The landscape “The Place Where the Green Wand Is Buried” was painted in 1906 by Sophia Andreyevna, the wife of the writer Leo Tolstoy. This picture is an exact copy of a small work by the original painter Ivan Pavlovich Pokhitonov.
Ivan Pokhitonov was a Russian artist who lived most of his life in France. He did not receive any systematic art education, but this did not prevent him from gaining a reputation as a first-class landscape painter, and his work was very successful at exhibitions in Geneva, Paris and Italian cities. Ilya Yefimovich Repin wrote about Pokhitonov, “He is some kind of a sorcerer-artist, so masterfully, skillfully done; how he paints — is a mystery in every way… A sorcerer!“
In July 1905, Ivan Pokhitonov spent two weeks in Yasnaya Polyana, Leo Tolstoy’s estate. The artist had known the writer’s work for a long time and read his novels. He highly appreciated not only Tolstoy’s literary work, but also his philosophical views. Having received a warm welcome, Pokhitonov walked and talked with Tolstoy for a long time, not forgetting about creating artworks. During this time, he made several drawings and seven oil paintings, which included landscapes and Tolstoy’s portraits — on the terrace of the manor house, near the tree of the poor, on the alley among birches, on the balcony, and near the place where the green stick was buried.
The artist’s work, depicting a place that was dear to the writer, associated with his childhood and religious and philosophical views, became the basis for Sophia Andreyevna’s work. She began this landscape in the autumn of 1905, and finished it only in February 1906. She promised to give this painting to Anna Alekseevna, the wife of the musician Alexander Goldenweiser. Like her husband, Anna Goldenweiser often visited Tolstoy’s estate. The painting was presented as a thank you gift for the wonderful musical evenings, during which Anna and Alexander Goldenweiser were playing piano duets.
The place depicted in the painting is associated with the childhood memories of Leo Tolstoy. Once, as children, Leo Tolstoy and his elder brother Nikolay were playing in the woods of the Yasnaya Polyana family estate. And Nikolenka told the future writer about a great secret, which, if revealed, would help the world get rid of wars and diseases forever, and people would become “ant brothers.” One only needs to find the magic green wand buried on the edge of the ravine and read the secret inscribed on it.
The landscape “The Place Where the Green Wand Is Buried” belongs to the collection of the musician Alexander Goldenweiser.
