In a Warm Land

In a Warm Land (107 × 81 cm)Государственный Русский музей. XVIII — начало XX века. Каталог. — Л.: Аврора, 1980. — 444 p. — P. 364. is a painting by Russian artist, part of the Peredvizhniki's movement, Nikolai Yaroshenko, created in 1890 in Kislovodsk. The canvas forms part of the collection and permanent exhibition of the State Russian Museum in St. Petersburg. The canvas was donated to the museum by the artist's wife shortly after his death in 1898.

The painting depicts Anna Konstantinovna Chertkova, a children's writer and publicist, wife of the publisher and public figure Vladimir Grigoryevich Chertkov, a close friend of Leo Tolstoy. At the time of the painting's creation, Yaroshenko was suffering from a severe form of tuberculosis of the throat. He later wrote in a letter to Anna Chertkova: "A month and a half was almost immobile and not fit for anything body, could only lie or sit in an armchair, in the cushions ... like you in the picture that I wrote of you". A year before the painting was created, Anna Chertkova experienced a severe shock, as a result of the illness, which lasted only two days, her beloved two-year-old daughter died. For many years after that she experienced a decline in vitality and was often ill. Photographs of the Chertkov couple's staying with the artist, as well as sketches of Nikolai Yaroshenko, painter Mikhail Nesterov and Vladimir Chertkov on the process of the painting's creation have been preserved.

Contemporaries immediately "recognized and appreciated" the painting "In a Warm Land". It has repeatedly attracted the attention of researchers of Nikolai Yaroshenko's work, cultural researchers, historians and local historians both in the Soviet period and in post-Soviet Russia.

The image in the painting The painting depicts part of the veranda, house and yard of the artist's White Villa in Kislovodsk. The background is Sosnovka Mountain.Секлюцкий В. В. К заветной цели / Ярошенко в Кисловодске // Николай Александрович Ярошенко. — Ставрополь: Ставропольское книжное издательство, 1963. — P. 9—41, 52—56. — 29 illustr., 120 p. — P. 53. — 25 000 copies. The publicist and art critic Mikhail Nevedomsky described the image of the heroine in the painting as follows: "an intelligent sick lady, spending her last spring among the greenery and flowers of the fertile south: all wrapped up, she sits in an armchair on the terrace of a Crimean villa".Kislovodsk is not part of Crimea: Michael Nevedomsky's mistake.Неведомский М. П. Художник-интеллигент Н. А. Ярошенко // Нива: Журнал. — 1917. — 22 July (No. 29). — P. 437—442. — P. 439. In another of his articles, he even wrote about the painting: "a young sick woman who came to die under the southern sun by the sea, among roses and plane trees".Неведомский М. П. Художник-интеллигент // Николай Александрович Ярошенко. Письма. Документы. Современники о художнике. — М.: БуксМАрт, 2018. — P. 202. — 296 p. — . This idea was developed by Alla Vereshchagina, a doctor of art history. She saw in the painting a pale, sad and sickly woman, "lonely longing... among the blooming beauty of southern nature".Верещагина А. Г.. Николай Александрович Ярошенко. — Л.: Художник РСФСР, 1967. — 54 p. — P. 48. — (Народная библиотечка по искусству). — 20 000 copies. Vladimir Seklutsky, the founder and first director of the N. A. Yaroshenko Memorial Estate Museum, suggested that the woman is immersed in memories: she is half lying between the cushions with a plaid thrown over her knees, her eyes are pensive, they express the desire for life an Honored worker of culture of the Russian Federation Boris Rosenfeld wrote about them: "two black coals of expressive eyes"),Розенфельд Б. М. XIX. У истоков большой дружбы // Белая вилла: Мемориальный музей-усадьба Н.А. Ярошенко в Кисловодске. — Пятигорск: Снег, 2014. — P. 228, — 365 p. — 1000 copies. — . and the lips as if saying the word "to live". According to Seklyutsky, the sunny landscape, full of greenery and flowers, fresh mountain air, creates an atmosphere of optimism and gives the viewer hope for the recovery of the heroine of the canvas; he regretted that art historians underestimate this painting, noting in it not only pictorial merits, but also sincere empathy of the artist with his character, a burning desire to help her.

