Painting by Chekhov “The Peasant Boy (Vanka Zhukov)”


Nikolai Pavlovich Chekhov – the brother of the legendary Anton Pavlovich presented this wonderful portrait of the boy to our world. Our attention is presented by a peasant boy named Vanka.

If you confess frankly, then there is no boy in the picture. Such words may seem paradoxical to someone, however, look at this profile more closely. The boy reminds us more of the yard pocket thief or the forecaster. And his look is similar to having already seen a lot in this life biased view of reality.

Look closely at the nose of the “boy”, he will hang up a little, like every proudly minded person. And if you pay even more attention to the shape of the nose of this person, you will see that such noses are formed, as a rule, by people who abuse drinking wine and vodka products. You know, even looking at the very location of Vanka’s head, it seems that we are facing an image of a criminal who is going through some petty business.

The conclusion is obvious, the picture shows an adult person, but for his boyishness, manifested in appearance in the form, in connection with the underdevelopment of the body in the physical aspect of maturity, Vanka was also called for the eyes of a peasant boy. It seems that we have come in contact with a mystery similar to the painting “Mona Lisa del Gioconda” by the brilliant Leonardo da Vinci, where behind the portrait of the woman stood the personality of the artist himself.

It is this mysteriousness and ambiguity that makes the work, similar to “Peasant boy” unforgettable through the years masterpieces. Let’s once again take off the hat in front of the great artist and applaud him for this original work.


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Painting by Chekhov “The Peasant Boy (Vanka Zhukov)”