La aparición de cristo en el pueblo. 1837-1857 detalle

"The Appearance of Christ to the People. The artist worked on the picture for 20 years in Italy. During the creation of the canvas he made more than 500 sketches and studies. All connoisseurs of painting in Russia knew that Ivanov was working on a monumental canvas. In May 1858 the painter decided to send the picture to St. Petersburg. According to legend, during the journey the ship encountered a strong storm. The artist rolled the canvas into a tube and raised it above his head - he preferred not to see the demise of his creation, but to drown himself if the ship goes under water.

However, the painting still arrived in St. Petersburg, where it was exhibited in one of the halls of the Academy of Arts. The audience received the painting coldly: they had complaints both about the too small figure of Christ and about the water, which was depicted not in the academic manner, but in free brushstrokes. Curiously enough Ivanov was ahead of his time in this respect, because later impressionists would work in a similar manner. In addition, the canvas was unfinished. In the left part you can see an old man in a white loincloth, which is reflected in the water with a red spot. In the sketches the armband was indeed red, and the artist apparently simply forgot to repaint it. A month after the presentation of the work Ivanov died, and a few hours after his death the emperor Alexander II bought the picture for 15 000 rubles. In spite of the fact that the sum was considerable, the artist, who had devoted half his life to this work, initially expected a much larger fee, but unfortunately did not manage to get even that money.