On the table in the corner by the table lamp, you will see Leonid's portable paint box [1]. We also have his paint brushes [2], which he left in their lovely, old-fashioned terracotta pot. It's lost its handle as all things do.
One of the interesting things, that we didn't realise had a story connected to it, but was always there in what we called 'dedushka's room' - 'Grandpa's room' - was this wooden box [3]. I don't think we'd ever opened it.
And then when we did, we saw that he'd painted a picture into the lid of the box and the box itself carried his oil paints [4], his palette and a little dish for the oil to thin out the tubes of paint.
The picture [5] shows a quiet, country scene. It's not actually just straightforward countryside. It's a park, there's a bit of a lake, and then at the far end there are trees and in the sky there's a little bit of glinting lead pencil writing [6], which says, in Russian, 'park', meaning park and then 'Yasn Pol'. 'Yasn Pol' is Yasnaya Polyana, which is the name of the estate that belonged to the Tolstoy family.
Leonid knew Lev Tolstoy , and illustrated his last novel for him. So he visited the estate regularly. You can see in the foreground [7], there's a sketchily-done shed, like a garden shed or a bit of a barn, and two boys, the smaller one in a smock. These will be Leonid's sons, Boris and Alexander.
[There are other images of this cosy corner [8], where Rosalia and her children could retreat while Leonid and Tolstoy were working together.]
The Green Room
The Travelling Paintbox
Make sure your volume is on
On the table in the corner by the table lamp, you will see Leonid's portable paint box. And we have the paint brushes that he also left in this lovely old-fashioned terracotta pot. It's lost its handle as all things do.
One of the interesting things that we didn't realise the story connected to it, but it was always there in what we called 'dedushka's room' - 'Grandpa's room' - was this wooden box and I don't think we'd ever opened it.
And then when we did open it, we saw that he'd painted a picture into the lid of the box and the box itself carried his oil paints and his pallet and little dish for the oil to thin the tubes of paint.
And the picture shows a quiet, country scene. It's not actually just straightforward countryside. It's a park, it's a bit of a lake, and then at the far end there are trees and in the sky there's a little bit of glinting lead pencil writing, which says in Russian 'park', meaning park and then 'Yasn Pol'. So 'Yasn Pol' is Yasnaya Polyana, which is the name of the estate that belonged to the Tolstoy family.
Leonid knew Lev Tolstoy , and he illustrated his last novel for him. So he visited the estate regularly and you can see in the foreground there's a very sketchy-ly done shed, like a garden shed or a bit of a barn, and two boys in smocks, and those will be Leonid's sons, Boris and Alexander.
