The book "From the life of Christ", Polenov V.D. Gilding workshop of A. Grabye, 1909

The book "From the Life of Christ"". Polenov V.D. Gilding workshop of A. Grabye, 1909. 37 sheets, 51 color illustrations. The size is 23.5 x 29.5 cm.

The book in the publishing lederine binding is decorated with gold embossing on the front cover. In this album, Polenov selected works from the legendary gospel cycle, on which he worked from 1899 to 1909, creating more than 72 canvases. The artist called the series "From the life of Christ" the main work of his life.

The main unifying core of the series of paintings "From the Life of Christ" was determined by Polenov himself: "For a long time I have been interested in everything that relates to the personality of the Jewish rabbi (teacher) Jesus. Yeshua in Aramaic. Everything that history, legends, poetry have given us about him has always been extremely dear to me." The artist cherished a grandiose idea - to continue the work of Ivanov A. A. and "... to create a Christ not only coming, but already coming into the world and making his way among the people," so the cycle was conceived, and later realized.

Vasily Polenov, in order to truthfully recreate the historical situation in which events related to the life and deeds of Jesus Christ took place, in 1881-1882 he undertook a trip to Egypt, Syria, Palestine, and stopped on his way to Greece. He created many sketches, studied the nature of the area and ethnographic types, architectural structures in their relation to the surrounding nature, and in 1899 made a second trip to the East.

Currently, the series is scattered across various museums and private collections, the fate of some paintings is unknown, but on the pages of the presented album you can trace the history of the creation of the legendary cycle in the art world.