Vasily Polenov was born in St. Petersburg in 1844 to a noble family, which upheld the traditions of enlightened nobility. Polenov’s father, Dmitry Vasilievich, was a famous historian, archeologist, and bibliographer. His mother, Maria Alekseevna, wrote for children and was fond of painting.
During the 1860s, Polenov studied at St. Petersburg University, and at the same time, the Academy of Arts. Polenov referred to the Arts Academy as his spiritual home. Having fallen in love with nature in his earliest childhood and being fond of biblical stories, the painter traveled extensively, portraying the landscapes of France, Italy, Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Greece, and other countries in his works.
In 1881, Polenov began to work on “Christ and the Sinner,” which completely seized the painter for the following six years. In order to create a historically accurate environment in which the events connected to the life and deeds of Christ occurred, Polenov traveled Middle Eastern countries during 1881–1882. He created many sketches, delving into the character of the environment and its types of inhabitants, as well as the architectural remains in relation to the surroundings.
Polenov worked with clean paints, never mixing them on the palette, but finding exact color combinations directly on the canvas, reaching a color expression unprecedented in Russian art at that time.
During the winter of 1883–1884, Polenov lived in Rome, painting Roman Jews and developing sketches. In 1885, the painter spent time in a manor on the outskirts of Podolsky, Moscow Oblast. It took 15 years from the first sketches until the painting’s completion.
Throughout his entire life, Polenov was guided by the idea that people should be educated and brought up with the arts and the beauty contained in its harmony.
“Christ and the Sinner” depicts one of the most famous biblical stories, “Christ and the Woman Taken in Adultery,” in which the Pharisees and scribes dragged a female adulterer to Jesus, saying that Moses’s law requires that such a person be stoned. To this Jesus replied, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.”
Stunned by the wise words, the upset husbands left one after the other. Once alone, Jesus dismissed the woman with these words, “Go now and abandon your life of sin.” This story alone touches one through its great power of compassion and forgiveness. It seems that it touched Polenov as well, leading him to dedicate such a great amount of time to the painting.
We often encounter the loud and the bright hovering in the forefront; yet that which is inherently empty, peaceful, and calm is more meaningful. Jesus’s pose and face express calmness and compassion to the sinner and to the condemning crowd. He knows that people behave so out of ignorance and that ignorance leads to suffering.
The whole painting is filled with the hot sun of the Middle East. The walls and the ground are covered with rosy highlights. The participants and seated onlookers are absorbed with the happenings. Jesus alone is expressing, on one hand, compassion and pity toward the people, and on the other hand, something like a spiritual detachment inherent in a spiritual leader.
More of Polenov’s Works
Though it can be missed at first examination, a female silhouette can be noticed in the background. The woman is contemplating by the pond, possibly knitting or reading, without disturbing the atmosphere of silence and peace. The painting invites one to have a quiet moment; its gift better absorbed without words and in silence.
Many modern people no longer believe in the existence of the divine or that Jesus, Buddha, as well as other spiritual teachers have descended to the earth. Even less so do they believe that Jesus and Buddha could resurrect the dead. The story behind the painting “Raising of Jairus’ Daughter” is about the resurrection of Jairus’s daughter.
Jairus was a Jewish elder and the head of a synagogue. His only daughter, 12 years of age, was dying. Jairus asked Jesus to cure her. Seeing Jairus’s faith, Jesus agreed. On their way, they met a messenger from Jairus’s home who carried news of the daughter’s death. Jesus told Jairus not to worry and to have faith in him. As they approached the home, they saw the sobbing crowd. Jesus told the crowd not to cry as the girl was sleeping.
The people gathered did not believe Jesus and ridiculed him. Having sent everyone away except the daughter’s parents and three apostles, he took the girl’s hand and ordered her to stand up. Jairus’s daughter came to life. Although Jesus asked that no one be informed of what happened, the news of the resurrection spread across the whole country.
The painting is permeated with a purity which accompanies divine presence and deeds, rather than that of ordinary humans. Its wonder is in its presentation of a man’s trepidation when he asks God for help. Paintings of this kind awaken people’s original goodness, while inspiring and reminding us that being a human is a journey rather than a journey’s end. A human has potential, which can be developed through self-perfection, working on one’s own heart, and cleansing oneself from various manifestations of egoism.
“Courtyard in Moscow” strikes with its bright light, spring purity, and childlike joy. Although Moscow is pictured, the painting is often referred to as Turgenev-like for its poetical quality.
Polenov loved Turgenev’s work, especially “A Hunter’s Sketches.” In fact, Turgenev presented Polenov with a signed copy of “A Hunter’s Sketches” upon his visit to Russia in 1880, in return for Polenov’s gift of a reproduction of “Moscow Yard,” which hung permanently in the writer’s study in his home in Bougival, France.
It seems that the painter specifically depicted children in the forefront, underlining that their pure and innocent nature is in harmony with the clarity of the landscape. Warm rays of sun caress everything they touch, including the iridescent church domes. In the past, city life was much like the current village life. A peaceful and quiet atmosphere filled most places. When looking at this painting one feels uplifted, as though rays of something clean and sublime permeate the viewer.
