Savva Mamontov is a famous Russian businessman and philanthropist of the 19th century. The biography of Savva Mamontov is very interesting and rich. Contemporaries knew him as a wonderful singer, talented sculptor and artist. It was his estate that at one time became the center of artistic life.
Short biography of Savva Mamontov
Savva Ivanovich Mamontov was born in the family of a merchant on October 15, 1841. His father was engaged in railway construction. The family lived richly, and receptions and balls were often held in their house. After completing his studies at the law faculty, the son continued his father's business and made a fortune on it. The name of Savva Mamontov is associated with the construction of major railways. However, he became widely known and remembered by his descendants (the biography of Savva Mamontov is known to more than one generation) thanks to his selfless service to art. “Moscow Medici”, “Savva the Magnificent” - this is how grateful contemporaries spoke of him, it was under these nicknames that he entered the history of Russian culture.
Education
The Mamont family had four sons. Their education was handled by a specially hired tutor. He taught children European manners and foreign languages. The biography of Savva Mamontov, perhaps, would have been completely different, but everything changed after the death of his mother in 1852. Father and children had to move to a more modest estate than they had occupied before. The father of the family was very upset by the death of his wife. It was at this time that he decided to abandon home education and send his children to a Moscow gymnasium, and two years later they transferred them to St. Petersburg and assigned them to the Institute of Civil Engineers. However, Savva could not study here and returned to Moscow, to his native gymnasium. One of the reasons for the return was scarlet fever, which he contracted. Studying was not easy for him. The educational institutions of that time had strict rules: students who were lagging behind in academic subjects had to sit at the last desks. But Savva Mamontov, a biography whose personal life has been discussed for centuries, was already a favorite of those around him, and at the request of his classmates he was always imprisoned for the first desk. This unique ability to unite people around him, he carried through his whole life. However, the recognition of classmates could not affect the performance of Savva, and after the failure of final exams, he was forced to leave the gymnasium.
Introduction to art
Father arranged a son at Petersburg University. During the entrance exams, Savva Mamontov had to cheat - another young man went to the Latin exam instead. Savva was enrolled in the University of St. Petersburg, and soon transferred to the Faculty of Law in Moscow. However, even at the university, Savva Ivanovich Mamontov, whose biography draws us a highly educated person, was not too interested in studying and devoted all his free time to classes in the drama circle, the head of which was the famous playwright A. Ostrovsky. In 1862, he played the role of Kudryash in the play Thunderstorm. It was his debut, by the way, quite successful.
Mamontov - entrepreneur
During these years, Ivan Fedorovich Mamontov just founded and began to develop a new trading partnership, which specialized in the sale of silk. The father decided to attract the youngest son Savva to the family business and sent him to study business at the branch of his company in Baku. Starting to work as a simple employee, Savva Mamontov proved to be an excellent businessman. After a business trip to Persia, he returned as an experienced businessman. The biography of Mamontov Savva Ivanovich says that his life has changed dramatically from that moment. From absenteeism and a walker, he turns into an excellent entrepreneur.
Family of Savva Ivanovich Mamontov
The biography of Savva Mamontov, his family is interested in many people of the current generation. In 1864, the youngest son went to Italy to heal and study the situation in local markets. Here he meets his future wife - Elizabeth Grigoryevna Sapozhnikova. The 17-year-old girl was not particularly beautiful. But Savva Mamontov was not attracted to her at all. She was fond of art, sang beautifully, read a lot and made music. A year later, a magnificent wedding took place, after which the young settled in Moscow. It was at this time that the Mamontovs departed from trade and engaged in railway construction. Engaged in family business, Savva Mamontov, whose brief biography is presented in the article, never ceased to serve art and invested huge amounts of money in it.
After the death of his father in 1869, the management of the family business completely passed into the hands of the youngest son. A young family decides to purchase their own home. Famous Russian artists, writers and musicians constantly gathered in the Abramtsevo estate, which was owned by the Mamontov family since 1870. Thanks to the assistance of Savva Ivanovich, the opera began to develop at that time. Such names as Chaliapin, Mussorgsky, Rimsky-Korsakov sounded and became famous. The philanthropist paid much attention to the scenery, which was written by famous artists. Mamontov Savva Ivanovich himself, whose brief biography, of course, cannot reveal all his talents, together with historians and art historians painstakingly chose all the scenery, stage details and costumes.
