Myasoedov Grigory Grigorievich (1834-1911)
Portrait of a peasant
1870-s — 1880-s
66,5 х 50,5 cm
Oil on canvas

The painter was born in the family of an impoverished nobleman from the Tula province, so he was familiar with the difficulties of simple peasant life. All his student years he also spent in need. He lived, like many students of the Academy of Arts, in a poor room on Vasilyevsky Island. For a long time, the source of his income was to work at a pastry shop, where gingerbread was baked, and the Meat Eaters and a comrade painted them. Paid three kopecks a dozen for it. Sometimes in the evenings on Vasilyevsky Island you could meet a tall figure of Myasioedov, walking on the sidewalk a little unnatural gait. This meant that he was carrying an alto under a fur coat, tied with a ribbon through his neck. «The music alone does not lie like people do», - the artist said. The painter loved music, knew it, played the violin, participated in the quartet of fellow travelers. Wherever the artist lived - everywhere attached to the music club. Here he found rest and oblivion from his thoughts and the «coming discord with life»