Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov

The Yasher-Sheftell Collection from 1940s
Thence by descent

St. Petersburg, Moscow, Penza et al, XXVI Itinerant Exhibition, 22 February 1898 - 21 February 1899

G.Romanov (Ed.), The Society of Itinerant Fine Art Exhibitions: 1871-1923: An Encyclopaedia, St. Petersburg: Sankt-Peterburg Orkestr, 2003, p.203 No. 136

Original canvas. There is significant wear to both left hand corners with associated flecks of paint loss. There are flecks of paint loss to a small area to the right of the mast. There are a few vertical lines of craquelure to the sky. UV light reveals no apparent retouching. Some pigments fluoresce under UV. Held in a wooden white painted frame. Unexamined out of frame.
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In the inventory of works prepared by Vasily Polenov himself, the artist lists a painting titled Barge as number 476 amongst the works pertaining to 1897.

In the summer of 1897, Polenov stayed on the banks of the river Oka at the estate which he had purchased in 1890. From the tall, right-hand bank of the Oka it was possible to see the town of Tarusa situated on the opposite bank, a stopping point for small steam-boats and barges which were travelling along the river. Sometimes they moored on the right hand bank. Evidently it was this particular moment which made an impression on the artist.

The offered painting depicts an unzha barge, a wooden cargo vessel used on the river, built and fitted on the river Unzha, from where they take their name. The artist has been especially accurate in his depiction of the details of the barge, with its central mast and thick canvas cover, hung out onto pillars and transversal carved planks, barriers decorated with distinctive baroque carving and pigments. Incorporated into the decoration is the letter ts, indicating that the vessel belongs to Ivan Kozmich Tsipulin (1825-1901), owner of a steamboat jetty in Kaluga. From 1872 his vessels – small steamboats and barges – travelled from Kaluga to Serpukhov, stopping in Tarusa. Similar barges appear in Polenov's watercolour, Barge on the Oka, from 1897.

The treatment of the light-filled and airy surroundings of Barge along with the compositional features, palette, and the distinctive nature of the artist's hand are typical of Polenov's work towards the end of the 1890s.

We are grateful to Eleonora Paston from the State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow for writing this note.