Sofia Kuvshinnikova

Sofia Petrovna Kuvshinnikova, née Safonova (Russian: Софья Петровна Кувшинникова; 1847 – 1907 near Moscow) was a Russian landscape painter. For many years, she was the mistress of Isaac Levitan and served as the inspiration for the lead character in a short story by Anton Chekhov: Попрыгунья (The Grasshopper, 1892). In 1955, it was adapted for the screen as the first movie directed by Samson Samsonov, with Lyudmila Tselikovskaya in the starring role.

Biography

She was born to the family of a minor civil servant. After an education which stressed the fine arts, she married Dr Dmitri Kuvshinnikov, a doctor for the police department who was much older. In 1871, he appeared as one of the figures in a painting by Vasily Perov ("The Hunters at Rest"). This was exhibited at a showing by the Peredvizhniki and, afterwards, his modest apartment became a gathering place for the creative community; a group which came to include Levitan and the Chekhovs.

Sofia acted as hostess and, for many, was considered one of the chief attractions there. She not only played piano and sewed costumes, she often went out hunting, dressed as a man, and brought back a full bag of game.

In 1886, the Chekhov brothers introduced Levitan to the Kuvshinnikovs. Levitan considered himself to be a "ladies' man" and he soon fixed his sights on Sofia, although she was thirteen years his senior. Often, he would bring his art materials and paint while she played piano.

The Grasshopper dates from shortly after this time. Chekhov published the story in (North), issues one and two of January 1892. The story concerns a lecherous man who has an affair with a married woman, whose husband dies of an accident (that may have been suicide) after she leaves him. Levitan and Kuvshinnikova were both offended, although the central figure in the story was a young wife and Kuvshinnikova was 42. Moreover she was dark haired and a talented painter, whereas Chekhov's character was blonde and not an artist. The stronger similarity was that Kuvshinnikova's husband was tolerant of her disloyalty to him, as was "The Grasshopper" who forgave his wife's indiscretions.

It is unclear if there was ever a formal separation from her husband but, in 1894, she and Levitan, then aged 47 and 34 respectively, settled at an estate on Lake Ostrovno in Tver Oblast. Before long, he began another affair with a younger woman from a neighboring estate and she returned to Moscow. They reconciled and broke up twice more; in 1895 and 1897.