Portrait of the writer Lev Tolstoy Ivan Kramskoy (1837-1887)

Description of Ivan Kramsky’s Portrait of Leo Tolstoy

In the warm summer of 1873, the Russian artist Ivan Kramskoy, was painting one of his famous works, "Inspection of an Old House," and was living in a manor house near Yasnaya Polyana (the estate of the Tolstoy family). Therefore, the artist certainly decided to take the time to visit the estate of the famous Russian writer and to portray Leo Tolstoy on canvas.

Unfortunately, Earl Tolstoy did not want to pose for the painter for a long time, and in general he did not like portraits. From Count Tretyakov’s letters he asked him for a long time to pose for his portrait, but he never succeeded. But the artist I. Kramskoy managed to change his mind.

In this famous portrayal of the talented writer, Kramskoy very clearly displayed his talent as a psychologist. The dark, unassuming, unattractive background of the portrait allowed the author to focus all of his attention on the character portrayed in the work.

Kramskoy very talented managed to convey the inner state of Count Tolstoy. His eyes full of attention and cold very shrewdly looking at the audience. It is this deep gaze says, says that before us a terrific analyst, able to look into the very depth of the human soul. With one hard look he can penetrate into the essence of life.

In his work, the artist tried as much as possible to demonstrate the integrity of the creative nature of Count Tolstoy, his unbowed willpower and incredible intellect. And as we can see, the artist has succeeded.

The count is very democratic, this once again emphasizes such a people’s character of his appearance. As you know, Leo Tolstoy was very close to the Russian people.

According to many experts, the portrait of the genius of Leo Tolstoy is recognized as one of the best paintings Kramsky painted by the artist during his long life.