The artist is Ryabushkin
The picture occupies a central place in the work of the master. The artist creates a generalized image of a patriarchal Russian family. In the artistic decision of the group portrait, the painter appeal to the traditions of ancient Russian art is obvious.
The monumentality of the composition, the heavy statics of figures, the flat modeling of the forms appeal to the period of the origin of the secular portrait in Russia at the turn of the XVII – XVIII centuries. Bright patterns, color saturation give work to work decorative sound. In 1900, the picture was exhibited at the World Exhibition in Paris and was awarded an honorary review.
The Russian Museum. From the icon to the present. 2005. With. 235.
At the end of the 19th century, the research of the ideal in an imaginary past caused the ironic smile of the wise Andrei Ryabushkin. His "family of the merchant of the 17th century" (1896) is a reconstructive fantasy, the embodiment of which is obviously impossible. A thorough merchant, a kind, respectful hostess and well -fed, obedient children, could not exist in the present, outside the costume and surrounding variegated variegation of the Staromoskovsky chambers. A person was too complicated by the end of the 19th century, and even a commoner is already striving to go beyond the sociocultural framework of his stratum, become a person. Lyubov Shakirova. Family album of the Russian Museum // Portrait of Family. SPb, 2014. With. 10.