The Zemstvo Dines () is a painting by the Russian artist Grigory Myasoyedov (1834–1911), completed in 1872. The canvas depicts peasants of the uyezd zemstvo assembly: their lunch is simple — bread with onions and salt, while the noble part of the zemstvo (not shown in the painting) dines indoors, as hinted by the footman in the window wiping dishes. Other titles were also used for this painting: the Uezd Zemstvo Assembly at Lunch Time and Zemstvo's Lunch.
It is housed in the State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow (inventory 639). Its size is 74 × 125 cmГосударственная Третьяковская галерея — каталог собрания / Я. В. Брук, Л. И. Иовлева. М.: Красная площадь, 2001. V. 4: Живопись второй половины XIX века, book 1, А—М. p. 439 (according to other sources 75 × 125.5 cm).Мясоедов Григорий Григорьевич — Земство обедает. 1872 (HTML). Государственная Третьяковская галерея www.tretyakovgallery.ru. Дата обращения: 28 May 2019. Archive: 27 October 2020.
Myasoyedov worked on this painting in 1871–1872, and it was presented at the 2nd Exhibition of the Society for the Travelling Art Exhibitions, opened in St. Petersburg in December 1872. Myasoedov's work made a good impression: it was called "one of the best and most informative paintings on a modern subject". In 1873, the canvas was bought from the artist by Pavel Tretyakov, at whose request Myasoyedov finished the painting in 1876. In 1878 the canvas the Zemstvo Dines was included in the Russian exposition at the World Exhibition in Paris.
The art critic Vladimir Stasov called this painting as one of Myasoyedov's most significant works, as well as "a truly modern 'choral' painting", in which "there was also a note of indignation and satire". Art historian Irina Shuvalova wrote that the Zemstvo Dining was "the highest achievement of Myasoedov's entire creative life, the most capital, the most significant of his paintings", representing a major milestone in his work, which (along with such works of the 1870s as Barge Haulers on the Volga by Ilya Repin and Repair Work on the Railway by Konstantin Savitsky) defined "a new stage in the development of Russian realist genre painting".
History
Previous events and work on the painting
In 1853–1862 Grigory Myasoedov studied at the Imperial Academy of Arts in the history painting class, where his mentors were Timoleon Neff and Alexey Markov. In 1862, Myasoedov was awarded a large gold medal of the Academy of Arts for his painting the Flight of Grigory Otrepiev from a Tavern on the Lithuanian Border (now in the National Pushkin Museum). Along with this award, he received the title of artist of the 1st class, as well as the right to a pensioner's trip abroad.Государственная Третьяковская галерея — каталог собрания / Я. В. Брук, Л. И. Иовлева. М.: Красная площадь, 2001. V. 4: Живопись второй половины XIX века, book 1, А—М. p. 438 In 1863–1866 the artist worked in Italy, France and Spain, also visited Germany, Belgium and Switzerland. In May 1866, he returned to Russia, and in the spring of 1867 he went abroad again, first to Paris and then to Florence. In March 1869, Myasoedov returned to Russia, and in the following years he lived and worked in Moscow, St. Petersburg, the provinces of Tula, Kharkov and Poltava, as well as in the Crimea; in 1870, he received the title of Academician of Historical Painting for his painting Spells. Myasoedov was one of the organizers of the Society of Travelling Art Exhibitions (Peredvizhniki"), founded in 1870,Мясоедов Григорий Григорьевич (HTML). Большая российская энциклопедия — bigenc.ru. Дата обращения: 8 March 2023. Archive: 9 July 2019. whose first exhibition opened in November 1871 in St. Petersburg (it exhibited two paintings by Myasoedov: Grandfather of the Russian Navy and For Berries).
Myasoedov worked on the painting The Zemstvo Dines between 1871 and 1872. In the artist's own words, he wanted "to get closer to the real and everyday in Zemstvo".Письма художников Павлу Михайловичу Третьякову: 1870—1879 / Н. Г. Галкина, М. Н. Григорьева, Н. Л. Приймак. М.: Искусство, 1968. P. 63. For a long time, it was believed that there were no surviving testimonies and documents that would shed light on the history of the painting's creation. In particular, in a monograph on Myasoedov's work published in 1971, art historian Irina Shuvalova wrote: "Unfortunately, we do not know the history of the creation of this work. Not a single preparatory sketch has survived, there are no written testimonies from the artist or his friends about how and where work on the painting took place".
In the late 2000s and early 2010s publications, art historian Anatoly Khvorostov described how he managed to establish some details related to Myasoedov's work on the painting. The artist's father —Grigory Andreyevich Myasoedov— was a minor nobleman, and his estate was located in the village of Pankovo, Novosilsky uyezd, Tula province (now part of Novoderevenkovsky district, Oryol region). Assuming that the artist himself had to visit the district center (the town of Novosil) from time to time on business related to his father's estate, Khvorostov approached the Novosil Museum of Local History with a request for help in identifying the building depicted on the canvas The Zemstvo Dines. The director of the museum, Maria Andreyevna Kaznacheyeva, said that "the district zemstvo was completely destroyed during the war and after the restoration lost its former appearance" and that there were no photographs of the old building. Additional information was found in the written testimony of Anany Semyonovich Remnyov, a native of the village of Pankovo, who worked in the building of the former zemstvo in the first years after the revolution. Commenting on the painting The Zemstvo Dines, Remnyov wrote: "The porch and the facade of the building in general, the arrangement of the windows, remind me exactly of the building of the former Novosilsky Zemstvo. Apparently, Myasoedov saw it and put it on the canvas".
