The literary narrative, characteristic of the genre painting of the second half of the 19th century, is combined in V.M. Maximov’s canvas with a sense of longing for the life gone by. This nostalgic feeling is echoed by the image of an old park in the background of the picture. With careful attention the artist conveys the details of the characters’ clothes, still-life on the table, household items – the whole life of the elders. At the same time, the spring landscape filled with eternal beauty and featuring a lush lilac bush in the center brings a bright note of optimism to the emotional side of the canvas, which also illustrates the increasing role of landscape in the Russian art of the 1880s.