Q124630916

Held in the Mikhail Kroshitsky Sevastopol Art Museum, this 1898 canvas reached Crimea — perhaps through Polenov's own travel to the Black Sea region, which he visited on several occasions and where the landscape's dramatic coastal character contrasted sharply with the inland river scenes that dominated his work. Alternatively, the work may have entered the Sevastopol collection through later acquisition or donation. The Kroshitsky museum built a significant collection of Russian nineteenth-century painting during the Soviet period, acquiring works from artists associated with the Wanderers and the landscape tradition. Polenov's 1898 canvases, part of an intensely productive stretch, were distributed across dozens of Russian regional museums — a pattern that reflects both the productivity of his output and the broad network of Wanderers exhibitions that circulated works to provincial cities.

The journey to a Crimean collection did not change the canvas's technical character — Polenov used consistent materials throughout this period: standard oil priming, linen canvas, and a palette built around ochres, terre verte, ultramarine, and white. His approach was to establish tonal masses first, then work into surface texture with loaded strokes in the light areas.