Bielorusso

In 1892 Repin sold his Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Alexander III, and with the money he bought Zdravnevo, an estate on the Western Dvina outside Vitebsk. Almost the first thing he painted there was a neighbour. Across the river lived a peasant called Sidor Shavrov, and Repin set him up outdoors, standing in front of the studio window in full sun. He described the man himself afterwards: dark curly hair, a light moustache, high colour in the face, a long olive coat over a pink shirt, a bright green sash at the waist. That outdoor light is why the colour runs so loud for a Russian portrait of the 1890s. The picture stayed with Repin for nine years, until the Russian Museum bought it out of the 29th travelling exhibition in 1901 for 800 roubles.