Mikhail Vasilyevich Nesterov was born during the time of change in 1862. Serfdom was abolished, changes were going on in the judicial system and in the army. The first revolutionary organizations appeared. There were repeated assassination attempts on Alexander II, and in the end he was killed. Mikhail Nesterov found the rule of two more emperors, survived several revolutions, the First World War, the Civil War, famine and devastation in Russia, the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, but, having the highest spirituality, he created clean, unclouded canvases. The heroes of his paintings sought God and truth.
Study and serious work
Mikhail Nesterov studied painting in both Moscow and St. Petersburg. His favorite teacher was V.G. Perov. At this time, he wrote and genre works, and paintings on historical topics related to the pre-Petrine era. In those same years he marries. The wife dies during childbirth. But he captures her image in his works, including The Bride of Christ.
The young woman immediately conquers fragility, subtle sadness, humility before the inevitable. The silent girl makes her want to understand what she is thinking. So there is a collective image of the Nesterov girl. The landscape behind it, deeply lyrical, inconspicuous, is close in spirit to I. I. Levitan.
"Hermit"
Mikhail Nesterov wrote his first stage work in the late 80s. The gray-haired hermit slowly moves along the river bank.
A monk lives not only according to the laws of nature. It is lovingly written out in every detail: stunted Christmas trees, last year’s still dry grass and the remnants of the un-melted snow on it, a quiet mirror river that does not move at all. Mikhail Nesterov depicted an old man who lives according to the laws of the liturgical year: from one fast and a holiday to another, thereby filling his life with merging with the Lord. It’s hard for him to go, but he goes with prayer from one holy place to the next. Thus lives his soul and body. From such a person one wants to receive a blessing and perceive even a modicum of humility. Mikhail Nesterov filled the work with ringing silence and inescapable admiration for the discreet beauty of
Russian nature."Vision to the Youth Bartholomew"
This picture was the first of a series dedicated to Sergius of Radonezh.
The picture is a gray, fine, warm autumn day. The sky is faded, without glimmers of the sun. In the distance goes a verdant valley with a hill to the left. A small river winds under it, next to vegetable gardens with cabbage, and groves are gilded on the right. And in the foreground is a thin, clear picture of a fragile child. Either he dreamed, or it really was a meeting on charmed nature with the holy elder, who gives him both prosphora and parting words for his whole life, full of service to the Lord.
Portrait painting
The finest lyricist Mikhail Nesterov is an artist who paints portraits of people of deep spirituality. A lot of them. One can recall only portraits of Bulgakov and Florensky (“Philosophers” - see the reproduction below), IP Pavlova.
"The soul of the people"
On the eve of the revolution, the artist will write a canvas in which he reflects the search for God.
Everyone in this picture is going their own way. Someone in thought, someone in a hurry, someone joyful, but everyone is filled with a single thought: to think about your path to Him over the long road.
A deeply religious person, Mikhail Nesterov painted his paintings not with a brush, but with his soul. Therefore, they are alive for us and for an indifferent person do not lose their significance.