Alfred Hirv 1880 - 1918 Natüürmort puuviljade ja veinipokaaliga. 1895

Alfred Hirv has been surrounded by mystery for a long time and it has been caused both by the “lack of data” and his certain solitary position among Estonians, having studied in St.Petersburg. Hirv and his calm and classical artistic manner, being generated from the old Dutch tradition, formed a remarkable exception that has only been compared with the creation of Johan Köler. Hirv, having shown extraordinary talent already at a young age, was only 15, when he headed for the Stieglitz Art School in St.Petersburg, but the dryness of the tuition in the mentioned establishment directed the young artist to continue his studies at professor Klever, “where became of use the taste and technical experience of the teacher” (Aleksander Tassa). At the end of the century the artists already works under the name of Alfredo Girvo in the Academy of Arts of Rome, after that in the legendary Ažbe Art School in Munich, where at the same time also worked Kristjan Raud.
Alfred Hirv’s “Natüürmort puuviljade ja veinipokaaliga” is undoubtedly one of his earliest known works, which was most probably exposed by the 15-year-old artist also at his first exhibition in Estonia in 1897, which also remained the last one during his lifetime. Already in the same year young Hirv was invited to the exhibition of the St.Petersburg Union of Artists, from which also started his extremely successful career in Russia. This work already enables us to follow the development of the favourite motives of the young artist, also the compositional build-up and extraordinary abundance of light. But in addition to the undisputable art historical importance of the work, we can also talk about the painting’s own value: the exact manner of painting, which is being supplemented by free melting of colours and light into the picture room, looking for different variations of reflections on a tin cup and grapes and enhancing of the folds of the drapery. We can talk about an idyll in the middle of a still-life.