Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov

The Yasher-Sheftell Collection from 1940s
Thence by descent

St. Petersburg, Moscow, Penza et al, XXVI Itinerant Exhibition, 22 February 1898 - 21 February 1899

G.Romanov (Ed.), The Society of Itinerant Fine Art Exhibitions: 1871-1923: An Encyclopaedia, St. Petersburg: Sankt-Peterburg Orkestr, 2003, p.203 No. 136

Original canvas. The picture is fairly clean with some frame abrasions to the corners. UV light reveals no apparent retouching. Held in a white painted plaster frame. Unexamined out of frame.
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NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

In the inventory of works prepared by Vasily Polenov himself, the artist lists a painting titled Barge as number 476 amongst the works pertaining to 1897.

In the summer of 1897, Polenov stayed on the banks of the river Oka at the estate which he had purchased in 1890. From the tall, right-hand bank of the Oka it was possible to see the town of Tarusa situated on the opposite bank, a stopping point for small steam-boats and barges which were travelling along the river. Sometimes they moored on the right hand bank. Evidently it was this particular moment which made an impression on the artist.

The offered painting depicts an unzha barge, a wooden cargo vessel used on the river, built and fitted on the river Unzha, from where they take their name. The artist has been especially accurate in his depiction of the details of the barge, with its central mast and thick canvas cover, hung out onto pillars and transversal carved planks, barriers decorated with distinctive baroque carving and pigments. Incorporated into the decoration is the letter ts, indicating that the vessel belongs to Ivan Kozmich Tsipulin (1825-1901), owner of a steamboat jetty in Kaluga. From 1872 his vessels – small steamboats and barges – travelled from Kaluga to Serpukhov, stopping in Tarusa. Similar barges appear in Polenov's watercolour, Barge on the Oka, from 1897.

A painting titled Barge is listed under the works exhibited by Polenov at the twenty-fifth Wanderers' exhibition in 1898. One can say with great certainty that this is in fact the offered lot. The painting is quite complete, although it is included in the exhibition catalogue under the heading Summer sketches. It is noteworthy that another painting donated by the artist in 1898 to the Fine Art Gallery of Penza and titled Small Riverside village (Volga settlement), was included under this very heading and is as finished as Barge.

The treatment of the light-filled and airy surroundings of Barge along with the compositional features, palette, and the distinctive nature of the artist's hand are typical of Polenov's work towards the end of the 1890s.

We are grateful to Eleonora Paston from the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow for writing this note.