Nikolai Nikolaevich Ge (; – ) was a Russian painter who was influential in the development of Russian symbolism. He was famous for his works on historical and religious subjects.
Early life
Nikolai Nikolaevich Ge was born on in Voronezh, Voronezh Governorate, to a family in the Russian nobility. His grandfather, who was a French nobleman, immigrated to Russia during the 18th century and married a Russian woman. The original French spelling of the surname was Gay, and many French sources use this spelling rather than the Russian transliteration. Ge's mother died of cholera when he was three months old. Ge grew up on a family estate in Popelukhy near Mohyliv-Podilskyi in Podolia. His grandmother and a serf nurse cared for him. Many "were acquired by a young collector, Christoph Bolman [...] he had no idea of their origin, simply recognizing their value. Only some 15 years later, when he was visited during the Perestroika by Soviet acquaintances, did the attribution become clear. Negotiations for their acquisition and return to Russia – as a full collection, rather than sold off in parts – failed repeatedly during the 1990s. They were only concluded in 2011 after the Tretyakov Gallery was able to arrange sponsorship from a Russian state bank to purchase them for donation to the gallery's permanent collection."
Selected works
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File:Nikolay Ge 027.jpeg|Carrara marble
File:Nikolay Ge 043.jpg|Alexander Pushkin in the village of Mikhailovsky
File:Peter the Great Interrogating the Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich.jpg|Peter the Great Interrogating the Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich at Peterhof, 1871
File:Carrara Ge.jpg|Carrara
File:Ge Tolstoy.jpg|Leo Tolstoy, 1882
File:Ge Sophia Tolstaya.jpg|Sophia Tolstaya (wife of Leo Tolstoy)
File:Nikolaj Nikolajewitsch Ge 003.jpg|Portrait of Alexei Potechin
File:Ge 001 study of John the Evangelist head.jpg|Study of John the Evangelist's head
File:Nikolay Ge 021.jpeg|In the Garden of Gethsemane
File:What-is-truth02.jpg|What is truth? Christ and Pilate, 1890
File:Ge golgofa.jpg|Golgotha
File:Nikolay Ge 041.jpg|Crucifixion
File:Ge The last supper 1863.jpg|The Last Supper, 1863
File:Nikolaj Nikolajewitsch Ge 002.jpg|Conscience: Judas
File:The Judgment of the Sanhedrin- He is Guilty!.jpg|The Judgment of the Sanhedrin - He is Guilty!
File:Nikolay Ge 015.jpeg|Maria, sister of Lazarus, meets Jesus who is going to their house
File:Nikolaj Nikolajewitsch Ge 001.jpg|Christ praying in Gethsemane (1888)
File:Nikolay Ge 016.jpeg|Heralds of the Resurrection
File:Witch of Endor (Nikolay Ge).jpg|The Witch of Endor Invoking the Spirit of the Prophet Samuel, 1857
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See also
- List of Russian artists
- Crucifixus (Nikolay Ge)