The 2nd Travelling exhibition and sale of the painting The canvas was exhibited at the 2nd Peredvizhniki exhibition, which opened on December 26, 1872, in St. Petersburg. The painting was originally known as District Zemstvo Assembly at Lunchtime.Товарищество передвижных художественных выставок. Письма, документы. 1869—1899 / В. В. Андреева, М. В. Астафьева, С. Н. Гольдштейн, Н. Л. Приймак. М.: Искусство, 1987. P. 72. Myasoedov's work was well-received by viewers who visited the traveling exhibition, it was called "one of the best and most informative paintings on a contemporary theme". The work was also called "one of the best and most informative paintings on a contemporary theme". The artist Ivan Kramskoy, in a letter to Vasily Perov, reported his impressions of the exhibition: "Landscape department and portrait department is brilliant. Genre paintings are average and even positively good. And Myasoedov's painting is beautiful". Nevertheless, there were also critical reviews. In particular, in a review published in the journal Otechestvennye Zapiski, the writer Pavel Kovalevsky, while praising Myasoedov's intention "to convey far from comic, and quite a different property, the situation of the members of the zemstvo," noted that the artist "was not fully prepared for his picture: idealist in vocation and manner, he did not align with the mundane resignation of a simple, non-protesting and non-casual drama in its real and coarse shell". Due to the fact that the paintings of the 2nd Travelling Exhibition were not shown in Moscow, some of them, including The Zemstvo Dines, were included in the Moscow part of the 3rd exhibition, which opened on April 2, 1874.
After the opening of the 2nd Travelling Exhibition in St. Petersburg, Pavel Tretyakov expressed his interest in acquiring the painting The Zemstvo Dines. In a letter to Tretyakov, written in January 1873, Myasoedov wrote: "I am, of course, pleased with your desire to place my work in your gallery and, considering it an honor to get into your collection, I am ready to make every possible concession from the appointed price. The price I announced to the Academy for The Zemstvo Dines is 1,200. But since the Academy still does not say anything definite, and since I would much prefer my work to be with you rather than in the Academy <...>, I lower it to 1,000 rubles." In the same letter, Myasoedov asked Tretyakov: "Be kind, Pavel Mikhailovich, inform me of your final intentions so that I can freely decide on my actions and not be confused by a vain desire to enter your collection".
Pavel Tretyakov continued negotiations on the price and offered the artist 900 rubles for the painting. In response to this proposal, in a letter to Tretyakov on January 11, 1873, Myasoedov wrote: "Dear Pavel Mikhailovich, my sincere desire is to make every possible concession just to reach mutual satisfaction, although a hundred rubles are much more important to me than to you...". The artist agreed to sell the painting for 900 rubles, but "pure," without accounting for the 5% (45 rubles) that he had to pay to the Partnership—thus, he asked Tretyakov to increase the price to 945 rubles. In the same letter, Myasoedov wrote: "So, I think, Pavel Mikhailovich, that 45 rubles will not stop you, and I will have the pleasure of seeing myself in your gallery, as well as hanging a label stating 'sold,' and one care on the soul will be less". The negotiations concluded with Tretyakov agreeing to purchase the canvas The Zemstvo Dines for 945 rubles.
Final work on painting and subsequent events
Nevertheless, something about the picture did not satisfy Tretyakov, and in 1876 he expressed a desire to sell it, even for less than he had paid for it. Concerned about this development, Myasoedov, who was in Kharkiv at the time, wrote to Tretyakov in a letter dated December 9, 1876: "I assure you, Pavel Mikhailovich, that I am very pleased that you have my painting and not someone else. I regret that you were disappointed by Zemstvo..." From an earlier letter, dated September 1876, it is clear that Myasoedov offered Tretyakov to leave a deposit of 500 rubles (out of the two thousand he promised to pay for the painting Reading of the Regulations of February 19, 1861) to "cover the loss that may occur in the sale of my former painting".Письма художников Павлу Михайловичу Третьякову: 1870—1879 / Н. Г. Галкина, М. Н. Григорьева, Н. Л. Приймак. М.: Искусство, 1968. P. 269.
After all, Tretyakov decided not to part with the painting The Zemstvo Dines, but asked the artist to make some changes to the canvas. Myasoedov agreed, and in his letter, dated December 1876, he wrote to Tretyakov: "I would make any correction in The Zemstvo Dines, if you find an opportunity to send it..." and "I will do everything I can to eliminate the shortcomings that have been noticed." In the same letter, Myasoedov gave detailed instructions on how to send the canvas to Kharkiv, asking to "remove Zemstvo from the frame for safety and send it immediately by rail to the station, with the receipt delivered to the house of the Volga-Kama Commercial Bank on Rybnaya Street", where he lived. Some time later, the artist informed Tretyakov: "The painting you sent for correction, The Zemstvo Dines, I received in perfect order. After correcting everything that can be, I will immediately send it back to you".