This picture occupies a prominent place in the art of Andrei Ryabushkin. The artist paints a general image of a patriarchal Russian family, addressing the traditions of Old Russian art. The monumental composition, flat modelling of forms and the heavy and static figures were typical of the first period in the history of secular portraiture in Russia — the turn of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The bright patterns and rich tones lend a decorative ring to this work. The picture was highly praised at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1900.

Ryabushkin Andrei

Ryabushkin, Andrei Petrovich
1861, Stanichnaya (Tambov Province) -1904, Divdino (Novgorod Province)
Painter, graphic artist. Studied at the Moscow School of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture (1875-82) and the Imperial Academy of Arts (1882-90). Member of the Society of Artists of History Painting (from 1895), World of Art (from 1901) and the Union of Russian Artists (from 1903). Contributed to exhibitions at the Imperial Academy of Arts (from 1888).