Fyodor Vasilyev often addressed the image of the rural landscape after summer rain. Roads disappearing into the distance and the lonely figures of peasants driving their cattle were an invariable element of such landscapes, lending an emotional tinge to the painting. ln this particular work, the motif of the road acquires a philosophical meaning. The darkened, broken fence and the stony road washed by the rains adds an elegiac air to this reflection on the trials and tribulations of village life.The light patches of the puddles on the road and the cornfield illuminated by the sunlight contrast the murky tones of the rainy day, introducing a hint of optimism into the composition.

Vasilyev Fyodor

Vasilyev, Fyodor Alexandrovich
1850, Gatchina (St Petersburg Province) -1873, Yalta
Painter, landscapist. Studied under Ivan Kramskoi at the evening classes of the School of Drawing, Society for the Encouragement of Artists (1863-67) and under the restorer Ivan Sokolov at the Imperial Academy of Arts (from 1865). Worked under Ivan Shishkin on the island of Balaam (1867). Extern student of the Imperial Academy of Arts (1871; did not attend classes). Accompanied Ilya Repin and Ivan Makarov on a trip down the Volga (1870). Class artist (1872), reduced to honorary fellow (1873). Member of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists (from 1868). Contributed to the exhibitions of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists (1867-73; with interval), Imperial Academy of Arts (1872, 1873) and Moscow Society of Lovers of the Arts (1872).