In his work, the artist Porfiry Krylov was particularly captivated by the scenery of his native Tula region. Having left Tula at the age of 18 to study painting in Moscow, Krylov often returned to his hometown throughout his life. He especially loved to visit Yasnaya Polyana, where the great Russian writer and philosopher Leo Tolstoy lived and worked.

Krylov chose to depict a warm and sunny day. The vivid contrast between the blue sky, green foliage and white walls of the house infuse the canvas with a joyful and dynamic feeling. In the landscape the artist conveyed a unique sense of spiritual harmony and unity with nature, which reigned in the noble estates of the 18th–19th centuries.

The landscape was painted in the summer of 1963. It depicts a house that was built by the writer’s grandfather, Prince Nikolai Sergeyevich Volkonsky. He himself lived in the house for a short time — only during the construction of the large manor house with outbuildings. At that time, the central part of the house on the painting was occupied by workshops for the manufacture of linen, carpets, and leather processing. This is the oldest stone building of the Yasnaya Polyana estate.

In Leo Tolstoy’s time this was the servants’ house, where the laundry room and the “black kitchen” was located. The art studio of Tolstoy’s daughter, Tatiana, was located in the east wing of the Volkonsky house. The writer mentions the Volkonsky house in the story “Polikushka”: