so that they knew who to pray for, donations were often personalized. So, in memory of the adoption on February 19, 1861 of the Manifesto on the abolition of serfdom, Soldatenkov established an almshouse named after him306. The largest personal donations were made by Soldatyonkov on the eve of his death. According to his will, Kozma Terentyevich allocated 1.3 million rubles for the construction of a well-equipped vocational school “for free education of poor male children, regardless of their condition and religion” named after K.T. Soldatyonkova307, as well as more than 2 million rubles for the establishment and maintenance of the largest hospital in the city for free treatment of "all the poor residents of Moscow, regardless of rank, class or religion." In the early years, bearing the name of K.T. Soldatenkov, in 1920 it was renamed the City Clinical Hospital. S.P. Botkin, which remains to this day. Famous for especially large amounts of posthumous donations, Kozma Terentyevich did no less good deeds during his lifetime. So, he was a member of the board of the Charitable Society at the Basmanny Hospital, the Committee for the provision of benefits to the families of those killed, died of wounds and mutilated in the Russian-Turkish (1877-1878) war of soldiers; member of the Board of Trustees of the Art and Industry Museum; he was also a trustee of the prisoners' orphanage. In addition, Kozma Terentyevich maintained an orphanage for poor children in Moscow, donated considerable sums to the orphanage of Tsarevna Maria for the children of persons exiled to Siberia by court sentences, the orphanage of St. Mary Magdalene in Moscow, an almshouse at the Rogozhsky cemetery, Arnoldo-Tretyakovsky school for the deaf and dumb deaf and dumb I.Ya. Schultz; in 1870-1882 he regularly allocated money for the maintenance of the Nikolaev charity house for widows and orphans of the merchant class308. A significant part of these institutions should provide assistance to children. The list of good deeds of Kozma Terentyevich Soldatenkov can be continued for a long time. During his life, Soldatenkov has spent over 4 million on charitable needs - more than half of his fortune!

Kozma Terentyevich died in his beloved Kuntsevo, on May 19, 1901. On his last journey, he was accompanied by representatives of all classes - from peasants to noble persons. More than 70 wreaths were laid on the grave. One of them, "From the City of Moscow", was personally laid by the mayor, Prince V.M. Golitsyn.

By the middle of the 19th century, the Old Believers had the experience of a long, cruel and unusually stubborn confrontation with the state and the Church. The confrontation had lasted for two hundred years, escalating from time to time to extreme degrees. The devout Old Believer had no reason to look at the Russian order with affection. He lived, as his fathers and grandfathers told him, in the land of the victorious Antichrist. or already victorious. The Russian sovereigns looked to various Old Believer "accords" and "interpretations" as individuals patronizing the fall of faith, contributing to the triumph of the accursed "Nikonian". Since the time of Alexei Mikhailovich and Peter Alexeevich, none of them could be loved and respected in the Old Believers' environment. The Russian Orthodox Church was its direct enemy, a consistent and implacable enemy. And from the time of the birth of co-religion, he was also an insidious enemy who achieved "a split among the schismatics." As for the Russian people, from this point of view, at best they looked like a herd of "lost" people who did not have the slightest chance of escape until there was a massive renunciation of the existing historical Church. A devout Old Believer often became an opponent of Russian statehood, autocratic imperial rule and the Church. The revolutionary leaders were looking for ways to put the power of the Old Believer communities at their service. The wisest of the Old Believer spiritual pastors rebuffed them, which was expressed, for example, in the words of Metropolitan Kirill (Belokrinitsky): “To this I promise you, love: show all prudence and good humility before your Tsar. and from all his enemies and traitors, depart and flee. especially from the wicked atheists who nest in London and from there, with their writings, revolt the European powers. " But from time to time people like Herzen, Granovsky, Kelsiev found like-minded people in this environment. There is nothing surprising in the fact that for Soldatenkov, European culture turned out to be closer to Russian in a number of positions. He published so much literature of revolutionary liberal content that he can be ranked among the sad galaxy of creators of October 1917. At the same time, having business contacts with Europe, Soldatyonkov easily became imbued with the spirit of everyday contact with high culture, characteristic of wealthy Europeans. Hence the urge to collect art collections, hence the desire to establish Europe in your own home, in everyday life. He did not feel a passionate love for high culture, he did not crave constant contact with it, as, say, S. I. Mamontov. He simply saw: for a real European, the cultural environment (objects, conversations, people) is part of a properly formed social status. So, the firm confession of Christianity in its Old Believer edition demanded from Soldatenkov not only steadfastness in faith, but also very strict morality. And with him. did not work. We are all sinners, and he was sinful. But, presumably, he was well aware of his position. For many years he was in a state of mortal sin - prodigal. He could not have heirs, at least legal ones. Among his own, he could look like a strange and somewhat defiled figure. What was left for him? Kneeling down, shedding tears, pray to the Lord God for forgiveness. And drive the unspent power of parental feelings into charity. Soldatenkov's donations are very significant! - and became his children. Caring for other people's sons has taken the place of an impossible, to the constant pain of the heart, to the death of mental anguish. impossible, impossible, impossible caring for their own offspring. It must have been that happiness in the life of this person was mixed with grief, light and warmth with bitterness and coldness of the soul. He did not fall away from sin. He knew he was a grievous sinner. He gave as much as he could, so that his sins were at least somehow compensated. I felt, I suppose, that this was not enough, too little. He suffered terribly from childlessness, just as a man who is successful in business, intelligent, independent, who has no one to transfer his wealth to, can suffer from childlessness. His soul was gravely ill.

