hunters at rest

Vasily Perov managed to create a masterpiece. In one painting "Hunter at Rest", which the artist conceived as an anecdote, he combines several painting genres at once: everyday scene, landscape, still life. In the center, against the background of autumn fields, are three hunters. An elderly nobleman of modest means, lively talks about his hunting exploits. The young man listens to him trustingly, but was so carried away by the story that he forgot to light a cigarette. And the peasant, reclining in the center, only smirks ironically - he has heard enough of such stories.

The artist portrayed his friends in the painting. The narrator is the doctor Dmitry Kuvshinnikov. By the way, after the painting was exhibited at the first traveling exhibition, the name of Kuvshinnikov became popular in literary, artistic and theatrical circles. Writers and artists often gathered at his house, among them Chekhov, Levitan and others. The skeptic hunter is another friend of Perov's, doctor and amateur artist Vasily Bessonov. The prototype of the young hunter was the 26-year-old doctor Nikolai Nagornov, who later married Varvara Tolstoy, the great writer’s niece. It turned out that three doctors became hunters.