The Shevchenko National Museum is a landmark for representatives of the Verbicki dynasty of artists.

The figure of Heorhiy Verbicki is iconic for the Taras Shevchenko National Museum. The artist was a deep connoisseur of Shevchenko's technique of watercolor painting. That is why in 1950 he was entrusted with making copies of Taras Shevchenko's watercolors for the museum's permanent exhibition. Since 1982, he has involved his son, the artist Serhiy Verbicki, in his work. Together, they performed a presentation of 350 artistic copies, which are still exhibited in the walls of the Shevchenko National Museum. 

Heorhiy and Serhiy Verbicki made copies of Shevchenko's works from the originals of the National Museum on the order of the Shevchenko Museum in Toronto. 

Just as the figures of Serhiy Heorhiyovych and Heorhiy Mykolayovych Verbick are iconic for the Shevchenko National Museum, the museum itself is an iconic place for the Verbicki family. Today, the museum's collection contains the works of three generations of the Verbicki family. 

Namely, Heorhiy Verbicki, Serhiy (senior) Verbicki and Serhiy Verbicki.

Jubilee exhibition of the Verbicki family at the Shevchenko National Museum. Dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Heorhiy Mykolayovych Verbicki.

On the initiative of the Shevchenko National Museum and Yuliia Shylenko, the exhibition "Time Tamers" was held. The purpose of the exhibition was to reveal the topic of professional museum copying and preservation of original works.

Curators of the exhibition

  • Yulia Shilenko
  • Olena Brazhnyk
  • Serhiy Verbicki

Museum copying

Heorhiy Verbicki (1920-2011) had a unique talent that was passed down to him from his grandfather Ioan Verbicki (1870-1924) and was able to pass it on to his son (my father) Serhiy Verbicki. The difficulty of copying water color is that the Master has no right to make a mistake. Because unlike copying works made with oil paints, steps in watercolor cannot be undone. One wrong stroke and the work is considered unsuccessful. And the magic lies in the fact that it is almost impossible to control the watercolor filling on paper, as well as to reproduce the coincidences created by another master. But Heorhiy Verbicki managed it. In the whole world, there are only a handful of masters of copying watercolors of this level.

Artistic copying is not a blind redrawing of the work, but a careful study of the manner, technique and materials that were used to create the original. For maximum accuracy in the reproduction of Shevchenko's watercolors, Heorhiy Verbicki found and purchased antique paints of the company "RICHARD AINE", which were used by Taras Shevchenko himself.

A brief overview of the "Time Tamers" exhibition

Hall number 1

In the first hall, creative works of the Verbicki family from private collections are displayed

Some of the works displayed in the first hall

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Hall number 2

The second hall is devoted to the topic of museum copying. Here, the originals of T.H. Shevchenko's works were shown next to copies made by the Verbicki family. Also copies of works by Rembrandt and Bryullov, executed by T. H. Shevchenko himself.

The audience had a unique opportunity to see the original works of T. H. Shevchenko, which are exhibited very rarely. This is due to the fact that some watercolor paints are afraid of light and lose their color over time. That is why copies are always displayed in the permanent exhibitions of museums. Yuliia Shylenko's idea was to show the viewer the original work and a copy, which was on display for a long time, next to each other. First, it drew attention to the very field of scientifically based, qualified museum storage of works of art.

And secondly, it introduced the viewer to the unique art of museum copying.

Today, with the advent of the latest printing equipment with accurate color reproduction, the art of copying watercolor works has almost disappeared.

That's why I immediately fell in love with Yuliia's idea and we implemented this project together, for which I am infinitely grateful to her!

Today, it is officially known about the existence of two copies of Shevchenko's lost work "Kazakhs in a Yurt". One of them is kept in the family collection. The original work by Shevchenko himself has been lost. Another copy of this work is kept in the Shevchenko National Museum. Both copies were made by Heorhiy Verbіcki.

According to information inside the family, both copies of this piece were made from the original during Heorhiy Verbicki visit to a private collector. But there is no documentation of this fact.

This is the cover of a collection of portraits of representatives of the Verbicki dynasty. Four portraits are shown here. Miniature of Natasha Verbicki, Myklola Verbicki, Lyudmila Verbicki and Serhiy Verbicki.

Hall number 3

The third hall is devoted to Verbicki family portraits, which are kept in private and museum collections. The works were made by four generations of Verbicki artists.

Verbicki family portraits. Made my family members.

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I am extremely grateful to the Shevchenko National Museum for the opportunity to temporarily preserve our family collection.

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