Booker Igor 04.04.2019 at 9:00

The fact that the ideological opponents of the Westernizers and Slavophiles waged a merciless dispute on the pages of the Kolokol magazine and the Den newspaper, accusing each other of all mortal sins, is remembered by many from a school textbook. But the following fact is curious: both publications were printed with the money of the same philanthropist - Kozma Soldatenkov. The Russian Medici was a generous sponsor.

In the Church Slavonic alphabet there is no letter "e", but it is she who makes the surname of the Moscow entrepreneur, famous book publisher and owner of an art gallery Kozma Terentyevich Soldatenkov unique and recognizable.

It is known about the founder of the famous merchant family, the peasant-Old Believer Yegor Vasilyevich Soldatenkov, that in 1795 or 1797 he moved to Moscow from the village of Prokunino near Moscow and enrolled in the second merchant guild. In 1820, for charitable purposes, he donated 20 thousand rubles to the defense of the Fatherland. The amount at that time was comparable to the cost of a small village with serf souls, therefore, Yegor Vasilyevich's business was going uphill.

He had two sons - Terenty and Konstantin. In 1810, the sons in the Rogozhskaya part of Belokamennaya owned a paper mill and traded in bread, cotton yarn and chintz. In 1825, both Soldatenkov brothers were listed as merchants of the first guild. Not much or less, but when visiting a high-ranking official, they had the right to put on a sword and could well expect to receive the title of hereditary honorary citizen.

Terenty had two sons - Ivan and Kozma, the youngest had two daughters - Efrosinya, who lived only five years, and Maria. Brothers and sisters lived in one house. The boys mastered the wisdom of the merchants, and on weekends they went to the Old Believers' church at the Rogozhskoye cemetery. After the death of their father, the brothers (of course, honorary citizens and Moscow merchants of the first guild) inherited a huge factory and a whole network of retail stores. The elder brother was at the head of the family business, and Kozma traded in speculation in shares and fraud on the stock exchange. And although both brothers did not receive a systematic education, they could count a penny as best they could. With the death of his brother, Kozma in 1852 became the full owner of the financial empire.

The news of the death of Ivan Terentyevich found Kozma Terentyevich abroad. He visited the colony of Russian artists in Rome, Naples and Sorrento with a familiar art critic Nikolai Botkin. In Russia, paintings by domestic painters were sold very badly, and in the West, no one heard anything about the Russian art school. This will continue for a long time. Even in the first half of the 1920s, the British intelligence officer Sidney Reilly, to finance the anti-Bolshevik uprising, would offer the Trust underground workers to steal from Soviet museums and sell abroad exclusively paintings by European masters. The fashion for the Russian avant-garde and abstractionism will come a little later.

Botkin took the patron only to good artists, and the 33-year-old Moscow merchant bought canvases from them without bargaining. While leaving for his homeland, he asked the artist Alexander Andreevich Ivanov to buy paintings for him, which would be exhibited in the future Moscow Soldatenkov gallery. Friends and acquaintances played up the name of Kozma - they added the name of the Medici to it - a well-known family who also patronized the arts.

Arriving at the First See, Kozma Terentyevich made a broad gesture and, in memory of his deceased brother, ransomed from the debt prison all Moscow defaulters who were staying there for 30 thousand rubles. Among whom were mainly nobles and representatives of the creative bohemia. So the rich man secured himself publicity in the circles of the intelligentsia and caused the neighing of tight-fisted merchants. Many enemies of the tsarist regime, such as Herzen and Ogarev, became friends of Soldatenkov-Medici. With the money of this patron of arts and patron of the arts, Herzen's "Bell" and the supplement "General Veche" were published.

