Guess who came Firs Sergeevich Zhuravlev (1836-1901)

A description of Firs Zhuravlev’s painting "Guess Who Came..."

Now that’s someone who’s been forgotten, so forgotten. Yes, this once very popular painter has been virtually forgotten and would have already sunk into oblivion. If not more recently the staff of the Tretyakov Gallery found a number of his paintings in their archives. The artist worked in the genre of painting, that is, described those or other episodes in the lives of people.

Moreover, the artist was very friendly with Kramskoi, no less famous Russian artist. Both of them perfectly complemented each other. But only Kramskoy became famous as a master of portraits, while Zhuravlev was a master of genre scenes.

And now we have one of his works in front of us. Look how clearly the interiors of that time are shown: the wallpaper, the floors, the presence of a fireplace with a fireplace mirror. As for the owner of this room, with just a musical instrument, the artist let us know that the young man is very educated. And then two girlfriends came to visit him. One of them was clearly his fiancée, but the other could have been a relative. They came to visit him and decided to play a little trick on him. They came in quietly from the street, and while he was playing music, one of the girls came up behind him and covered his eyes.

The canvas is not loaded with any meaning, just a light note from the life of a man of average means. But how much sincerity, how much emotion. You can see that the guy did not expect the surprise, and one of the girls is inclined even to condemn the actions of her friend. You should also pay attention to the clothes of the girlfriends. One of them is dressed a little more refined, the other a little simpler. And which of them is his lover you will not know at once. Though... one can still understand from the facial expressions that the lady in black is his bride.

The painter has many different paintings with many realities of life. Often he portrayed the needs of orphans and widows, painted children on the canvas. At exhibitions, his work has invariably aroused the interest and enthusiasm of the public, and colleagues. But in our time the name of the artist and his works have been slightly forgotten.