Alexander Ivanov’s paintings of naked boys set against a landscape were preliminary studies for Christ’s Appearance to the People. Detached from the foreground, the endless space of the background symbolizes “historical time” — eternal and immutable nature. As Mikhail Allenov has noted, only a child unaware of the battle of passions is capable of entering Alexander Ivanov’s landscapes without destroying their structure. The master was years ahead of his time in his resolution of plein-air tasks in these studies, although the relationship between man and the world was more typical of the preceding Romantic period.

Ivanov Alexander

Ivanov, Alexander Andreyevich
1806, St Petersburg -1858, St Petersburg
Painter, landscapist, history painter. Son of professor of history painting Andrei Ivanov. Studied under his father and Alexei Yegorov at the Imperial Academy of Arts. Awarded a gold medal (1827). Fellow of the Society for the Encouragement of Artists, lived in Italy (1830-58). Academician for Christ''s Appearance to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection (1835). Worked for over twenty years on Christ''s Appearance to the Peofile, painting four-hundred studies. Pioneer of plein-air painting in Russia.