Ilya Repin, 'Study of an Old Man', 1878

The Old Man is seated against a neutral, dark brown background, looking out of the painting on a diagonal to our right. He is shown half-length, with his hands apparently resting on his lap, and we can see his waistline, marked by the change in the colour of his clothes, but no lower. Even his hands, which we can tell must be joined, are not included. Over his baggy-sleeved brown smock is a grey coat, or cloak, with a broad collar folded back to reveal what, in the context of the subdued colour scheme, is an unexpected purple lining. The background and clothing are freely painted with broad, blended brushstrokes, as is the long, flowing beard. Only in the precise observation of the Old Man’s face is there any degree of detail. Most striking are the intense blue eyes, each with a catchlight that brings them to life and renders them alert. The light and shade on the face are subtly modulated to define the depth of the eye sockets, the shape of the nose and the creases on either side of the mouth. Above the heavy brows, the forehead is deeply wrinkled and veins can be seen on the temples. The crown of the head is almost completely bald, although a few wispy hairs survive, standing out against the dark background.

The function of this study is not entirely clear. Although formatted like a portrait, the clothes suggest that the man was not wealthy enough to commission the type of highly finished portrait for which it could have been a preparatory study. It is more likely to be a character study for a figure in a history painting, a genre in which the artist Ilya Repin excelled, along with portraiture.

The signature, written in Cyrillic, can be seen at the bottom left, together with the date and location: ‘1878, Moskva’ (Moscow). This was a significant year for Repin. Born in 1844 in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, he studied first with a painter of Orthodox icons. In 1864 he enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts in St Petersburg, where he would remain until 1873. After three years travelling in Western Europe and living in Paris, he returned to Kharkiv, where he began a series of studies to which this painting belongs. However, this example dates to the year he moved to Moscow. In 1878 he joined a group of artists called the Peredvizhniki, or ‘Wanderers’, which had been founded eight years earlier. Their aim was twofold: to take their art to a large audience by contributing to touring exhibitions across the Russian Empire, and to create a truly national school of painting with art that had both social and political relevance. Their intentions are perfectly represented on a minor scale by this naturalistic and ‘honest’ study of one of the people.