Merchant (old man counting his money) Boris Kustodiev (1878-1927)

Description of Boris Kustodiev’s painting The Merchant

Kustodiev always painted richly. That is, his paintings were always bright, colorful, juicy. Open to the maximum, with a pure Russian scope. He often noticed such subtleties of Russian life, which sometimes no one had noticed before.

The artist rarely turned to portrait direction. But if he did, he produced masterfully accurate countenances. This portrait, for example, is of a merchant counting money. We can say that it is rather an illustration to Pushkin’s famous "Little Tragedy" "The Miserly. Although the man on the canvas is a purely Russian version, but still...

Look at the look in his eyes. Oily, but at the same time, firm - I will not give it back! This is far from a tired toiler, although he has to work in the shop, too. Otherwise he could not have made a fortune and lived so well. The rich vest, the watch chain, the beard, all perfectly portrayed. And the hands? These are not tired hands. They’re already the rather dapper hands of a stingy man, because something tells me he’s quite greedy. At least, the hand on the money, saying, "All is mine - I will not give it to anyone," says a lot.

But on the other hand, without such merchants there would not have been any Russia of that time. Suffice it to recall that in 1913 Russia ranked first in terms of economic performance. And merchants were the little cogs that drove the economy to better times. True, it all soon collapsed and became worthless. But for now, at any rate, on the canvas we see a well-fed, well-groomed merchant who earns enough to live for a while impoverished.

Kustodiev is more of a landscape or genre painter. Suffice it to recall another half-portrait, Merchant’s Woman with a Cup of Tea. It is even more of a genre scene, where the main role is given to her - a burly, noble-blooded merchantess.