St. Petersburg 1844-1927 Borok Estate (now Polenovo, Tula Oblast)

As a student at the Petersburg Academy of Arts from 1863 to 1871, Vasilii Dmitrievich Polenov took lessons in painting from E. E. Chistiakov and I. N. Kramskoi before he lived and worked in Paris (1872-1876) on a scholarship from the Academy. In 1876 he became a member of the Academy. Polenov lived in Moscow from 1877; later he moved to the Borok estate in the Tula Province. A member of the Circle of the Itinerants and a constant participant in their art exhibitions, Polenov was also associated with S. I. Mamontov's Abramtsevo Art Circle. He taught at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture (1882-1895) and organized the first Moscow Folk Theater in 1910. In addition to his many trips to countries in Western Europe, Polenov traveled to the Near East and Greece in his search for subjects and themes for his genre scenes and historical and biblical paintings. Of particular significance is Polenov's contribution to Russian landscape painting, which was enriched by his experimentations with plain air techniques.

'An unexpectedly festive occasion was the appearance ... of Polenov's first intimate landscape at the very end of the 1870s. I was exceptionally moved by his Courtyard in Moscow, Grandmother's Orchard, and Overgrown Pond... and a number of other 'Turgenev like' motifs; they appeared to me unexpectedly new and fresh, permeated with authenticity, subtle, musical lyricism, and a most delicate technique" (from the reminiscences of the artist I.S. Ostroukhov).