“Star. Rab of God Abrahamy ”, Mikhail Vasilievich Nesterov – overview of the painting 
- Posted by Mikhail Vasilievich Nesterov
- Museum: Samara Regional Art Museum
- Year: 1914
Overview of the painting :
Elder. Rab of God Abrahamy – Mikhail Vasilievich Nesterov. 1914. 114 x 110 cm
The painting “Starets” is an example of contemplative paintings by Mikhail Vasilievich Nesterov. The author himself described in detail his plan in autobiography: the pious elderly man Abrahamius came to the banks of the river to admire how much beautiful the Lord created. There is a mirror surface of the water, and a dense forest, a whole spruce tree, and fresh green grass, and a trampled path. Abrahamy bowed his head with a sense of admiration and grateful repentance to the Creator, leaning his hands on a stick. The canvas “Pustynnik” and “Star” (between which, of course, there is a relationship) is the ideal of Russia Orthodox, spiritual, praying to Nesterov.
The elder in the picture is dressed in light clothes, his head is even brighter due to the deep gray hair. The nature around the wild seems to be nothing here that a person has touched. Therefore, the solitude of Abrahamia is felt even more accurately.
The compositional construction of the canvas elements is rather concise: the cross-shaped intersection of the spruce and river, the hero’s figure is shifted to the right with geometric accuracy. Nesterov’s letter is rather decorative, but it is spirituality, this rich roll call of the states of nature and man, that does not allow work to turn into a onion landscape. Abrahamy between heaven and water on the edge of his earthly days, like the biblical prophet Abraham, who saw the Holy Trinity. Nester Abraham has his own Trinity.
One cannot help but remember that the painter wrote this picture in a busy time – Europe was torn by World War I. The Nester was very sensitive. Perhaps this explains the author’s appeal to the spiritual and religious topic. But not only in creating Christian works, Nesterov saw his destiny as an artist who wanted to help his country – Mikhail Vasilievich, like other travelers, sold his paintings in favor of soldiers and their families. The author sold the submitted work to the patron P. Shikhobalov, and after the revolution, “The Slave of God” ended up in the Samara Art Museum, where it is still located to this end.