The landscape painter Manuil Christophorovich Aladjalov was born into an Armenian merchant family in the town of Nakhichevan-on-Don in 1862. Having noticed his penchant for drawing, his parents sent him to an art school in Rostov-on-Don.

Between 1883 and 1890, Manuil Aladjalov studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture under Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov, Vladimir Egorovich Makovsky, and Illarion Mikhailovich Pryanishnikov.

Manuil Aladjalov contributed actively to the Russian artistic life of the early 20th century, and his landscapes were a success at numerous exhibitions of artists’ associations.

In 1903, Aladjalov became one of the founders of the Union of Russian Artists. He also achieved recognition as a professor: he taught at the Stroganov Academy and laid the foundations of the Soviet landscape school.

In the history of Russian art, Manuil Aladjalov is recognized as a masterful landscape painter. The researcher Yekaterina Kiselyova wrote about him, “Aladjalov loved the landscape of Central Russia and was able to find great variety in it. He was willing to depict one and the same scene several times, trying to capture new nuances under different conditions. Once he did find something new, he would transfer it onto his small canvas, filling it with the bittersweet melancholy of Russian villages, peace and quiet of Russian evenings, softness and warmth of Russian life.”

The artist drew inspiration for his paintings during his travels, always bringing home numerous sketches and studies.

Manuil Aladjalov was greatly inspired by the Impressionists. He often used thick strokes of undiluted paint and the impasto technique to express his perception of nature.

“In the Graveyard” is a landscape depicting a small, abandoned cemetery in spring. In the foreground, on the diagonal slope of the hill, there are old white gravestones and a large wooden cross. The slope is covered with last year’s yellow grass, and young grass is breaking through it. The warm spring sun transforms the landscape, shining on the chapel’s cupola, awakening the sleeping trees, and warming the gravestones. In the fresh air, one can almost smell spring, with its new life, sticky leaves, and melting snow. The artist’s greatest achievement in this painting must be the spectacular color of the sky, shimmering with all shades of blue.