Better known as a landscape painter, Vasily Polenov began his career as a genre painter. It was for paintings based on biblical motifs that he received the first gold medals in his professional life during his studies at the Imperial Academy of Arts. A small medal for the work Job and his friends 1869, and a large one for the painting Christ resurrected the Daughter of Jairus, 1871.
Ten years after graduation Polenov returned to the biblical theme. For this purpose he even went on an expedition to the Middle East in 1881. The artist began his journey with a visit to Constantinople, after which he visited Palestine, Syria and Egypt. Already during the trip, he made the first sketches of the large-scale figurative composition Christ and the Sinner, which he conceived in the 60s of the XIX century, inspired by the canvas of Alexander Ivanov The Appearance of Christ to the people. It took Polenov more than twenty years to realize his vision.
In the next twenty years, the artist will create a series of finished canvases telling about events in the life of Christ.
A relatively small canvas Dreams depicts Jesus sitting with his head covered with a talit (traditional Jewish blanket) on a rock and is looking far away, is in fact a sketch of the picture with the same title from the collection of the A.S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. The artist made dozens of such preliminary works and sketches in the process of reflection on the general idea and details of the plot.
Polenov invariably drew Christ from a young artist Konstantin Korovin. This job was no exception. Interestingly, among the criticisms Polenov had to face were the accusations of the insufficient length of Jesus’s hair.
It is certain that Polenov made several attempts at painting the main character, for in the final canvas Jesus is depicted in a white headdress.
In the painting Christ and the Sinner Polenov also wanted to depict Christ in a small white headdress. It is known, as there is a number of sketches with realization of this idea. But in the final version, Christ is depicted with an uncovered head. The artist removed the headgear, yielding to the requests of his mother Maria Alexeevna.
The cycle of paintings dedicated to the life of Jesus Christ was being created by the artist from 1888 to 1911. During that period, he created more than two dozen canvases on the theme. Polenov referred to the series as“The main work of my life’.
Ten years after graduation Polenov returned to the biblical theme. For this purpose he even went on an expedition to the Middle East in 1881. The artist began his journey with a visit to Constantinople, after which he visited Palestine, Syria and Egypt. Already during the trip, he made the first sketches of the large-scale figurative composition Christ and the Sinner, which he conceived in the 60s of the XIX century, inspired by the canvas of Alexander Ivanov The Appearance of Christ to the people. It took Polenov more than twenty years to realize his vision.
In the next twenty years, the artist will create a series of finished canvases telling about events in the life of Christ.
A relatively small canvas Dreams depicts Jesus sitting with his head covered with a talit (traditional Jewish blanket) on a rock and is looking far away, is in fact a sketch of the picture with the same title from the collection of the A.S. Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts. The artist made dozens of such preliminary works and sketches in the process of reflection on the general idea and details of the plot.
Polenov invariably drew Christ from a young artist Konstantin Korovin. This job was no exception. Interestingly, among the criticisms Polenov had to face were the accusations of the insufficient length of Jesus’s hair.
It is certain that Polenov made several attempts at painting the main character, for in the final canvas Jesus is depicted in a white headdress.
In the painting Christ and the Sinner Polenov also wanted to depict Christ in a small white headdress. It is known, as there is a number of sketches with realization of this idea. But in the final version, Christ is depicted with an uncovered head. The artist removed the headgear, yielding to the requests of his mother Maria Alexeevna.
The cycle of paintings dedicated to the life of Jesus Christ was being created by the artist from 1888 to 1911. During that period, he created more than two dozen canvases on the theme. Polenov referred to the series as“The main work of my life’.