Soldatenkov's house on Myasnitskaya Street turned into a refuge for "unreliable persons", and Kozma Terentyevich himself fell into the ranks of "Westerners who want disorder and indignation." As soon as this was reported to Soldatenkov, he immediately counted out the required amount for the mouthpiece of the Slavophil movement, the weekly literary-political newspaper Den, and at his own expense published a collection of articles by BN Chicherin. The collection opened with an article by Chicherin, written in co-authorship with KD Kavelin, "A Letter to the Publisher of Kolokol". This policy document expressed a fundamental disagreement with Herzen regarding the assessment of the French Revolution of 1848 as "a bloody rebellion of an unbridled crowd." Alexander Ivanovich Herzen publicly called the "Russian Medici" an idiot, but he continued to ask for money to publish "The Bell".

Kozma Soldatenkov was in a civil marriage with a Frenchwoman Clemence Dubois. Clemence Karlovna gave birth to a son in 1854, who was named Ivan Ilyich Baryshev. The father really wanted a real writer to come out of his son. The son took for himself the literary pseudonym Myasnitsky and wrote humorous sketches from the life of the Moscow merchants, which were published in the then popular publications "Dragonfly", "Alarm clock" and others. In the capital and in Moscow, his comedy farces were staged, which also enjoyed success.

Kozma Terentyevich divided his fortune between Clemence Karlovna, who was owed 150,000 rubles, son Ivan Ilyich - 25,000 rubles, servants and peasants - 50,000 rubles, 100,000 rubles to distribute to the poor and the poor, half a million to support almshouses and all the real estate went to his nephew Vasily Ivanovich Soldatenkov. The picture gallery and library were bequeathed to the Rumyantsev Museum. He wrote off 1,300,000 rubles for the construction of a vocational school and about two million rubles for a free hospital.

According to the bequest of Kozma Terentyevich, at his expense, "a hospital for all the poor in Moscow, without distinction of rank, class and religion, called Soldatenkov's Hospital" was built. In 1920, the hospital was named after Sergei Petrovich Botkin, the physician of Tsar Alexander III and brother of Nikolai Botkin, with whom Kozma once wandered through the workshops of Russian artists. Sergei Petrovich was a worthy man and a wonderful doctor, but he had nothing to do with Soldatenkov's hospital.

Biography

Kozma Soldatenkov did not receive a systematic education, but he was distinguished by an outstanding natural mind.

In 1852, after the death of his elder brother Ivan, he began to manage the family business, which was later inherited by his nephew Vasily Ivanovich Soldatenkov (1847-1910).

He was a major textile manufacturer; became widely known as a patron of art and a disinterested publisher of a number of valuable works. Since the end of the 1840s, he collected paintings mainly by Russian artists (Karl Bryullov, Alexander Ivanov, Vasily Perov, Pavel Fedotov and others). Assistance in their selection was provided by Vasily Botkin's brother, art critic Mikhail Botkin and artist Alexander Ivanov. For his rich and generous patronage of the arts, Soldatyonkov received the nickname "Cosma Medici".

Participated in the creation of the largest textile company in Russia - the Partnership of the Krengolm Paper Products Manufactory in Narva (1857, board member), the Moscow Accounting Bank (1869, board member). In 1870 he was a co-founder and one of the first shareholders of the Volzhsko-Kamsky Commercial Bank founded in St. Petersburg. One of the main organizers of manufactory firms is the Albert Gübner Association of Manufactories (1871), a shareholder of the Nikolsk Manufactory Partnership "Savva Morozova Son and Co" (1873).

Soldatenkov was a member of the Commercial Court (1854-1858), a member and foreman of the Moscow Exchange Committee (1855-1858); during the Crimean War - a member of the Committee for accepting funds from the merchants for military needs (1855-1856), a member of the Moscow branch of the Council of Trade and Manufactures, an elected member of the Moscow Merchant Assembly, a vowel of the Moscow City Duma (1863-1876), a member of the Board of Trustees of the Artistic and Industrial Museum (since 1865), a full member of the Society of Amateurs of Commercial Knowledge at the Academy of Commercial Sciences, a member of the board of a charitable society at the Basmanny Hospital, a member of the board of trustees of women's courses V. Gerje, one of the founders and honorary members of the Society for grants to needy students. In 1866, Soldatenkov founded the so-called Soldatenkovskaya almshouse (“Commerce almshouse of advisor KT Soldatenkov in memory of February 19, 1861”) for 100 permanent residents of Moscow and visiting “all classes and confessions, but mainly from the former courtyard people”. He provided a two-story brick building for the almshouse (the former 4th Meshchanskaya, now - Meshchanskaya street, 15) and a capital of 15 thousand rubles, then annual additional funding, was its lifelong trustee. In 1894, Soldatenkov transferred 2,400 rubles for the gypsum of the Munich Glyptotek to Ivan Tsvetaev, who was then collecting casts of world-famous works for the Museum of Fine Arts he was creating.

