Vision to the youth Bartholomew Mikhail Nesterov (1862-1942)

Description of Mikhail Nesterov’s painting Vision to Bartholomew the Lad

Nesterov was well acquainted with the circle of philosophers. In 1910 he attended religious and philosophical meetings of the V.S. Solovyov Society. The artist also often performed church murals. Religious paintings were an important part of his work until the Soviet period.

Nesterov painted a cycle of paintings dedicated to the life of St. Sergius of Radonezh. Sergius of Radonezh, in Bartholomew’s world, was the founder of Trinity-Sergius Monastery in Sergiev Posad and was its hegumen. Russian religious philosophers considered Trinity-Sergius Monastery, the seat of Russian spirituality.

The best work, which was dedicated to the outstanding figure of the Orthodox Church, was considered to be the painting The Vision of the Lad Bartholomew. Figure of a young shepherd Nesterov painted from life. He posed a girl from the village Komyakino.

When the artist saw the little girl of 9 years, short-cropped, with large, surprised, blue eyes, a little sickly-looking, he immediately realized that this is a godsend for his adolescent Bartholomew. Also in the village of Abramtsevo, Nesterov painted a landscape for his painting.

By creating an image of the miraculous vision, the artist sought to convey as much historical authenticity as possible. In other words, to create such an image, which would be perceived as a real hero, a real Bartholomew. And he succeeded thanks to the landscape and the convincing figure of the adolescent.

There is nothing mysterious in the landscape itself. You can even see a vegetable garden with cabbage in the background. The figure of the monk is as close as possible to the trunk of an old oak tree, in order to focus all of our attention on the boy. From the expression of his face and awe-inspiring posture, we can understand that a miracle is taking place in the young man’s soul.

Nesterov was a member of the local Abramtsevo circle, which was located on the estate of the patron of the arts Mamontov. There he learned a lot about the history, way of life and old culture of ancient Russia.