Page 1015 - ANNA KARENINA

Anna Karenina

‘Here we live, and know nothing of what’s going on,’
Vronsky said to Golenishtchev as he came to see him one
morning. ‘Have you seen Mihailov’s picture?’ he said,
handing him a Russian gazette he had received that

morning, and pointing to an article on a Russian artist,
living in the very same town, and just finishing a picture
which had long been talked about, and had been bought
beforehand. The article reproached the government and
the academy for letting so remarkable an artist be left
without encouragement and support.
‘I’ve seen it,’ answered Golenishtchev. ‘Of course, he’s
not without talent, but it’s all in a wrong direction. It’s all
the Ivanov-Strauss-Renan attitude to Christ and to
religious painting.’
‘What is the subject of the picture?’ asked Anna.
‘Christ before Pilate. Christ is represented as a Jew with
all the realism of the new school.’
And the question of the subject of the picture having
brought him to one of his favorite theories, Golenishtchev
launched forth into a disquisition on it.
‘I can’t understand how they can fall into such a gross
mistake. Christ always has His definite embodiment in the
art of the great masters. And therefore, if they want to
depict, not God, but a revolutionist or a sage, let them

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