Vasily Pukirev, Arrival at Easter

Oil on canvas

20 1/4 x 24 in. (51.4 x 61 cm)

Signed in Cyrillic and dated at lower right

Inv. no. ab_30134

Genre painter Vasily Pukirev (1932–1890) is best known for his 1862 painting “The Unequal Marriage” (“Neravnyi brak,” State Tretyakov Gallery) in which the union being celebrated is between a young, beautiful, and presumably penniless woman and a much older and presumably wealthier man wearing the Order of St. Vladimir Second Class. This scene of a mésalliance struck a chord with a Russian viewing public then much concerned with marriages contracted purely for financial reasons and against the will of the young woman.

Although Pukirev was born into a family of limited means, much of his work was concerned with the mores and moral failings of Imperial Russia’s wealthy merchant class. This painting showing a touching family scene in a peasant cabin is a departure. In it we see a young man or teenager who has cast off his hat and dropped his staff in order to embrace his parents, apparently having returned home after a long journey. Significantly, he has arrived home on Easter Day; distinctive Easter cakes and eggs dyed red are visible on the table next to the family’s samovar. The painting also serves as a glimpse into the material circumstances of the peasantry. The wood cabin is sparsely furnished but there is an icon with candles and an icon lamp as well as inexpensive prints, including a portrait of Emperor Alexander II.

Pukirev was self-taught and therefore was lucky to have found a place at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. He supported himself through teaching and sales of his work, but much of his income was lost after poor health forced an early retirement in 1873. He continued to exhibit his works on occasion, but his final days were spent in poverty.

Provenance:

From the Collection of the Peter Bonnell (d. 1987) and Renate Haas Bonnell Sutton (1937–2016)