Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - Impressions of Russian Literature - VII
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has been proofread at least once.
(diff)
(history)
Denna sida har korrekturlästs minst en gång.
(skillnad)
(historik)
falling in waves over the temples, the heavy, dark, full
beard, which covers his throat and collar, with an
expression of concentrated depth of understanding and
strength. There is no more uncertainty about this
mouth, no uneasiness in the brow; the look is the look
of the seer and of the thinker penetrating into the very
marrow of things. Then there is the portrait of Tolstoï
at his writing-desk, a wonderful picture from the
greatness of his style and bearing. The greatest gravity and
absorption shine out from it. Every one who sees the
portrait feels that what that man writes is not vanity, is
not idle words, but strong, mighty words, worth
pondering over. And there is still one later portrait, where
the expression of the eyes and about the mouth comes
very near to being frightful, appalling, it is so strong
and commanding. The heavy eyebrows almost seem to
threaten; the thick beard, growing freely, and
besprinkled with gray, reminds one of the old prophets.
In the series of illustrations in the book come also
the latest portraits : the well-known photograph of the
sixty-year-old Tolstoï as a muzhik, in the dark blouse of
the peasant, with the leather belt around his waist, with
his hair parted in the middle of his forehead in the
fashion of the Russian peasant, with his forehead
furrowed with deep wrinkles curving down in the middle,
the dishevelled, snow-white beard, extending almost down
to where the arms are crossed upon the breast, and the
anxious look of the mystic, whose firmness reminds us
of the gaze of the careworn.
Last of all is Riepin’s masterly painting, which is
also known in other lands from the chromo-lithographs:
a broad field with a background of woods; peasants are
ploughing in the middle distance; in the foreground
Tolstoï as a peasant is ploughing in the Russian style,
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
