Anna Karenina · Chapter
Chapter XIII explained
Mihailov paints a stunning portrait of Anna, revealing a beauty Vronsky feels he never fully grasped.
What happens
Mihailov paints a stunning portrait of Anna, revealing a beauty Vronsky feels he never fully grasped. The sittings highlight the social and artistic tensions between the professional artist and the aristocratic dilettantes. Vronsky, Golenishtchev, and Anna grow to dislike Mihailov's cold, hostile manner, attributing it to jealousy. Vronsky, confronted with the superiority of Mihailov's work, abandons his own portrait of Anna. His broader artistic ambitions also falter, leading to boredom with life in Italy. He and Anna decide to return to Russia for the summer.
Themes in this chapter
Hypocrisy and Social Pretense
Vronsky and Golenishtchev maintain a cordial, cultured facade with Mihailov while privately dismissing him as jealous and uncultured, revealing the hypocrisy of their artistic patronage.
Isolation and Misunderstanding
Mihailov is isolated by his art and social class, misunderstood and disliked by the aristocratic circle. His genuine artistic perception creates a gulf of mutual distaste and non-communication.
Characters to notice
- Mihailov
Paints a masterful portrait of Anna that captures her soul's expression. He is cold, hostile, and uncomfortable in Vronsky's social world, finding Vronsky's artistic dabbling distasteful and offensive.
- Count Alexey Kirillovitch Vronsky
Is deeply impressed by Mihailov's portrait of Anna, which teaches him something new about her. Defends Mihailov outwardly but internally believes the artist is envious. Abandons his own painting projects, leading to restlessness and a decision to return to Russia.
- Anna Arkadyevna Karenina
Is grateful for her portrait and more friendly to Mihailov than the others. She, along with Vronsky and Golenishtchev, grows tired of Mihailov's manner. Wonders at Vronsky's loss of interest in painting and agrees to the move to Russia to see her son.
- Golenishtchev
Provides unsolicited artistic theories to Mihailov and Vronsky. He is the first to voice the opinion that Mihailov is jealous of Vronsky. His constant presence contributes to the tedium of life in Italy.
Key passages
“"One needs to know and love her as I have loved her to discover the very sweetest expression of her soul," Vronsky thought, though it was only from this portrait that he had himself learned this sweetest expression of her soul.”
Vronsky believes deep love is required to see Anna's truest beauty, yet he only recognizes it through Mihailov's portrait, not his own perception.
Highlights the gap between Vronsky's possessive love and the artist's objective, revealing vision.
“Just such a distasteful sensation was what Mihailov felt at the sight of Vronsky’s painting: he felt it both ludicrous and irritating, both pitiable and offensive.”
Mihailov finds Vronsky's amateur painting as offensive as watching a man caress a wax doll in front of the real woman's lover.
Uses a powerful metaphor to convey the profound professional and personal insult felt by the true artist.
“But without this occupation... the life of Vronsky and of Anna... struck them as intolerably tedious in an Italian town.”
With Vronsky's painting abandoned, their life in Italy becomes boring and stagnant, forcing a change of scenery.
Shows the fragility of their constructed life abroad, built on temporary pursuits that cannot provide lasting meaning.