History of painting's creation Nikolai Yaroshenko's rapid rise in the civil service came to a halt in the mid-1880s. For many years he was a "colonel with seniority", was listed in the Guards Foot Artillery, was the head of the workshop at the St. Petersburg Cartridge Factory, performed "special tasks" there.Ярошенко Н. А. Послужной список Н. А. Ярошенко // Николай Александрович Ярошенко. Письма. Документы. Современники о художнике. — М.: БуксМАрт, 2018. — P. 61. — 296 p. — . He experienced health problems (it was in 1890 he had a sharp exacerbation of tuberculosis of the throat),Секлюцкий В. В. К заветной цели / Ярошенко в Кисловодске // Николай Александрович Ярошенко. — Ставрополь: Ставропольское книжное издательство, 1963. — P. 52. — 29 illustrations, 120 p. — 25 000 copies.Поленова И. В. Классический передвижник. Летопись жизни и творчества // Николай Александрович Ярошенко. Письма. Документы. Современники о художнике. — М.: БуксМАрт, 2018. — P. 308, 286. — 296 p. — . often took many months of vacation (sometimes without saving "for the time of it" salary from the Treasury).Ярошенко Н. А. Послужной список Н. А. Ярошенко // Николай Александрович Ярошенко. Письма. Документы. Современники о художнике. — М.: БуксМАрт, 2018. — P. 62. — 296 p. — .The artist's wife claimed in the materials "To the biography of N. A. Yaroshenko" that the chief offered the artist to submit a petition for resignation on the grounds of illness, which provided a full pension, but Yaroshenko rejected this proposal, stating that he was leaving because of the desire to freely engage in painting.Ярошенко М. П. К биографии Н. А. Ярошенко // Николай Александрович Ярошенко. Письма. Документы. Современники о художнике. — М.: БуксМАрт, 2018. — P. 67. — 296 p. — . The artist actively participated in the activities of the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions, was regularly re-elected to its board, was involved in it small everyday affairs: preparing boxes for paintings, maintenance of the cash register.Поленова И. В. Классический передвижник. Летопись жизни и творчества // Николай Александрович Ярошенко. Письма. Документы. Современники о художнике. — М.: БуксМАрт, 2018. — P. 38, 285. — 296 p. — . Frida Roginskaya, a staff member of the Research Institute for the Theory and History of Fine Arts, claimed that he "actually bore the entire burden of leading the Society".Рогинская Ф. С. Передвижники. — Саратов: СП «Эллис Лак», 1993. — 183 p. — P. 18. — 30 000 экз. In the second half of the 1880s, fine art in Russia gradually lost its civic pathos and sought to convey an emotional impression of reality. This brought to the fore the problem of professional skill and stricter criteria for its evaluation.Поленова И. В. Классический передвижник. Летопись жизни и творчества // Николай Александрович Ярошенко. Письма. Документы. Современники о художнике. — М.: БуксМАрт, 2018. — P. 25-26, 38. — 296 p. — . In connection with this, within the partnership itself there were sharp disagreements between representatives of the older and younger generations, as well as between the very founders of this artistic movement. Yaroshenko tried to preserve not only the unity of the Society, but also its "viability".Поленова И. В. Классический передвижник. Летопись жизни и творчества // Николай Александрович Ярошенко. Письма. Документы. Современники о художнике. — М.: БуксМАрт, 2018. — P. 38. — 296 с. — .

Anna and Vladimir Chertkov in Yaroshenko's White Villa

Nikolai Yaroshenko painted "In a Warm Land" in Kislovodsk at the White Villa.Вольф Г. В. — М.: Белый город, 2008. — 48 p. — P. 39. — (Мастера живописи). — 3000 экз. — .At present there is a memorial museum — mansion of N. A. Yaroshenko. A. Yaroshenko.Розенфельд Б. М. XIX. У истоков большой дружбы // Белая вилла: Мемориальный музей-усадьба Н.А. Ярошенко в Кисловодске. — Пятигорск: Снег, 2014. — P. 1-365. — 365 p. — 1000 copies. — . He visited Kislovodsk for the first time in 1875. In 1885, Yaroshenko's wife Maria Pavlovna bought a dacha there,Поленова И. В. Классический передвижник. Летопись жизни и творчества // Николай Александрович Ярошенко. Письма. Документы. Современники о художнике. — М.: БуксМАрт, 2018. — P. 285. — 296 p. — . but he didn't move there from St. Petersburg until 1892, after resigning from the civil service due to a sharp deterioration in his health. The house in which the artist lived and then settled in Kislovodsk was built on an elevated site, with a view of the Cathedral Square on one side and an orchard on the other. The terrace was painted by the artist himself in the "Pompeian style", where the family usually ate lunch, drank tea and spent much of their free time in the summer. From the terrace there was a beautiful view of the Sosnovka mountain. It was here that the picture "In a Warm Land" was painted.Секлюцкий В. В. К заветной цели / Ярошенко в Кисловодске // Николай Александрович Ярошенко. — Ставрополь: Ставропольское книжное издательство, 1963. — P. 52-53. — 29 illustrations, 120 p. — 25 000 copies. In the house there were held evenings for the friends of the Yaroshenko family, on the terrace artists, singers and musicians demonstrated their art to the guests, the wedding of the daughter of the artist Mikhail Nesterov, Olga, took place there. One of the small rooms of the house, which had a wide window, the artist equipped as a workshop.Секлюцкий В. В. К заветной цели / Ярошенко в Кисловодске // Николай Александрович Ярошенко. — Ставрополь: Ставропольское книжное издательство, 1963. — P. 53-54. — 29 illustrations, 120 p. — 25 000 copies.