Winter landscapes held a special place in the historical and genre scene painting of Ivan Silych Goryushkin-Sorokopudov. For a long time, winter was the season that attracted the artist’s attention. Celebrating the unique beauty of Russian nature, the ability to achieve majestic expressiveness and poetry in seemingly mundane motifs — all these were characteristics of Ivan Goryushkin-Sorokopudov’s landscapes, which he created based on sketches painted from life. With his works, the artist praised all that was beautiful in life.
Ivan Goryushkin-Sorokopudov often painted en plein air. Later, he often incorporated the results of such work into historical paintings. Nearly all of his historical paintings were set in winter. In many of his works, the traces of sketches and studies can be seen. In his diary entries, the artist emphasized that winter embodied the essence of the Russian character and culture.
In the painting “The Sun for Summer — Winter for Frost”, the landscape carries a great emotional weight. The winter season is depicted by the artist as something national, typical, and spiritual. The artist painted views of Penza imbuing them with the sense of antiquity.
Ivan Goryushkin-Sorokopudov, a great admirer of the 17th century, was inspired by the history of Penza. The fortress city was founded in 1663 under the decree of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich. The painter was interested in the patriarchal way of life, ancient traditions, and elements of folk culture. This is why he chose a proverb about the winter solstice for the title of the painting. This phrase hints at the growing daylight hours and the onset of Christmas and Epiphany frosts.
In the painting from the museum collection, the artist faced a difficult task when painting white against a white background. To convey the feeling of a sunny, frosty day as accurately as possible, he used tempera paint, which allowed him to create a matte surface. In the painting “The Sun for Summer — Winter for Frost”, the artist succeeded in combining plein-air sketches with research into the history of the 17th century.
