First half of the 1820s
oil on canvas
51,2 x 65,5

Venetsianov chose simple motifs. In his paintings there is almost no action. He is not so much interested in the particulars of a way of life as in being. For the artist, peasant work is something from the distant past, eternal, repeating itself over and over like the changing seasons. The figure of the woman is depicted in enlarged scale. The movements of the peasant girl are elegant. She does not step on the soil; rather she seems to hover over it. Her sarafan is as beautiful as a Greek tunic. The subject is made to look like the Antique goddess of fertility Flora. The infant in the foreground may be understood to be a symbol of maternity and fertility. The artist sees in a typical peasant scene the unsurpassable beauty of an ancient idyll. Everywhere there is festive silence – the quality of Classicist painting.

at 10, Lavrushinsky Lane, Hall 14