Eduard Vasiliev painted ‘Old Yakutsk’ in 1990. He depicted central part of the city the way it looked in the past. In the foreground of the picture, a cart is going harnessed by a bull. A townsman stands behind it and next to him, there is a herd of horses. 

Livestock breeding was an important part of the Sakha people’s household. Bulls and horses were often used as a traction force for transportation. For cold climatic conditions of the North, a particular type of livestock was bred in Yakutia. For example, Yakut horses are considered unpretentious in food and have long undercoat, thanks to which they can withstand severe frost.

Wooden buildings in the background are rows of shopping stalls of “Kruzhalo”. This is a unique architectural monument, which was built in 1828 with donations from townspeople. In the Soviet period, flats were allocated in the buildings, but in 2001, 'Kruzhalo' was restored and opened to visitors.

A dome of the Transfiguration Cathedral is seen behind the rows. It was built in 1838–1845 with funds from two brothers, merchants Aleksey and Maxim Soloviev. Now it is the oldest functioning church in Yakutsk.

Vasiliev used stylistics of old photographs for the picture and reproduced ancient architecture of Yakutsk in detail. In order to make the picture “lively” and dynamic, the author used plastic construction technique. In the focus of composition, he placed figures of people who are moving towards the viewer.

Vasiliev follows the traditions of realist school of Russian paintings. He formed as an artist in the 1970s, when art was interested in moral and ethical problems of modernity and spiritual values of people. Authors of this generation frequently advert to historical memory and subjects from the past.

Vasiliev defines genre of his paintings as abstract realism. On the one hand, he follows realism tradition, but on the other, he creates his own trend, the centre of which is philosophical sense of work. There is always moment of thinking about the past and internal admiration of bygone era in the artist’s paintings.

Vasiliev was born in 1943 in the capital of republic. He studied painting in the Yakut Art College. Then he moved to Leningrad, where he graduated from the painting department of Repin Academic Institute of Fine Arts, Sculpture and Architecture in Professor Joseph Serebriany studio. After that, the painter returned to his hometown, where he works up to this day.