*POLENOV, VASILY (1844-1927) Boat on the River signed and dated 1879, also numbered 'N117' on the reverse Oil on canvas, 67 by 116 cm. Provenance: Private collection, Switzerland. Authenticity has been confirmed by Vladimir Petrov. Exhibited: Possibly exhibited in the Itinerant Exhibition, 1879, listed as River. Literature: Listed by V. Polenov in the catalogue of his works, as '117. Boat on the River (in our northern lands)'. Vasily Polenov painted Boat on the River in 1879 at his beloved country estate Imochentsy in Northern Russia. The canvas is inscribed with the number 117 on the reverse, which allows us to identify the painting in the list of works compiled by the artist himself. Under number 117, Polenov wrote: “Boat on the River (in our northern lands), 1879, IV”. The banks of this shallow river are overgrown, and a boat is tied to an old wooden landing. It is probably the Oyat river that Polenov painted here, or one of its northern tributaries, flowing from the cold lakes of the Olonets region. In 1855 Polenov's father had inherited a plot of land and built a spacious house on the high banks of the Oyat. Here, surrounded by the untouched nature of the north, the artists had spent his childhood. Later, while a student in Petrozavodsk, Polenov would spend his summers here. Already then Polenov was captivated by the picturesque banks of the Oyat and Svir rivers. With the brush and palette in his hand, the artist would wander around Imochentsy. He had very fond memories of the summers spent at his parent's country estate. Later, he wrote that from the lovely banks of the Oyat river he took with him so much artistic, physical and mental strength. These northern landscapes would have a long lasting influence on Polenov's work. Not only his early work, but also some of his later masterpieces depict the lands around Imochentsy, such as Winter. Imochentsy (1880), Oyat (1880 and 1886), and Crossing of the River Oyat. In the summer of 1873, while at Imochentsy, he wrote to Savva Mamontov: “Now I am in the countryside, enjoying the fresh air. How wonderful is our pure air smelling of pine compared to stuffy and stinking Italy! The Italians don't even suspect that such air exists.” And later, full of affection, he wrote about these places in letters to relatives and friends: “Today Ivan Sergeyevich [Turgenev] paid me a visit. He complimented some studies and Oyat in the Rain, a small picture I've painted in my free time”. Polenov spent the summers of 1879 and 1880 at Imochentsy. This would prove to be a very fruitful period in his life. He wrote to his sister: “The second half of summer and the first part of autumn were incredibly beautiful, warm, clear, clean, and dry with many fires. In short, I don't remember such a season. I started painting the Oyat from different vantage points. I intend to make two paintings”. The painting presented here for auction is part of these views of the Oyat so cherished by Polenov. Painted in the same year as his famous Overgrown Pond, it contains all the typical elements of Polenov's Russian landscapes. The river winds between undulating banks, and the horizon is covered with trees. However, unlike the landscape painted by his contemporaries, and most of the views of the Oyat painted by Polenov in those years, the artist renounced the epical manner and painted an intimate image of the river from his childhood. But behind this simplicity of a subject seemingly lacking striking beauty, one senses Polenov's particular sensitivity to nature and his desire to understand the mysterious and alluring splendour of the Russian landscape, to capture its elusive changing states. These were defining features of Polenov's work, prompting many contemporary critics to use the term mood landscape for the first time in Russia, associating it with the achievements of Polenov's painting and its effect on viewers. His contemporaries were amazed to see genuine plein air painting, full of light and air, in the artist's works. Polenov's works became the classic model for Russian landscape painting of the late XIX century. Boat on the River was possibly included in the VII Itinerant Art Exhibition of 1879. In any case, the exhibitions catalogue lists a River by Polenov, the whereabouts of which is unknown.