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Dimensions: 132 by 82.5cm., 52 by 32 1/2 in.
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Provenance: Private Collection, Czech Republic.
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Exhibited: Prague, 1935, Retrospektivni Vystavy Ruskeho Malirstvi, XVIII-XX Stol., illustrated p.116 (titled Palestinian Landscape)
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Literature: Vladimir Fiala, Russkaya Zhivopis v Sobraniyakh Chekhoslovakii, Leningrad, 1974
p.109, cat. 297
V.Fiala, V.D.Polenov, Bratislava, 1956, p.142 (ill.p.56)
V.Fialia, Kartini Russkikh Paysazhistov, p.p.110-111
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Notes: Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov was a hugely influential figure in late 19th century Russian art. He bridges the gap between masters such as Alexander Ivanov, and Karl Brullov and the young artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, for example, Isaac Levitan and Konstantin Korovin. The latter two studied under Polenov at the Moscow College of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. Of his teacher's importance, Levitan commented in a letter to Polenov in 1896: I am convinced that the tradition of painting in Moscow would not have been the same without you, E.V.Paston, Vasily Dmitrievich Polenov, St. Petersburg, 1991, p.6
In his art, Polenov found a balance between tradition and innovation. A deep respect for academic rules of picture composition underpins his paintings from his student days until the end of his career. However, this conservativism is enlivened by his openness to new ideas. Traveling to Paris as a graduate of the Academy together with Repin, his exact contemporary, he was influenced in particular by the plein air approach of the Barbizon painters which lightened his palette.
A veritable polymath, Polenov brought many related talents to his easel. He was at home as an intellectual and he studied law alongside his degree in Fine Arts at the Imperial Academy of Art in St Petersburg. He was also a musician, stating once that he preferred music over art; and he produced, and designed sets and costumes, for plays. His love of architecture and eye for detail in this discipline may have been inherited from his father, a historian and archaeologist who took part in many excavations of ancient Russian sites.
His friendship with the 19th century industrialist, Savva Mamontov, whom he and Repin first met in Rome in 1873, brought him to Abramtsevo, and into the hub of some of the most forward-looking, creative thinkers, artists and musicians of the day. Among the contacts he made there, one of the most important was that of the linguist Mstislav Prakhov a follower of Schelling and the idealists of the 1840s. They believed that art should be beautiful and have a beneficial, positive effect on the viewer. This was central to Polenov's approach throughout his career - as late as 1888 he writes to Vasnetsov, I believe that art has to promote happiness and joy, otherwise it is not worth anything. ibid p.6.
It was in France during his post-graduate years that Polenov first decided that he was most suited to landscape painting. By the end of the 1870s he established himself as a foremost exponent of this genre with three masterpieces which have since become classics of late 19th century Russian art: Moskovski Dvorik, Babushkin Sad and Zaros'shi Prud. The 1880s marked a period of change. Travels to the Middle East, Egypt, Palestine and studies of the local architecture and landscapes resulted in the first of his works on a religious theme; Khristos I Greshnitsa (1885). A decade later, he revisited the theme and painted a lengthy cycle of works depicting episodes from the life of Christ.
The offered lot was once believed to be a Palestinian landscape and was so described in the 1935 exhibition of Russian Painting in Prague (Vladimir Fiala, Russkaya Zhivopis v Sobraniyakh Chekhoslovakii", Leningrad, 1974, p.109). However, experts are now of the opinion that it depicts a Crimean view. Throughout the 19th century, many Russian artists visited the Crimea, attracted by the bright southern light and stunning landscape and coastline. Polenov visited this area on a number of occasions. E. Paston, author of the major monograph on the artist, believes Landscape with Well and Cypress Trees to have been based on sketches done by the artist in the Crimea in September 1887 (unpublished expertise, G.T.G, 27.5.2003, K.1604/16)
The Soviet art historian Vladimir Fiala has a different view. He describes the painting: "By the well there is a wooden fence and two cypress trees. On the right there is a view into the distance between mountains. Without a doubt the painting was executed in the studio based on sketches done by the artist in the Crimea (the artist went there in that year). The landscape is painted in a strict manner; there is good representation of volume and the wall is particularly well painted, composed out of a thick layer of paint laid down on the canvass by a palette knife. The composition is based on the rules of academic painting..." Vladimir Fiala, Russkaya Zhivopis v Sobraniyakh Chekhoslovakii", Leningrad, 1974, p.109.
