For a Love Portion
Study for the painting of the same name (1888, Alexander Radischiev Art Museum, Samara). 1887–1888
- Canvas mounted on cardboard, oil. 39,5 × 48
- Ж-6282
Пост. в 1928 из ГЭ, Ленинград
Mikhail Nesterov’s series of paintings focus on life in the Old Believers’ sketes, in woody Zavolzhye. Nesterov depicts the costume wonderfully, showing the folds of the old heavy sarafans and the particular way the Old Believers wore their kerchiefs.
The love of nature and the countryside is something spontaneous and instinctive, and not likely to be influenced by reason. That is why unrequited love is one of the most common human dramas. From the earliest times, inconsolable souls who were in love would often seek answers to their questions from the hermits who lived alone in the forests, surrounded by an aura of mystery and fear. It appears that Nesterov's heroine has decided on this very course of action. Play and Passion in Russian Fine Art. St-Petersburg. 1999. P. 126.