MarcheseMarmo

Leo Tolstoy and Ilya Repin in Yasnaya Polyana

Sophia Andreevna Tolstaya

1908

(State Museum of Leo Tolstoy Collection)

Ilya Repin and Leo Tolstoy were close friends for many years. The artist frequently visited the writer at Yasnaya Polyana (a rural estate owned by the writer, who was born, lived, and was buried there), where he painted an entire gallery of portraits from life. Repin was impressed by the great writer: "No matter how this giant humbles himself or covers his mighty body in mortal rags, the Zeus in him always shines through."

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy in the ploughed field

Ilya Repin

1887

(Tretyakov Gallery)

Portrait of Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy Ilya Repin

1887

(Tretyakov Gallery)

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy resting in the Forest

Ilya Repin

1891

(Tretyakov Gallery)

Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy shoeless

Ilya Repin

1901