The Russian School of Painting
painters, for they were entirely absorbed in social problems and exhibited an absolute indifference to matters of purely æsthetic import. True, Vereshchagin had the good fortune of coming to Europe when still a young man, but his scant preparation at home made his trip little instructive for him. Mentzel, Dégas, Manet, Monet, and many other masters, overflowing with vitality and vigour, remained absolutely unintelligible to him, though he, himself, did not lack either vitality or vigour.
Herein lies the cause of the cheerless impression which Vereshchagin's art makes. What is bad about him is not the fact that he was rather an ethnologist than an artist, or that he preached absolute sincerity and told in his pictures what he saw and lived. His main defect is that his œuvre is poor in purely pictorial merits. This artist achieved nothing but an intellectual culture. He was interested in ideas, but indifferent to form.
Nevertheless, Vereshchagin will hold an honourable place in the history of Russian art. To begin with, his pictures have not lost their interest, which signifies that they conceal a great power, a great artistic potentiality. It is true that they are poorly painted and childishly drawn, but they are cleverly planned and their composition shows Vereshchagin as a highly
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