Study of the Head of an Old Man

Vladimir Egorovic Makovsky (1846-1920) was a Russian painter known for the precisely observed genre scenes of Russian life that make him one of the most important painters of the Peredvizhniki (Wanderers) movement. Study of the Head of an Old Man from 1883 depicts an old man's head in the precisely observed, psychological manner that distinguishes Makovsky's best work from the more idealized painting of his contemporaries. The 1883 date places this in Makovsky's most productive period, when he was producing the precisely observed genre scenes of Russian life that are his most accomplished works as a member of the Peredvizhniki.

Study of the Head of an Old Man is important in the history of Russian painting because it demonstrates the precisely observed, psychological manner that Makovsky brought to genre subjects as one of the most important members of the Peredvizhniki movement. Makovsky's precisely observed, psychological genre scenes—depicting the character of Russian people with the precise observation and psychological penetration that are his most distinctive contributions—represent one of the most important traditions in Russian painting, and the 1883 painting shows this tradition at its most precisely observed.

Study of the Head of an Old Man is Makovsky's psychological Peredvizhniki: an old man's head rendered in the precisely observed manner of one of the most important painters of the Russian Wanderers. The 1883 painting shows the psychological penetration and precise observation that make Makovsky one of the most important genre painters in Russian art.