The exhibition of the Engels Museum of Local Lore presents “Boat with a Sail”, one of the most famous paintings of the Volga landscape painter Yakov Weber.

The artist himself called his work “In Full Sail”. Raging elements were the theme that always fascinated Weber. The canvas depicts a typical Volga landscape a couple of moments before the weather changes: dark blue turbulent skies with storm clouds, turbid water, and a strip of sandy shore with a forest in the distance. The picture gives a sense of expectation of an impending storm. The troubled water surface in the painting seems to squeeze the boat placed in the center of the composition. In the boat are three male figures in bright colored shirts, they balance on a small vessel. The waves, painted amazingly accurately, refer the viewer to the paintings of Ivan Aivazovsky. However, unlike the great seascape painter, Yakov Weber excelled in depicting river water.

It is known that the first painting by Yakov Weber was “The Loss of the ‘Vera’ Steamship”, painted in 1886. This mail steamer was one of the fastest on the Lower Volga. One night, she caught fire not far from Rovnoe. Young Yakov Weber witnessed the incident, and it made a very powerful impression on him. Later, the budding artist’s passion for dramatic subjects led him to the idea of creating a painting called “Cliff ” based on the famous story of the legend of Stepan Razin, who threw his bride into the abyss of the Volga waters. However, being disillusioned with the look of the cliff near which the story of Stepan Razin unfolded, Weber decided against painting it. Later work of the artist was closely connected with the theme of the Volga nature, its pristine beauty and power. His style of painting remained traditional until the end of his life, reminiscent of the artists of the second half of the 19th century. In a sense, Weber was the follower of the traditional Russian landscape painting before the Russian October Revolution, which did not always fit in with the ideas of the new Soviet art.