(Belianitzy, Tver 1854–1904 Kronstadt (?)) A Hot Summer’s Day, signed (Cyrillic script) V. Golynsky, oil on canvas, 70.5 x 108 cm, framed, craquelure, damaged, several small losses in the sky, (Rei)

Provenance:
Purchased from the artist’s heirs in Leningrad circa 1960 by the father of the current owner.
Letter of authentication issued by Dr. Elena Nesterova, dated July 2012, is available. Results of the technological examination available in German.

We are grateful to Dr. Sugrobova-Roth for her assistance in cataloguing this work.

According to family tradition, the painting shows the artist and his wife. Portraying oneself whilst painting and presenting a rear view to the observer demonstrates a thorough knowledge of the Old Masters, especially Jan Vermeer van Delft. The young woman, lost in thought, accompanying her husband while he works, wears a dress in Ukrainian folk style which was fashionable at that time. The gentle shadow that the straw hat throws on her beautiful face emphasises the summery nature of the painting’s illumination. From the hill one’s eye is lead to the view over the river and the open landscape. The contrast between the many variations of green and the red and blue tones in the woman’s dress lends the work a particularly strong colourful note. It was these intensive and decorative colours in particular which made Golynsky’s works popular. Golynsky regularly exhibited in St Peterburg, both at the academy and with the artist’s support society. This is possibly the work titled “In the Sun” and listed in the catalogue accompanying the academy’s 1894 exhibition.