On Leonid's first visit to Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstoy invited him to go out into the fields with Tolstoy himself and another friend while he did some mowing, which was his daily exercise. And they walked along and chatted and Leonid was watching everything and thinking: “gosh, I wish I could dare draw him, I must remember what I see”. And then to his surprise and pleasure when they got back into the house, Tolstoy said: “why don't you come down to my study? I'd like to read something to you”. And the other friend whispered to him: “Tolstoy very rarely invites anyone into his study, or to read to them – you are lucky!”
And Leonid went in, you know, breathless into the great man's study[1], which used to be a saddle room in the house and has a curved ceiling because it's in the vault under the house. Tolstoy lit a candle and started reading aloud a rather lively short story that Leonid says, rather weakly, he can't quite remember what it was called, but it was full of sardonic humour and realism and he was thinking: “I'd love to illustrate that story”. But meanwhile, he was looking very carefully at everything and he says: “I was trying to remember every line of shadow, the candle, the whole structure of the room, the furniture, every detail, so that I could record it afterwards” because he didn't want to embarrass Tolstoy by drawing him as he was reading. And this picture is obviously that very scene.
I think you can see that there's beautiful play of the curving line of the lapel of Tolstoy's overcoat, which is mirrored not only in the shadow on the wall behind him, but the shadow that runs down across his bald head and brow, and then down the beard below.
You can find echoes of that line again and again. It reminds me of other drawings Leonid made of Tolstoy when he was working in the fields, when he was obviously fascinated by the angular shapes of the blouse that he was wearing, belted. He picks it up in one image after another [3] . [He also took tracings of his sketches of Tolstoy from life [4], as memory aids, when he left Russia.]
He made a formal oil painting of this scene in which he put in the other guest as the listener[4], which made a typical narrative painting of this occasion. But this is clearly the finished first early memory.
The Staircase and Hallway
Tolstoy Reading by Candlelight
Make sure your volume is on
On Leonid's first visit to Yasnaya Polyana, Tolstoy invited him to go out into the fields with Tolstoy himself and another friend while he did some mowing, which was his daily exercise. And they walked along and chatted and Leonid was watching everything and thinking: “gosh, I wish I could dare draw him, I must remember what I see”. And then to his surprise and pleasure when they got back into the house, Tolstoy said: “why don't you come down to my study? I'd like to read something to you”. And the other friend whispered to him: “Tolstoy very rarely invites anyone into his study, or to read to them, you are lucky”.
And Leonid went in, you know, breathless into the great man's study, which used to be a saddle room in the house and has a curved ceiling because it's in the vault under the house. And he lit a candle and started reading aloud a rather lively short story that Leonid says, rather weakly, he can't quite remember what it was called, but it was full of sardonic humour and realism and he was thinking: “I'd love to illustrate that story”. But meanwhile, he was looking very carefully at everything and he says: “I was trying to remember every line of shadow, the candle, the whole structure of the room, the furniture, every detail, so that I could record it afterwards” because he didn't want to embarrass Tolstoy by drawing him as he was reading. And this picture is obviously that very scene.
I think you can see that there's beautiful play of the curving line of the lapel of Tolstoy's overcoat, which is mirrored not only in the shadow on the wall behind him, but the shadow that runs down across his bald head and brow, and then down the beard below.
And you can just sort of find echoes of that line again and again. And it reminds me of other drawings Leonid had made of Tolstoy when he was working in the fields, when he was obviously fascinated by the angular shapes of the blouse that he was wearing, belted. And he picks it up in one drawing after another.
And he did a formal oil painting of this scene in which he put in the other guest as the listener, which made a sort of typical narrative painting of this occasion. But this is clearly the finished first early memory.
