Moscow Courtyard

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Moscow Courtyard is a landscape painting by the Russian artist Vasily Polenov (1844–1927), completed in 1878. It belongs to the State Tretyakov Gallery (inventory 2670). Its dimensions are 64.5 × 80.1 cm. Together with two other works by Polenov from the late 1870s: the paintings Grandmother's Garden and Overgrown Pond, the canvas Moscow Courtyard has been attributed to "a kind of lyrical and philosophical trilogy of the artist". The painting depicts the courtyard of a house at the intersection of Durnovsky and Trubnikovsky Streets, in the wing of which Polenov rented an apartment in 1877–1878. Behind the courtyard and the adjacent buildings is the Church of the Transfiguration on the Sand, and in the right part of the canvas are the outlines of the Church of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker in Plotniki. The work organically combines landscape and genre motifs. The painting "Moscow Courtyard" was presented at the Moscow part of the 6th Exhibition of the Society for Traveling Art Exhibitions ("Peredvizhniki"), which was held in May 1878. It became Polenov's first work presented at the traveling exhibitions. Pavel Tretyakov bought that canvas directly from the exhibition. According to art historian Alexei Fedorov-Davydov, the painting Moscow Courtyard is "full of simple and clear heartfelt poetry" and this work by Polenov "was a new word in Russian landscape painting and played a great role in it". Art historian Tamara Yurova noted that this canvas was among the "pearls of the Russian school of painting" and became "a milestone in the history of Russian landscape painting". Art historian Vitaly Manin called Moscow Courtyard a "masterpiece of landscape art" and wrote that "one such painting is enough to go down in history".