Died May 19 / June 1 years in Kuntsevo at the age of 83 and was buried at the Rogozhskoye cemetery. In Soviet times, the grave of Kozma Terentyevich Soldatenkov, as well as the large tomb of the Soldatyonkov merchants-Old Believers, were destroyed (section 4 of the cemetery).

In 1901, according to Soldatenkov's will, his library (8 thousand volumes of books and 15 thousand copies of magazines), as well as a collection of Russian painting (258 canvases and 17 sculptures) was transferred to the Rumyantsev Museum and, as a national treasure, was kept in a separate room called Soldatenkovskaya. After the closure of the Rumyantsev Museum in 1924, they replenished the funds of the Tretyakov Gallery and the Russian Museum. Some of the icons from his collection were bequeathed to the Intercession Cathedral of the Rogozhsky cemetery. ...

In fulfillment of Soldatenkov's spiritual testament, a trade school named after K. T. Soldatenkov (1909) (designed by the architect Vladimir Shervud at 37 Donskaya Street) and a city hospital for the poor (until 1920 - Soldatenkovskaya hospital) were built.

Publishing activities

Religious beliefs

Soldatenkov took an active part in the life of the Moscow Belokrinitsa community. Financed a trip to London for the Old Believer Bishop of Kolomna Pafnutiy (Ovchinnikov) and arranged his meetings with Nikolai Ogarev, Alexander Herzen, Vasily Kelsiev. In one of the periods, he was inclined to accept unanimity, as was reported to Metropolitan Filaret (Drozdov) of Moscow by the chairman of the Nikolsky parish of the same faith at the Rogozhsky cemetery V.A. Sapelkin.

In 1862 he welcomed the District letter drawn up by Archbishop Anthony (Shutov) and Xenos (Kabanov).

Moscow addresses

Myasnitskaya, 37

The estate where KT Soldatenkov lived included the main house (No. 37), the western wing (No. 33) and the eastern wing (No. 37, p. 3). At the end of the 18th century, there was "the courtyard of the merchant AI Dokuchaev in the parish of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker on Myasnitskaya".

After the Moscow fire of 1812, the estate was restored in 1819-1821 according to the project of architects O. I. Bove and A. G. Grigoriev; then rebuilt by A.I. Rezanov. Since 1857 Soldatenkov owned it. Here was a huge library and a collection of paintings he had collected. The estate manager was his son from a civil marriage with Clemenceau Karlovna Debuy (Dupont) - II Baryshev.

In Soldatenkov's home prayer house there were icons of the Stroganov school. Among the most valuable were the signed icons of the 16th century - "The Burial of John the Theologian" by the master Nikifor Slavina and "The sixth week about the blind" master Istomy Savina... The pearl of the collection was Andrei Rublev's "Savior", acquired by Soldatenkov in the Savvino-Storozhevsky monastery.

Soldatenkovskaya hospital in Moscow (GKB named after S.P. Botkin)

According to Soldatenkov's will, funds were allocated from his capital for the construction in Moscow of a free hospital for the poor, regardless of class and religion. In 1903, the Moscow city administration allocated 10 acres of land on the Khodynskoye field. Construction began in 1908 and was officially opened in 1910. Currently, the hospital is called the City Clinical Hospital named after S.P. Botkin (2nd Botkinsky Proezd, 5; in 1992, a monument to Soldatenkov was erected near the administration building).

Debuy Estate - Deminoi

In 1862, the Zolotarev merchants sold the plot (the current address is 3/2 Sverchkov Lane) together with the garden to Kozma Terentyevich Soldatenkov, who built a one-story mansion here for his common-law wife, Clemenceau Karlovna Debuy (1822-1908).

After Debuy's death in 1910, Maria Terentyevna Demina became the owner of the house. Under her, the mansion was rebuilt according to the project of the architect Strukov; in 1967 a second floor appeared and until 2003 the embassy of Afghanistan was housed in the mansion.

Kuntsevo

Until 1974, the main house was wooden, but the belvedere was lost. In 1976, after a fire, it was dismantled and rebuilt in brick, but the original architectural forms remained until August 2014, when a new fire destroyed the reconstructed gazebo and the roof again.