Patronage
Savva Ivanovich devoted his whole life to supporting a wide variety of creative activities. He organized evenings, exhibitions, made new acquaintances, encouraged and promoted talented people. Mamontov spent enormous amounts of money on this “hobby”, despite the discontent of some members of his family. He had a special gift to see and recognize in a person a talent for a particular type of art. Young artists constantly lived and worked in the Mamontov’s house, and the owners tried to create the most favorable conditions for their work. The Abramtsevo estate, where the Mamontovs lived, was constantly rebuilt and renovated in order to be able to accommodate as many people as possible. After another visit to Italy, Savva Ivanovich, together with his wife, invited young artists, graduates of the St. Petersburg Academy of Arts, who graduated abroad, to his estate. Thanks to Savva Mamontov, such names as V. D. Polenov, E. I. Repin, V. M. Vasnetsov and others became known to the world.
At the beginning of 1885, Savva Ivanovich opened the Moscow private opera, which marked the beginning of the great transformation of the scene. It was here that the talent of F.I. Chaliapin, now famous all over the world, was revealed. It was here that famous composers and prominent figures of art performed.
Support for the wife of Elizabeth Grigoryevna
The wife of Savva Ivanovich supported her husband in everything. It was she who opened a school for peasant children, and a little later, a carpentry workshop. Graduates of this workshop received a set of tools as a reward, which allowed them to continue to work.
The Mamontovs house had a beautiful library. Elizaveta Grigoryevna always assisted in the selection of the necessary historical information and documents if one of the artists undertook to write a canvas on historical subjects. Often during the work of artists, she read them classical literature, developing a sense of beauty in young talents.
Trial
Unfortunately, everything was not always smooth and serene in the fate of Savva Mamontov. At the beginning of 1900, a major trial was held related to the illegal embezzlement of funds. The businessman comes up with the idea of ​​combining large industrial and transport enterprises. The implementation of this grandiose plan required a large sum of money. Savva Ivanovich sells shares of his owned Northern Road. At the same time, he receives a loan by pledging shares and bills that belonged to his family. Having put all his fortune at stake, the businessman hoped to increase it, but everything went wrong. Savva Ivanovich Mamontov was arrested. He even had to spend several months in a prison cell. Fortunately, the case ended in an acquittal. During the trial, many witnesses spoke. None of them said a single bad word to the defendant. After the court read out the verdict, the whole audience applauded. Despite a favorable outcome, debts had to be repaid. All marital status was put under the hammer.
Life after the trial
Since the end of a long trial and the announcement of the verdict, the life of Savva Mamontov has changed dramatically. He began to lead a secluded life and rarely appeared in society. However, loyal and devoted friends did not forget their patron. Such famous people as V. A. Serov, V. M. Vasnetsov, V. I. Surikov, F. I. Chaliapin often visited him.
Savva Mamontov: biography, children
Savva Ivanovich very successfully combined the service of culture and art with entrepreneurial activity. Both of them took a lot of energy, but for him it was a matter of his life. As the entrepreneur himself admitted, he would never give up doing art or business. By the way, in his entrepreneurial activity he saw not only monetary profit, but also service to people, service for the benefit of people.
The biography of Savva Mamontov would be incomplete if not to mention the children, the heirs of the great philanthropist and industrialist. The family had five children. It is noteworthy that Savva named all his offspring so that his own name was formed from the first letters of their names. Sergey, Andrey, Vsevolod, Vera, Alexandra - SAVVA. One of the sons, Sergei, to some extent continued the work of his father. His name did not become as famous, however, he was both a playwright and poet, quite famous in his circles.
Life after death
The years of revolution were difficult for the whole of then-Russia. Steep changes in the country found Savva Mamontov seriously ill. In early March 1918, he contracted pneumonia. March 24, the great entrepreneur and philanthropist was gone. The following decades after his death, power in the country belonged to the Bolsheviks, and the name of Savva Mamontov was spat upon and forgotten. But such people do not leave without a trace. And now, almost a hundred years after his death, we remember the immeasurable contribution of Savva Ivanovich Mamontov to the development of Russian culture. Today, monuments in Sergiev Posad and Yaroslavl have been erected in honor of the famous philanthropist and patron of art. Not far from Moscow, in the Yaroslavl direction, the platform is named after him.