Cave Monastery near Nizhny Novgorod 1. 1871 Alexey Kondratievich Savrasov (1830-1897)

Description of Alexei Savrasov’s painting "The Pechersky Monastery near Nizhny Novgorod".

Savrasov loved the Volga and its landscapes. At every free opportunity he tried to transfer all this beauty to the canvas. One of his largest paintings, which was devoted to the Volga landscapes, is "The Pechersky Monastery near Nizhny Novgorod". Today’s art historians unanimously say that this painting is a forerunner of landscapes dedicated to the Volga from Levitan’s brush.

Looking into the picture, we see a view of a small town, most likely a provincial one. In front of it the water surface is spilling over. There are many white clouds in the sky, and the trees sway in the wind. In the distance you can see the roofs of houses. A white monastery can be seen on the horizon. Playing on the game of colors - in the distance the sky is much lighter, the artist managed to highlight the construction of the monastery, which is painted in light beige colors. The history of this monastery goes back to the 14th century. It is famous for housing the miraculous Kiev icon of the Mother of God, as well as a collection of rare manuscripts, old printed books and ancient monastery records. The monastery was moved to the place depicted by Savrasov in 1595 from the years that slid down into the Volga. In the original place the Pechersky Monastery stood since the beginning of the 14th century.

Initially, the first version of the already famous painting was finished by P.M. Tretyakov. Further it was finished by Savrasov himself. In 1871, he finished this version of the painting. Here the author managed to show his keen interest in ancient Russian architecture, as well as how he understood the picturesque beauty of nature.