Leonid Pasternak, 1862-1945

For similar compositions of Tolstoy and his family at home, please see R.Salys, Leonid Pasternak: The Russian years, 1875-1921 A Critical Study and Catalogue Volume II, Oxford University Press: New York, 1999, p.68, No.27; p.69, No.29; p.72, No.40  

THe sheet appears sound. The paint surface is a little dirty and there are a few very small spots of staining in places. Held in a gold painted wooden frame and under glas. Unexamined out of frame.
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Since the mid 1890s Pasternak had spent much time at Yasnaya Polyana, the Tolstoys' country retreat, preparing the illustrations for Resurrection, Tolstoy's novel about prison and exile. During this time, Pasternak produced hundreds of sketches of the writer and his family at home.

In 1901 the Museum of Luxemburg commissioned Ilya Repin, Valentin Serov, Konstantin Korovin, Philippe Malyavin and Pasternak to paint a composition depicting Russian life. Pasterank though that Tolstoy and his family was the most interesting subject he could choose and produced a variant of the offered lot, which was exhibited at the 1902 World of Art exhibition and was later bought by the Alexander III Museum upon the suggestion of Grand Duke Georgy Mikhailovich. On account of its popularity, it became one of Pasternak's most characteristic and best-known interiors and the artist executed a number of other versions.