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1889

“The Hermit” at the 17th Peredvizhniki show

Shown at the 17th Peredvizhniki exhibition, “The Hermit” caused a stir and placed the young Nesterov among the most outstanding painters of the day; the word “mood” recurred in almost every review. Pavel Tretyakov bought the painting.

May 1889

First journey abroad

With the money from selling “The Hermit” to Tretyakov, Nesterov set off on his first trip abroad: Warsaw, Vienna, Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples with Pompeii and Capri, Paris, Munich, Berlin, Dresden. He brought back dozens of studies on lemon-wood panels, most of them from Capri; his travel diary (20 April – 24 July 1889) is kept in the Presidential Library.

May – July 1889

Carpaccio in Venice, Bastien-Lepage in Paris

In Venice Nesterov was struck above all by Vittore Carpaccio's “naive composition” and “childlike faith”, in Rome by Raphael's frescoes and the Sistine Chapel. In Paris he saw the painting of Puvis de Chavannes and Bastien-Lepage, whose “Joan of Arc”, art historians agree, decisively shaped the concept of “The Vision to the Youth Bartholomew”.

1890

Invited to paint St Volodymyr's Cathedral

Professor Adrian Prakhov, who was in charge of decorating St Volodymyr's Cathedral in Kiev, saw “The Youth Bartholomew” and invited its author. After some hesitation Nesterov agreed — and ended up devoting more than 22 years to church murals and icons.

1890

“The Vision to the Youth Bartholomew” causes a sensation

The painting, for which Nesterov made landscape studies near the Trinity-Sergius Lavra while living in the village of Komyakino near Khotkovo, provoked the most conflicting opinions, became the sensation of the 18th Peredvizhniki exhibition and was bought by Tretyakov. To the end of his days the artist considered it his finest work.

1890s

Studies Byzantine art

To master monumental painting, new to him, Nesterov travelled to Rome, Palermo, Constantinople and Ravenna, where he could study the traditions of Byzantine art (other accounts name Rome and Istanbul).